Cat gone wild!

Question
Molly is 3 years old and was feral when I got(trapped) her at 6 weeks of age-She lets me pet her in the morning and gets in the bed with me at night,However, you can not just pick her up anytime.  She was raised with my 13 year old cat, Rowdy.  I had a foster kitten for 6 weeks and they all got along.  Molly is fixed.  There is a cat next door that comes up to my door and has for the 3 years Molly has been here.  My cats are indoor only, so they hiss at the neighbor cat.  For some reason on Monday, Molly went wild over this-She attacked Rowdy and she has not settled down yet-She had her rabie shot April lst, so I called the vet and asked if this could be a false positive! This is her third rabie shot(she gets one every year)-I had to lock her in the bathroom that night and yesterday lock her in the bedroom.  The hair, tail and teeth are wild and showing!
The vet gave me Valium and I have given her one.  She will come up to me, like now while I'm on the computer, but I can't leave her out with Rowdy during the day while I'm at work.  She did bite me last night, while she was purring and spitting at the same time.  I guess I will try the Valium for a few days, but I really need to know how to get her and Rowdy back to being family.  I am talking serious fighting-Should I just keep Molly locked up in the bed room for a few more days? I have had cats my whole life and never had anything like this.  Trust me,this is not the normal hissing and swatting-This is like wild kingdom.  Any advice?  thanks-sylvia


Answer
Hi
yes this can happen from time to time and may have been caused by something frightening your cat and her then blaming the older cat for the fear. It is known as trauma aggression.

the best way to treat this is to keep both cats completely separate for a about a week, then to slowly reintroduce them using the technique for new cats see here /introducing-cats.html

It may take some time but if handled calmly and slowly hopefully all will be fine.

See also my page about cat aggression /aggressive-cat-behavior.html

I hope all works out well for you all.

best wishes
Kate