Best Friends Turned Enemies

[Kittycats123]

Very long story but I really need advice so going into extreme detail. My boyfriend and I got our first kitty September of 2015. Female her name is Gemma and she was just a baby. About a month later we got a male cat opie they were the same age. Took them about a week to get used to each other and they have loved each other since. Best friends! cuddle every day all day, play perfectly together,groom each other constantly etc. fast forward to October 2017 and we got a new kitten Tig. Him and opie got along almost right away and it took Gemma a little time to get along but eventually they all were best friends. We had the perfect cats. May 25th 2018 I brought Gemma to the vet to get her anal glands expressed because I noticed they were extremely backed up and she also got her rabies shot and a distemper shot.. the next day May 26 2018 I woke up to my cats playing which is usual for them in the morning... but this time they didn’t stop fighting so I ran out of my bedroom and opie was being chased viciously by Gemma her eyes were completely dilated and she looked like a wild animal... they jumped all around my house eventually into my closet and she started attacking him ..opie ran under my bed to get away from her and she jumped under and they were growling and attacking viscously like something u see on tv. I panicked and started screaming and slamming my bed to get them away from each other because I had no idea what was going on it had never happened before. That kind of made them stop for a second. Gemma was near the edge of the bed growling and hissing at opie and he was terrified at the other end of the bed. I tried to grab her with a blanket and scoop her up to separate them and she clawed me on the shoulder and under my eye and on my nose. I grabbed her scruff and put her in the next room and she stared at me growling and hissing. I grabbed my other cat Tig who was hiding petrified and put him and opie in a room alone. I left for a while to get my face checked out. When I came home I had a couple people with me because I didn’t know if Gemma would attack again. She was under my couch sleeping. So I let the other two cats out. She didn’t come out from the couch for a while. Later that day opie Tig and I were napping on my bed and she walked in and napped with us like nothing had ever happened. They were fine the rest of the day. Until that night she attacked him again! After this we decided to separate them because we couldn’t trust them alone. I brought her to the vet to see if it was a reaction to her shots or her glands being expressed or if she was sick, they did an X-ray and she was pretty constipated. She was hospitalized for a few days. When she came home we had them separated because even the site of opie made her hiss and growl. We had them separate for weeks until her meds were done and she was pooping again.. after that we tried every few days to show them to each other and she would hiss right away. Eventually they started touching paws under the door and I could sense opie missed his friend. We eventually got them in the same room together without hissing. But it’s like they stalk each other. Opie walks on egg shells because he doesn’t know when she is going to attack him. They could be around each other normal but the second opie gets up she chases him, hisses and tries to attack so we get in between them then she hisses at my boyfriend and I and then she starts growling and crying so we have to put her in a room alone to calm down ..this happens every single day. We have to rotate sleeping with them so they aren’t alone at night. We’ve gotten a few nights with them all sleeping with us together but I stay very alert and can barely get sleep because the second opie walks away from us she runs to attack him do I have to watch every move. when they are together they just stare at each other waiting for something to happen so I try my best to sit with them and play with them all together and they do good but the second I leave the room they start acting weird again. She has no problem with my other cat Tig.. and he is acting normal for the most part but he gets very scared now when they fight. Gemma has kind of always been a skiddish cat afraid of things.. she has never been mean like this tho .... Idk what has cauSed her to do this. The only change that has happened in my house recently is that I’m pregnant. Idk if they sense it and that could be why they are so tense around each other? I’m just in desperate need of help this whole situation is making me so sad and causing a lot of stress in our house. I don’t want to have to keep them separate the rest of their lives or have to give Gemma away she is my baby I love them all so much but I can’t have vicious fights when the baby comes in a month! It sucks.. they used to be best friends! I’ve researched everything and I have no idea what could be wrong please help!!! And if you've made it this far hopefully my run on mess of sentences made sense lol just a long story and I don’t have time to proof read lolol

 

[5starcathotel]

Wow, I'm sorry you are going through this!

I'm not really sure what advice to give....my best guess based on what you wrote is that Gemma is in pain, and lashing out. Though I'd also ask, what do you feed her, and how ( free-feed, wet/dry, etc ) I'm a little surprised that she is having digestive issues at just 3 years old. Is it common for her breed?

 

[maggie101]

Could Opie be in pain?

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. So sorry you're dealing with all this. Especially as you're waiting for your new baby's arrival.

Reading through your post, my first thought was non-recognition aggression, however normally it's the cat that comes back from the vet who is bullied/not recognized. Here's an article with more info:
How To Deal With Non-recognition Aggression In Cats

Have you tried Feliway yet? I've never used it, but have seen posts from some members who've found it helpful.
https://www.feliway.com/

There's also calming treats, that might help.

 

[Kittycats123]

Wow, I'm sorry you are going through this!

I'm not really sure what advice to give....my best guess based on what you wrote is that Gemma is in pain, and lashing out. Though I'd also ask, what do you feed her, and how ( free-feed, wet/dry, etc ) I'm a little surprised that she is having digestive issues at just 3 years old. Is it common for her breed?

I have brought her back to the vet after her meds to make sure she wasn’t backed up still and they said she was fine. I split a can of wet food with the three of them in the morning and at night. The boys love their wet food but Gemma only licks the juice and eats a little bit. She’s more for the dry food so I leave that out for them all day. I’m not sure what type of breed she is but I can try and post a picture.

 

[Kittycats123]

Hello and welcome to TCS. So sorry you're dealing with all this. Especially as you're waiting for your new baby's arrival.

Reading through your post, my first thought was non-recognition aggression, however normally it's the cat that comes back from the vet who is bullied/not recognized. Here's an article with more info:
How To Deal With Non-recognition Aggression In Cats

Have you tried Feliway yet? I've never used it, but have seen posts from some members who've found it helpful.
https://www.feliway.com/

There's also calming treats, that might help.

Thank you for your advice. I’m going to go get a plug in today and see how it works. According to some reviews it says it may take up to a week so hopefully in a week or so I can be back with some good news! Just sad they can’t get along on their own

 

[Kittycats123]

Could Opie be in pain?

Opie did go to the vet back in October with pancreatitis he was there for almost a week. But she was only scared for a couple days when he came home and they were fine. He is okay now only a little nervous around the house because of the tension. He does seem sad though. I think because he doesn’t know why she is mad at him. But maybe I should get him in for a check up and make sure there isn’t anything going on with him that maybe she can sense. Thank you!

 

[rubysmama]

She's really beautiful. Hopefully the Feliway will help.

This is going to sound a bit extreme, but if you decide to take Opie to the vet for a checkup, maybe try to take the other 2 cats too. Not for a vet check, just along for the visit. This is what one of our other members does when one cat has to go to the vet, and that way all their cats come home from the vet smelling the same, and no non-recognition issues occur. Maybe, that might snap Gemma out of whatever it is that is causing Ope to stress her out.

 

[catlover73]

Have you tried to put your scent on all three cats since the vet visit? When my Sonny came home from a 3 day hospital stay my normally very chill cat Casey started hissing at him. I was not dealing with any actual attacks in my household. Sonny ignored the hissing and just acted normal. He then started hissing at Apollo after he groomed Sonny. Casey and Apollo are very bonded. He never hissed at my oldest female Starbuck but she does not interact much with Sonny. Casey also hissed at us when we would pet Sonny. I took one of hubby's dirty t-shirts and rubbed all three cats down with it. I did this with different pieces of dirty laundry daily. It took about three days before things went back to normal in my household. This may be something you could try.