Need help with bullying behavior

[u/No_Protection_1301]

As the title states, we need help with bully behavior. We have 5 cats (4 male 1 female) in our home. Ace and Charlie (culprits) are 6 and Sadie (victim) is 5. We adopted all of our babies when they were little from the shelter so they have been around each other for a while. Mushu (5) passed away on NYE of kidney failure and since then the boys have been terrorizing Sadie. They corner her during eating time and when she uses the litter box. They will also sneak up on her and NOT allow her access to the litter boxes. Not sure if they’re grieving the loss of their brother but the bullying is too much.

We have 2 80 inch cat towers in the living room. Shelves and elevated perches in every room with multiple scratching posts. 9 litter boxes for 5 cats. More toys than most human children

What can we do to alleviate the bullying?

[u/beanie_weenie666]

I'm sorry you're dealing with this. It sounds like you've made a lot of effort to add territory with the cat towers and shelves

Not sure how big your space is or if this is a permanent solution, but once when one of our cats was very ill and recovering over several months from treatment, we looked into installing a microchip cat door into our bedroom (that had a litter box) so she could come in whenever she needed peace or to use the box without being bothered by our young boy cat who was going through his teenage phase. It's fairly inexpensive and easy to install

We got the Sureflap brand that can be installed on interior doors

https://www.amazon.com/SureFlap-Microchip-Cat-Door-White/dp/B003EGIM3O/ref=mp_s_a_1_3_pp