weird behavior after getting cat neutered

karma

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Hi - I apologize if this has been addressed elsewhere on the board, if so please direct me to the previous post...

We have 2 cats, one male (Jack) & one female (Bleu). Our female was spayed about a year ago and we just had our boy neutered yesterday (he just turned 1 yr old this month). Previously the two got along famously, they played together, bathed each other, etc, etc. But ever since we brought Jack cat home from the vet, Bleu has been treating him like he has the plague. She won't go anywhere near him. She's not hissing at him but she acts as though he's a strange cat that she doesn't know. All Jack is doing is laying around and sleeping, poor thing, but once he starts feeling better he'll probably try to approach her and I'm afraid that she'll react poorly. Just earlier he was curled up in the corner asleep and she slinked in, all sniffing suspiciously, got within about 5' of him and nervously backed up and left the room.

Is this because Jack smells weird from being at the vet? Should we give him a good bath and get the smell of "other" cat off of him? Or is it because he was neutered and his pheromones are different? Will Bleu have to get to know him all over again?

Is this a common occurrence in multpile cat households? This is the first time that we've ever owned more than one kitty at a time.

Anything that we can do to help them reacquaint? Should we treat it as if we're introducing them again for the first time?

Any insights/help/advice would be much appreciated!! THANKS!
 

snake_lady

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Originally Posted by karma

Is this because Jack smells weird from being at the vet? Should we give him a good bath and get the smell of "other" cat off of him? Or is it because he was neutered and his pheromones are different? Will Bleu have to get to know him all over again?

Is this a common occurrence in multpile cat households? This is the first time that we've ever owned more than one kitty at a time.

Anything that we can do to help them reacquaint? Should we treat it as if we're introducing them again for the first time?

Any insights/help/advice would be much appreciated!! THANKS!
This seems to be a fairly common occurance. Personally, I believe its smells from the vet (antiseptics/other animals/the good ol' hospital like smell) and in a few days things should ease up.

I wouldn't give him a bath yet, but if things don't ease up between them, I would give them both a bath so they smell the same. Or you could try dabbing a little vanilla on each of them to accomplish the same thing.

In most cases, the kitties will be back to themselves in a week or so.
 

plebayo

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It's definitley the smells coming from the vet clinic. The anesthesia, the towels they wrap them in, the scrub they use, everything. They should go back to normal within the next few days. When I had two cats Napolean would always hiss at my other cat when he came home from the vet. My other cat just ignored him but Napolean hates the vet so he didn't like the smell.
 
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