Tell me about your multicat household

[imabusybee]

I have four indoor cats & 1 dog (not indoor!). Started with just me & prettycat, then we moved in with DP & adopted 2 brothers who were 4 months old. 5 months later minicat arrived at 6 weeks old & our cat family was complete.

Their dynamic is brilliant & very interesting. General they all get along - the brothers are obviously very close (with occasional rough play/falling outs), prettycat is the boss & the boys both adore her but minicat isn't her biggest fan. Although they do get along they avoid each other & sometimes chase each other around. Minicat has bonded so strongly to the boys that she has picked up their mannerisms & though she is a moggie she thinks she's the same pedigree as them. She is joined at the hip to one of the boys & prettycat is to the other.

There's a lot of snuggling, cleaning each other & playing but I do have one concern. The biggest of the brothers (who are ocicats so BIG cats!) occasionally randomly lashes out at minicat in a completely unprovoked attack & not in a playful way. He means to hurt her, & often does if we don't stop him soon enough. Minicat screams & there's fur flying everywhere (hers) & if she flees he chases her. We've scolded him for this behaviour & it seems to have lessened in frequency but still happens often enough to concern me - 1-3 times per week.

Should I be concerned? Is this normal? Does anyone else have multiple cats & similar occurrences? Any insight appreciated as no one I know has more than 2 cats!

[thecatneuterer]

I've got 22 cats and all sorts of stuff goes on. Allegiances form and change. Certain cats dislike certain others. Some seem to fall in love. It's all very interesting. But just occasionally a cat arrives that really upsets the dynamic and causes general upset and will try to attack a particular other cat. In most cases this sorts itself out after a couple of months, but occasionally it doesn't and I have to rehome the aggressor.

So my main question for your situation is how long has this been going on for? And of course have you tried Feliway?

[sparkysparkysparky]

Make sure mini cat has a place to go or a way of getting around the house that means she can avoid the tough guy (her own places to jump up to or walk along - bookcases, sofas or something bespoke ). Check he's not got a sore tooth or something that would make him grumpy. Telling him off is probably futile - cats just don't "get " punishment or scolding, imho.

[imabusybee]

We've tried feliway as one of our boys has cystitis occasionally which the vet thought was due to stress - a theory which was proven wrong. But feliway seems to make no difference to any of them!

It's been going on since we got minicat, on and off. Our big lad used to be something of a bully to all the other 3 but thankfully grew out of it at about 18 months - except for these occasional nasty moments with minicat. 5 mins later the two of them will be cleaning each other & snuggling though!