fighting cats

I am asking this question for a friend of mine who does not have internet access. She has 2 female cats around 2-3 years of age. One she got as a kitten, Tigger. She introduced the other cat Spooky last January and they seemed to get along fine, layed together, played together etc. Then all of a sudden about 3 days ago Spooky ran after Tigger and attacked her, drawing blood. Now every time Spooky comes around there is alot of growling and Tigger runs away urinating on the floor the entire way and is terrified. They have been keeping the cats seperated when they are at work. She is at a total loss as to what to do. She does not want to get rid of either cat. Please help. I should add that they believe this may have started as a case of redirected agression. It started immediately after Spooky saw cat outside, she could not get to it, ran in the kitchen and attacked Tigger. This is just a guess, they're really not sure.

Maybe the cat Spooky saw outside a few days ago is still coming into the yard unnoticed by Spookie's owners.

I have seen cats redirect aggression like this only once before. A few winters ago, we had a stray tom hanging around our house. When the wind chill dropped down to 60 degrees below zero, we let this stray cat into our closed entry way to prevent him from freezing to death. This caused our own two cats Snowball and Midnight(no longer living) to growl and hiss at each other, but not attack. We took the stray cat to our local no-kill shelter the next day, and the aggressive behavior of our two cats stopped as soon as he was gone.

There are others here who are more knowledgeable and may provide you with better answers.

This sounds like a classic case of redirected aggression as you suspected. What your friend is going to need to do is act like she is introducing a new cat to the household in order to reintroduce these old buddies to each other.

Lock the victim in a bedroom with food, water, and litter box for one week. During this week rub victim with towel to get victim's scent all over it. Then rub aggressor with the same towel and vice versa. Do this several times daily.

Feed the aggressor at the door of the victim's room. After one week, let victim out (immediately after being rubbed with aggressor's scent), but immediately give both cats a really yummy treat (like tuna or sardines), feed in bowls that are close but not too close. You want the aggressor to associate good things with the victim. Make the times they are together as pleasant as possible so they will think good thoughts while together.

You may need to block access to windows if the stray is still around so that the aggressor doesn't become upset again.

Good luck!