Hi everyone,
I'm new to this and new to cat ownership in general, so I'd very much appreciate your help.
We have two cats coming up on a year old, one male and one female, siblings from the same litter. They have always been joined at the hip, very affectionate and comforting to one another. The male cat started showing sexual interest in her a few months ago so we gave her a contraceptive hormone shot which should still be in effect. It had the side effect of making her very chilled out and less mischievous (and fatter!). He is not yet castrated but will be soon - he had a little virus so the vet delayed it. They do fight sometimes and she rejects his sexual advances but it never gets really nasty and they still get along great overall. Until last night. We were woken in the dead of the night by them both going crazy, making the *most* terrifying yowling noise like nothing we'd ever heard, a serious horror movie goosebumps sound, their tails puffed up, ears back. We had the shutters open and I wondered if they saw something outside? We live in a very rural area and we haven't seen other cats around, but there could be one, or of course wildcats. Then tonight same thing happened again just now (at 11pm), again they were at the window when it started but then they turned and yowled and hissed at each other too.
So sorry about the long post, just trying to record everything. My questions are a) Do you think it's likely they saw an animal outside and that set them off, or are they suddenly doing this to one another? and b) If they're doing it to one another should we be concerned that it could turn into a truly violent fight and so separate them at night?
Any thoughts welcome. Again, once we have him snipped I'd imagine this will calm their relationship in general, but I'd be interested to know if sibling, formerly very loving cats could turn on one another like this?
Thank you,
Erin
I'm new to this and new to cat ownership in general, so I'd very much appreciate your help.
We have two cats coming up on a year old, one male and one female, siblings from the same litter. They have always been joined at the hip, very affectionate and comforting to one another. The male cat started showing sexual interest in her a few months ago so we gave her a contraceptive hormone shot which should still be in effect. It had the side effect of making her very chilled out and less mischievous (and fatter!). He is not yet castrated but will be soon - he had a little virus so the vet delayed it. They do fight sometimes and she rejects his sexual advances but it never gets really nasty and they still get along great overall. Until last night. We were woken in the dead of the night by them both going crazy, making the *most* terrifying yowling noise like nothing we'd ever heard, a serious horror movie goosebumps sound, their tails puffed up, ears back. We had the shutters open and I wondered if they saw something outside? We live in a very rural area and we haven't seen other cats around, but there could be one, or of course wildcats. Then tonight same thing happened again just now (at 11pm), again they were at the window when it started but then they turned and yowled and hissed at each other too.
So sorry about the long post, just trying to record everything. My questions are a) Do you think it's likely they saw an animal outside and that set them off, or are they suddenly doing this to one another? and b) If they're doing it to one another should we be concerned that it could turn into a truly violent fight and so separate them at night?
Any thoughts welcome. Again, once we have him snipped I'd imagine this will calm their relationship in general, but I'd be interested to know if sibling, formerly very loving cats could turn on one another like this?
Thank you,
Erin