Bonded sisters hate each other after vets

[LiveLifeToTheFull2]

Two bonded sisters hate each other since returning from vets to be spayed

Yesterday our very close and bonded sisters went to the vets to be spayed.
Since returning home they have sat at different ends of the hall hissing and growling at each other 😩
Why are they doing this? And is it temporary?
I’m so stressed out again the fact they need to be healing after surgery and instead they are hissing and angry at each other 🥴
Any advice or help much appreciated 🙏🏼

It might well be because they smell different. Smell is how they recognise each other. It should settle down.

We had this with our sister cats, one had to visit the vet and when we brought her back her sister was very angry, constantly hissing. Things settled down after about a week. I think its the smell.

They'll both be a little traumatised and sore after surgery and taking it out on each other. They will each smell the vet smell from each other and not like it. They'll both smell different to each other now as well and will just need time to adjust. Let them hiss and huff away, they'll get over it. Give them plenty of treats, together, they need to see they get a treat when the other one is there so they'll link treats with each other. They'll settle down in a week to 10 days and be best friends again.

It's totally normal - the anaesthetic makes them feel weird and they smell and look different too.

They'll be fine in a day or two!

We had this when our bonded pair were kittens. I googled for advice. We separated them both and I got some Feliway plug in. Fed them in different rooms, kept them separate.
Stroked them with cloths which we then stroked the other one with (so they got used to each other's smell again).
Then fed them on opposite sides of the same door.
I think it only took a couple of days, we got some treats out (the stick ones)and they got them at the same time when they were close to one another.
It was a long couple of days, we were so worried! They are nearly 3 now and right as rain. Good luck!

They both smell of the evil pain place, not of home/each other.

Got any blankets/jumpers that they've been sleeping on before the trip?

This happened to my friend's cats and she was advised to put something on their butts! I can remember what, either vaseline or something vanilla scented. It was so they smelt the same to each other.

Had this with my two. They got over it after c3 days

This. They'll be ok.

They will be fine when everything smells normal again.

Don't count on them still being bonded when they are 3 though. It stops overnight when they hit adulthood.

Mine are still bonded.

Thank you so much for the replies, it's been really heartbreaking and stressful for me to see them acting as though they don't know each other when before the operation they were so close and cute sisters always sleeping together.
Today 2 days on I see progress in that they are getting closer to each other without hissing (before they were as far away as they could get on opposite ends of the room) and today they have been laid on each end of the sofa.
Still no contact or cuddling together and they hiss when they are 2ft apart so I'm really hoping that this too will improve.

I hope things improve for your girls, OP.

@AnnaMagnani That's really interesting, is that a thing then? My boys (litter mates) were very close until they turned 3, then relations went downhill until one of them more or less moved out. I want to try and reintegrate them (will have to go and catch my errant boy/retrieve him from where he's now squatting!) but not sure how and worried my boy will just move out again. 😔 Any thoughts?

(Apologies for the hijack, OP, I feel your pain because my heartbreak at one cat moving out has been going on for ages but hopefully yours will pass. 🤞)

A cloth with catnip spray rubbed on each of them sometimes helps.

@ponygirlcurtis definitely a thing.

I've had 2 sets of sisters.

Pair one - picked especially as they seemed bonded. Lots of fun until adolescence was over and then very obvious that one sister bullied the other. Lots of time and energy spent managing the stress related urinary issues. Oddly bully appeared bonded to victim, reverse definitely not true! Happiest day of victim's life was when her sister died.

Pair two. Totally bonded, so sweet and lovely. Used to spend a lot of time cuddled up together and suckling on each other which we referred to as snogging. One day noticed snogging didn't appear to have happened for a while. It never happened again and they lived separate lives from then on.

I am still waiting for the mythic bonded adult pair. Currently have 2 non-siblings. I'd say girl misses boy when he isn't here, he certainly doesn't give a toss about her.

@AnnaMagnani oh dear. Your first example is our situation. Slightly bigger brother who is a homebody bullied his brother, who is a roamer. Roamer brother effectively roamed off and moved out! Never comes home now. Remainer very much enjoying being an only cat so not sure how attempts to reintegrate will go. But we miss our other cat!

Oh dear @ponygirlcurtis I thought boys might be better.

In all three of my sets the homebody has been the trouble maker. OK I think a couple of the roamers genuinely liked roaming but basically the homebody made it clear home was taken.

How interesting. We have a brother and sister. Brother is total homebody, incredibly narrow territory and scared of everything but over twice the weight of his sister so every time he jumps her/shoves her out of the way he wins. I can stop him bullying if I'm there and I adore them both so don't want either to roam, but it is difficult.

My homebody is a tiny wee sweet girl. Territory outdoors = one patio and a hedge. Boy is twice her size and the neighbourhood thug.

However at home she beat the shit out of him and it's clear who the boss is!

Their friendship appears to be based on him duffing up cats so she doesn't have to.

We have two sisters. One recently needed x rays and when she came back her sister was hissing and swiping at her. It calmed down after a few days. Like others,I assume it was a scent thing.

I agree with @AnnaMagnani that bonded pairs rarely stay bonded as adults. Ours snuggled up together as young cats but now basically just tolerate each other 99% of the time. Very rarely they groom each other.

@eurochick my worst experience with cats going to the vet

Cat 1 goes into vet to have lump removed.
Comes home and then carefully vomits in every room on every carpet. Noticeably she ignored any tiled floors.

Panic at poorly cat so emergency vet appointment booked for the following day.

Next day cat 1 is fine and wondering what the fuss is about. However cat 2 is so distressed at the odd smells and weird behaviour of cat 1 that she has started doing blood stained wees all round the house. Carefully making sure she gets any carpet not already vomited on.

Vet was surprised when we brought cat 2 instead of cat 1 to the appointment.

Have been interested to see that this is a common experience after vet visits.

reintroduce them - shared bedding swaps - feed them facing each other etc. It should settle down.

It’s a thing, mine did this when one had to go to the vets separately. It’s called feline non recognition aggression syndrome or something like that. Basically it’s because one of them smells different so the other thinks it’s a different cat. We had to keep them separate for a while until the vet smell had worn off. I found it very stressful and heartbreaking but they did get back to normal after a few days.

Our 3 dopey cats were confined to the house and the garden was cat proofed to keep them in. But one day a strange cat got in and scared the pants off of them. They rushed indoors whilst I evicted the intruder, but were so shaken that they seemed scared of each other, hissing and keeping distance between themselves. My son sorted it out after a week or so by persuading them to sniff each other, and they were back to normal, sleeping in a pile together.
When we first got the two brothers to add to the resident young girl cat, she was very unwelcoming, hissing and growling at them. We did the transferring smells thing and feeding with a door between them etc. We had a large pen to keep the kitten brothers in, both to keep them safe overnight etc, and to protect them from resident bully girl, and I was despairing of ever getting them to be friends. One day I decided to shut bully girl in so the boys could have a roam about. One of the boys sniffed her through the cage and that was it. Best friends forever. I can only assume she was scared of the boys, and the cage made her feel safe, and the sniffing reassured her that the boys could be her pals after all. And as they all grew up, the smallest boy cat - the one I was most worried about being bullied by her when she was in the exorcist growling stage - was most definitely top cat.

Update...
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