Non-recognition Aggression >2 Weeks

[Vipey]

Hey all,

I have three cats (two bengals, one old/deaf typical housecat). Took the housecat and one bengal to vet, and of course upon returning the typical non-recognition aggression began. Not new to this usually. A week later, took the other bengal. It's now been another week, and they are still behaving weird.

We leave for europe on Friday for two weeks - the problem is, one bengal corners the other and she gets so scared she pees everywhere, all over the hardwood. Sounds like wildcat wars. I don't remember it being this bad, and don't remember it lasting this long (then again we usually bring the bengals for their yearly checkup at the same time).

If I have to separate one in a small room for two weeks with a sitter coming by once a day, is this going to just make matters worse? I really can't think of any other options if they don't get better, and I'm not going to cancel our super expensive trip over it obviously.

Another thing to note: They'll eat off the same plate as each other and sniff each other without warring. It's usually around 3AM when we are woken up by terrible screaming / fighting / stalking, leading to separation. We set up two diffusers yesterday in a desperate attempt to stop this before we go to Europe, and plan to try leaving them out again tonight.

And the housecat doesn't care, she's deaf and oblivious to what they're doing. Poor thing

Bengals are only 10-12% bengal, so they aren't F1's or F2's or anything.

Thanks in advance! Any advice would be great. Or commiserating. That helps too.

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. Sorry for the stress of your cat's fighting, right before you head off on vacation.

This might seem far-fetched, but could you put both cats in carriers and take them out in the car somewhere, just so they get a change of scenery, and maybe when they come home, they'll be so relieved that they didn't end up at the vet, that they'll forget they were fighting.

Another idea is to put a dab of vanilla extract on each cat so that they all smell the same. Here's a link with more info:
Ode to vanilla extract

Good luck.

 

[Vipey]

Thank you rubysmama, we have some vanilla extract and my wife is applying it to them now. The bengals arent too pleased by the idea, but I'm not sure our housecat even noticed (she may not be able to smell anymore, shes very old). Hopefully we can sleep tonight without another war!

 

[Vipey]

Also, bringing them elsewhere would be a good idea, but one of them is notoriously hard to catch. Requires a great deal of trickery!