Cats Fighting/Angry with each other - Not sure what to do?

[FrufflesTheSuperCat]

Hi everyone,

I have been trying everything I can think of and nothing seems to work. It seems that Fruffles, our oldest female DTSH (Domestic Tortoiseshell Short Hair) has finally had it with Sprinkles, our DCSH (Domestic Calico Short Hair). We have had them for several years now and it's NEVER been this bad. It all began, I wanna say....about 3 months ago, when I began staying home with my 2 year old son and my wife began working FT at a local Pet store. Now, before you say anything, I already thought of the pet store as a culprit. She groomed dogs and bathed them at this store and came home with the wet smock, but we ALWAYS washed it that same night, would she still sense the dog's smell on the smock, even after washing and drying and, even so, why would she take out her anger on our other cat? It seems that anytime Sprinkles is near her, Fruffles gets VERY irate, hisses and even strikes at her with her paw. Thankfully, Fruffles has no claws so she does no real damage. Sprinkles is a good girl, she doesn't fight back, just kind of submits to this. But enough is enough. I need to know first what is the cause of this new negative behavior and second how to stop it. I will admit our attention to Fruffles hasn't been what it used to be before Artie came into our lives. We used to play with her all the time but, as kids often do, he has taken a lot of our time and attention. We still do try to play with her whenever we can, playing with a string, a toy, anything we can. But, for example, if Sprinkles is on my lap, heck, even in the same room as us, Fruffles gets furious, growls, maybe even hisses and then runs out. One time, I had her (Fruffles) on my lap and she was okay with me petting her head, but if I went anywhere below that, she would begin growling.

So what do you all think could be going on? See, we had Fruffles for 2 years, then we adopted Sprinkles and there was a hard transition getting Fruffles to adjust to her new sister, took about a week, but she adjusted at that time and everything was fine for like 5 years and now, all of a sudden this happens. Any ideas/advice? We just want our old happy Fruffie-chuff back. And mostly, I just want her to be happy and want what's best for her.

[Heidi n Q]

The problems you are describing sound like "Redirected, Misdirected or Displaced Aggression". You can do a search for articles about this phenomenon. Basically, it is where the cat sees, smells or hears something that alarms, frightens or activates its' self-preservation instincts ... but the cat cannot *reach* whatever it is that is bothering it, so it expends that energy on whatever is closest, in this case it is the other cat in your home.
Here is an article from LittleBigCat. http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?a ... acasestudy

I have not had to deal with this among my own cats, but natural products you could try are Composure Liquid and/or Rescue Remedy. Another product called Feliway is like an air-freshener but it releases cat pheromones into the air that react with receptors and deliver the message that 'everything is okay' to the cat. Sort of hippy-ish, but it has worked for many cats. Some cats though, are not affected by the feliway and in those cases the CL and RR products, which can be given orally or mixed with their food/water, have given excellet results in helping to calm the kitties down.
Best of luck to you,
heidi =^..^=

[FrufflesTheSuperCat]

Originally Posted by Heidi n Q

The problems you are describing sound like "Redirected, Misdirected or Displaced Aggression". You can do a search for articles about this phenomenon. Basically, it is where the cat sees, smells or hears something that alarms, frightens or activates its' self-preservation instincts ... but the cat cannot *reach* whatever it is that is bothering it, so it expends that energy on whatever is closest, in this case it is the other cat in your home.
Here is an article from LittleBigCat. http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?a ... acasestudy

I have not had to deal with this among my own cats, but natural products you could try are Composure Liquid and/or Rescue Remedy. Another product called Feliway is like an air-freshener but it releases cat pheromones into the air that react with receptors and deliver the message that 'everything is okay' to the cat. Sort of hippy-ish, but it has worked for many cats. Some cats though, are not affected by the feliway and in those cases the CL and RR products, which can be given orally or mixed with their food/water, have given excellet results in helping to calm the kitties down.
Best of luck to you,
heidi =^..^=

Thanks so much, Heidi, I have no clue what that is, but I suppose it makes sense. Sometimes she even growls or nips at me if I'm holding her. Hmm...you think she might be smelling the dogs though, in the smock, so that's what is redirecting her aggression? I mean, I realize it's tough to say, but...thoughts?

