Pussy cats at war... ha it stopped or is it still going??

Hey Guys,

As some of you will be aware I am having problems with my cats fighting.

If you haven't read any of the posts I have left the short version is this:- I have 3 house cats who I have had 9, 8 n a half and 7 n a half years. Three weeks ago I had the 2 youngest spayed and after they had the stitches out they have been ganging up on the other one. I have never had this problem at all before, ot even when introductions were made.

I had them seperated, I have two feliway diffusers plugged in and have tried someone's suggestion of putting vanilla extract on the base of their tales and the top of their heads.

Haven't had to seperate them for nearly a week until tuesday when a fight kicked off in the kitchen and whn i turned round the bullied one was laying on the floor and one of the bullies had a mounthful of her fur. hence, hey were seperated on Tuesday. I left them yesterday and when I ccame home there were no signs of a fight but then I had to seperate them again this morning.

Is the fighting going to continue every so ofter or is the fact it's not adsfrequent and mainly only hissing, growing and chasing mean they are starting to sort themselves out and are on their way to being friends again?

I would be grateful if anyone has any more suggestions or words of wisdom

It's a good idea to call your vet and tell him that the behavior started after the surgery. Perhaps the bully is in pain or something is physically wrong inside her.

The new cats are going to smell differently; not only from being back from the vet, but from their hormones being different.

This has created a new situation from the cats point of view.

I'd try reintroducing them. Separating them and letting them get used to each other again, gradually, might help.

Thanks for reading and your input you two.

Yayi... I called the vet over a week ago who advised me to get the feliway diffuser. I now have 2 but they told me it could take up to 4 weeks to work. Also, it's both cats that have recently been spayed that are bullying the other one.

Werebear... They have been seperated and I am letting them inge with each other more and more.

They were find for a good few days and then they just started fighting again. The bullied one is sometimes clearly too scared to go into the kitchen to eat or to go and use the litter tray.

There has only been one occasion this week where there has been fur all over the floor but the hissing and growling has happened on more than one occasion. As long as there is no fur flying does that mean they are starting to get better??

The fact that they are not fighting can mean things have gotten better, but can also mean the cats have switched to forms of bullying that are less obvious to humans.

Litterbox guarding is a well known method of "passive warfare" in cats. You don't see any fighting but boy is the affected cat bothered You'd do well to provide the bullied cat with an extra box in a safe place, if cats are holding it in it can lead to medical problems and sometimes to inappropriate elimination elsewhere.

Try to give the bullied cat a sense of security as much as you can. You can wipe cotton balls across her face (to get pheromones from the glands under her eyes/corner of her mouth) and place them around the house to spread her "safe smell", it works a bit like the feliway does. You can also give her blankets/towels to sleep on and after a while reposition those around the house for her own smell. Provide cardboard boxes/paper bags at strategic points to flee into when she is being harassed.

Thanks for that Mimosa!

I have got two litter trays on the go at the moment. One of them is in the lounge where tatty currently doesn't go as itsy and mischief spend most of their time in there. I have tried giving them all an unwashed jumper of mine to sleep on and swapped them around so they all get a go. That doesn't seem to be doing the trick though. I have two feliway difussers plugged in (one in lounge and one in spare room) and have tried the thing with the vanilla extract. I am running out of things to do though. I am tryng to make tatty feel safe when we're not at home by shutting the other two in the living room so she can wander round and pick up their smell.

Is there anything else I should be trying?

You could try bathing them all in the same shampoo. They'll all smell the same that way. My vet has a policy that any animal that stays overnight has to have a bath in a certain shampoo before they go home. It makes them smell funny. The vanilla extract is supposed to work the same way so maybe I'm wasting space on this post but I guess it's worth a try.

Is the third cat fixed also?

If not, that could be a point of contention.

Yes, the thi cat i fixed.

She still had he stitches when I got her nearly 9 years ago. That and the fact that ss had bent wiskas is the reason I called her Tatty. Although we now affectionately call her 'cattitude' (she's a tortie so that may explain why!!)

Ok guys,

Here's the latest!

There is no longer any fighting, fur flying, hissing or growling going on. Tatty will now tolerate the other 2 being in the same room as her. This morning she was sitting on the floor in the bedroom when itsy very cautiously crept up to her and they both had a little sniff then gave each other a kiss (Ahhhh). Also, Tatty was sitting on the chest of drawers (again, in the bedroom (this seems to be her safe room at the mo)) while Mischief was having one of her mad half hours during which she went tearing into the bedroom and up onto the chest of drawers and Tatty didn't batter an eyelid.

Needless to say, there is definate inprovement but does anyone have any ideas now off how to give them a helping hand (or paw as the case may be) to help speed up the process of them all being firm friends again?