Hey, folks this is a very, very long story, so please bear with me here.
So, for a few years now we'd been noticing this big fluffy cat wandering around. With the terrible shape his coat was in, we weren't sure if he had a home half the time. We discover that he does have a home, and that his name is Bandit. They have four other animals - the grandmother cat to Bandit, and three dogs all of whom bully him, and we were told Bandit would not go into the house if the grandma cat was at the door, which is all the time.
Fast forward to a couple months ago, where my mom decides to start letting him in the house because it's getting cold out.
Well, it's been going on three full months as of today, and they don't seem to care that Bandit is gone at all, seeing as they haven't called once to ask if have him. Moreover, he appears to have adopted us; he is just the sweetest cat, and you can really tell he loves us as much as we love him. He's so much happier now, and his coat is now soft and shiny, and he is frequently primping, something he wasn't doing before. His super sweet disposition has completely stolen my heart. He is everything I ever wanted in a kitty, incredibly affectionate, a snuggler, gives kisses, purrs for no reason. (All 20+ pounds of him, he has huge paws and ears too so he isn't a small cat lol)
I have two older boys, Pogo (11) and Zippy (14 - diabetic), both of whom I've raised from kittens. In the beginning, things went as expected. Some spats, but the old boys would still roam the house freely. However, after a particularly bad nighttime spat between Pogo and Bandit, I got the idea to start locking Pogo in my room during the night, as Bandit is very attached to me in particular since I'm home all day, and had been trying to sleep with me, something Pogo wants nothing of, as my room is very much his territory.
Now, however, the boys are so afraid of Bandit that they refuse to leave the bedrooms, meaning Pogo has not been going downstairs to go potty. Zippy will, but once he goes down, he stays down, making giving him his insulin an issue. With the way they are acting, you'd think Bandit was terrorizing them day and night. That couldn't be further from the case. Plus, if anything, Pogo is the instigator since he is always growling and hissing nonstop at Bandit, who in turn chases him which Pogo does not like as he screams bloody murder every time.
I know this is on me since I started locking Pogo in my room during the night, but Zippy and Pogo are miserable, and they've also started stress peeing in my mom's closet, so now she's locking them out during the day. This situation also has me incredibly stressed out, and I've been crying nonstop because it hurts me so much to see my old men so unhappy, but at the same time Bandit is a completely different kitty now that he's actually being loved, and I really do not want to let him go.
Please, help me.
So, for a few years now we'd been noticing this big fluffy cat wandering around. With the terrible shape his coat was in, we weren't sure if he had a home half the time. We discover that he does have a home, and that his name is Bandit. They have four other animals - the grandmother cat to Bandit, and three dogs all of whom bully him, and we were told Bandit would not go into the house if the grandma cat was at the door, which is all the time.
Fast forward to a couple months ago, where my mom decides to start letting him in the house because it's getting cold out.
Well, it's been going on three full months as of today, and they don't seem to care that Bandit is gone at all, seeing as they haven't called once to ask if have him. Moreover, he appears to have adopted us; he is just the sweetest cat, and you can really tell he loves us as much as we love him. He's so much happier now, and his coat is now soft and shiny, and he is frequently primping, something he wasn't doing before. His super sweet disposition has completely stolen my heart. He is everything I ever wanted in a kitty, incredibly affectionate, a snuggler, gives kisses, purrs for no reason. (All 20+ pounds of him, he has huge paws and ears too so he isn't a small cat lol)
I have two older boys, Pogo (11) and Zippy (14 - diabetic), both of whom I've raised from kittens. In the beginning, things went as expected. Some spats, but the old boys would still roam the house freely. However, after a particularly bad nighttime spat between Pogo and Bandit, I got the idea to start locking Pogo in my room during the night, as Bandit is very attached to me in particular since I'm home all day, and had been trying to sleep with me, something Pogo wants nothing of, as my room is very much his territory.
Now, however, the boys are so afraid of Bandit that they refuse to leave the bedrooms, meaning Pogo has not been going downstairs to go potty. Zippy will, but once he goes down, he stays down, making giving him his insulin an issue. With the way they are acting, you'd think Bandit was terrorizing them day and night. That couldn't be further from the case. Plus, if anything, Pogo is the instigator since he is always growling and hissing nonstop at Bandit, who in turn chases him which Pogo does not like as he screams bloody murder every time.
I know this is on me since I started locking Pogo in my room during the night, but Zippy and Pogo are miserable, and they've also started stress peeing in my mom's closet, so now she's locking them out during the day. This situation also has me incredibly stressed out, and I've been crying nonstop because it hurts me so much to see my old men so unhappy, but at the same time Bandit is a completely different kitty now that he's actually being loved, and I really do not want to let him go.
Please, help me.