Strange "non Recognition Aggression" Situation

sc0tt88

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I have Googled my problem and the only things I can find relate to when one cat comes back from the vet and isn't recognised due to the smells on it. I have what seems to be the same problem except neither of my cats have been to the vet.

I have two cats, Mini (female, 10 lbs) and Aslan (male, 15 lbs). We have had them for 3 years+ since they were kittens, they didn't go outside for a long time and only go out the back yard briefly before coming back in. They have always been best friends, sleeping next to each other, always friendly with each other with the odd playfight and chasing each other around. I'd rate these fights at a 3. The occasional 4 or 5, very brief, then everything back to normal.

My friend came to our house with his young daughter on Saturday as she loves cats. She was playing with both of them separately and fed them some treats. They were here about an hour in total. After around 40 minutes, Mini went straight at Aslan and it was like nothing I've ever seen before, it was like she was trying to kill him. I didn't know she was even capable of this, it was crazy. I ran and eventually separated them and put her outside. She was crying at the window so we eventually let her back in. They locked eyes after a minute or so, Aslan hissed in defence and she attacked again. He ran under the bed, trapped and she got to him. Although he's big, he's a big softy and from what I saw he didn't really fight back, even though it's usually him being the "aggressor" if you can call it that in their play fights.

I separated them and he was very shaken up and had a cut or two on him. Since then I've kept them in separate rooms, most of the time with two doors between them, gave them both access to separate litter trays and bowls. I've read a lot of things which mostly say the same kind of things but all of them say this usually happens after being at the vets.

Does anyone have any advice? Could anyone give any insight on what the cause of this was? The only things I can think of are that my friend's daughter had the smell of their next door neighbour's cat on her or... while they were here, a rug from the hallway was in the washing machine and it was the first time it had been washed since we moved into this house. One of them had urinated on it when a litter tray was full. Or it could have had a smell on it from a previous tenant? I don't know. It was left outside after we found wee on it, which I assume was a big mistake and maybe attracted another cat. It was put in the washing machine which I assume could have disturbed any number of smells.

Really stressed out with this so any advice is appreciated.
 

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Kieka

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It sounds more like redirected aggression then non recognition aggression. If they aren't used to children or the little one did something your girl could have lashed out at the boy in frustration.

Have you put them back together yet? If you haven't, I would and see how they react. If it was a one off there should be no problem with them being together again. I've had redirected aggression incidents before and usually once it passes it is like it never happened.
 

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this can be fixed. If it continues then you need to 'start over' and introduce them to each other as if they'd never met. I personally think memories will kick in after awhile (maybe months) but they can learn to get along before that. Trauma is hard on everyone involved. Just because your big boy isn't traumatized, doesn't mean your girl can't be. Things effect different people and cats differently.

Many have had great success with this solution.
How To Fix An Unsuccessful Cat Introduction

You may want to go to the articles (see the menu) and search key word 'introduction'

As you slowly work through this keep in mind it can be fixed and deep down she knows and loves him.
 

FeebysOwner

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I would not be inclined to put them back together just yet, given there was wounds involved. First try scent swapping between the two - towels/blankets - whatever each one lays on that you can then trade between them.

There are parts of the initial guide that are referenced in the article that K Kflowers provided to you - so here is a link to that one as well.

How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide

Also, this article in case there is something in it that you might want to consider.

How To Deal With Non-recognition Aggression In Cats
 
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sc0tt88

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It sounds more like redirected aggression then non recognition aggression. If they aren't used to children or the little one did something your girl could have lashed out at the boy in frustration.

Have you put them back together yet? If you haven't, I would and see how they react. If it was a one off there should be no problem with them being together again. I've had redirected aggression incidents before and usually once it passes it is like it never happened.
My girlfriend put them back together after me saying not to because of everything I’ve read and it resulted in the same thing. They sniffed each other for a bit and it seemed fine. She came upstairs to tell me it’s ok, I went downstairs to look and she pounced again. Chased him upstairs while making the loudest cry I’ve ever heard, a brief fight and I managed to get a hold of her. He was hidden behind the bed and there was urine on the bed and the skirting board. They saw each other today while I had hold of Mini, Aslan was on the floor and hissed which set her off trying to wriggle free of my grip again.

The thing that makes me think it’s nothing to do with the little one is the fact that my girlfriend’s nephew has stayed over and even recently. Everyone got along fine.
 
