How To Help Cats Get Along?

[AnnP]

Hi everyone,
Just joined a few days ago.
I have 2 cats. Maggie May is 6 years old. I've had her since she was 3 weeks old, her mom died. She was my daughter in laws cat. When Maggie was 2-3 years I rescued Rio my male cat from being killed by my German Shepherd dog. His eyes were barely opened when I got him.
Maggie is indoors only, & has always been skittish of everything. She don't like rough petting, a cough or a sneeze will send her running.
Rio is an indoor outdoor cat. We live way in the county. They were both fixed when they were around 6 months old.
They have always got along pretty good, until 6-9 months ago, they will even nap together now.
But Rio has a habit when he comes in he will find Maggie sleeping and attack her! I'm not sure about a hierarchy in cats, dogs yes, but Idk about cats.
Maggie has lost so much weight, light as a feather now. We've started feeding her several times a day, small meals to get weight back on her.
Rio is healthy as a horse, I'm sure he hunts too. He's bought me presents before!
I'm not sure what's going on with them. I want the peaceful household I use to have, & Maggie protected.
I have a sun room Rio loves to be in, we've been trying to get Maggie relaxed enough to enjoy it too, she cowers under furniture instead of looking out the windows.
So, do I need to get something to calm Rio down or what?
Also been trying to boost Maggie's confidence.
Maggie don't have to be doing anything & Rio will attack her.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thank You All

 

[Norachan]

Hello A AnnP .

I used to have a similar problem with a few of my cats. I have quite a lot of them and they all get on fairly well, but one of the boys, Toby, went through a stage of stalking and attacking 3 of the girls.

He didn't do this to all of them. Chicken and Happy would have kicked his furry little butt if he messed with them, but he used to terrorize a few of the more submissive girls. That's how he got the nickname Toby Terror.

We tried lots of things. Having a felliway diffuser in the house made things a bit calmer.

https://www.feliway.com/uk#redirected

I also have one of the former feral girls on Zylkene now, which is making her a lot more confident. She doesn't give off that "Prey" vibe anymore, so Toby has stopped stalking her.

Home

Probably the most effective and the simplest thing we've done is get Toby a collar with a bell on it. He used to attack them while they were asleep, sometimes even while they were on my lap, but can't sneak up on the girls anymore. They always know where he is in the house so they can get to a higher vantage point if they hear him coming.

It's cut down on his hunting too. He only has outdoor access to an enclosure, but it's a big one with lots of trees so birds fly in sometimes.

Maybe something like that would help? Please keep us posted and let us know what works for you.