Screeching and hissing

[Sadiekitty]

We have 3 three year litter mates as well as their mom. All were fixed 2.5 years ago. Suddenly at 3 am on yesterday they evidently was a miss understanding of some kind resulting bin serious screeching and hissing. One of our girls (Midget) began screaching, screaming and hissing. She immediately hit under the couch; rest of girls were walking around nervous. We got Midget from under the couch without much issue; she hid in basement most of the day. Others came out one at the time and there was still screaming and screaching. All was good til 3 am this morning.
These are our babies!
Thanks
Your thoughts?

 

[Tobermory]

Is it possible that they saw another cat outside? My three recently saw a stray cat through the window, and they immediately turned on each other, screeching and hissing as you describe. It took awhile for them to calm down and stop stalking each other. I had to spend time petting them and talking soothingly to them. I also closed the blinds on the patio door they saw the outsider through.

 

[DreamerRose]

I've had the same thing happen, with a multicolored cat ball rolling through the house with fur flying. It seems like there is some instinctive trigger to protect their territory, and they can't control it even with a cat they know well. It doesn't take much to set them off.

 

[Sadiekitty]

It was at 3 am and there were no lights on. Through the day today, she would allow my husband and I to pet her. If she saw any of the other cats, she would screech and scream while the other 3 are 5+ feet away.

 

[susanm9006]

Could just be that one or the other spooked her. I would separate her from them for a couple of days so that she can calm down and then start slowly reintroducing them, with brief periods together and feeding together.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Any of the other posters' thoughts could be right...or none of them. You'll never know. But as long as she is accepting affection from you both, this is a good thing. Is she eating, drinking and using her box normally? Whatever the cause, hopefully in time she will be able to de-stress and re-enter the family once again. As long as no one is getting hurt, I wouldn't worry too much.