Cats suddenly hate each other

[QuirkyRobin]

I have two male neuters. They are litter mates and we have had them for almost six years now with no trouble (apart from the longhair being a very greedy boy!) They are indoor cats, mainly because when we got them our estate was overrun with mean, entire males who would fight all the time and a couple of roads away there is a busy main road.

Since we had our baby six months ago their temperament has become increasingly hostile, mostly towards each other, but on occasion the longhair has hissed and swiped at me which he has never ever done before. My main issue is that they are having real trouble getting along right now and there seems to be no improvement, in fact it seems to be getting worse. They fight a lot of the time, with the longhair chasing the shorthair, growling, biting, swiping, pulling out fur and now there seems to be a territory battle over the litter trays which results in my poor shorthair desperately having to wee on top of the lids or on the floor which its not nice for either of us.

Nothing has changed in regards to their range within the house so I can only think that they are upset by the noise or are feeling a bit jealous. I have tried a feliway plug in but that doesn’t seem to have any impact. I bought them a couple of nice new beds so that they have additional places to keep away from each other to no avail.

Has anyone else come out the other side of this? I don’t really know what to do with them now other than perhaps next stop visit the vets. I’ve even desperately wondered if they would benefit from having the opportunity to go outside but I’m terrified they will get squished or never come home. I could really use some advice to try and bring some peace to our house again before they destroy it and each other 😭

A friend of a friend had two siblings who fell out (the boy used to go for the girl). She spent the next 5 years keeping them seperate. The boy had access to the dining room, kitchen, and a cat flap into the back garden (where he spent a lot of time lying on the shed roof). The girl had access to the lounge and upstairs (loving to sleep on beds), and could be let out the front door (a busy road but she was a girl cat who stayed in the front garden). There was a door in the middle that had to be shut at all times (certainly when cats unattended).
It wasn't perfect but she did get used to it and it did mean she could keep both cats.
However there wasn't a new baby mixed in! I'm sure they are unsettled.

I guess boy cats do generally go further so yes yours might get to the busy road.
Do they have space in the house that they can retreat to away from the baby?
I'm wondering if the new beds were possibly just more newness for them.
And I'm sure someone will mention pain/change of temperament.

(and i'd agree - if you let them out, they might not come back if they are fighting etc)

And actually, I think in my example, after about 4 years, the girl cat got braver and went for the boy. He did back off from then.

You need to try a different plugin eg Feliway Friends plus more litter bins.

I had two girls who intermittently fell out for no apparent reason. Everytime it went to one of their bladders and we had the weeing in the wrong place, and the sad, pitiful, tiny wees from a sore and miserable cat.

This is especially important as you have boys as they are at much higher risk of urinary obstruction from the crystals that go with feline bladder issues.

I had a routine where at the first sign of trouble the additional litter bins came out, the Feliway plugins went in and everyone got dosed up with Metacam.

I'd take the shorthair to the vet as he may be very sore when he pees and you definitely don't want an emergency with him obstructing.

Can you split them up in the house so they don't have to go near each other?

Thanks for your responses!

Although I have to say the thought of having to split them up seems equally miserable - I’m not really sure if I could do this particularly well with the layout of our house. One of them would end up being quite confined unless I alternated them. They have never been given free range of the kitchen or our bedroom for hygiene reasons so these rooms are out of bounds for unsupervised access and we only have one living/dining space (large double room space). We have a large hallway and landing and spare bedroom but not sure how we could fairly split them - no natural light in hallway as there is no window. I suppose I could alternate their time in the living room in addition to being separated?

I will have to check which plug in we have - I specifically asked at the counter for one for multi cat household.

I also hadn’t considered the prospect of urine retention as he is weeing on the floor but that is definitely something I will have to get checked out, thank you! How many extra trays do you think I should have out?