Redirected aggression and I’m not home to deal with it

arr

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Oct 20, 2020
Messages
333
Purraise
587
Hello everyone,

As you may know from another thread I posted, I did not want to leave my cats to go on this trip I’m currently on, but I thought it would be good for my anxiety to see that I can indeed travel and everything will be fine. Well I was wrong.

The pet sitter reported that since yesterday the two kittens are hiding under the couch and won’t come out. One of them wouldn’t eat yesterday and I don’t know if they will eat this morning. Their mother, Penny, is seemingly fine. We couldn’t figure out what was going on until this morning Fizzbin tried to come out from under the couch and Penny attacked him. So it seems something happened in our absence that has caused a situation of redirected aggression.

Is it possible that us being gone caused Penny to feel abandoned and she took it out on the kittens? Can we never take a trip? Or was it something else? I’m going crazy wondering what happened.

We are hundreds of miles away and there’s nothing I can do about it, so all I could think to do is tell the sitter to lock Penny in the guest room with all her necessary supplies and I guess we start the reintroduction process when we get back. I’m losing my mind over this. I wish I had stayed home.
 
Last edited:

rubysmama

Forum Helper
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Nov 25, 2013
Messages
25,278
Purraise
62,758
Location
Canada
Oh, so sorry to hear this is happening while you're trying to enjoy a little vacation. As you're not there, all you can do is advise the pet sitter on what to do. And getting the kitten that didn't eat yesterday is the top priority, as of course is preventing them from fighting. Therefore, keeping them separated until you return seems like the best option.

Here's a couple TCS articles that you might want to read and pass on suggestions to your cat sitter.

How To Get Your Cat To Start Eating Again | TheCatSite
Why Has My Cat Stopped Eating And Is It Dangerous? – TheCatSite Articles

And about the re-directed aggression, you can re-introduce them once you're back home.

Who knows what happened to cause the aggression, however, Separation Anxiety In Cats – TheCatSite Articles is a possibility.

Fingers crossed the next update from your pet sitter is a positive one. :crossfingers:
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

arr

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Oct 20, 2020
Messages
333
Purraise
587
Thank you so much, Rubysmama. The sitter said that both kittens managed to eat a little this morning so at least they have something in their stomachs. And she was able to pick them up and examine them and she doesn’t see any injuries. She sent a heartbreaking video of Fizzbin, all his fur puffed out, slowly growling, as she was trying to feed him. This is not him. He’s such a happy, easy going cat, and he loves to eat. We are working on possibly heading home early but it’s too soon to tell yet. I’m just so worried they will be permanently traumatized.
 

rubysmama

Forum Helper
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Nov 25, 2013
Messages
25,278
Purraise
62,758
Location
Canada
How long have you been away? Maybe they just need a day or so to get used to the pet sitter stopping by.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

arr

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Oct 20, 2020
Messages
333
Purraise
587
How long have you been away? Maybe they just need a day or so to get used to the pet sitter stopping by.
We've been away four days, three more days to go.
 

fionasmom

Moderator
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
Jun 21, 2014
Messages
13,114
Purraise
17,350
Location
Los Angeles
It does sound as if you have a conscientious pet sitter which is at least one comfort. I completely agree with your strategy of keeping Penny safe, but isolated, until you get home. Then you can proceed with resolving this....and yes, I think this could be a one off kind of thing which may not repeat hopefully.
 

rubysmama

Forum Helper
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Nov 25, 2013
Messages
25,278
Purraise
62,758
Location
Canada
We've been away four days, three more days to go.
Passed the halfway point, at least. But so sorry your vacation is so stressful. Hopefully you'll get good news from the pet sitter today.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8

arr

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Oct 20, 2020
Messages
333
Purraise
587
Hello everyone,

I wanted to give an update on how things went with the redirected aggression on our vacation. Penny was locked in the guest room for half a day and the sitter made an extra trip to come in the middle of the day to check on the cats, due to the situation. Penny got out ( I don’t blame the sitter, she wasn’t really prepared for this and Penny is very difficult to confine) but thankfully all the cats were sniffing and rubbing against each other as if nothing had happened! So the episode lasted one evening and overnight into the next day. When we got home they were all getting along just fine.

Im very thankful but also nervous because I’m not entirely sure what happened and will it happen again? I’ve put together some clues:
Penny is a very territorial cat. She goes on her rounds of all the windows every day and i think she might have seen another cat very close up, since our basement windows are at ground level. Or one could’ve come right up to our deck windows. There are two outdoor cats in our neighborhood that could be the culprit.
I found a spray marking on our dining wall near the deck windows. It’s definitely not a regular pee. This suggests to me territorial insecurity. I haven’t found any more but I ordered a black light to be sure.
So my best guess is she was disturbed by an interloper and in her confusion she turned on her kittens.

I just don’t understand why it went so bad this particular time because the neighbor’s cat came up to the window several months ago and there was a big fuss but once it walked away, all the cats were fine.

We also discovered a screen had fallen out of a window so perhaps one of the cats was climbing the screen and it fell and there was a crash that scared them all and set this off? I guess I’ll never know for sure.

I also feel bad because I can tell the cats really missed us. They have been very needy and just a little off, it took about two days for them to seem like their old selves. They also all have diarrhea, even though the only change to their food was twice a day meals instead of three times a day. I think maybe it was caused by stress. I blame their neediness on the pandemic, all they know is us being home all the time, and to suddenly disappear for a week was too much for them evidently.

We have another week long trip coming up next month and the month after and this whole thing has left me even more nervous. The good thing about those trips is we will be close enough to home that we can come back, even just for a day or night, if anything goes terribly wrong. I hope that they will start to adapt to us being gone more this summer and learn that we always come back home and everything will be okay.
 

fionasmom

Moderator
Staff Member
Moderator
Joined
Jun 21, 2014
Messages
13,114
Purraise
17,350
Location
Los Angeles
You had a conscientious sitter who returned at least to check on them. In my experience, redirected aggression does not happen every time and the pattern, if there is one, can be hard to determine. If a cat climbed a screen and there was a loud noise, that is another piece of the puzzle. Penny is definitely checking for intruders.

The cats may definitely figure out that you come home after your next couple of trips.
 

rubysmama

Forum Helper
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Nov 25, 2013
Messages
25,278
Purraise
62,758
Location
Canada
Glad things settled down after just that one evening. You will probably never know what caused it, and hopefully it will never happen again.

As for your travelling, once it becomes more regular, hopefully they'll get more used to you being gone. At least, as long as they get along, they have each other for company, plus a great pet sitter, for times when their humans are away.
 

Kflowers

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 28, 2018
Messages
5,772
Purraise
7,617
If Penny marked the inside wall, there is a very good chance the outside cats marked the outside of the house. Use whatever you use to wash off their markings and keep looking for more of their markings. In one neighborhood where we lived, the neutered (he was older when it was done) cat next door sprayed every front and back door for two blocks almost every day. You can buy white vinegar by the gallon. Don't dilute it.
 
Top