My cat is traumatized by my other cat, HELP!!

[santin44]

I have joined this site in a desperate attempt to receive some help regarding a behavior change in our two cats after an incident the other night. They have been living together for almost 4 months now, they play and get along really well and we have never had to worry about leaving them alone together. The other night, I noticed there was a neighbor cat that had approached our sliding glass door (it was not open, so there was no physical exposure, only visual). Our older cat (12yrs) was two feet from the sliding glass door, ears back and growling at the neighbor cat. About two feet behind her is our younger cat (11months) also growling at the neighbor cat. All of a sudden, our older cat leaps at the sliding glass door in an attempt to attack the neighbor cat, and our younger cat immediately starts SCREAMING excessively while turning to run upstairs, away from the incident. It was a blood curdling scream that I've never heard a cat make and I've owned cats my whole life. Throughout the next half hour, our younger cat attempted to come back to the kitchen (where our older cat had been sitting since the incident) and when she saw our older cat, she growled, hissed, and then screamed and ran away. About an hour later, they ended up approaching each other in our basement, and they seemed to be ok. They even played with each other, and there were no signs of apprehension. Another half hour passes, and I hear my younger can growl and then scream at our older cat again. I separated them for the night, and the next morning, our younger cat growled when she saw our older cat so I decided to keep them separated for the day. Later that afternoon, I brought the little one downstairs and she began interacting with our older cat like normal again. We again kept them separated that night, and the next morning the first sighting of each other went as normal, and then all of a sudden the little one put her ears back and started growling at the older cat until my fiancé intercepted and started petting her. Then things went back to normal for the rest of the day. Then when we went to go to bed, my fiancé followed them downstairs for a minute, and once again the little one howled at the older one (keep in mind, the older cat has done nothing to provoke this behavior and has not growled or hissed, I actually think she's afraid of the little cats behavior towards her) and stopped once my fiancé intercepted again. We often go on weekend trips and I am extremely afraid to leave them alone together, especially at night when it seems like the trauma reappears in our younger cat. We bought Feliway plug ins, not sure if they are helping. I am terrified that she will be traumatized for a long time and we will have to separate them every night in fear that something bad might happen if we don't. Feeling so sad.

 

[margd]

It might help if you went through reintroducing them, that is keeping them in separate rooms, swapping scents and gradually increasing their exposure to each other.  I think both of your cats could benefit from some time apart.  Your younger cat needs to stop being retriggered every night and your older cat needs some time without being suddenly screamed at.  This article describes the introduction process in more detail. [article="32680"]How To Successfully Introduce Cats The Ultimate Guide​[/article]   

Since both of your cats are already familiar with  your home, try switching them so that one cat is not always in the room while the other one roams around free.

If you are fairly sure that your younger cat is only triggered at night, you might be able to achieve the same result by separating them every night and gradually exposing them to each other during the evening until they can be together again.   I know that you don't want to have to separate them at night but if you start by keeping them completely separate and then give them more and more time together over time, this should prevent you having to keep them separated forever.  The main thing is that you need to break the pattern that the younger cat has developed by eliminating the trigger.  The only way to do this is to separate them and prevent any exposure to the trigger.

Again remember to switch who is in the room and who is out in the rest of the house and give both cats extra attention during this break in their routine.  Try also to make the safe room as interesting as you can for the cat who is sequestered within.

Unfortunately, part of the solution is going to involve keeping your neighbor's cat away from your door.  There are many approaches available, including motion sensor bursts of air or sprays of water, or rinsing the area outside your door with a substance that repels cats.  Citrus based solutions work well for this as cats generally don't like the smell of citrus.  For an idea of the cat repellents and motion sensor products available do a search on amazon. They have a very wide selection of both.  

Of course, the ideal solution would be that your neighbor keeps his cat inside from now on but unless the cat just escaped that one time, it is unlikely your neighbor will agree to that.  He or she might but that's not usually what happens in a case like this.

Good luck with everything!  I hope your two cats are best pals again in a very short time. 

 

[santin44]

Thanks Margd. I was doing some reading today and saw something about redirected aggression, and it sounds a lot like what my younger cat is experiencing from the incident. They have been acting completely normal towards each other all day today, just as they did yesterday. I agree with you on keeping them separated at night, and then gradually increase their time spent together in the evenings. I am still worried about leaving them alone together for any length of time, even during the day, and I feel bad separating one in a room if we have to leave the house. It's such an unfortunate situation, but as you said it's best to separate them during times of trigger. Crossing my fingers for a quick relationship repair.

 

[blozano]

Thanks Margd. I was doing some reading today and saw something about redirected aggression, and it sounds a lot like what my younger cat is experiencing from the incident. They have been acting completely normal towards each other all day today, just as they did yesterday. I agree with you on keeping them separated at night, and then gradually increase their time spent together in the evenings. I am still worried about leaving them alone together for any length of time, even during the day, and I feel bad separating one in a room if we have to leave the house. It's such an unfortunate situation, but as you said it's best to separate them during times of trigger. Crossing my fingers for a quick relationship repair.

Hi, I was searching the internet for help for my traumatized cat, and saw your plea for help..... I have almost exactly the same situation. Other than the patio door confrontation (my cats were face-to-face traumatized by another strange male invading their space and trying to take over their territory). My male cat (4 years old, neutered) did his best scaring the strange tom cat away, but it's my little girl who is traumatized and seems to have lost 90% of her memories and is scared, skittish and acts exactly the same to my boy that your cats did....like she was good with him at first greeting, but 5 minutes later she is hissing, growling spitting, etc at him. The male was trapped and taken to a cat rescue/shelter to be neutered, get shots then adopted out). My question is, did you ever get the sad situation resolved with your cat that was traumatized? If so, how long did it take? My cats have been best friends and slept together almost every night for the past 3 years.