brother attacking sister

prague-lions

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Hi folks. Love the site, this is our first post.

We've got a lovely brother and sister team, about three years old, both well cared for and loved all their lives. Bubbles (boy) was neutered right when he started spraying and didn't spray again. Pida (girl) was neutered right after her first trip into horny-land. They're both indoor cats (we live in an appartment) and he's a big guy (6kilos) while she's much smaller.

Well, over the last year or so Bubs has been getting wilder and wilder, their play-fights have turned into frequent bug-eyed, big-tailed attacks on Pida (she's always trying to get away). He has torn her ear, put a few scars down her nose, and regularly pulls out large clufts of fur. We've responded by yelling and screaming at him when he does it, locking him up in the other room, and ignoring him after each attack. He's so used to this that he attacks her then heads straight to the other room.

But he has found another way to show his displeasure - spraying all over the house. They've got one big litter box that we clean daily and we're getting another one as we speak.

From what I've read I'm seeing that he's probably stressed out at being punished for attacking Pida and for spraying (I won't yell at him any more when he sprays), but how do we get him to quit attacking Pida without punishing him and thus raising his stress levels above the spray point?

Sorry for the long post...

J+B
 

jennyr

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Hi and welcome. You may already have done this, but I would get them both to the vet for a physical check, just to rule anything out that might be changing the smell of one or both cats. That would set off fights. Yelling and punishing won't work, as you have discovered! I am sure someone more knowledgeable on behaviour will be along soon, but I hope you get it sorted.
 

goldenkitty45

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Yes, I'd have a complete physical for him - something is wrong. Also there might be another tom cat around that can trigger the spraying and aggressiveness.

Is there a way you can confine him to one room and slowly re-introduce them? You also might want to put a tiny bit of Bitter Apple spray on the back of the neck/head (where she cannot lick herself). That should discourage him from biting her.
 

bab-ush-niik

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Two thoughts:

1) If the vet check is ok, get some Feliway to help calm them down.

2) Instead of yelling, hiss. It always worked for me with Patches and Princess. Yelling never stopped the fight, but they understood hissing really well.
 

momofmany

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Perhaps get a second litter box so that they don't need to share one? The rule of thumb is one per cat plus an extra box, and sharing 1 box might start litterbox wars. I agree with having them checked out by a vet. I had brothers that started fighting with each other after 8 years - turned out 1 of them was sick with a heart condition.

Have you found the introducing new cats thread? You might need to start over with these 2, even though they have lived together for 3 years.
 
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