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- May 14, 2018
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Bear with me while I type out this complex tale (tail-ha!).
My two cats, Fig and Apple, are siblings, about 3 years old. They used to get along just fine, with Apple (the girl) being somewhat more dominant than Fig (the boy).
Then, Fig got a hair cut and when he came back from the vet, Apple displayed non-recognition aggression toward him. Hissing and such. Never outright fighting, but she stopped playing with him and treated him like he was a stranger.
Things slowly got better, and she recognized him again. But then: we moved. It was a big move, too, from East Coast to West, and they had to fly on a plane. All of this happened within a two-month period.
In our new home, Apple and Fig will share a giant litter box, eat near to one another, slee near one another, play (chasing and some wrestling, though not as frequent as it was before) and Apple will occasionally groom Fig. And before anyone asks, yes -- apart from the giant litter box -- they each have their own "things": cat trees, food dishes, toys, etc.
Still, there's tension and staring when they pass each other sometimes.
And now it's FIG who will swat and hiss at Apple when he's angry. In general, he seems more stressed and willing to lash out than he used to. It's usually (though not always) limited to the evening, and usually after play time.
And always in one area. I think this is important, so I'll really spell out: he usually sits in front of the doorway to the hallway, which is our bedroom and bathroom, in the evening, right after play time. That's where he does most of the hissing. It's almost as if he's guarding my husband and me from his sister (even if we're not in the bedroom).
We try to treat them both equally, giving them lots of love and attention and pets and kisses. It should be noted that Fig is far needier than his sister.
It's also definitely worth noting that when we're out of the house, we often come home to find them just fine and even laying near each other sometimes, so we're drawing the conclusion that the problem may be... us.
We have not yet found a vet here and will be bringing them in for a checkup as soon as we can find one.
I've heard other horror stories of actual cat fights with fur flying and claws out. It hasn't come to that yet, for which I'm grateful. However, I never want it to get to that point, and I'd love to see them together as they once were. They were never super cuddly toward each other, but even seeing them sleep together again would make my heart sing.
So I guess my questions are:
-- Has anyone seen behavior like this?
-- What's normal? As in, can sibling cats hiss at each other while they're working out dominance issues, and are they still generally ok? Do cats just grow into being adults sometimes and do this with each other (fight for hierarchy), and we just need to wait it out?
-- Any behavioral suggestions? (I have Feliway plugged in and give them Comfort Remedy every day, so I'm looking more for things to do and not medicinal approaches. Unless you have a miracle you'd love to tell me about.)
-- Do you think Prozac or something similar would help Fig through this transition? Just to calm him down a little and then he can be weaned off? Would love to hear any stories about if that worked for your cats.
Thanks, all. I'm sad and scared.
My two cats, Fig and Apple, are siblings, about 3 years old. They used to get along just fine, with Apple (the girl) being somewhat more dominant than Fig (the boy).
Then, Fig got a hair cut and when he came back from the vet, Apple displayed non-recognition aggression toward him. Hissing and such. Never outright fighting, but she stopped playing with him and treated him like he was a stranger.
Things slowly got better, and she recognized him again. But then: we moved. It was a big move, too, from East Coast to West, and they had to fly on a plane. All of this happened within a two-month period.
In our new home, Apple and Fig will share a giant litter box, eat near to one another, slee near one another, play (chasing and some wrestling, though not as frequent as it was before) and Apple will occasionally groom Fig. And before anyone asks, yes -- apart from the giant litter box -- they each have their own "things": cat trees, food dishes, toys, etc.
Still, there's tension and staring when they pass each other sometimes.
And now it's FIG who will swat and hiss at Apple when he's angry. In general, he seems more stressed and willing to lash out than he used to. It's usually (though not always) limited to the evening, and usually after play time.
And always in one area. I think this is important, so I'll really spell out: he usually sits in front of the doorway to the hallway, which is our bedroom and bathroom, in the evening, right after play time. That's where he does most of the hissing. It's almost as if he's guarding my husband and me from his sister (even if we're not in the bedroom).
We try to treat them both equally, giving them lots of love and attention and pets and kisses. It should be noted that Fig is far needier than his sister.
It's also definitely worth noting that when we're out of the house, we often come home to find them just fine and even laying near each other sometimes, so we're drawing the conclusion that the problem may be... us.
We have not yet found a vet here and will be bringing them in for a checkup as soon as we can find one.
I've heard other horror stories of actual cat fights with fur flying and claws out. It hasn't come to that yet, for which I'm grateful. However, I never want it to get to that point, and I'd love to see them together as they once were. They were never super cuddly toward each other, but even seeing them sleep together again would make my heart sing.
So I guess my questions are:
-- Has anyone seen behavior like this?
-- What's normal? As in, can sibling cats hiss at each other while they're working out dominance issues, and are they still generally ok? Do cats just grow into being adults sometimes and do this with each other (fight for hierarchy), and we just need to wait it out?
-- Any behavioral suggestions? (I have Feliway plugged in and give them Comfort Remedy every day, so I'm looking more for things to do and not medicinal approaches. Unless you have a miracle you'd love to tell me about.)
-- Do you think Prozac or something similar would help Fig through this transition? Just to calm him down a little and then he can be weaned off? Would love to hear any stories about if that worked for your cats.
Thanks, all. I'm sad and scared.
However, I've noticed that the more he acts pissy toward her, and the longer this goes on, the longer she stays away. So I see that the rift might creep in and become permanent, which scares me.
