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- Mar 12, 2019
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Where to begin . .. Apologies for long thread but desperately looking for any input that could help. We got my daughter two sister kittens from a rescue shelter back in Jan of 2017. They've been inseparable and best friends since day one and have been wonderful pets Fast forward to a week and a half ago - we were out of the house for the evening and the sitter somehow managed to pinch the smaller of the two cat's tails in a door. According to the story the larger sister began attacking the smaller sister as soon as she was freed from the door. I'm assuming the howling from the cat (release of pheromones??) confused her sister and she chased the 'injured' cat around the house until the smaller cat found a hiding spot her sister couldn't reach. As soon as we got home we immediately separared them thinking in the morning everything would be back to normal and the sisters would groom/eat their breakfast together a usual No such luck - the smaller cat was terrified and wouldn't come out of her hiding spot. A couple hours later we finally coaxed her out and as soon as her sister saw her she went into attack mode again. We basically separated them for the next several days so each cat had a separate couple floors of our house - at first we used a door that totally separated the sisters and I purchased a phermone calming spray which we used per the instructions. We noted the smaller cat was licking and favoring her tail so we took both cats to vet for a checkup - both healthy as could be (but the smaller having a bruised tail) and asked for any advice from vet She recommended Feliway plug in for multiple cats so we got that and plugged in immediately on a location close to where both kitties could see each other We then replaced the solid door with 3 baby gates so the cats could see and somewhat interact. Well, last night was moment of truth (mind u this has been over a week now of segregation) - we had been moving food dishes closer and closer to each other so they could eat at same time and see/watch each other. Both cats had been extremely interested in what the other was doing and they were even playing together through the gates. We let the 'aggressor' sister out and they were perfectly fine for about half an hour until a noise startled the cats and the aggressor took off after her sister extremely violently We stopped the chase and separated them until they were very calm and tried again to the same results. Another night of separation and we tried yet again to reacquaint them yet again tonight - as soon as the bigger cat gets free of the gate she immediately stares her sister down and goes into an attack mode.
My question is this - - has anybody had an experience like this?? We love these kitties and desperately want them to actually be able to be in same room again. How long do we keep trying the reacquaintance techniques??? They're wonderful loving cats and none of this has made any sense - - the shelter we got the cats from has said they've never had an incident like this that has been so extreme. Anything I've found online seems to assume that the separation will only be necessary for a short time. Is it possible they'll never be able to be reacquainted??? We're getting desperate - - any other thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated....
My question is this - - has anybody had an experience like this?? We love these kitties and desperately want them to actually be able to be in same room again. How long do we keep trying the reacquaintance techniques??? They're wonderful loving cats and none of this has made any sense - - the shelter we got the cats from has said they've never had an incident like this that has been so extreme. Anything I've found online seems to assume that the separation will only be necessary for a short time. Is it possible they'll never be able to be reacquainted??? We're getting desperate - - any other thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated....