Dont know where to start with this. Could give the whole backstory, but that would be quite LLLLOOOONNNNNGGGG.

Guess Im just looking for some input from people who've ended up needing to keep their cats totally separate - is it possible to establish some sort of routine and for them to just settle down and be OK with it without fussing and complaining? How exactly have you set up your home/routine?

Ive had them 8 years, were great friends at first but for the past 5 Ive been having to break them up periodically to do the whole reintroduction thing. So then what happens, ev seems ok.... for awhile.... and then all hell breaks loose. Screaming catfights, sometimes drawing blood. Most recently the one that gets picked on started cowering and developing twitchy cat symptoms really bad (google hyperesthesia - I didnt know there was such a thing

But before the blow ups, I am now seeing the subtle signs of tension building up between them that werent obvious to me before reading Pam Johnson and other current cat behavior books. The aggressor is just totally obsessed with stalking the other one and no matter where he goes, if he's sleeping or sitting somewhere, the aggressor just has to push him away. All he has to do now is poke with his paw and the other one just backs down. I recently got some nice cushions and set them around and that dang aggressor has to control all of them - so annoying.

And before anyone suggests it - no, I cant just let them "fight it out" - they can and have drawn blood, and its usually been that of the non aggressor.

I have a screen door to block off some rooms and tall baby gate in another place that the aggressor cat cannot jump over but the other (non-aggressor) can. I have a 600 sf apartment, about 900 sf basement, and a back yard cat enclosure - so there should be enough room to do this.

Any way.... if theres anyone out there who's lived this nightmare... could I get some feedback ? What Im wondering is how, or if you've managed to get it going as a routine so your lnot spending literally HOURS of your day trying to manage the situation and herd cats back and forth into different rooms. Im now having to give attention to each separately so neither feels neglected or that Im favoring one or the other.

Yes it may come to finding a new home for one or the other but thought id make one last ditch effort here. (They are both around 10-12, w some slight health issues... if they were younger Id have no hesitation about just going ahead and re-homing.)

Thx!