Cat Fighting!

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I have 3 cats (ages 8, 4, and 1). All female. We had the older 2 cats first and brought home the younger one when she was 2 months old. And all the cats started getting along great. They all became best friends. A couple months ago, we got our 1 year old, Chowder, spayed. And she did great (better than the other ones). Then about 2 days before we were going to get her stitches out, about 10 days after getting her spayed, she started to hiss and growl at our 8 year old cat, Jade. She gets along great with the 4 year old, Daisy. She keep attacking Jade pretty viciously and Jade has had scratches on her nose from it. When I brought her in to get the stitches out, the vet realized that the stitches already got ripped out. I'm starting to wonder if Jade may have ripped them out and Chowder is holding a grudge against her? And then today, we noticed that one of Chowder's nails got ripped off (they are not de-clawed). We clip their nails and this nail was ripped pretty low. So, I started wondering if maybe Jade had something to do with that and Chowder is seeking revenge against her or something? What do you think? It's really driving me crazy about this. Especially since she gets along great with Daisy and it's been a couple months since she's been spayed. Please help! Thank you!

~Tanya~

ANSWER: Tanya,

Has the vet looked at Chowder, lately?  I am wondering if there is a medical issue with the incision, which may explain some of the behavior. Radical changes in feline behavior can also be an indicator of a medical issue.

It is not unusual for cats to have a different scent (a hospital scent) after being spayed. Cats know each other by their scent, so Chowder may have seemed to be some strange cat with the wrong scent!, But usually after a couple of months things should have settled down.

Also, Chowder is no longer as hormonal, and this often can result in behavior changes. As fart as the claws are concerned, it is not unusual for a cat to lose a claw in the heat of rough play or whatever, so, I would not worry about the claw. It will grow back.

Do you have any inkling of what circumstances seem to lead to an altercation between Chowder and one or both of the other cats?

Please get back to me.

Best regards... Norm.

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

QUESTION: Thanks for the response. Yeah, I had a vet look at Chowder and they didn't see anything wrong. When we got our other cats spayed, they maybe hissed at each other for a couple days, then the hospital scent was gone and they were best of friends again. The other 2 cats are mother-daughter, too. I don't know if that makes a difference.

I'm not sure of any circumstances that could have led to this. Chowder and Jade were both downstairs and they both come running upstairs and Chowder was chasing Jade and started smacking her and hissing at her. It was weird. I was thinking maybe Jade did something to her and Chowder's holding a grudge? Or my sister suggested maybe she's trying to become the Alpha cat in the house cause Jade was always kind of the Alpha around here. And she's trying to be the dominant cat. Or they're fighting over Daisy, our other cat. I'm not sure if cats have emotions like these or not, though.

Thanks again for all your help! :)

~Tanya

Answer
Tanya,

You are most welcome!!!!!

A more likely possibility is that someone saw a strange cat outside. Cats do not like other cats they do not know and are very territorial, so the two cats, Jade and Chowder, may have gone into fight/flight/fright mode.  When cats are in this mode they either want to run or fight and forget themselves and that they may know the other cat. On rare occasions, this can lead to a change in the pecking order (BTW, cats have at least 3 pecking orders: territory, food, and litter pans, and these all seem to be independent.

Cats do have emotions, but it is hard to read them let alone equate them to their human counterparts. The one exception seems to be jealousy.

One place you may look for some play therapies which may diffuse the situation is:

 www.jacksongalaxy.com

Sometimes, one cat just may have excess energy that needs an outlet. This is where strenuous play with a kitty tease may help.  Also, cats do not take well to negative reinforcement (i.e. discipline, spray bottles, time outs and the like); instead, tasty cat treats can be used to do positive reinforcement of desired behaviors.

One thing you might also do is to have your vet check everyone's thyroid levels. If the thyroid levels are off, sometimes cats will act much more aggressively.

Just some thoughts.

Best regards... Norm.