The Animal House from WAMU 88.5

I need to mention first that I am a member of the local SPCA and have served on the board and I have been involved in rescue my entire life. We always had at least 5-6 cats in the house (we only owned two) and 2-3 dogs (we only owned 1). Every animal is automatically veted; spayed, neutered, and vacinated. When introducing a new cat or dog into the household, give the responsibilty for the new animal to the existing animals, and I mean literally telling the existing animals that they are responsible for the newcomer. Second, ignore the newcomer. People have a tendancy to pay too much attention to the new animal and ignore or lessen the attention to the existing animals. If anything, pay more attention to the existing animals. It will lessen the stress on the existing animals. The animals will sort it out - it usually takes about 5 days.
With respect to the litter box, I have never had litter boxes for each cat, and have never had a litter box issue. The problem with liter boxes is that people don't change the litter. Clay is better than clumping, in that clumping litter can cause intestinal blockage. Change the liter totaly, and clean the liter box. I use spray bathroom cleaner to sanitize the liter box after emptying and refilling. Cats will not use a dirty liter box.
I had a cat that moved in and adopted me. His name was Merlin (he was myopic and his eyes glowed in the light.) In the evening and on the weekends when hubby is glued to the television set, give him the cat brush and have him brush the cat while he watches television. It will provide a source of connection between him and the cat, and a way to destress the cat when his person goes away. Be sure she tells the cat before she leaves that she will be back and when she will be back and to look after the house and the husband. If the problem persists, and there is no other cause (ie the couple fights before she leaves), have the cat veted and checked out for health isuses (ie urinary etc).
Treat all your animals as if they were toddlers. If your cats periodically fight, place your hand fingers spread and palm exposed between the two cats to break their eye contact. They should stop fighting. Verbally tell them that to stop - talk to them as if they were toddlers. This does work. A cat moved underneath my neighbor's outbuilding and had two sets of kittens. I set traps, and trapped them. The kittens from the second litter were about 5 weeks when I trapped them. They weren't quite weaned. It took 5 minutes to gently them. I weaned them, veted them and got them adopted. The second liter took me almost an hour to gentle (gentle is where you can take the kitten with you and walk down the street and into Petsmart exc nestled into your neck.) The mature cats took longer. Sing and talk to the cats. It does work. Every one got adopted but one of the kittens from the first liter, who I still have. Her name is Sasha. She has a beautiful trill and has totally bonded with my lab. My cat Matilda, who is very possessive of me and suffered from severe seperation anxiety when I rescued her as a kitten will periodically spat with Sasha - usually it is for my attention when I come home at night - and this is how I end it. The spat usually lasts less than a minute, and I still get kitty kisses from both of the girls. But you need to remember that your children fought with each other when they were growing up and how you dealt with their squabling. Please tell people there is no such thing as a feral cat - cats are domesticated animals. Feral cats are domesitcated animals who have been thrown away and or/ been abused by their people, and have been forced to fend for and protect themselves from predators.
The eyeglasses has the owner's scent on them. The cat is going for that scent. It is the same issue for cats that steal your socks from the laundry. Keep your glasses in cases, and try substituting something else with your scent on it that is safe for them to chew on, like a pink pearl eraser.