Cat Turning Aggressive Towards My Girlfriend

[Jamz3k]

I need advice about my 4 year old cat Token! My evil cat hates everyone and everything except me which is a slight annoyance but in general if anyone comes to my house she just sulks off to her room and that’s that.

Over the past year she has got used to my girlfriend coming over and treated her with indifference and even some slight signs of affection until last week, now they can’t be in the same room together, Token gets very aggressive and attacks her, then panics and freaks out and becomes seriously agrressive towards me also.

I have never seen my cat this aggressive before ever, it is like a completely different animal and this has really worried the girlfriend now.

Now the only difference I can think of is that the girlfriend got herself a rescue cat about a month ago and it’s currently on heat, could this be triggering my cat? FYI my cat is spayed and her cat is going this week to get spayed in the hope that this might be the reason.

Could this be the cause?

 

[ArtNJ]

Yes, that sounds like your issue, cats have powerful sniffers and at a guess the rescue cat is all over her, and she comes over in the same outfit. To a cat, that is like your GF going dumpster diving then coming over would be to you, except the smell is one of alert/caution/danger rather than vomit. Have her shower and change clothes before coming over (might be able to skip showering, not sure, but I'd do it at first just to confirm its a smell issue). Before she showers & changes, put one of the rescue cats favorite blankets (hopefully has one, if not encourage it) in a trash bag and tie it carefully. She showers, changes, brings the bag to your house. She doesn't smell like other cat. You open the bag when girlfriend leaves and put the blanket somewhere your cat will smell it, but not too close to food/litter or any "safe spots". This should hopefully help get your cat used to the smell without associating it with girlfriend. Change blanket at least once a week. Hopefully, in a week or three, she can stop changing before coming to see you.

If her coming over "clean" doesn't help, probably something else.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

My first thought, also, is that this is the smell of the strange cat coming into your cat's territory. All cats are territorial, and females can be especially so, as their control of territory is safety for them and their kittens. Spaying calms this down some, but doesn't eradicate it entirely. Your cat doesn't KNOW that there won't ever be any kittens, and here's the scent of this HUSSY IN HEAT in HER safe place! Now, once your girlfriend's cat is spayed, and her hormones settle down (this can take some time), your cat may be fine again.

 

[Jamz3k]

Thanks folks, this puts my mind at ease a bit.

 

[Furballsmom]

One other thought, you could try a calming product, there are sprays available, for gf's clothing.
I really like A ArtNJ s thinking, since you'll likely become a blended family and if/when that becomes a possibility/probability, do some scent swapping of your cat to the other cat's house also.. The calming products could come in handy then during the actual feline intro.