Hello everyone, I'm looking for some advice on how best reintroduce one of my cats. The cat, Tessa, is 11 years old and is the victim of territorial aggression from some of my other cats. (We have 5 cats.) We just moved in November and prior to that she had an uneasy truce with the other cats, they would live and let live. Now she is scared to come downstairs from our bedroom, which is (understandably) leading to litterbox problems.
The main aggressor is Squish, one of my 2 male cats. When he sees her out from under the bed he will attack her, then the other cats will join in on the game. Occasionally Julius, our other male, will be the aggressor but this doesn't happen quite as often. All the other cats seem to join in whenever she is attacked, some kind of cat peer pressure or something? Occasionally the other cats will be the aggressor but this is rare.
Reading about territorial aggression, it seems like I should try to reintroduce her. But by isolating her, wouldn't that reinforce the idea that the rest of the house "belongs" to the other cats? Should I try to isolate the one or two main aggressors and handle the reintroduction that way? Most of what I read about reintroducing a cat seemed to assume that there were only two cats.
Any advice would really be appreciated!
The main aggressor is Squish, one of my 2 male cats. When he sees her out from under the bed he will attack her, then the other cats will join in on the game. Occasionally Julius, our other male, will be the aggressor but this doesn't happen quite as often. All the other cats seem to join in whenever she is attacked, some kind of cat peer pressure or something? Occasionally the other cats will be the aggressor but this is rare.
Reading about territorial aggression, it seems like I should try to reintroduce her. But by isolating her, wouldn't that reinforce the idea that the rest of the house "belongs" to the other cats? Should I try to isolate the one or two main aggressors and handle the reintroduction that way? Most of what I read about reintroducing a cat seemed to assume that there were only two cats.
Any advice would really be appreciated!