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sc0tt88

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Also thanks for the info so far everyone.
 

Kieka

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My girlfriend put them back together after me saying not to because of everything I’ve read and it resulted in the same thing. They sniffed each other for a bit and it seemed fine. She came upstairs to tell me it’s ok, I went downstairs to look and she pounced again. Chased him upstairs while making the loudest cry I’ve ever heard, a brief fight and I managed to get a hold of her. He was hidden behind the bed and there was urine on the bed and the skirting board. They saw each other today while I had hold of Mini, Aslan was on the floor and hissed which set her off trying to wriggle free of my grip again.

The thing that makes me think it’s nothing to do with the little one is the fact that my girlfriend’s nephew has stayed over and even recently. Everyone got along fine.
How old are they?

Edit, just saw age above. My girl started having trouble with the boys around that age too. Seemingly out of nowhere she started getting really aggressive with them. If you haven't, you might want to do a vet appointment to make sure there is nothing medically wrong going on. I ended up having to medicated my girl to take the edge off just a little so she didn't go after the boys. It's worked really well for us but I'd rule out everything else first.

Unless you were supervising the child the whole time, kids can do odd things sometimes or not realize something they do has impact. My brothers ex has a step daughter who isn't allowed alone with our cats because she tried to "walk" cats by pulling a tail to lead them (not at our house, but not leaving her alone with my cats). The step daughter isn't a bad kid and likes cats but the logic path just wasn't there. I don't think a rug washing would cause it unless you used some new cleaner.
 
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sc0tt88

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How old are they?
Between 3 and 4. He has been neutered, she hasn’t been spayed (yet). But we have never had anything even close to this problem up until now.
 

Kieka

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Between 3 and 4. He has been neutered, she hasn’t been spayed (yet). But we have never had anything even close to this problem up until now.
Oh! She needs to be spayed then. That can cause a whole level of hormone related issues in a multi-cat household. I would start with that one before trying anything else. Mostly because once she is spayed the hormones will change and even if you reach a solution with any other method it could be eliminated when her horomons level after the spay. Plus the longer she goes without a spay the more at risk she is for needing a life saving emergency spay and cancer. It's just not worth it to wait from either a health or financial situation. Not a cat, but I never got my female rabbit spayed and she ended up dying from a completely avoidable cancer if I had just gotten her spayed younger. I will never wait again because the guilt is horrible to live with knowing I could have prevented it.
 
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sc0tt88

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Thanks for the info. Some other notes that might help: after the initial fight we separated the cats into different rooms. We came back downstairs into the dining room/kitchen where she was and couldn’t find her. She had jumped up on the kitchen top and behind the fridge into a tiny gap which is something she has never done before. I had to pull the fridge out a bit for her to have enough space to jump back up.

She is also being overly affectionate and has been for the week leading up to the incident which I noticed before the incident and thought was a little strange. She has always been affectionate but she has been aggressively rubbing herself on my beard and head butting me to the point where I have to move if I want to do anything on my phone because she makes it impossible. She didn’t do it to that extent before.
 

Kieka

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Thanks for the info. Some other notes that might help: after the initial fight we separated the cats into different rooms. We came back downstairs into the dining room/kitchen where she was and couldn’t find her. She had jumped up on the kitchen top and behind the fridge into a tiny gap which is something she has never done before. I had to pull the fridge out a bit for her to have enough space to jump back up.

She is also being overly affectionate and has been for the week leading up to the incident which I noticed before the incident and thought was a little strange. She has always been affectionate but she has been aggressively rubbing herself on my beard and head butting me to the point where I have to move if I want to do anything on my phone because she makes it impossible. She didn’t do it to that extent before.
Is she in heat?
 
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sc0tt88

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Is she in heat?
Don't think so, she usually makes a specific noise and wriggles around on the floor for a day or two. She hasn't done any of that
 
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sc0tt88

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Is she in heat?
Don't think so, she usually makes a specific noise and wriggles around on the floor for a day or two. She hasn't done any of that
 
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sc0tt88

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Following that guide. None of them really react to the sock. Mini, the aggressor isn’t eating. Aslan is eating everything you put near him as usual. Both of them seem very stressed being locked away from the rest of the house.

I’ve been opening their door for small periods at a time so they alternate getting upstairs and around the house to try and calm them down. Once I’m ready to let them see each other, I’m not sure how to do it. I don’t have a glass screen or gate.

