my sister needs help

[natlay]

She has two cats who are probably four or five and are brothers. Over a year ago something surprised my sister and she yelled and jumped off the couch which made one of the cats fall on the other one. No one was hurt but they started fighting and acting afraid of each other after that. She separated them with baby gates and made a plan with the vet to slowly reintroduce them.

It took quite a while but they eventually got together again and returned to cuddling and grooming each other. It seemed like everything would be fine but they will periodically have serious fights where she will have to separate and introduce them again. For a while it got so bad that they were on prozac or something like it.

She just texted me saying that she is probably going to have to give the cats away because they are still fighting. I asked her what the vet said or if she can just separate them permanently but she hasn't answered yet. Does anyone have any advice I can give her?? She loves her cats so much and will be devastated if she can't find a way to keep them.

Edited to add: She's trying to contact her vet again because the cats are now trying to fight through the gate. Her boyfriend's parents foster cats so she's also trying to contact their foster coordinator to try to get some help.

 

[catbehaviors]

This sounds terrible! I can't believe that cats that were friends for a long time would just change after an accident like that... I can't give her any advice, but I don't see why she would have to give away the kitties. I hope everything works out.

 

[natlay]

The vet called it misplaced aggression. I think it goes all the way back to when she moved three hours away and one of them got a uti from the stress. He spent a day at the vet and they were wary of each other for a little while after that but up to a year or so ago my sister had never even heard them hiss. They go through periods where they are happy and grooming each other and then suddenly they are fighting. It sounds like the fights are getting worse each time.

I asked her if she could just separate them permanently but they are fighting through the gates now. She just wants them to be happy and they're not right now. That's the only reason she would ever consider giving them away. I told her I would ask some cat experts to see if anyone had any new ideas for her to try so she can keep her babies.