Disheartened To The Core!!

[6x16inside]

Hello,
I have 4 furr babies. First is Jackie blue, an 8 yr old neutered male, my darling with a capital D! Then Sassy, basically my youngest son's girl, then Olivia (whom this is about) and as of a month ago, Ampersand who is about 3-4 months old. All strictly indoor cats.
The first 2 were fixed but Olivia hadn't been for no particular reason until July 11th. Olivia's been with us since mid 2015 and never more than a little "hey I get to eat first buddy!" tap at Jackie.
So July 11th, I get her fixed, bring her home and keep her in a room mostly alone except for her go to person in the family, my oldest son. By day 3, she is fine and roaming the house again. Day 8 after spay and all he** breaks loose and I am clueless as to why....she suddenly and for no known reason, viciously attacks Jackie Blue, the neutered male. Then again the next day and then almost a third time but that I interjected before it got as bad as the previous two attacks.
Youngest unneutered male, Ampersand is treated like her baby kitten and showered with love however.
First vet says behavioral and puts her on gabapentin and suggests feliway or some such "calming" spray (which I chose not to buy) but day 3 of the gab came the 3rd attempt at Jackie's life.
Next vet said same thing but prescribed diazepam in addition to the gab and after about 4 days, I began letting her back around Jackie (although by now he is terrified of her and hides if he even thinks she's near). A couple more days and she's doing nothing but staring at him and I even gave him a dose of the diazepam and within 2 hours, they are peacefully 2 feet apart.
I was not letting my guard down however, but had to go to work and because she had gotten to where she was just distraught at being locked up even if my son was with her, was leaving her out.
I was pretty worried that getting Ampersand neutered might put him in danger but did so anyway and that was yesterday and at first, she didn't seem to care but then several hours later, she's spewing at him as well. She has not full on attacked him thus far.
Sorry this has gotten so long but someone PLEASE HELP ME?!?!? What is wrong with my formally sweet, precious Olivia???
We cannot live like this with everyone having to be sequestered at different times and areas and with the chore that entails where feeding and litter box separation is concerned much less having no idea how we are going to travel in our RV later this month.
I am contemplating giving her up but not knowing how or where she could end up leaves me thinking euthanasia would be better but that really destroys me and my son would probably never forgive for either choice.
My sister and parents have both gotten numerous cats fixed and neither of them or their furr babies turned maniac after.....I just don't understand!
How I wish I could go back to July 11th or before and never gotten her fixed considering her inact behavior was never that big of a deal!!

 

[danteshuman]

Have you tried a slow re-introduction, where she is just smelling all the other cats? You know site swapping by putting her in a crate so you can coral the other 3 into where she was then releasing her? So she can only smell them and maybe be fed 10 feet from the door while they eat on the other side?

I'm asking because it sounds like you have tried _a lot_ of things already. Which I give you props for.

I might also try putting a dab of pure vanilla extract on the back of the neck of every cat. It might have been her scent was messed up at the vet and she didn't recognize the 2 cats. Then her baby came back from the vet smelling wrong to! I'm just guessing here. If it is the scent thing, take all the cats to the vet every time.

I might try getting a second vet opinion before giving her up. Is it possible she healed wrong and is in pain?

 

[di and bob]

Cats often 'change' post vet visit because of the strange smells and trauma the are introduced to at the vets. You stated she attacked 8 days after the spay, her hormones are running amuck and she is very much still nervous and traumatized. Cats try very hard not to show pain or nervousness, so it might have been even just a quick movement by Blue that set her off. Some cats take weeks to get over something like this. Her spay is causing her to be defensive too, the pain will make her attack if anyone gets too near. Not getting her spayed would be worse however, her hormone swings will cause her to get defensive too, especially when she gets older. And caring for endless kittens is not a real life, as is trying to get out and the constant crying. It takes up to 6 weeks for the hormones to leave her body, she will calm down and become more friendly in time. just give her space, ;lots of love and good treats, she will come around in time.

 

[Timmer]

I had to look up exactly what those two drugs were -- have you? They are used to treat seizures. That doesn't make any sense. The diazepam is also for anxiety. There are strong side effects from both drugs. Maybe the initial fighting was just from the vet smell on her but .......I wouldn't have my cats on either of those drugs. I wouldn't take them myself!
Give it some more time and see what happens. I would let the cats be together and supervise. Please don't put her down. If you have to rehome her, then so be it. Someone would take her. She may need to be an only cat now. Four cats in the house is quite a lot.

 

[Sonatine]

Gabapentin is also commonly used for nerve pain, so if she's still in pain from the spay somehow that might sort it out until she's healed, but I'm not sure if it's the best choice painkiller here or not. I'm less sure about its purely behavioral applications, but it and diazepam together could definitely calm her down... or make her really drowsy, but if it's keeping her from going on a murder spree, then it's fine as a quick fix until all the hormones/weird vet smells settle.

Sorry I don't have much else to say on her behavior other than that it does sound like it was caused by weird vet smells, and that I hope she improves!

 

[6x16inside]

Have you tried a slow re-introduction, where she is just smelling all the other cats? You know site swapping by putting her in a crate so you can coral the other 3 into where she was then releasing her? So she can only smell them and maybe be fed 10 feet from the door while they eat on the other side?

I'm asking because it sounds like you have tried _a lot_ of things already. Which I give you props for.

I might also try putting a dab of pure vanilla extract on the back of the neck of every cat. It might have been her scent was messed up at the vet and she didn't recognize the 2 cats. Then her baby came back from the vet smelling wrong to! I'm just guessing here. If it is the scent thing, take all the cats to the vet every time.

I might try getting a second vet opinion before giving her up. Is it possible she healed wrong and is in pain?

Have you tried a slow re-introduction, where she is just smelling all the other cats? You know site swapping by putting her in a crate so you can coral the other 3 into where she was then releasing her? So she can only smell them and maybe be fed 10 feet from the door while they eat on the other side?

I'm asking because it sounds like you have tried _a lot_ of things already. Which I give you props for.

I might also try putting a dab of pure vanilla extract on the back of the neck of every cat. It might have been her scent was messed up at the vet and she didn't recognize the 2 cats. Then her baby came back from the vet smelling wrong to! I'm just guessing here. If it is the scent thing, take all the cats to the vet every time.

I might try getting a second vet opinion before giving her up. Is it possible she healed wrong and is in pain?

 

[6x16inside]

The other spayed female is the only one she doesn't bother so I don't see how it is scent related.
She has been thoroughly checked by two vets other than where she was spayed which was a low cost place and the second vet fed me this horror story of how "sometimes" they treat them like an assembly line and being low cost, might not have ensured she was entirely out for the procedure, etc.
Neither vet has called to ask about her this far out into the meds, the second doc had never heard of gabapentin especially for cats so basically, I seem to be in a large useless city where no one knows anything.
I thought of trying the crate deal but someone said the seemed mean so i tried the harness type leash contraption but she was unhappy about that and Jackie was staying hiding anyway.
The eight days prior to the first attack was part of the healing carefully, watching to make sure she didn't hurt herself, etc. time during which everything was normal as it had been.
Basically it just seems like with her "man", my oldest son who at around 3-4 just turned "different", has now become mentally challenged as well.