Also, what do people think are my chances of getting this back to normal? Cheers.
 
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sc0tt88

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Sorry to bring back an old thread.

Firstly, I don't know if it's "non-recognition" or not but that's the only thing I could find when I searched, dunno if I can change the thread title now.

We have had them in separate rooms since then, haven't got around to finding a suitable gate to put in the door way to introduce them slowly. My girlfriend "accidentally" left the door open and she went for him again. I had to pin her down and separate them yet again months later. This is after we got her spayed as well.

Any advice? It's not looking good. Feel like we're back to square one and any progress we did make, by opening the door and holding one of them, letting them see each other for a few seconds, has gone.
 

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We are currently having a distressing problem with non recognition aggression not related to a vet or groomer visit also! Our 7 yr old sister cats have been best friends all of these years. They sleep together in hammocks in a kitty condo and often share 1 hammock or lay across each other. They lick and groom each other and have never had an issue. They are house cats, never going outside. About a week ago a stray cat showed up at our French door where both of out cats could see it and the more dominate of the sisters went berserk on her shyer sister and the fight that ensued was brutal!! We had to throw water on the aggressor to get her to back off! The shy one hid behind the washing machine for many hours doing a low growl. Since then we have had to keep them totally separated. We did try, about 4 days in letting them both roam free in the house but when our dominate cat spotted the shy one under a chair she went after her again with the same intensity. I have been googling as well as asking cat lovers their opinions and the one answer that made the most sense is that cats don't recognize each other by sight or sound, only smell. I was informed that when our shy cat got scared of the cat outside she probably released a scent from her anal gland that made her smell different and the dominant cat no longer recognized her as her loved sister. SO strange, huh?! That made sense to me when I remembered how the dominant cat began sniffing the air and smelling everything after the initial incident. The next morning we started them both on CBD oil 2X's a day and started a Feniline Pheromone diffuser. I can't honestly say either has calmed them down that much. We have wrapped them each in the same hand towel when we administer the CBD oil hoping that the scent will be transferred so they both get used to the other. We have been switching them out sleeping in the hammocks in the kitty condo for that same reason and switching the 2 litter boxes back and forth so they are both using them. They have not even glimpsed each other for 5 days until this morning when they just got a quick peek and the shy cat started hissing. She has always been such a fearful and shy little thing and now is extra nervous and looking worried when a door opens or there is any sound. I have the utmost sympathy for what you are going through. This has been so upsetting and making us very worried and sad. To make things worse we are dog sitting my grandson's young Frenchie starting tomorrow for 2 nights! We can't even imagine how we are going to handle that!! If anyone has a solution to our cat problems, I'm very interested!!
 
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sc0tt88

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Extremely similar situation to ours! Thanks for sharing. If you figure it out please let me know.
 

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I doubt it matters what triggered it at this point. Once cats actually fight, memories of the pain, fear and dislike sustain the problem.

Scent swapping is doing nothing for you. You don't have baby gates. So try the method recommended by Jackson Galaxy. Crack a door, and wedge it with door jambs on either side. $5 bucks at home depot and your ready to see if it will help make progress.

Situation clearly won't resolve on its own at this point. You need to do a proper and slow introduction. So lets try the Jackson Galaxy approach. But, regardless of the method, you *must* prevent them from getting at each other or your starting from scratch again.

I haven't actually watched this; my general understanding is that it varies a little from what we often recommend, but at this point, may as well try it: How to Introduce Two Cats | Tips & Tricks | Jackson Galaxy Store

I might have missed it above, but I assume both are spay/neutered. If not, get that done immediately. You should probably do a vet check of both of them as well. Sometimes medical problems make cats very irritable and can totally change intercat dynamic.

Good luck. This should be fixable. That said, every now and then as cats age, problems do crop up that are based on other underlying factors that wont be fixed by a reintroduction, but it doesn't sound like you have done a fulsome reintroduction yet given the set-backs.
 
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In my case, our sister cats were both spayed when they were young. After 5 days of not seeing each other at all, last night we started putting them in the same room at night. One is loose and the other is in the kitty condo where they have slept together for the past 7 years. We are switching which is out and which is in the cage. They don't seem to be bothered at seeing each other like this, though the one out is not paying much attention, nor getting too close to the one in!
 
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