HELP - Muffy and Puffy are trying to kill each other!

[dawnt91]

I really need some help with this. I'd love to hear any and all suggestions!

Muffy got spayed this week (finally and $150 later!). She came home yesterday with a cone on her head because she was tearing out her stitches. Well, Puffy took one look at her and decided she's EVIL or something. My totally placid cat has been growling, hissing, and making horrifying sounds at her since I brought her home. Muffy, on the other hand, ignored him at first, and then started attacking him. She launches herself at him and, if it weren't for the cone around her head, she'd be biting him. Neither cat is getting hurt, but they're both stressed out, and I'm worried about Muffy's stitches.

Any ideas of how to get them over this? I've just been letting them work it out on their own since there's been no injuries, but it's scaring my kids, freaking out the cats, and keeping everyone awake at night. I really hate seeing my cats like this. Puffy is Muffy's kitten from last year, and they've been best buddies this whole time. It's very upsetting!

 

[jeanie g.]

Hi, Dawn. I'm not the expert on behavior, but considering Muffy's condition, I think I would keep her in a separate room. She needs to heal. Puffy might not like the cone. I assume they were good friends before she had her surgery. (Why can't either of us find an inexpensive vet?) I would reintroduce them gradually when you can supervise. It's such a shock to us when friends attack each other. Hissy always recommends a dark room late at night with only a nightlight and soft classical music such as Mozart or Debussy playing in the background for feral cats, so that might be helpful in keeping your babies calm too. You would want to be in control of the situation. Do you have a large cage so that one could stay in the cage? Take your time with the reintroduction to allow Puffy to heal until the experts get to this post. Good luck.

 

[hissy]

Muffy smells *funny* and the other cat is responding to the foreign smell. Take an old cloth and rub Puffy all up and down with it, then rub Muffy carefully all as well then re-rub Puffy and that *should* take care of the problem.

 

[jeanie g.]

See what I mean about experts?

 

[catsaplenty]

Dawn,

This is definitely a common problem! Every time I bring one or two of my cats back from the vet's the others hissy, spit and threaten to attack

I would go with the suggestion that you keep Muffy in a seperate room if your other cat is hostile. When Chloe was spayed Fergus beat up on her and ripped her first layer of stitches (they do about 3 seperate layers). I found her cowering under the bed in the spare bedroom and took her to the vet. They didnt restitch the first layer since the incision was closed (the other two layers) but she still had to be given a pill daily plus have the incision cleaned out with betadine solution as well. I'm sure it was very uncomfortable for her and I certainly learned my lesson about keeping the two newly spayed girls seperated from the yet unneutered males!

Definitely follow the "scent rub" suggestion as well. It really does work!

 

[gayef]

Hi Dawn,

As Hissy and the others who have replied have already given you excellent advice (we really ~do~ have some of the most knowlegable cat people here at TCS, don't we? *grin*), I won't bore you with my version, but just as a little something to consider for the future ...

At the moment, I only have one cat, an elderly Siamese girl named Chloe, but when I had multiple cats, vet visit days were always simply dreaded ... until I learned that if all the cats smelled the same, then there was no fighting between them when one or more got home from the vet.

So, before I leave the house with any cat to attend the vet, I spray just a little of my perfume on my hands, rub my hands together until the mist is mostly dry, then pet each of the cats who are NOT going to the vet so that they all have my fragrance on them. Then I head out the door and attend the vet. Before I leave the vet's office, I repeat this procedure for the cat/cats who DID go to the vet.

Needless to say, I've had plenty of people tell me that perfume contains ingredients which may not be suitable for cats to lick from their fur. So, accordingly, I DO NOT wet my hands with the perfume, there is only a slight mist, and after rubbing my hands together, that mist is dry to the touch before I apply my hands to any of my cats. I have been using this method for nearly 20 years, and have never observed an adverse reaction in any of my cats from it.

When I get home, they all smell the same and I've not experienced any fighting at all after doing this faithfully before and after each vet visit for, as I said above, nearly 20 years now.

As an amusing side note, I have always had Siamese cats (intermingled with others along the way), and Meezers tend to have a bit of a rep as spoiled and snotty cats, so when the vet and staff have seen me applying perfume to them after their visits, well ... I am certain that you can probably imagine the humorous comments. *grin*

Hope this helps,

Gaye

 

[dawnt91]

Thanks for your many suggestions. I've decided to keep them separated until Muffy can get her cone off. It really seems to scare Puffy, and now Muffy seeks him out to attack him. I tried rubbing them with a towel, but I think it's gone past that point. It probably would have helped if I had done it right away when I got Muffy home. Hopefully things will calm down when I get the cone off on Friday.

On another note, Muffy's been particulary affectionate (which is definitely NOT her normal nature) since her spay. I'm hoping she'll stay this way and not revert back to her normal unfriendly self when the cone comes off.