I know what you mean about having a cat jump right into the middle of food you are preparing, it's far, far worse than simply having cats who get up on the counter. I yell at them when they are on the counter, which is quite rare, I screamed blue murder and chased when one jumped into my food - they all hid, but only for about two minutes so I didn't feel too guilty.

As others have said, we know you have done your level best to work with these two cats but you have to have safe living conditions for all of you and so comes the compromise. I now have an outdoor cat (a former beaten up stray tom who sprays a lot outside) who used to be mainly indoor, outside in the daytime only when the weather was fine. After his companion, Macduff, died early last year he started spending more and more time outside even in bad weather. Then he disappeared for several weeks. We've now compromised that I will feed him well each evening, bring him inside for July 4 and snowstorms, keep his shots up to date, and he will visit me every day so I can feel reassured that he is surviving. I know he's good around cars and racoons because I've watched him (I live in a very quiet suburb which borders untouched wild areas) but I worry every time I come home and he isn't waiting on the bench.

Good luck to all three of you!