Cats Were Best Friends. Now They Hate Each Other

My 2 & 3 year old siamese cats, who used to be best friends...sleeping together, cleaning each other, playing nicely...now all of a sudden hate each other.

It all started just over a week ago. I came home after being away for two days, and found them fighting horribly. Screaming and fur flying.

The eldest cat (Turbo), who is also about 7 pounds lighter than the youngest (Snickers), is being bullied terribly by Snickers. As soon as Turbo sees him he hisses at him. As soon as Snickers sees or hears Turbo, he attacks.

Snickers is constantly hunting Turbo, and just won't leave him alone for a minute.

I've tried locking Snickers in a room when he's bad (an entire weekend last weekend), without success. He came out and instantly attacked. I've tried Feliway (diffuser and spray) without any success. I've tried spraying him with a water bottle...he runs away for a minute or two, then starts back up. I've tried just leaving them alone to work it out, but it's just not getting any better.

Turbo has slept with me for the past two nights with the door closed, but Snickers just meows and scratches the door all night.

I'm now officially at my wits end. What else can I try before I have to give one of them to a friend or family member to look after? My house is being torn about, and I haven't had more than 3 hours sleep a night for over a week.

TIA

Lance

Forget to add...both are neutered and both are indoor only cats. I've got about 2500 sq feet in my house that they have access to.

Hello,

I am very sorry they are not getting along at the moment. The cause could really be from many things. One of them could possibly be sick and is not smelling like he is suppose to.

They could have spotted another cat outside and are having an issue with redirected aggression.

What I would suggest you do, is completely separate them. You need to have them vet checked to make sure neither are sick. Cats who are sick, many times, will not show any symptoms.

I will enclose some links for you on some things you can do to help reintrouce them again. Good Luck!

Stopping Cat Aggression

Introducing new cats to old

I agree with Pami, and it also occurs to me that if they did have a fight while you were gone (because of the redirected aggression thing, which might have been exacerbated because of their anxiety over your absence) and one or both of them got hurt, that could have caused a grudge.

I would go over each of them carefully, smoothing their fur backward to see if you find any scratches. Then I'd take them both to the vet for a checkup, in case some other kind of illness is going on.

The reintroduction process Pami's referring to, especially the scent exchanges, should really help. Good luck!