I am absolutely devastated. I rescued a lovely 8 year old boy 2 months ago. The first 4 weeks everything seemed to go well. We introduced him slowly to our resident girl cats. We did everything we should do to make for happy cats. We have feliway plug ins, separate eating areas (plus one) not in direct sight of each other. Same for litter trays, enough for each plus one (even though the other 2 don't use them). He sleeps in my room at night with one of my other cats. They usually sleep on the end of my bed, which is their preferred place!
The last month he has been showing various stress behaviours and has been to the vet twice, as well as telephone consultations with them to try and get to the bottom of the issues. He vomits, sometimes he can vomit once a day, or twice a day. Sometimes he goes a few days with out vomiting. But he is consistently doing it. He is spraying, again sometimes every day, sometimes he will go a few days without. He sprays in my children's bedroom as well as by two of the exits of the house. I've managed to cover the bedroom so this is no longer a place he can get to. But the area is ruined and now needs a new carpet. All the online advice on cleaning is a total failure. Nothing truly works. I can't cover the area by the external doors as I can't get out the house if I do.
Another issue is that his poo is loose, and has been since arrival. He has had 5 weeks of a sensitive stomach diet. We are now about to start a hypoallergenic diet to see if that changes anything as the vet said to go to this after the initial sensitive stomach food diet didn't work.
Todays vet visit confirmed he isn't losing weight, and no obvious issues on examination. They believe the behaviours are all stress related rather than a physical disorder. Likely cause being a multi cat household.
He is otherwise quite happy in my presence. He seems confident, and seeks company. He seeks the company of my other cats. One isn't interested in him, but certainly isn't making his life in any way difficult. She just keeps herself to herself. The other cat will play with him and they can sleep next to each other etc. He is friendly to all the neighbourhood cats too. He loves it when they come in the garden. It is the only time he wants to go outside. He is an indoor cat - his choice. I wasn't aware when we got him. He simply isn't interested in going out unless it is to follow me round the garden, or to say hello to a passing feline!
I just don't know what to do. I don't want him to be anxious or stressed. The vet thinks he must be because of his behaviours, so the only solution would be to rehome him to a single cat household. Except I really don't want to. I will if it is best for him, but I've no idea how to even go about it. Or is there something else I can try that I haven't already? I've tried a lot, so feel free to fire suggestions in case you hit on one I haven't done!
Picture taken this morning of him and my other cat, stopping me from making my bed!