For the first month while Evelyn was still here my husband and I stayed in the upstairs bedroom with our two cats. After that, Evelyn moved out to temporary housing (where she cannot have her cat) and we moved our things to the main floor master bedroom. There are two bedrooms upstairs: the room we were staying in, and what was the guest bedroom. We have moved the furniture so that the room we were staying in (which is larger) is now the guest bedroom. The old guest room is now empty and being prepped for our baby's nursery. When we moved our things downstairs our cats came with us. We then moved her cat upstairs to the larger guest room.
A little info on the cats:
Her cat, Pita, is 12yrs old, female, smaller, gray, has her claws and was my husband's brother's cat until a few months before we moved in (he had a new baby and his girlfriend insisted on getting rid of the cat). Pita has always been very vocal and demanding of food/snuggles/whatever she wants. She previously lived with another cat her entire life, who she would attack and terrorize. She was happy to be alone for a few months upon moving in with Evelyn.
My cats are 6 and 7yrs old and have moved many times (6 or 7). They typically take a few days to adjust and then are just fine. My 6yr old is a small female Maine Coon named Luscious. She is outgoing, playful and a hunter. She has a hard time being cooped up in one room, needing lots of space to play and roam. My 7yr old is a female tuxedo named Fabulous. She is more timid and relaxed, preferring to laze around all day looking out the window. Luscious will try to play/fight with her sometimes but they get along for the most part, occasionally I even find them grooming each other. Now that they are in the master bedroom, Fabulous won't leave the room (unless I pick her up and move her, which she then runs back to the bedroom) but Luscious happily explores the entire house. Both of my cats have their claws as well.
We tried to slowly introduce the cats after a week or two of living in the house. Pita immediately attacked Fabulous, who then hid for hours. We separated them after that. A few times Pita has gotten out, each time getting into a fight with Luscious. Luscious doesn't seem to care that Pita is upstairs, but definitely holds her ground and "wins" a fight with Pita when it has happened. I have found Pita's gray hair underneath Luscious's nails and tufts of hair on the floor near where they were. There hasn't been any blood or injuries, other than a few scratches. When I have found them they are no longer fighting, just standing their ground/one hiding. To avoid them fighting again we now keep Pita behind a closed door. Previously, she was just barricaded upstairs to roam freely, but she quickly learned to escape. (When my cats were upstairs they were fine and didn't try to escape.)
I have regularly been sharing their time in the common areas of the house. I would prefer to not do this but Pita meows nonstop from upstairs and I can hear her pacing around the room. So I typically would let her out after breakfast and then put her back upstairs after dinner time. During this time my cats are in the master bedroom. Pita sits outside the door, watching, growling, and clawing at the carpet (she has also clawed the upstairs carpet under the door). We had to put plastic over the carpet because she dug holes. I have tried blocking the door, she moved things, removes tape, pulls up the sticky paws stuff, walks over the foil, etc. She is relentless. I even tried a pheromone collar, which did nothing. Additionally, the only time she happy (ever) is if I let her sit on my lap and I pet her. other than that she meows nonstop, follows me around, and even hisses at me and swats at my legs and feet.
Recently my husband and I discovered that she has sprayed two corners in the nursery upstairs. My cats haven't been in there and so we know it was Pita. We are also discovering the living room has 10-15 spots that have been sprayed/urinated (it's on the carpet not the wall), the dining room has a few spots and I think I smell something in the basement. I am sure that it is Pita because she is angry all the time. However, Luscious could be spraying the living room also... I'm not sure. We've tried cleaning the nursery carpet with everything and it still smells. My next attempt (probably should've been the first attempt) is going to be Natures Miracle which I need to go buy.
With our baby on the way, I really don't want to be stressing over this cat, but I don't know what to do. I'm ready to just keep her locked upstairs until she goes and deal with hearing her meowing. I hate that she is unhappy, but I don't want to let her roam around spraying the house. I am trying to get ready for our baby and don't want to spend all of my time cleaning up cat pee. My poor Fabulous is so scared that she won't even come out of the bedroom. Before we had moved the letterbox into the master bedroom (it was just outside the door in the living room) she wouldn't even leave the room to use the litter box. She peed on the bathroom floor and even jumped into bed with me one morning and pooped on the end of the bed. She has never not used the litter box.
I hate having unhappy kitties and hate being stressed about this.
should I be doing something differently?? I've even considered cleaning all the cat pee (if I can) and taking Pita to a cat boarding place for the last 4-5 weeks, or to a friends (if I can find someone to take her). Do you have any suggestions?
