Big problem between two cats

[tpapictures]

We have one cat (Cat A) that absolutely can not seem to stop himself from the smelling the other cat's (Cat B) butt. Now as funny as this may seem on the surface, what it means is that Cat B lives in a constant state of anxiety when the two are in the same room. Cat A is undeterrable. He creeps slowly up to Cat B and when Cat B moves somewhere else growling and hissing to get away, Cat A then stops on the spot where Cat B was sitting or lying and is absolutely consumed by the scent left behind in the entire area. When done, he continues to follow Cat B to wherever he's gone next.

Play doesn't deter him. He's not into treats so treats don't help. You can't give him food there because you don't want him to think food is given when he goes after the other cat to sniff him. We are truly at a loss and even starting to consider things like rehoming for the first time in our lives which is really difficult for us because both cats are 11 and 13 and Cat B was adopted to give him a better life than he had sitting in a shelter for 2 months with nobody showing any interest in him. Cat A we've had for 6 years and he did this with our previous cat (who passed away a year ago) but our previous cat didn't necessarily come with Cat B's degree of anxiety about this kind of thing so while it bothered our previous cat a lot it never caused that many problems. But the same obsessed, determined, fixated obsession with smelling butts did still exist.

I just want to make sure I'm describing this right for those that may have seen it before... it's a fixated, locked-on, nothing will distract me stare at the area the other cat is sitting in, not predator-like or angry, but just fixated. Every now and then he looks up at the cat's face and then back down to the back end. But his goal appears to be to get as close as possible to smell. And yes, of course we've ensured he has nothing actually back there. The other thing he does is obsess when he sees Cat B has used one of the litter boxes. He HAS to go over and give everything a proper smell. Again not every time, only when he notices he's gone to the bathroom. And before it's asked, they have 3 litter boxes that are huge and placed in different parts of the apartment.

We're becoming increasingly stressed ourselves with this so if anyone has ideas or experience with this, we'd be all ears.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
Just to check, have both of them been to the vet?

If so and all is well healthwise, would you consider trying a food/diet change, in order to change what the feces/urine odor is?

Also, you might try some Cat Music, and calming treats for Cat B.

 

[Biomehanika]

You said you’ve have Cat A for six years, but how long have you had Cat B for? Were they properly and slowly introduced?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I presume these cats are neutered. Did Cat A always smell your deceased cat's behind, or was that something that might have started when s/he became ill before passing away? Cats can smell illness and often will seek out that smell through the ill cat's behind. If there are any anal gland secretions going on, that will also attract another cat to smell for it. Some cats will demonstrate dominance through butt smelling too. Any of these scenarios might likely play out from Cat B using the litter box first.

Any chance you could wipe Cat B's behind after they use the litter box to decrease the smell? There isn't anything I can think to do about the litter box smelling routines, but if they are not bothering Cat B, you might just let that go.

Make sure to give Cat B places to get away from Cat A. That could even be a room with a cat door that only opens to Cat B's microchip, or if not chipped you can get the same effect from a chip collar. Maybe even work with Cat B to use a litter box in that room.

There is a vanilla trick that is used for non-recognition or introduction issues, but if you are comfortable with trying it in your situation, perhaps it would deter Cat A in this case too. Ode to vanilla extract | TheCatSite

If nothing else works, and no one is ill, then it is likely a dominance thing. The only way to help deter that is to pick up Cat A each and every time they approach Cat B's behind, either hiss or say a firm 'No' in his face (pick one and stick with it) and put him in a no more than 2 minute time-out behind a closed door. Consistency is the key to any chance of obtaining success. This also shows Cat B that you 'have his back' by removing Cat A in order to stop the annoyance.