Mother cat has started hissing and swatting her 1 year old daughter

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HelenEmms

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We rescued a mother and daughter cat from the RSPCA last year. The mother (Summer) is now 2 years old and the daughter (Honey) is just 1 year old. Summer is a ginger female and honey a mixed female (ginger and white) - both have been spayed. Summer has a defect in one of her eyes, and Honey is very small (was the runt of the litter) and has some physical deformities like she can’t retract her claws and she has 4 toes on her front paws and 6 on her back paws. They have been fine while being indoor cats for the last 6 months (since we got them) playing together fine etc. They have both been very loving cats having lots of strokes and cuddles and sleeping with us. Now the weather is better we wanted them to go outside and have fun. Since letting them go outside Summer has started hissing and swatting Honey when she sees her and Honey is very nervous, stressed and won’t eat properly.
Is there any advice on how we can get Summer to stop her aggressive behaviour towards Honey so they can be a mother and daughter team ?
All suggestions and advice welcome
Many thanks
 
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ArtNJ

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Firstly, keep in mind that hissing and even a light swat or two is mostly just communication, not true hostility. Not necessarily such a big deal. As far as why, I have several theories:

(1) Maybe she is smelling stuff outside which is stressing her out. This might be a case of your good intentions going awry. Might be better off as indoor only cats, although again, things dont necessarily sound so bad so maybe that would be an overreaction;

(2) With Honey unable to retract her claws, maybe you were always on borrowed time. Perhaps sooner or later Honey was always going to accidentally hurt Summer enough to stress her out. Again though, doesn't sound so bad. Are you cutting nails regularly?

(3) Or this could be a natural consequence of aging. When cats hit one year, they are at their maximum of energy x size, and they can be an awful lot for another cat to handle. Usually a 2 year old can handle it, but not always, and some crotchety type protests -- hissing and light swatting, wouldn't be unusual.
 
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HelenEmms

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ArtNJ said:
Firstly, keep in mind that hissing and even a light swat or two is mostly just communication, not true hostility. Not necessarily such a big deal. As far as why, I have several theories:

(1) Maybe she is smelling stuff outside which is stressing her out. This might be a case of your good intentions going awry. Might be better off as indoor only cats, although again, things dont necessarily sound so bad so maybe that would be an overreaction;

(2) With Honey unable to retract her claws, maybe you were always on borrowed time. Perhaps sooner or later Honey was always going to accidentally hurt Summer enough to stress her out. Again though, doesn't sound so bad. Are you cutting nails regularly?

(3) Or this could be a natural consequence of aging. When cats hit one year, they are at their maximum of energy x size, and they can be an awful lot for another cat to handle. Usually a 2 year old can handle it, but not always, and some crotchety type protests -- hissing and light swatting, wouldn't be unusual.
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Thank you for taking the time to reply to me. Little honey is less than 2/3 the size of Summer and keeps wanting to seek her mums love as she was always licking her. Shes now very nervous and isn’t eating properly. She is a sweet little cat and is very nervous and now runs whenever her mum comes near her.
Her mum is a lovely cat and spends all night with us sleeping. Summer is definitely the dominant one and honey is quite happy playing and acting like a kitten. She’s not got near her mum recently.
I did clip her claws a while ago and she then kept falling off everything so the vet told me to leave them.
summer is almost 6kg and is very strong. Honey is about 4kg and is much smaller.
 

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ArtNJ

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Oh that is a bummer that she is that stressed. I'm not sure I know what to recommend. There is some chance that keeping them in might help resolve this, but I don't know its that high of a chance. Maybe just basic stress management stuff. I guess lets see what some of the other posters think.
 
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HelenEmms

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ArtNJ said:
Oh that is a bummer that she is that stressed. I'm not sure I know what to recommend. There is some chance that keeping them in might help resolve this, but I don't know its that high of a chance. Maybe just basic stress management stuff. I guess lets see what some of the other posters think.
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Thank you. I have kept them in today and made sure I stroked them both so their scents were on each other. Time will tell.
 
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Bought the pheromone thingie and have had it in use for several days. Not sure when it’s supposed to make a difference. Summer is now growling and trying to bite honey ( not in a friendly way) someone suggested adding a drop of vanilla extract to them both so they smelt the same but no luck. Honey won’t even go in a room now if her mum is there and she runs away when she sees her. 😩
 
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