Cats

edited June 2014 in Chit chat
Anyone on here good with cats?

Got 2 females...both just over a year old, both have been done and they are sisters.

They have always been fine with each other, course they have always had little spats from time to time but they are usually over in minutes.

Something happened today in our back garden, not sure what but my 2 were playing there and I heard a God awful commotion going on. When I got there a strange cat was sat on our fence (it's quite a high fence...just short of 6 foot).

After I came out the door, the strange cat ran along the top of the fence and away. Sunny, the littler of the 2 was chasing it but on the lawn.

Summer, my other mog, had run inside. As I came back in, Summer went back out and all seemed OK, but when Sunny came back up the garden Summer started to cower, hiss, spit and growl...

...it has been like that since 11am! Summer being overly aggressive for what appears no reason. Neither cat has any sign of injury, both are happy to be cuddled and carried.

Separate them and all is well, both cats are cuddly, purry, making biscuits and head-butting for attention (those last 2 are normal cat habits for all those non-cat fans! :) ), but eventually the one who has been put in a room starts to whine and cry...

These are not indoor cats, but neither have been outside the back garden.

Any ideas on how I get these 2 back as best mates?
Post edited by STeaM on

Comments

  • edited June 2014
    Probably just time. Has the cat been used to seeing other cats or as in this case, fighting with them? It may just be confused as to who exactly had a go, thinking its your cat and not realising it was another. I'm a little surprised its lasted so long, but one of our cats can be skittish for a couple of hours after a big fight.
  • edited June 2014
    Probably just time. Has the cat been used to seeing other cats or as in this case, fighting with them? It may just be confused as to who exactly had a go, thinking its your cat and not realising it was another. I'm a little surprised its lasted so long, but one of our cats can be skittish for a couple of hours after a big fight.

    No sir. Neither cat is used to seeing other cats up close. They have seen them at a distance through the window...or back when they were young at the RSPCA cattery they were in glass cubicles where they could see other cats.

    They only fight between themselves and then it's usually over in minutes and they are more squabbles than fights...more handbags.
  • edited June 2014
    Cats do act funny when other cats are around. Our cats reacted in totally different ways when our neighbours got a cat. Samba (the male) stayed in the back garden where the new cat wouldn't go, but Salsa (female) started going round the front where this other cat was, as if she was protecting her territory - even though before the new cat came along she always used to be out the back.

    They never fought each other, but I'd come down in the morning and there'd always be Samba at the back door and Salsa on the kitchen windowsill, as if they'd come to some agreement about territory - "you take the front and I'll take the back of the house, then we can keep all the other nasty cats out"

    Both gone now :( We want to get kittens again but might keep them indoors this time. I'm not sure how Samba died but he was perfectly healthy the day before so I'm wondering if it was rat poison (directly or indirectly)
    The comp.sys.sinclair crap games competition 2015
    "Let's not be childish. Let's play Spectrum games."
  • edited June 2014
    My cat used to always cower from the other cats around here (there are loads of them), but now she has grown a lot (she is 10 months old) she runs around slapping all the others now.
    She did spent the last 4 or 5 days off her food, diarrhea and very very clingy to me. We think that she must have eaten something outside probably poison,. :(
    There's been a notice posted on FB for my area about someone putting meat out laced with antifreeze, it happens a lot here. The road mentioned in this is only about 50 yards away so no doubt she (the cat) has been down that way, :/

    https://www.facebook.com/polomint77/posts/10203494038923975

    If I ever catch the bastids, then I will be shoving the damn antifreeze down their throats, just before giving them a bloody hiding...
    So far, so meh :)
  • edited June 2014
    When my two indoor cats, brother and sister, have a spat - usually due to boy spraying in response to a vet visit it takes exactly three days for them to get back to normal. The female will hiss, growl and attack him continually. She is half his size, usually won't say boo to a goose but *really* gets the hump.

    I'd say give it time and it should sort itself out again.
  • edited June 2014
    There is a synthetic pheromone called feliway that you can buy from the vets or ebay. It mimics the scent all cats secrete from the side of their head, you've probably seen them rub the side of their heads on everything in sight when they are happy.

