Hissing

Back in October we adopted a new kitten. Our older cat Dusty accepted her with ease. They constantly played together, groomed each other, and could be found sleeping practically on top of each other every night.

On Monday I took our kitten (Ariel) to the vet to be spayed. Dusty walked around the house like one lonely, lost kitten. When I picked her up yesterday I was so excited to bring her home and I thought Dusty would be excited as well. That wasn't the case. Whenever Ariel gets near him he hisses at her and swats her.

What could be the problem?

Your cat came home from the vet smelling like Medicine, Other cats, Other unknown people, strange things, and it makes it so he doesnt recognize your kitty.. It happens. I have heard, I hope this is right, that you can take some vanilla extract stuff, and put it on thier cheeks, and at the base of thier tail and somehow it is supposed to make them be able to get thier scents back.

Hopefully you have Vanilla...if not, I would just suggest taking a shirt (a dirty one in the laundry basket) and rubbing it on your kitty that just got back from the vet...to kind of mask the vet smell untill you can get some vanilla.

it has to be pure vanilla extract, not imitation or anything

I had the exact same problem. My cat got spayed yesterday and actually, she was the one hissing at all the other cats. It's been less than a day and everything's back to normal now. Just give it some time for them to get back into routine

My littlest one was not a hit in the house when she came home either. She was stressed from the darn operation enough and I figured it would be nice to be home. All she wanted to do was snuggle, and instead she got shunned. My other 3 did not like her being there at all. There was ton's of hissing and spitting. Poor thing...
Didn't know about the vanilla extract thing. Wish I had because her spay didn't go as smooth as silk and she had to go back to the vets twice more (hence the hissing and spitting all over again).

That happened to me when I took Pooh in recently for URI. I've seen some here who say they take all of their cats with them to the vet's office so they all smell alike. Somehow I couldn't see me taking 4 with me .... but they say the vanilla thing works great. You could also try taking something that smells like you or the other cats and rub in on the little one.

I think the extract goes under the chin and on the base of the tail. This happened between my two a few months ago, and they're litter mates who have been together since birth. It's common and it will pass. The extract may help, but I didn't use it. I rubbed a towel on each cat to mix their scents. I also engaged the two of them in play as much as possible, but really the only thing that will really take care of this situation is time. It can take as long as a few days, so be patient but don't worry. Everything will be back to normal soon.

If you use the extract, you use it sparingly, but you use it at least four times a day-

I have a similar problem with my 2 kittens..

They are brothers, aged 23 weeks. Up untill now they have both been kept indoors, but get on absolutley fine together, spending their days eating, playing and sleeping (at times) pretty much on top of each other. They are almost inseperable.

Yesterday they were both spayed, and to my pleasant surprise they seemed to take it in their stride and were both fine when they got home.

The vets told us it was fine to allow them outside so today they we let out for the first time, for about a hour or so. Murphy (the slightly smaller one) was out in the garden like a shot, exploring and having fun. Sid (the larger one) on the other hand had a few steps outside but didnt seem interested and stayed inside.

However, now they are both settled back indoors, Sid flairs up, hisses and flashes his teeth whenever Murphy comes near him.

This just seems such strange behaviour after seeing them normally so close.

Does the above advice apply to me aswell? Will it pass? Is there anything I should do?

Sorry for the essay! Thanks in advance!