[Heidi n Q]

Well, it could be the various and changing smells of the smocks, because your wife doesn't handle the same dogs every day. Or it could simply be the changes in the home routine. Or it could be sights, smells or sounds from outside your home that are causing her behavior. I think you'd have to do some detective work ... but you'll also have to accept that you may never know what triggered this behavior. There have been instances where something completely unrelated frightened a cat, and as they were frightened they just happened to see their house-mate cat and in their cat-brain they decided the other cat is what caused their fear ... and that began a series of redirected aggression.
Fortunately, once you know the root-behavior you are dealing with (redirected aggression) there are things you can try to help re-integrate the kitties; sort of like going through the whole 'introduction' process again by making visual encounters associated with Good Things like treats or toys.
Anyhow, like I said, I don't have any personal experience in this area, only a simple understanding of the phenomena and a rough idea of how I would try to help these cats through my general understanding of cat behavior. All cats are different and I would be unable to tell you exactly how you could remedy this. You will have to approach it in the same manner I would: using our instincts to determine what we think may work and noting where we achieve success and making efforts to help that success grow.
Good luck!
h =^..^=

[nanook]

Agreed. It sounds like it could be redirected aggression but, just wanted to add, FIRST thing I'd do is get her in for a full check up with blood and urine tests. Any sudden change in a cats behavior can be a sign of a physical problem brewing so I'd do that pronto and take it from there. If she checks out okay, then take a serious look at RA...and get ready to put your Kitty Sherlock hat on!

[FrufflesTheSuperCat]

Okay, thanks everyone, yeah, I am thinking that is what it is. A re-introduction may be in order but not before I take her to the vet...unfortunately we are like dirt poor so this is going to prove to be difficult, maybe near-impossible unless someone can help us out financially (not asking you all lol, I am talking about family/friends). I'll update you guys if and/or when I find a solution. I definitely don't want this to get worse than it already is. And poor Sprinkles, she deserves to be happy. She's already licking herself raw cause of fleas and we ran out of advantage, we need to get more.

[NRD]

I'm fully with Heidi in my reaction to the situation. The only reason I am chiming in is to add one possible remedy that hasn't ben suggested yet, in addition to (not in place of) what has been said. Please excuse the hygiene-related idea, but when your wife comes home might she try taking a quick shower and changing clothes? It may be that the smells of the pet store are all over your wife, not just her smock--her hair, her clothes beneath the smock, etc. May be worth trying for a few days. Then I'd go up to the cats and get their scents back on her, or if she puts on something that already has the cats' scents, that may help some with what might be redirected aggression, if the situation is back to "normal".

[Heidi n Q]

Great idea, NRDad!
Your suggestion also prompted another one from me about using some cat "calmatives" to help ease their agitation. Things like Feliway, though that product can sometimes be hit/miss. Composure Liquid and Rescue Remedy can be added to food/water or given manually by mouth to help relax uptight kitties.

[FrufflesTheSuperCat]

Originally Posted by NewRescueDad

I'm fully with Heidi in my reaction to the situation. The only reason I am chiming in is to add one possible remedy that hasn't ben suggested yet, in addition to (not in place of) what has been said. Please excuse the hygiene-related idea, but when your wife comes home might she try taking a quick shower and changing clothes? It may be that the smells of the pet store are all over your wife, not just her smock--her hair, her clothes beneath the smock, etc. May be worth trying for a few days. Then I'd go up to the cats and get their scents back on her, or if she puts on something that already has the cats' scents, that may help some with what might be redirected aggression, if the situation is back to "normal".

Thanks, NewRescueDad, she stopped working there as of a few days ago, she needs to stay home now with Artie, our 2 year old human lol. She's preggers (if I haven't said it already) so now I am working and she's here. I told her today we gotta get rid of that smock and any other PetSmart stuff she had with her...she used to shower every single night whenever she came home from work and changed into home clothes so I don't know what's going on with that particular way of doing it. I know for a fact that it doesn't help that the neighborhood cat likes to stalk around our home...worst part is, the cat belongs to our neighbor and I've already tried talking to them, yeah, they don't care. They just tell me to close my blinds, like that's gonna stop Fruffles from going...uh...IN FRONT OF THE BLINDS LOL. Anywho, on my next off day, I'm gonna get some calmatives and I was thinking of getting some catnip, I know it's a stimulant, but I also know it helps soothe them, so I think that will help a little too. Any thoughts on that one gang? Thanks again for the support!