Cat hissing at other cat that has lived with them for over 3 years after spay

[sparkymema]

I used my cats safe space to keep my cat after being spayed for about 2-3 days, and during that time i didnt let any of the other cats into the room. Its kind of all of their space. Now I'm worried that older cat which is much bigger than that cat that just got spayed might hurt her. He's acting odd and hissing at her, and anytime he smells her sent on anything in the room he hisses right away. What ive done so far is letting the spayed cat move around wherever in the house and i put the other cat 'the one hissing into the room with me'. I'm hoping that this will calm him down and get him used to her scent again. Then I'm gonna closely monitor their interaction when i let them both into the room again in about 4 hours or so. Is there anything that I should do differently

 

[FeebysOwner]

Try rubbing his scent on her so that she smells more like him, just to see if that might help any. You can also try the vanilla trick if things don't resolve in a couple more days: Ode to vanilla extract.

Worse case scenario - you might have to go through an introduction process if things don't soon settle down. There are other members on this site who had to go to that extreme to get their cats used to one another again. I hope that isn't your situation!!

 

[ArtNJ]

Very common. My gentle 4 y.o. hissed at the kitten he likes when she same out of safe room. It very much doesn't mean there is an actual risk of injury or that the hisser won't work it out of the system in a few hours or at most a day or two. Of course, try rubbing the favored blanket over the recently spayed cat, but if that doesn't work don't panic. Just monitor the situation for a bit to make sure they are not going to fight and they can do the rest. If its worse than average, re-scenting did nothing, and it looks like they are going to fight, you can try a slow reintroduction.

Is she wearing a cone of shame? If she isn't wearing a cone, and they play, or she is active even with the cone on, 2-3 days may not be enough. I mean, I'm very confused by what is and isn't necessary, because the vets overdo precautions here. The cone of shame is always recommended for 14 days in the US, and apparently in Europe they only bust out the cone if the cat is licking enough to be a problem. Nonetheless, it is clear that the spay procedure is a bigger deal than neutering, real surgery, and running around after 2-3 days could be dangerous. But if you still have the cone on, probably that will deter too much activity.

 

[sparkymema]

They have traded a couple of smacks so far but for the most part it mostly has just been hissing and spitting. Before it was when they were 10-15ft away from each other but now its only when they face each other from about 4-5ft away

 

[sparkymema]

actually hes smack and hissing at the dogs now too. He was around the dogs also so idk if hes just grumpy or what.

 

[FeebysOwner]

That sounds like re-directed aggression - on top of non-recognition aggression. You will probably need to remove the dogs (or the cat if you can) from the area, let your angry guy settle down and then love on him after a bit.

Is there any chance this little guy is getting sick - albeit coincidentally to your other cat's spay? Sometimes cats will lash out at other cats, dogs, etc. if they are not feeling well. Just another thing to keep in mind.

 

[banana queen]

It's normal, when our youngest cat was neutered, the other cats hated him for a week. I kept him seperate except for supervised interactions with plenty of food and play (short at first but then for longer times), and also swapped scent. I got a blanket that the cats liked to lie on and rubbed it all over him. We also used a Feliway diffuser.

 

[sparkymema]

he went in at the same time as her for a checkup. My vet office always has a $10 off deal if i bring in more than one, so i took advantage of it so i know the boy one is healthy atm.

 

[sparkymema]

Also i removed the cat tree from the room. Should i bring that back first before letting him in again, I was thinking maybe that caused some tension because something major was missing from the space they all spent the most time in. I only did it so the spayed cat couldnt climb and get hurt

 

[sivyaleah]

We had this happen also. We finally had gotten to a point where our older resident was ok with our kitten then she got spayed and the hissing started all over again. Was very disheartening. It took a few days before things settled down again. I think it's due to the newly spayed cat smelling different; being under anesthesia too can make them behave differently. Cat recognize each other mainly by scent to that does make sense that this would happen. Hopefully you won't have to start from scratch again - I do think within a few days the dust will settle and they will be back to normal with each other.

 

[sparkymema]

its day two now and they still havent rally settled down. I'm going to be in the same room today working so I might just keep them in here the whole day and monitor them.

 

[Lisannez]

One of our cats has a huge issue with non recognition aggression. Our cats have been together for their whole lives, almost 13 years. When our tuxie (the one without the non recognition aggression) had surgery to remove a lump last year her sister hissed at her, swatted at her, and did the same to her humans until tuxie had her stitches out. Then she walked up to her sniffed her and all was well. The stitches apparently made the cat smell different, as well as the medications. It’s good to hear your situation is improving and that you can keep them apart. At the time this happened to us we were in a one bedroom condo and it was hard to keep the cats apart. We do our best to eliminate this with vet visits and it usually cuts down on the issues, but it never eliminates them completely. Does your cat have stitches still? If so this could be the culprit.

 

[sparkymema]

they are still going at it. now shes giving him the business too lol. I'm gonna see if it straightens itself out in the next couple days and if it doesn't I'm just gonna be stuck reintroducing them again.

 

[sparkymema]

Its been about 10 days now and they still have been kind of fighting. But at the moment they are literally sleeping 2ft away from each other. The only problem that i still notice is the girl kitty that got spayed is territorial over the litter box thats in the room. But I think that may go away when i give it a full scrub down soon.

 

[di and bob]

What you are going through is completely normal. Cats hate the vet so much they hate anything that even reminds them of it. My cats always take at least two or three days to get back to normal after vet visits, even when they all go together. if your two are sleeping close to each other it is going normal. Definitely get the tree back in if it has been a week.

 

[sparkymema]

It’s been two nights in a row now and no fighting while sleeping in the same room. They kind of hissed at each other the first full night together during feeding time but it was expected. They still aren’t as close as they used to be, but I can tell they both have that he’s alright and she’s alright vibe now.

 

[sparkymema]

Just my last update. They are 100% back to normal, some hissing here and there but I know thats normal for cats.

Thanks to anyone that posted on my thread. Gave everyone some purraise