Spayed Cat Won't Stop Roaming.

Anna Jackson

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Hey everyone, so I've had my cat since she was about 2 months old. She's one year now. Shes been spayed for several months now but recently she refuses to be locked inside. I have three other cats. They're indoor/outdoor cats and I always make sure they're inside when the sun sets.

As of late she's gotten very aggressive amd refuses to be locked in. She starts to growl and attack any other cat that comes near her. Even her sister/littermate.

She used to be a very sweet cat but now she's mainly aggresive, only wanting to be home to eat and then out again. She roams and will stay out whole day all of a sudden. She's the only one who behaves like this.

Does anyone have any advice as to what may be causing this behavioral change and how i can get her back to her sweey self.
 

rubysmama

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Have there been other changes? Is she eating and using the litter box normally? Are there any new stray/feral cats in your neighbourhood? Did anything happen between her and her littermate?
 
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Anna Jackson

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She's stopped using the letterboxes, both her and her littermate. This happened around the time I brought a new kitten home. Outside has lots of bush and vacant land, so her not using the litterbox wasnt a problem. And there's always been stray cats in the neighborhood. She's been seen with one as she's always been very friendly cat, unlike my other cats. She are very territorial and would chase them away. Which is why her behaviour now is so surprising to me.
 

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Maybe its just the "its summer" thing. Not all cats get equally excited by summer outdoor fun, and I've found that it has a lot to do with age. I have one that goes out for 30 minutes or so, and another that can stay out for 18 hours at times (the younger cat). When a cat wants to go out and has young cat summer energy raring inside, and you don't let the cat out, they are definitely going to jump on the other cat in play fighting. You said "aggressive" but is it with hissing and growling or just pouncing/stalking? Because I'm guessing the later...just summer energy with a young cat that loves the outside. Of course, if your other cat reacts poorly to the young cats energy, you can have real fighting. But I see this happen all the time with my cats -- on a sunny day they are 95% to toleration, but on a rainy day when they dont want to go out, the young cat has too much energy and there is unpleasantness.

I sort of think you need to make a decision. Is it an indoor/outdoor cat or indoor only? If you are going to leave the cat an indoor/outdoor, then just let the cat come and goes as it pleases absent a big storm coming or seeing a predator or something.
 
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Anna Jackson

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Maybe its just the "its summer" thing. Not all cats get equally excited by summer outdoor fun, and I've found that it has a lot to do with age. I have one that goes out for 30 minutes or so, and another that can stay out for 18 hours at times (the younger cat). When a cat wants to go out and has young cat summer energy raring inside, and you don't let the cat out, they are definitely going to jump on the other cat in play fighting. You said "aggressive" but is it with hissing and growling or just pouncing/stalking? Because I'm guessing the later...just summer energy with a young cat that loves the outside. Of course, if your other cat reacts poorly to the young cats energy, you can have real fighting. But I see this happen all the time with my cats -- on a sunny day they are 95% to toleration, but on a rainy day when they dont want to go out, the young cat has too much energy and there is unpleasantness.

I sort of think you need to make a decision. Is it an indoor/outdoor cat or indoor only? If you are going to leave the cat an indoor/outdoor, then just let the cat come and goes as it pleases absent a big storm coming or seeing a predator or something.
Well I live in the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago to be exact, so we don't have the summer season. Only dry and rainy and right now it's rainy season. So lots of rainfall. And she hisses and growls. Even when she's not interacting with the others she'll hit and growl and her meow is almost like a cry, so i just cave and let her out. But, i agree on making a decision. I'm gonna have to let her go and come as she pleases.
 

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I guess its the new kitten. I've definitely seen indoor/outdoor cats be very eager/desperate to go out to avoid a cat they don't want to be around. My Rocky never liked kitten Clyde, and her desire to go out all the time to avoid him made the introduction process harder.

Did you do a formal introduction process? How did that go. How they getting along now?
 
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Anna Jackson

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Mainly when she wants to go out. Since she went for almost a day and a half straight and then came back she's been picking on the new kitten, which is a young male around 5 months recently neutered. And if anyone gets too close to her she might just growl a bit. This is during the day. But that's not often.
Is the aggression when she wants to go out? Or at other times, as well?
 
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Anna Jackson

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I guess its the new kitten. I've definitely seen indoor/outdoor cats be very eager/desperate to go out to avoid a cat they don't want to be around. My Rocky never liked kitten Clyde, and her desire to go out all the time to avoid him made the introduction process harder.

Did you do a formal introduction process? How did that go. How they getting along now?
Well they were getting along. He's always wanting to play with her. But now that I think about it, the first day she stayed out all day and night was when i took him tk be spayed and when she came back she was aggressive with him after that. So I'm not sure if it's her being out or him returning from his visit to the vet that made her more hostile towards him. But she's just gotten mlre aggressive on a whole.
 

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Yep yep, thats your issue right there; after the vet visit, redirected aggression soured the relationship, and that make the cat want to go outside. We solved it together, good job all. The linked article on redirected aggression above suggests doing a "reintroduction" process and links to how to go about it. The difficulty you'll have is keeping the cat inside to do it given the litter box issue. Some cats that prefer to go outside will go inside if need be -if that is where your cat is at, you should be able to do a standard reintroduction process. If not, your going to have to do the best you can to get the concept of a reintroduction when your cat is outside a lot.
 
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Anna Jackson

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Okay guys I've tried the towel rub and the slow reintrouction through the door, but she's getting holtile even with her littermate/sister. She hisses at her now if she gets too close. That was this morning when i was about to feed them breakfast. And i finally got to see her stool because we went in a litter box. It was very soft and not much at all. But she was there for a little while trying to poop and nothing but some little, almost clear drops csme out. So I'm not sure if she's constipated because the poop was very liquidy and how long this has been going on. Up until yesterday she was eating but this morning she didn't touch her food. Idk if it's because she's just not hungry. I'll monitor her. She just smelt it and walked off. I will take her to the vet, but anyone have an idea as to what this might be.
 
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Anna Jackson

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And her meow is almost like a cry now. It is not the same energetic, wanting attention meow she'd let out now. It's like she's sad all the time.
 
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Anna Jackson

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What i normally feed them for breakfast and dinner is a can of pate mixed with Acana grasslands and i leave some friskies for them to snack on. She isn't eating the breakfast but i offered her some friskies kibble and she ate that.
 

rubysmama

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A vet checkup is probably a good idea. Especially if you think she might be constipated. She might be irritable because she's not feeling well.
 
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