Advice on cats and dogs co-living?

So we have 4 cats and 3 dogs (excessive, I know but they’re all family!) and they don’t exactly get on great. One of our cats, who most recently joined the family after my Grandad passing, is absolutely terrified of the dogs and will tremble, hide and attack them if they come close to her. The other cats can be in the same room as the dogs and be fine, sometimes even cuddling. However we have a problem with the dogs chasing them out and obviously this causes the cats a lot of stress.

We moved about 4/5 months ago and adjusting has been pretty difficult for the cats. When we lived in our old place, there was a window the cats would exit out of onto a flat roof and onto a fence to take themselves outside. In the new place, their only exit is through a hallway to the back garden and the dogs will just chase them. This has stopped the cats from both coming in and leaving the house and both come with their own problems. One cat barely comes in anymore and we have to make the effort to take her in ourselves. Two other cats (one being my Grandad’s cat) won’t leave the house at all unless we put them out and this is making them do their business all over the upstairs of our house even with accessible litter trays. My Grandad’s cat is particularly troublesome and will hide under floors so she can’t be found and when she’s put out into our garden, she somehow ends up at our front door yowling which is worrying as we live by busy roads. The other cat actually isn’t too bothered thankfully. The cats are essentially living upstairs with my sister and I and the dogs are living downstairs.

We’re desperately needing some kind of solution to this as myself and my sister living upstairs in the house can’t deal with the cleaning up and the smell any longer. We were fine putting them outside during the summer time but it’s starting to get pretty cold now so this isn’t an option. We’ve got an insulated shed at the side of the house which would be fine for the cats but it’s getting the access to it for them which is the struggle as they still have to try and get past the dogs in the house. We try and keep the dogs shut into a room while trying to get the cats out but the cats don’t even want to pass the dogs in a closed room. We’ve considered outdoor kennels as well but as mentioned it gets pretty cold here so it wouldn’t be fair on any of them. We’re really trying to think of ways to give the cats their own space so they can feel relaxed and secure but also so they’ve got access to the garden. Wondering if anybody has their own little sanctuary for their cats or dogs? Or ways that they separate their cats from their dogs? Or any other helpful advice to stop them from wrecking our house?

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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/da4hhv/advice_on_cats_and_dogs_coliving/