Agression from male cat

[Shayfury]

My male cat is showing extreme aggression to our female cat now that she's been spayed. Does he suddenly find threatening? When he's neutered, should it go back to normal?

 

[ArtNJ]

Good news, its nothing serious. Cats recognize other cats in large part by smell. So there is this well known thing when they go to the vet for spay/neuter and they stay in the recovery room for a bunch of hours, they absorb smells from other animals. They come home and get growled at by their former besty. Its called non-recognition aggression. It can happen from ordinary vet visits too, the groomer and sometimes other situations, but spay/neuter is the most common one because of the increased time spent in the vet's office, and also the fact that sometimes there are a bunch of other animals in the recovery room in close proximity. The antisceptic smell probably doesn't help either.

Take a favorite blanket from that cat and rub it on him to "rescent" him. That might be enough itself, but sometimes the cats also need a short break for a reset. Sometimes a longer break is needed, especially if there has been fighting.

 

[Mr. Meow]

Can you describe "extreme aggression"?
The mating process of cats actually looks pretty intimidating, so if he's trying to mate with her, that could be part of it.
Also, did this just start after the female came home from the vet?

 

[Shayfury]

Its actually been going on a while now. When the female recovered he started actually attacking her. These are no small fights, he barely makes eye contact and full attacks her. She scared and hides now if he's even close to the room she likes. Im trying to slowly reintroduce them, but I'm having little success.

 

[ArtNJ]

You know how if a couple fights and says aweful stuff to each other, it doesn't even matter anymore what started the fight? Thats what is going on for you. The redirected aggression is done, but they may have hurt each other, or at least have bad memories from the fight. So you need to isolate them and do a reintroduction process. A hopefully condensed version of what one does for new cats.

How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide – TheCatSite Articles

 

[Shayfury]

You know how if a couple fights and says aweful stuff to each other, it doesn't even matter anymore what started the fight? Thats what is going on for you. The redirected aggression is done, but they may have hurt each other, or at least have bad memories from the fight. So you need to isolate them and do a reintroduction process. A hopefully condensed version of what one does for new cats.

How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide – TheCatSite Articles

Thank you so much for this!