Scoobi is Angry and Harley is Scared

I'm writing for my daughter because she claims tcs baffles her.

She has two male cats that are around 7 and 8 years old. Harley is a big black and white cuddly mischief-maker. Scoobi is a black muscly guy -- also very devoted to my daughter -- but always wants to let Harley know who's boss.

Yesterday she let them outside for a few minutes. Just near the front door of her apartment which opens onto a garden area. Immediately Scoobi got into a fight with a neighbor's female cat. She brought them in right away but Scoobi started fighting Harley who ran for his favorite hidey spot under her bed.

This morning when Harley came out for breakfast, Scoobi attacked him again. Then while she was showering, they fought so much that some of Harley's whiskers were torn out and he was bleeding. The whole apartment (small one-bedroom) was messed up.

She left Scoobi in the bathroom and Harley in the rest of the apartment except the bedroom. Harley pees in there when he gets nervous. She cuddled both of them and went to work late. She was gone 14 hours.

When she got home and opened the bathroom door, Scoobi jumped out and attacked Harley again. Now he's back in the bathroom.

She's confused about what to do and I suggested asking you guys for suggestions. All I can offer is to keep them separated for a few days with as much cuddling time as possible. Of course that means one of them has to be separated at night which is their main cuddling time.

Can you help?

Just curious as to what color the cat was he got in a fight with? Does it look like his "brother"?

I suggest she try this:

1. Sprinkle both boys with cornstarch baby powder and rub it in their coats.

2. Put a dab of vanilla extract on their chins and at the base of the tail.


I'm assuming both boys are neutered And I would be sure to trim their nails so no further damage is done (clawing). And keep them inside. Something outside trigger it; whether it was the fight or chemicals, or another cat in heat.

Looks like a case of redirected aggression to me.

In a mild case of redirected aggression, Scoobi should be back to normal in a few days following your advise. And also they must be separated when unsupervised. She must watch Scoobi when they are together and at the first sign of aggression (staring at Harley, Harley will begin to get upset and backs up) she must banish Scoobi making sure Harley sees her doing this. Reward Scoobi when he treats Harley properly.
In bad cases of r.a., the cats will have to be reintroduced. Hopefully this is not the case here.
Oh yeah, please tell your daughter that it may not be smart to let them out again to avoid another incident in the garden.

Thanks guys. The girl cat that Scoobi was fighting with is a dainty grey cat, Harley is a big black and white boy. She thinks Scoobi might be jealous of his brother because Harley gets along well with other cats, and makes friends and Scoobi doesn't like that. He gets jealous. Oh, she calls them brothers, but they're not really. They have been together since Harley was about a year old and Scoobi was about six months.

Trimming their claws is a really good ideal. I forgot all about that. We'll definitely try the vanilla thing, too.

Harley was standing right next to the little girl cat, so seeing him could very well trigger the aggression.

This is is awful. My daughter is so used to them being loving and good to her. All three of them usually sleep in a big purring heap and they love to watch movies on TV together. She is almost crying about this.

Thanks for your ideas.

If the tips Goldenkitty gave don`t work, she may have to introduce them to each other again as if they have never met. Such a shame for them to be fighting.

Does she have any Feliway diffussers she can use?

As of this afternoon, Scoobi is still being very aggressive. Crystal locked Harley in the bedroom and let Scoobi out of the bathroom. Scoobi was ignoring Crystal and spending all his energies trying to pry open the bedroom door.

It's just breaking her heart.

Things should be better by now. However, I'm beginning to think that something may be wrong with Harley (medically). Sometimes when a cat is sick and doesn't show it, another cat will sense things are wrong and "attack" the sick one.

Perhaps your daughter should make an appointment with the vet for Harley and have him checked out (including bloodwork).

Scoobi finally calmned down some and took up his post laying on Crystal while she watched TV. She described him as "a puddle of cat" so he must be a lot more relaxed.

Things are looking up.

She opened the bedroom door and Scoobi just stood there. Harley was standing on the other side, but he's a little nervous about Scoobi now and he hissed and ducked back under the bed.

To be on the safe side, I really would have Harley checked out

Crystal is reading your posts and wants me to say how much she appreciates your support and help. She just called on her way to work -- it is 7:30 here.

She said Harley slept in the bedroom with her and Scoobi was in the rest of the apartment. Harley didn't sleep well. He was nervous about Scoobi on the other side of the door. He purred a lot and biscuited her a lot and was generally nervous.

At 5:30am Scoobi decided it was breakfast time and started putting his paw under the door. Harley hissed at this paw at first, but finally let Scoobi put his nose under without hissing. Then Crystal opened the door. They were okay until the food went down then Harley started hissing and Scoobi started looking angry, etc. Scoobi had to go in to the shut up bedroom to eat his food. There is a kitty litter in there so he's set for the day.

There has been progress. Crystal's encouraged. She thinks they will find their way back together. I think it's better for Scoobi to be in the bedroom because the windows looking on the garden where all the trouble started are in the living room and kitchen.

If you have any more tips please keep them coming.

oh goodness! I hope things turn out well it would be a huge shame for them to not be close anymore things go well

It's over!!!

TCS vibes worked again

Scoobie acts like he does't even remember ever being angry. Keeps his tail straight up and wants to be friends with Harley. Harley OTOH is suspicious. He hisses at Scoobie, but doesn't attack.

They"re both hanging out with Mom, though. It looks like things will be back to normal very soon.

Thanks to all of you for your tips and support.