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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Cat has lost the plot. Help!

13 replies

LinghamStyle · 31/10/2013 10:02

Woke up this morning at 5am to my cats having a full on fight, hissing, growling etc. They do occasionally have "play fights" and will stop as soon as I intervene i.e. shout stop, clap my hands loudly. This morning one cat just wouldn't back down and if I approached her she turned the aggression on to me. I ended up shutting her in the bathroom til feeding time at 7am. Both cats were eating fine and angry cat had calmed down and had let me stroke her etc. All of a sudden she spun round from her food and started growling and hissing at other cat and that was them off again! I've come back from school and neither are to be seen, hiding under beds or somewhere.

They are both spayed females, littermates, nearly 2 years old. This behaviour is out the blue and totally out of character. It seems like one cat is the aggressor and other cat is just reacting to that.

I know I need to rule out illness or injury with a trip to the vet, but frankly I'm bloody terrified to try and catch her to put her in the carrier! Yes I know I'm a big wimp.

There have been no recent changes in the household or diet etc. DD did buy a little catnip toy last week so I'm wondering if it could be that but she's been fine with it until this morning. Would it have a delayed effect re aggression?

Sorry this is so long!

OP posts:
Mogz · 31/10/2013 11:08

In my experience at about 2 years old cats start vying for the top spot in the pecking order, could be that she's decided she wants very much to be the boss and that after a few scuffles it will all calm down.
You do need to get her to a vet though as you say, as mostly behaviour changes signal that something is wrong. The big warning sign being that she is turning on you, not just her kitty friend. So don your thickest gardening gloves, a big jumper and get her in that carrier, you might find it easier to put her in backwards, or to upend the carrier and drop her in from the top. Or ask at the vets if they have a large cardboard carry box that closes in the top, so long as you don think she'll rip her way out.
I doubt it will be the arrival of one little toy. Do you know if there have been an other cats move in to your neighbourhood recently? A house a few doors down from us got a new kitten and when they started letting it out our cats got so bloody moody.
Best of luck, hopefully nothing is wrong and she's just having a grumpy few days.

Original poster
LinghamStyle · 02/11/2013 10:41

Mogz thank you for your reply and apologies for not being back sooner.

I got angry cat into her carrier with no fuss, there has been no further instances of aggression towards me. Vet checked her over, no signs of illness or injury and he said he thinks its a territorial issue and they'll work it out.

HOWEVER, they've still fallen out and where I was pinning all the blame on Cat A, after witnessing the initial outburst, it seems I was not entirely correct. So the situation now is that Cat A has taken near permanent occupation up upstairs and Cat B is downstairs. Cat A comes down the stairs, spots Cat B, hisses or growls at her then Cat B chases Cat A upstairs and there's a riot! Neither have been eating much and Cat A has soiled DDs bed and on the carpet. This was before I realised that she was really not being allowed to use the litter tray which is downstairs. So I now have split downstairs in two with food, water and litter tray in each side. It's like living with The Twits!

Can you make anything of this? What do I do? OMG am I going to have to choose between them?

OP posts:
Original poster
LinghamStyle · 02/11/2013 10:45

Mogz forgot to answer your question. Next door neighbour has taken in 2 or 3 strays but the last one was a few months ago. My cats won't go outside (their choice not mine) but have seen the other cats around outside and never seem bothered.

OP posts:
Ireallymustbemad · 02/11/2013 10:56

No great advice but good luck. Can cat a remain upstairs and cat b downstairs? Would that actually work if neither of them go out and you have room for food and litter trays upstairs and downstairs?

Original poster
LinghamStyle · 02/11/2013 12:04

For the short term it could be workable but the DC are already forgetting to close the door. Also I don't know if separating them is a good idea. Should I stop interfering and let them duke it out? Cats are a bloody mystery!

OP posts:
Mogz · 02/11/2013 12:13

This sounds really text book, so don't panic, make each one comfy where they've chosen to go for now but don't force them to be apart. The hard part is to let them fight it out, so long as they're not doing each other much damage, they need to figure it out so they can go back to living peacefully. However, if it doesn't get better within a month then you may have to decide to rehome one to put an end to all the stress. Hopefully they'll have it all sorted by then.
Did your vet recommend any products such as Feliway diffusers? It's cat pheromones (they can smell it, we can't) that make them feel more relaxed. It's not guaranteed to work but sticking one downstairs and one upstairs might help chill them out.
Best of luck with them.

Original poster
LinghamStyle · 02/11/2013 14:12

No he didn't however he fitted me in on short notice so he could check Cat A for injury and illness. He did say to go back if it didn't settle down. I will definitely look at those, I would have to exhaust every option before even considering rehoming. And how could I choose?

The weird thing is they seem to be missing each other when apart however as soon as that door opens they're off again! Cats are nuts!

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.

OP posts:
Mogz · 02/11/2013 20:28

You are very welcome. They're like little kids, you know they love each other really but they just can't help but squabble! I'm 90% sure they will just work it out and suddenly one day will be back to normal, of all the cats I've lived with (quite a few! Plus lots of fosters, waifs and strays) it's only not worked out that way once.

RandomMess · 02/11/2013 20:31

You may just have to let them work it out?

Original poster
LinghamStyle · 03/11/2013 23:24

Well, it's still on going. It's amazing how well we've all adapted to the new arrangement of having an upstairs cat and a downstairs cat. I knew I should've gotten a dog instead! Grin

Pay day on tues so I can invest in the plug-ins and fingers crossed they'll work it out soon or the plug-ins will work or something ...

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 03/11/2013 23:45

I had an upstairs cat and a downstairs cat for two years. It worked fine - and both were quite happy with a door in between them.

Then we moved to a house without a dividing door ........

Original poster
LinghamStyle · 04/11/2013 19:55

TWO YEARS?!!! Please tell me you are kidding. Please I BEG you!

OP posts:
cozietoesie · 04/11/2013 19:57

Sorry. It's true - well broadly. Maybe it was 20/21 months or something. A long long time, anyway.

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