Sudden aggression in my cat

luvmy2cats

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My cat Sissy has had a rough month so I suppose that could be the cause but I'd like some other opinions. She was the most laid back and mellow cat but over the past month she was in heat for seven days, then she got sick (vomiting due to constipation and possible enteritis according to the vet). Once she got back from the vet she started eating and drinking without vomiting the next day and the day after she had a bowl movement. After she came out of heat she started lashing out at her sister and once she got sick I figured that was why. Earlier this week she seemed to be in a better mood but the other morning she lashed out at my husband as he was petting her and she just lashed out at me for petting her (she was near her sister at the time). I was shocked and frankly heart broken when she lashed out at me because she has never ever been even slightly angry with me. Her sister is currently in heat so I don't know if that could be irritating Sissy or not. We have been keeping her sister in a spare bedroom with food, water and a litter box and also letting her out frequently. 
 

Columbine

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I'm so sorry to hear that Sissy's had a rough time recently. That alone could account for at least some of her lashing out. One thing I can say for certain is that Sissy is NOT angry with you OR your husband. What you're experiencing is most likely to be a form of redirected aggression, and this will be linked into the stress she's been under whilst she's been ill.

Her sister being in heat may well be unsettling her too. It's just possible that she's connecting being in heat with being unwell, and so is attacking her sister when she smells those same hormonal changes in her. Remember that 'cat logic' is NOT the same as 'human logic', and they can make erroneous cause and effect connections - especially when stressed, scared or sick. One of the commonest examples of this is litterbox avoidance due to pain from urinary tract issues; the cat will connect the pain to the litterbox itself, rather than to the physical root of the pain. You also have to bear in mind that her sister, like all animals, will very likely be putting out a different energy whilst in heat, and Sissy may just not be able to cope with that right now - she's still processing and healing from her own recent experiences, after all.

I know that Sissy is doing a lot better physically now, but it is still very possible that she's in pain to some degree. If you'd just been through what she has, you wouldn't suddenly feel 100% just because the outward physical symptoms (i.e. the vomiting and conception) had stopped. It would take you a fair while longer to feel fully 'right' again, and the same will be true for Sissy. Both you and your husband may have inadvertently caught a sore or tender area whilst you were petting her, and her lashing out was simply her version of 'Ouch - that hurts!'

If you haven't already, getting some Feliway diffusers going could help matters. You might also want to talk to your vet about Sissy's apparent personality change - if it were one of mine, I'd probably have an extra vet check anyway, just to be absolutely certain that there was nothing else physical going on. Ask about a calming supplement (such as Composure) at the same time - normally I might feel confident to try this without a vet's advice, but given that Sissy's had digestive issues, I'd want to be certain it wasn't going to upset things further ;)

Lastly, is there any reason that Sissy and her sister haven't been spayed? Females in particular are often MUCH better off spayed than unspayed (especially as it reduces the risk of some cancers and completely removes the risk of others), and they'll almost certainly coexist more happily without raging hormones flying around! [article="32390"][/article][article="33155"][/article][article="30307"][/article][article="30274"][/article][article="30316"][/article][article="32758"][/article][article="32341"][/article][article="22304"][/article]
 
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