When I moved here, my cat Onyx decided to target my bedroom for all her attentions. One sheepskin mat and a lot of bedding later, I banned her from there for all time. She's mainly an outside cat anyway, so it's not too much of a bother, but if she comes inside, she knows not to go there - hasn't even tried lately.

It looks like soon I might be inheriting my son's cat Bella, as they are moving back to Sydney and renting a flat. So I will have two black cats - both females. I'll be watching out for possible bad behaviour during the settling in period.

Experience tells me that just because they are females does not guarantee that there won't be trouble. A few years ago, a friend moved in with her old female cat to where I was living at the time. Onyx didn't seem too worried, although it was a bit of a standoff, but the other cat acted in a very hostile way, and started leaving messages all over the house, and the smell was very hard to get rid of. I have yet to find a product that really works. I really hope I won't need to look for one again.

Jenny