I was giving Anna her breakfast today when a couple of things happened. She was sitting on the sofa back right near the door. First Davout grabbed and pinned Sherman right at the doorway. Then Grant came up and Rhea behind him…all four right in the hall in front of her.
Anna didn’t hiss or even growl. I was very proud of her as she just made little chirrup meows. Even when Grant came in past everyone, then past the sofa behind her, she did not react.
Then Rhea made her move, low running forward in then vaulting up onto the sofa arm and getting into a smacky war with poor Anna. Unlike most of the last 4600 times, Anna hadn’t provoked her at all! Then Rhea jumped aside down as I started to intervene and got close to poor Grant, who then got a few smacks on the side of his own!
I scruffed Rhea and carried her off to cool down and close the door for Anna. It has been a bit since the last scuffle.
Grant soon recovered from being unfairly attacked, if he even minded in the first place.
Avoiding scuffles like this is why the Marshal makes the effort to stop cats from getting into her room.
Grant was just now chasing Rhea up and down the stairway just now, so any insult is already forgotten.
ThreeCatYard 
Poor Anna. It seems like all she wants is to be left alone, or at least to have her personal space respected and that doesn’t happen unless she’s isolated. Rhea’s a doll, but usually strikes me as pushy and confrontational, at least with respect to Anna. Davout, on the other hand, is a darling little gentleman, and Grant is just simply cute.
A couple of my cats had the same baffling dynamics, but eventually worked it out, fortunately.
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Well, Rhea is pushy *now*, but early on when Anna was first let out to explore the upstairs she was polite enough. They both were curious and came close, and Anna hissed and hissed at them when they did nothing – for months and years on end. Anna has done the same with the new kittens, and Harrison too. Rhea has a bit of resentment of that built up, apparently, or she thinks it is fun to make Anna run and cry.
It seems the kittens has tended to make Rhea focus less on Anna, which might help Anna relax in the end. But Anna is unique in my experience in having some deep issues that aren’t going away quickly.
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