Hi all, just looking for advice please. We had 2 sisters who have just turned 2 (both neutered) and got an almost 7mo girl (already neutered) kitten. We took it slow, separate space, little smells etc and built up contact. Kitten did not make the best first impression on first face to face as she growled pretty much instantly but gradually things got better and kitten was actually sleeping with 1 of the cats and the cat was cleaning her. They all happily used the (multiple) litter trays interchangeably which we’ve been changing every other day.
Kitten has always been highly food driven around human food (but has been vet checked and her flea/worming/vaccinations all up to date) and from the off would try and take food from us. Does eat a fair bit of cat food too but vet is happy she’s growing well and isn’t overeating, eats nicely next to the existing girls - never muscles her way through or fights or anything, it’s just human food.
A couple of weeks ago out of the blue she started weeing on the sofa (same cushion every single time) whilst still pooing in the litter trays, it’s like she regressed but there were no ‘trigger’ points if that makes sense - they were all still getting on at this point.
The last couple of days the mood has totally shifted and neither of the existing cats will tolerate her now (one has never been fully on board and largely ignores her, but our extremely docile one, the one she was sleeping with and was grooming her, actively growls and hisses - we’ve never heard her growl or hiss the entire time we’ve had her!).
If you’ve made it this far, thank you! My qs are:
• is this normal for a (now) 8mo because we got her when she was older instead of at 14 weeks like the other 2? Ie are we in bratty teenager stage and it will get better as we ride it out, or is the relationship broken as they did previously get on? She did live with some other cats at her old place so it’s not like she’s come from a solo house into a multi cat house
• how do we stop the peeing?! We’ve tried taking the cushion away (she then pees where the cushion should’ve been) putting a litter tray on the site and then gradually moving it away, enzyme ‘get off’ spray, cleaning the litter trays every single day, putting her in the tray every single time she stands up to cause evil (but she’s still trained sort of because poos are in the tray every single time?!) but there’s no rhyme or reason to it
• is the food thing normal?! We’ve never had this before with any family cats. It would be different if the seller was unknown to us but we got her from the same (GCCF registered) sellers and the existing cats never did this. I’m not sure if because she’s older she’s just picked up bad habits but it’s really difficult when the toddler has snacks in the living room and is at the risk of getting mugged
We love her to bits but she’s also a mini terror and we’ve never been in this situation before.
Thank you, oh wise MNetters.