Cat suddenly aggressive and no affectionate

[katieandminerva]

We adopted Minerva in February when she was a few weeks pregnant. Kittens came in March and now there is just her and one of the kittens at home.

She's been going outside for about six weeks and this past week her behaviour has changed considerably. She is hissing / attacking the kitten (he's six months ish now) when he's just sitting there. Her ears seem to be permanently back too. She's constantly picking fights with other cats outside. And she no longer comes rushing to me (she was more attached to me than my husband and daughter) when I get in, isn't sneaking on the bed in the morning to snuggle, isn't rubbing herself on legs, or sitting with (but not on me) on the sofa.

There has been no change at home other than her going outside. She just seems highly irritable and I'm worried about her. We are fairly confident that she was a feral kitten and I'm wondering if the freedom of outside makes her just want to be free and I'm now wondering if she would be happier on a farm? We are due to move by the end of the year to a much more rural location and maybe she'll
be happier there if she's free to roam as she wishes?

I just want her to have a happy life after such a troubling start (she was only about five months when we adopted her). What do you think we should do?

 

[Norachan]

First of all, has she been spayed? If not you really need to do that straight away. Heat cycles cause all kinds of hormonal changes in a cat and she's likely to get very territorial and grumpy. (Imagine what you(d be like with PMS if you had claws.)

Mother cats do go through a period of what's know as "Get out of the nest" aggression with their kittens once they start to mature. This will decrease significantly if mother and kittens are all fixed. You won't see an immediate difference, but once their hormone levels have settled down it's much easier for them to get along together.

I share my home with a big group of former feral cats. There isn't really any reason why they can't become indoor only cats.  Some cats take to it easier than others, but that's all down to personality rather than where they were born.

It is very dangerous for cats to go outside alone, even in rural areas. Is there anyway you could keep her as an indoor only cat? Or think about making her an enclosure so she can go outside safely? If there are other feral cats out there she could get seriously hurt and she is at risk of picking up all kinds of diseases too.

 

[katieandminerva]

They've both been neutered so I don't think that's an issue and we already had a period when she was fed up with all four of them just before the others were rehomed.

I don't think there is anyway we could have her as indoor only (she would be miserable - whilst she was pregnant she yowled by the back door a lot) but we do plan on possibly having a cat run once we've moved. I'm trying to think of a way that we could separate them at the moment without impacting on either. They have very different personalities and I don't want both to be affected by this. Thank you for replying.

 

[Norachan]

Good job on getting them all fixed, that makes any behavior problems a lot easier to deal with.

Are the outdoor cats yours or are they neighbor's cats? If there are a lot of cats in the area she's probably feeling like her territory is under threat. Her attacks on the kitten could be redirected aggression.

If you separate them now it will obviously mean less fights, but you might have to reintroduce them to each other slowly in the future. However, if you are going to move in a few months reintroducing them in new "neutral" territory could work quite well.

Would she walk on a harness and leash? If you could take her out it would mean she is less likely to get into fights out there and so she'll be calmer indoors.