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aggression stems from the cat being in an aggressive or agitating circumstance, but being unable to vent that aggression towards the cause of it. Agitating stimuli may be the sight, sound, or smell of another cat or animal, usually noises,
unfamiliar people, unfamiliar environments, or even pain.
A common example is seeing another cat outside a window, the inside cat becomes agitated and may hiss or growl, if the owner or another household cat walks into the room at that time and diverts the cat's attention, they may become the recipient of the aggression. When this happens between resident cats, they may no longer
tolerate being together and may fight when ever they see each other. This is a case of miscommunication between the cats due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The victim of the aggression may become defensive towards the aggressor and the aggressor reacts back,
furthering the problems between them.
When this occurs, the first step is to separate the cats until they calm down. The best way to calm an agitated cat is to isolate him in a darkened room with food, water, and litter and leave him alone.
It may take several hours or days until the cat is calm! During this time, the owner can go in, turn on the light on, feed the cat, then turn the light off and leave. Only when the cat is relaxed and approaching the owner can we consider moving to the next step. Both cats should be isolated in this manner until calm.
SOME CATS MAY REQUIRE LONG PERIODS OF TIME TO CALM DOWN, RE-INTRODUCING THE CAT TOO EARLY OR TOO QUICKLY WILL CAUSE FIGHTING TO RESUME AND PROLONG THE PROBLEM. During isolation, switching
litter boxes between the cats and petting them both with a towel or mitten will help to mix their scents.
Once both cats are calm and relaxed, we can begin to re-acclimate the cats to each other. This needs to be done slowly, usually using food to facilitate calm, non-anxious behavior. Start with the cats far apart in a neutral room and feed both a tasty food treat (Fancy Feast, Pounce treats, chicken, cheese, yogurt- whatever they like). Let them eat and then return them to their rooms until their next meal. If the cats will not eat, they are probably too close together. If either cat shows signs of anxious or aggressive behavior (such as staring, growling, hissing, etc.) the cats should be returned to their rooms until the next meal.
Once they eat TWO meals at opposite sides of the room without any discomfort or aggression, the food treats are moved closer together, but only by 6-8 inches. If the cats seem comfortable, they can be allowed to stay in the room together to groom after they eat, then separate them back to their individual rooms.
They should always have 2 comfortable meals at each distance before moving the treats closer together.
Once they are able to eat next to each other without discomfort, they can be allow together supervised for longer periods of time. It may be best to separate them when no one is home to monitor their interactions to prevent the problem from reoccurring.
If the cats will not eat when they see each other, they may need to start with meals fed on opposite sides of a closed door. Feed this way for a few days, then feeding them across the room from each other can be tried again.
An alternative method that may work best if one of the cats is clearly the aggressor of the pair, is to reintroduce them using a crate. The goal is to have both cats comfortable with the sight and smell of each other. The aggressive cat in placed in a crate and the other cat is allowed free in the room. This way the cat who is loose in the room can adjust his distance to the crated cat to his comfort level. Feed the cats while they are together in this manner. Once both cats are calm and not anxious, the opposite cat can be allowed free with the other in the crate. This must be done cautiously and all interaction stopped if the aggressor threatens the crated cat. If the cat are not comfortable with one being free, they can be introduced in separate carriers first until they are comfortable and ready for the next step.
With all introductions, the use of a Feliway diffuser has been shown to be helpful in calming the cats and speeding the introductions. Feliway is a synthetic phermone that mimics the friendly scent cats leave when they rub happily on objects and people. |
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