Re-directed Aggression

[bwilson]

I have done a ton of research on this and I think I am approaching this correctly but looking for some feedback or maybe just some reassurance.


Some quick info. I have three cats Female (13), Male (8), Male (6). All neutered/spayed. All three have lived together for over 4 years.


About a week ago all three cats were hanging in the window and a neighborhood cat trotted by. A battle royal then ensued. My two male cats are best buddies, my female gets along with the younger male and her and the older male have always been meh. Not friends but generally just avoid each other.


After the battle royal the two males got very upset and really got into it. Bunch of yowling and posturing. I was able to separate them and set up a safe room for the older male in our bedroom.


For the first couple days I kept our older male in the bedroom with no contact with the other two. After a few days I let them see each other through a cracked door. I have also been feeding them on either side of the door and giving treats on either side of the door. Also been rotating them around the house so everyone is spending time in the different regions of the house. Also have been rotating the litter boxes and food bowls etc... for a scent swap. Did this for about 4 days.


Then proceeded to take the older male and put him in a carrier for an hour or so at a time and let everyone sniff each other and continued with the feeding and treats while the older male is in the carrier. We did this for another 2 days.


The past two days we have been letting them all be out together for a few hours while we supervise. So far it has been okay but still some tension there. A little bit of hissing but nothing as aggressive as the initial battle royal. We have been setting up joint play sessions and plenty of treats and they have even play fought a little although we are a little quick to break it up before it get too aggressive again.


I feel like we are on the right track but again looking for some feedback/reassurance. The two males were such good friends it kills me to see 4 years of friendship reduced to this after seeing another cat just walk by. I have read it can take several weeks for things to return to normal, sometimes even months.


My fear is my wife and I our taking a short vacation in about 4 weeks so really trying to be patient but also hoping things are back to normal before then. Worst case we will have to have the person watching them do what we have been doing by rotating them around the house and maybe some supervised face to face interactions but I feel like that's a big burden to put on someone who's helping us out.


Sorry for the long post but as many of you know things with cats are never simple. Thanks in advance for any feedback/advice.

 

[ArtNJ]

You did this correctly, but you kind of went straight to DEFCON 1 which is usually not necessary unless the redirected aggression leads to an actual fight with pain caused. For an incident of redirected aggression without actual fighting, a separation of a few hours usually works. That said, all cats are different, and since you still have some hissing, maybe your strong reaction was completely correct and best. You have what, a little hissing now? That sounds like something they can get over, just watch them for a few hours and if you can't watch them and are still uncomfortable, separate them until you can watch them again.

 

[bwilson]

You did this correctly, but you kind of went straight to DEFCON 1 which is usually not necessary unless the redirected aggression leads to an actual fight with pain caused. For an incident of redirected aggression without actual fighting, a separation of a few hours usually works. And you have what, a little hissing now? That sounds like something they can get over, just watch them for a few hours and if you can't watch them and are still uncomfortable, separate them until you can watch them again.

Perhaps I should clarify a little more the initial fight was very physical fur flying everywhere it got very aggressive and they couldn't even look at each other without getting very worked up.

 

[ArtNJ]

Perhaps I should clarify a little more the initial fight was very physical fur flying everywhere it got very aggressive and they couldn't even look at each other without getting very worked up.

Then I'd say you did it completely correctly. Still, remember that there is often a little hissing after any introduction process. So its not necessarily a great problem that you have a little now, and they might be able to, and need to, work past it. You just need to be able to watch to separate them if it appears that a fight might occur. I personally wouldn't worry about playing with them together or giving treats together or any of that. Time with nothing bad happening is mainly what is needed to calm them down.

 

[bwilson]

Then I'd say you did it completely correctly. Still, remember that there is often a little hissing after any introduction process. So its not necessarily a great problem that you have a little now, and they might be able to, and need to, work past it. You just need to be able to watch to separate them if it appears that a fight might occur. I personally wouldn't worry about playing with them together or giving treats together or any of that. Time with nothing bad happening is mainly what is needed to calm them down.

I appreciate the feedback. I felt like we were doing things correctly and have been letting the hissing go on and just monitoring. As you said might be a little something they need to work through. Cats sure are funny creatures. 4 years of friendship upended in an instant!

 

[ArtNJ]

One thing neither of us mentioned is precautions to prevent a repeat. Options include closing shades, a window sticker (one member used a very nice nature thing that they got from somewhere like Walmart), or outside motion activated sprinklers (YMMV and not super cheap -- they sell them on amazon).

 

[bwilson]

One thing neither of us mentioned is precautions to prevent a repeat. Options include closing shades, a window sticker (one member used a very nice nature thing that they got from somewhere like Walmart), or outside motion activated sprinklers (YMMV and not cheap).

We have been keeping the shades closed since the incident. We've been in our house for about 3 years and this is the first time they have been in the window when one of the neighborhood cats have passed by. Hoping that keeping the shades down will make a future interaction even less likely.