Will my cat accept her sister again?

[Camper66]

I have 3 cats, 2 of which are sisters from the same litter. One of those 2 got out last week and was gone for 5 days. She finally returned last night! I was worried sick. Anyway, her sister is now hissing at her if she even gets close to her. I imagine she is smelling other animals on her. All morning she has been growling and hissing at her sister.
Will this go away? Will she acc her sister again? They used to be best buds and slept together.

 

[susanm9006]

Yes, it will go away. Right now your returned cat has all kinds of different smells on her and it is making her sister not recognize her. I would try to keep them separated a day to give the returnee time to start smelling more familiar to her sister.

Are these sisters spayed? If not, the returned cat could very well be pregnant and you should contact your vet about doing an immediate spay.

 

[Camper66]

Thanks so much! I was hoping that would be the answer.
Yes, all of our cats are spayed. We got all of them from the local shelter and they come already spayed.

 

[FeebysOwner]

You can try to speed up the process by taking a towel or a brush and first use it on the hissing cat and then use it on the returned escapee, to help make them smell more like each other.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

You've gotten everything I would have said! However, if it comes down to it, put a dab of real vanilla extract on a cloth, and wipe down ALL of them, well, their necks, actually, so that all of them smell the same.

 

[tabbytom]

with all the suggestions.

 

[ArtNJ]

I recently had this over one escaping for a few hours when it was raining which I guess accellerated the smell differences. Maybe it was more the smell of damp earth then other animals, but that was enough for problems. Anyway even an overnight sepration and using a favorite blanket to try and rescent the escapee didn't totally fix it, and there was some growling for days. But it was clear they wouldn't actually fight, so I let them be and eventually the inside cat got over it.

 

[Camper66]

Thank you all for the advice and encouragement! yesterday she hissed and growled, whereas today she is only hissing. Maybe that is a good sign. I am going to try the brush idea and the vanilla trick (assuming I have some in the cabinet)
Thanks again!

 

[Alldara]

Thank you all for the advice and encouragement! yesterday she hissed and growled, whereas today she is only hissing. Maybe that is a good sign. I am going to try the brush idea and the vanilla trick (assuming I have some in the cabinet)
Thanks again!

That's progress for sure!

 

[Camper66]

Out of curiosity, does she not recognize her by sight? Is the smell so much more prevalent that the sight of her sister does not make a difference?

 

[ArtNJ]

Out of curiosity, does she not recognize her by sight? Is the smell so much more prevalent that the sight of her sister does not make a difference?

Sight is definitely relevant for cats. For example, there are stories posted here about long hair cats getting a cut and that causing problems. However, there is no question that cats are heavily scent based, and smelling differently seems to be enough for a significant % of cats to get confused about whether its the same cat. Its weird to us because humans have terrible noses, whereas the cat nose is highly powerful. So if you have this high power nose, it kind of makes sense that it isn't second fiddle to vision the way it is for sighted humans.

Talking about this is eough to make me wonder why there isn't some scent trick that could be used when introducing a new cat to the existing cat(s). I dont mean scent swappinng, I mean loading the new cat up with the scents of your existing cats. Never had that thought before, and never seen it suggested, but it does sort of make sense.