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- May 1, 2021
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Hello all,
We are having trouble with redirected aggression and it’s really getting me down
Background is we have 4 indoor cats, follow all the “rules” for multi-cat households, have a large catio. As far as I was concerned, everything was ticking along fine apart from one of my boys spraying due to neighbour cats harassing them through the catio - we have had a behaviourist in who said there were no signs of intercat stress and we are working on the spraying. We have 2 4yo girls and 2 2yo boys, who have complete free reign of the house apart from at night when the boys are put in a room together (large room with cat trees, a cat wheel etc) because the girls like to sleep in bed with me and can’t if the boys are out as they also try to get in the bed and the girls don’t like to share. Hope that makes sense, for context!
So last Tuesday one of the boys wasn’t acting himself and he went to the vet at midday, vet found nothing. Later in the evening (about 11pm) he was acting strange in the litter tray, he urinated about 8 times in the space of 30 minutes and sprayed (he is not the sprayer) so we called the emergency vet who wanted to see him. He again found nothing and said it was behavioural? On our return from this vet, his friend started hissing at him. These boys have been best buds for their whole life, cuddle and play regularly and have never had an issue. They slept separately that night and the next day we started brushing and scent swapping during the day (we were in the house every day to monitor) but keeping them separate at night still. Anyway, this carried on for a couple of days, then yesterday it had been over 48 hours since any hissing, and they had resumed playing together and licking each other, so we thought they could sleep in the same room together again. Within 20 mins back to hissing. Today he is resource guarding (hissing when he gets near) everything from his friend but not the girls.
I really don’t understand why this is happening still almost a week later, and why sometimes they are fine and sometimes not. This is not normal for them at all and it’s making me so anxious that they’re never going to be friends again.
I’d really like advice or reassurance? Please no posts where redirected aggression has been irreparable, as I am already feeling quite fragile about this!
We are having trouble with redirected aggression and it’s really getting me down
Background is we have 4 indoor cats, follow all the “rules” for multi-cat households, have a large catio. As far as I was concerned, everything was ticking along fine apart from one of my boys spraying due to neighbour cats harassing them through the catio - we have had a behaviourist in who said there were no signs of intercat stress and we are working on the spraying. We have 2 4yo girls and 2 2yo boys, who have complete free reign of the house apart from at night when the boys are put in a room together (large room with cat trees, a cat wheel etc) because the girls like to sleep in bed with me and can’t if the boys are out as they also try to get in the bed and the girls don’t like to share. Hope that makes sense, for context!
So last Tuesday one of the boys wasn’t acting himself and he went to the vet at midday, vet found nothing. Later in the evening (about 11pm) he was acting strange in the litter tray, he urinated about 8 times in the space of 30 minutes and sprayed (he is not the sprayer) so we called the emergency vet who wanted to see him. He again found nothing and said it was behavioural? On our return from this vet, his friend started hissing at him. These boys have been best buds for their whole life, cuddle and play regularly and have never had an issue. They slept separately that night and the next day we started brushing and scent swapping during the day (we were in the house every day to monitor) but keeping them separate at night still. Anyway, this carried on for a couple of days, then yesterday it had been over 48 hours since any hissing, and they had resumed playing together and licking each other, so we thought they could sleep in the same room together again. Within 20 mins back to hissing. Today he is resource guarding (hissing when he gets near) everything from his friend but not the girls.
I really don’t understand why this is happening still almost a week later, and why sometimes they are fine and sometimes not. This is not normal for them at all and it’s making me so anxious that they’re never going to be friends again.
I’d really like advice or reassurance? Please no posts where redirected aggression has been irreparable, as I am already feeling quite fragile about this!
