Sister hissing!

Question
QUESTION: Hello,
I have a mother cat and her four babies, 2 male and 2 female. Awhile ago one of the girls began hissing, growling and fighting with her brother (and the other male too sometimes) and I don't understand why. I'am keeping them all so I cannot have one that fights with the others.
Today I took the two males to get neutered and brought them home and all the female started hissing and pawing at the males. I take this is because they smell different coming from the vet.
Will the females get used to the males again?
And what about the female who hisses at the males even before they went to the vet?
(the females are not fixed yet)
Please let me know why you think this is happening and what I can do. It would be terrible if they would never get along again..
Thankyou,
Jackie

ANSWER: Dear Jackie

Firstly I must mention t hat not all cats get on with their housemates and you seriously have to consider whether one or more may need rehoming to households with no other cats.

At the moment hormones are still running around and the vet smell has not helped matters but of course the vet smell will wear off whilst hormones with the girls may not.  If you are not intending to breed from these girls I would recommend that they are done as soon as possible as it does take som weeks for hormones to settle down and if there is already a problem between them, the longer it is allowed to continue the harder it will be for them to settle down together.

There will always be a dominant cat and it sounds as if you girl may be that one.  You can of course ask the vet if he can prescribe something for you, such as Clomicalm but you really need to treat the root problem more than the symptoms.

Regards

Marcia

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello,
Firstly I understand that not all cats can get along.
The queen had 5 kittens and we wanted to keep two for sure. I picked one and my husband picked one. One that we have now was adopted but when his new home found out they were pregnant they had to bring him back. We tried to find someone who would take in the female that is the one 'hissing'. She is an absolute peach for me, she sleeps cuddled up to me at night, but she was always 'wild' when anyone came to look at her.
All four of my babies follow me around the house and when I kiss one, the rest all come from wherever in the house they are and wait for their kiss :).
They've always gotten along before so Im having a hard time understanding and trying to figure out the root of the problem.
Today the one female seems to be getting used to the males again, growling less and letting them come closer to her.
However the other female is hissing at everyone. When I have my room door closed and she wants in with me she cries at the door, but when I open it today she started growling and hissing at all the other kittens (including her sister).
I forgot to mention that the kittens are 6 months old.
From the new information can you think of anything that might be causing 'Sassy' (as we call her) to act in such a way?

Thankyou

Answer
I still think it is hormonal especially now you mention the age.  There are likely to be power struggles between the youngsters as they find their pecking order and it could be that there has been a disagreement between them and the one that is growling may be the one who came off the worst in any disagreement.  

Shutting them away from each other is not going to solve the problem though you need to be sure that they cannot hurt each other.  If they are not fighting then I would suggest that you allow them to find their own level and pecking order when you are around to keep an eye on things and perhaps start off doing this for 5 minutes and then build the length of time up very gradually.

If you don't intend to breed from the girls it will also help matters if you had them spayed now rather than later as if this is hormonal it may get worse.

It may be useful if you can get some Zylkene (you can get this via the internet).  It is often recommended in behavioural problems and may help to calm the one that seems the most upset.

Failing that, you may need to consider a pet behaviourist's services as they can sit with you all and observe to see what is happening which is something I am unable to do.

Marcia