Cat growling/hissing after vet trip

I have searched the threads and have found some answers as to why my cat is behaving strangely, but I feel many of you are quite versed in cat behavior, so I just wanted to tell the whole story in case anone has any other suggestions.

I have 2 cats, choctaw, a domestic medium hair (runt!) who is 2 and sox, a russian blue who is also 2. choctaw got sick this week and obviously sox was not going anywhere near her. choctaw seemed to be getting better, but we took her to the vet just to make sure. when we brought choctaw home, sox commenced growling and hissing at choctaw. they cannot be in the same room together or even cross paths, as sox growls and hisses constantly. the thing is, my husband tells me that choctaw hissed at sox first and now sox is doing all the hissing and growling.

i understand that first of all, choctaw was sick and sox would probably not want to be around her. i also understand that the new smell choctaw has is bothering sox which is making her behave that way. my question is, will this end soon? i once took choctaw outside and didnt take sox, and sox did the same thing to choctaw, but it ended after a day or 2. i feel so bad for choctaw because i know she is stressed and weak from being sick and i cant see sox's behavior helping her recovery. i read to put tuna fish juice on my hands and pet them both with it and i did that, but it didnt seem to help. should i separate them? there have not been (as far as i have seen) any injuries or attacks, but i am scared that that behavior may ensue. they have lived together since they were 8 weeks old, and although they play fight sometimes, they really are best friends. i know this has been a long and drawn out post, but i have lost a lot of sleep lately worrying about these guys. any insight?

Usually in a case like that it is the vet "smell" that drives the other cats in the house to think that an "intruder" is in the house.

It should settle down affter a couple of days. Besides that, the cat that went to the vet also "smells" different and they do not recognize them

When I brought Tammy-Timmy home from being spayed, Peter, the one who loved her and let her lick him and groom him, wouldn't let her near him. She didn't know what happened. Now, everything is back to normal. Took about three days.

What I do is put a few dabs of vanilla extract on the back of both kitty's necks. This makes them smell the same to each other, and drops down the aggression VERY quickly - within an hour of getting back from his neuter, Ginger was no longer growling, hissing or trying to attack Ferris.

Give it a try!!! It works GREAT!!!

Thank you so much for your replies! my cats, too, took very good care of each other, ie., licking, grooming, etc., and i know choctaw doesnt understand, in addition to recovering from being ill. it hasnt even been 24 hours yet, so i will give it a few days and try some vanilla as well. thank you!

Originally Posted by nikita

Thank you so much for your replies! my cats, too, took very good care of each other, ie., licking, grooming, etc., and i know choctaw doesnt understand, in addition to recovering from being ill. it hasnt even been 24 hours yet, so i will give it a few days and try some vanilla as well. thank you!

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Please don't wait to try the vanilla extract - it might turn things right around for you! It doesn't hurt them, and the bonus is - they smell like cookies for a while afterward!!!

Seriously, it had my babies getting along after a rough start within a matter of just a couple of hours.

Plus, I learned about using vanilla from TCS people!!! It really works!!!

im going out to get it right now!

Hope the vanilla does the trick for you.

This is the very reason that when either Bijou or Mika have a vet appointment we take them both and keep them together during the examination. Then they both still smell the same. Having Mika there seems to also help Bijou stay calm.

hmm, it hasnt worked so far. ive done it a few times (the vanilla) and the hissing is still going on. i talked to my vet yesterday (choctaws blood tests were negative, so im happy about that) and the vet said to cover them both in the same blanket and that hasnt worked either. its been 48 hrs since the vet trip. lately, the other cat, after hissing, etc., begins a staring contest, staring choctaw down. either choctaw is scared or sad, because she just closes her eyes and goes to sleep (or pretends to).

is there a certain amount of vanilla i should be using and how often should i do it? should one time have sufficed?

ps, i have now quite learned to bring them both to the vet at the same time!

Your kitties will get over this, they just need to get re-aquainted. I just had my 2 kittens spayed and their 2 y/o "big brother" refused to go near them for a couple of days. Lots of hissing & growling; now it's as if nothing ever happened.
I tried the vanilla extract trick when we adopted a new kitten a few weeks ago; didn't work for me, either.
Please try not to worry; your kitties will be best buds again before you know it.

Well, I used enough vanilla on my two that they both seriously smelled like cookies, and that TOTALLY did the trick for me - I didn't mean to steer you wrong, but I guess that just like Feliway doesn't work for all kitties, I guess vanilla must not always work either.