Wee wars

If you've read my previous posts you'll probably know that Bertie has struggled to settle in.

Bertie in his room

He gets on with the humans in the house and he tolerates most of the cats, but he really doesn't seem to like Billy. 

Billy posing

I guess, from his point of view, Billy is the only male likely to challenge him.  George and Harry are over ten now and are quite happy, eating, sleeping and having the odd stroll outside.  Bertie does all of that in addition to his 'patrols'.  He can often be heard (all those extra claws on laminate floors) wandering through from the 'cat room', past the kitchen and over to the cat flap.  I'm not sure if he's defending the house from outsiders or he's just taking an innocent look out.  Billy, who is actually a timid cat, no longer comes in through the cat flap and won't come in the front door either, if Bertie is in view.

In reality it's the girls who rule in this house, but maybe Bertie isn't tough enough to take them on...

Princess Bella rules

Joking aside the situation is bringing out behaviour I'd rather not have and it shows me that two of my cats aren't happy.  Bertie has really gone after Billy on a few occasions and we've had to separate them. When this happens it's a while before Billy comes out of hiding.

We've also got a wee problem, literally. Bertie seems to leave me little patches and puddles and Billy has responded by spraying :(.

We have found wee in, on, or against a variety of places/items; my sons new PC tower, the front door, the back door, the living room door, the garage door, the cat tree, my laundry basket, my daughters laundry basket, the living room fire, the dining room cupboard, corners of various rooms, the bath mat, the downstairs toilet floor, my husbands sock drawer, the tumble dryer, my daughters art work....oh and my handbag.

Not only is it smelly, its damaging. 

I did a bit of online research and many sites suggest a trip to the vets, the idea being that your cat could have an illness which makes them urinate outside the litter tray.  I don't think this is the case for us, I know Bertie uses the trays.  To me this is all about marking to feel comfortable in the house.

During my 'travels' I came across a fab site in the US A house full of Cats  They basically run a sanctuary in their home and have multiple cats.

They give some great advice on multiple cat households and I was particularly interested in the Bach Flower remedies they go through. I'm currently giving Beech and Larch a try in the water bowls.  I'm also trying a plug in Feliway  in the living room.

I've also been trialing a number of cat litters to see if there are any preferences for owners or cats.  I'll be posting my findings shortly.

Here come the girls

It was a girl we needed, I was sure of it. A girl to get these boys organised and maybe one that would play with Billy to give George a break.  Billy was still so playful.  George could never keep his tail still and Billy couldn't help but pounce on it.

A young Billy goes 'Piggy fishing' when he's not chasing George's tail

My other half was less convinced telling me two cats were enough.  Even so we, my son and I, persuaded him to go to Thornberry Animal Sanctuary, 'just to look'.

Once there we went straight to the cattery, but it looked like there would be no suitable candidates for us. Almost ready to call it a day, I thought I'd just double check with the staff. It turned out they did have another girl we could look at, she was in the stable building with her sister. The problem was that they too were a pair and needed a home together.

We decided to go and meet them. As soon as the door opened a small black and white cat ran to us, tail up, rubbing round our legs and purring madly. Bella stole our hearts immediately. She was just so pretty and so affectionate. All we could see of her sister was a pair of bright orange eyes peering out from the back of a little fabric cat house.  You could almost hear Bella shouting 'pick me, ooh, pick me, pick me!' but her sister, Tinker, remained unmoved.

I looked at Andy, my son was asking if we could have them, I wanted them too. I could see Andy was finding saying no a struggle. Instead he suggested we have another walk around and think it over, so we did. We walked around and let him think it over.  I sent a text to my Daughter and told her all about the two girls.  Her response was 'If you don't bring them home, I'm not letting you in'. No doubt about her thoughts then! 

I knew we hadn't gone for two, but they would have each other for support when settling in. Bella was just lovely and Tinker just needed some tlc, which we were more than happy and capable of providing.
And so after 20 mins Andy's resolve finally crumbled and later that day the girls came home.

Abbie and Bella

Billy's room became the 'cat' room and the girls settled in quickly with toys and boxes to play with.  We were happy with the name Bella (My Daughters favourite films are Twilight) but Tinker didn't seem to fit.  A short discussion followed and we went for a name from a favourite TV show, this time Primeval, and so the two sisters became Bella and Abbie.  We gradually introduced them into the rest of the house.

At two years old they were still very playful.  They were a little hesitant around the boys for a while and regularly found the highest place in the house to look down from.

Bella and Abbie on top of a cupboard

 To begin with we started to call Bella Queen B as she definitely thought she was in charge.  Despite being very affectionate she wouldn't sit on your knee, unless you were sat on the toilet....Very odd.  She also had a strange habit of sitting upright, perfectly still and staring into space. 

Abbie on the other hand, went from a shy girl who spent a lot of time hiding, to a total sweetie who loves playing and lots of affection.  She is very often found on her Daddy's knee.

So did my plan work? Did the girls improve the relationship between Billy and George, well not straight away, but after a couple of months there was a definite change.  So much so I began thinking, maybe it would be nice to have another one...