    This smell is the way cats mark areas as safe and free from danger and as this scent isn't unique it will work with any cat in theory.

    It is about ?15 for a small spray bottle but it last a long while as you only need to spray a bit on the chair legs and bottom of the cupboards etc. I've seen on ebay you can even get a glade plugin type thing which will consantly pump it into the room although id try the cheaper spray bottle if i was you as you can use it other rooms.

    I can vouch for this spray as I had to look after my sisters cat for a fortnight. It was so spoiled by her that it pretty much lost any coping mechanisms when left on it's own and would claw at the wallpaper, and wail when shut away for the night. I sprayed this stuff along the skirting board, chair legs and a bit where he slept and he was quiet all night.
  • edited June 2014
    Thinking about scents, as mentioned above, you might be mistaking 'aggressive' for 'defensive'. Has the one that encountered the strange cat been scent-marking more? That may make the other one feel opressed. You could try letting the hissing one back out in the garden on her own for a while, to re-connect with the 'territory'.

    This site just recommends separation for a bit:
    http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/types-of-aggression-in-cats/

    Can you separate them on either side of a door, so that they can still sense each other? That might help them get over it and start to want each others company again.
    Joefish
    - IONIAN-GAMES.com -
  • edited June 2014
    Oh no, another cat in the garden thread....last time we had one of these a mod quit.
  • edited June 2014
    My friend has three cats. One gets on well with both of them; but the other two hate each other. One sprays around the house and the other drags its food all around the kitchen each time it eats.
    When my last two cats died we decided to just have one in future due to their behavior. My experience is that cats prefer to be on their own; they might put up with another cat but they don't really like it and they get stressed out; subsequently we thought it was a bit unfair getting another two.
  • edited June 2014
    beanz wrote: »
    Oh no, another cat in the garden thread....last time we had one of these a mod quit.

    Which mod is next? hehehe
    So far, so meh :)
  • edited June 2014
    polomint wrote: »
    Which mod is next? hehehe

    We need to spay them :-D
  • edited June 2014
    mile wrote: »
    We need to spay them :-D

    Now that's a bloody good idea, it might keep them quiet for a while... :)

    Maybe kar will volunteer, lol
    So far, so meh :)
  • edited June 2014
    cole wrote: »
    My friend has three cats. One gets on well with both of them; but the other two hate each other. One sprays around the house and the other drags its food all around the kitchen each time it eats.
    When my last two cats died we decided to just have one in future due to their behavior. My experience is that cats prefer to be on their own; they might put up with another cat but they don't really like it and they get stressed out; subsequently we thought it was a bit unfair getting another two.

    We got 2 as we thought they'd be company for each other, or something to chase around the house at least, because the wifey and I are out at work all day.
  • edited June 2014
    My Spectrum has calculated the optimum solution, assuming two perfectly elastic spherical cats in a vacuum...
    Joefish
    - IONIAN-GAMES.com -
  • edited June 2014
    My 10 month old pussy, :)

    About 2 metres up a tree lol
    jazz2.jpg

    jazz3.jpg

    Lazy git...
    jazz.png
    So far, so meh :)
  • edited June 2014
    mile wrote: »
    We need to spay them :-D

    At the very least they need to be kept in at night for the sake of the local pussy...(ba-dum-tschhh)
    The comp.sys.sinclair crap games competition 2015
    "Let's not be childish. Let's play Spectrum games."
  • edited June 2014
    leespoons wrote: »
    At the very least they need to be kept in at night for the sake of the local pussy...(ba-dum-tschhh)

    I vote for spaying them, :p
    So far, so meh :)
  • edited June 2014
    "them"? There's only one mod left isn't there?

    When I get another moggy I'll call her "karingal" :)
    The comp.sys.sinclair crap games competition 2015
    "Let's not be childish. Let's play Spectrum games."
  • edited June 2014
    leespoons wrote: »
    "them"? There's only one mod left isn't there?

    When I get another moggy I'll call her "karingal" :)

    /me pulls out his big snips...
    So far, so meh :)
  • edited June 2014
    Cats can be like that.. I have 4 myself and they hiss and snarl at next doors collection of cats.

    (they also hiss and snarl at the other next door's dog)
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