behaviour change after spaying

Question
Hi,

I already have a ten year old male cat (neutered) and 4 months ago I got two new cats, both female. They are either mother/daughter or half sisters (the elder of the two and her mother both gave birth within a week and raised the 2 litters together). The elder female was already spayed when we got them and the two females have been extremely close, the problems were all with the introduction to my male cat. I recently had the younger female spayed and it is the behaviour of the elder female that has changed. Relations with the male are a lot calmer but the elder female hisses and swipes at the younger, not enough to cause any harm but a definite change in behaviour.

I was wondering if this was normal and whether it would be improve or possibly escalate with time? the females are now 16 months and 6 months old.

Many Thanks

Sarah

Answer
Sarah,

That is normal behavior for alot of cats after one gets spayed or neutered. Cats go by smell and not by sight in recognizing other cats (with humans, they go by voice...not by sight). Your spayed cat brought home MANY different smells from the vet: anesthetic, medicinal smells, and smells of other cats...all clinging to her fur and skin. The other cat thinks she's another cat because she doesn't smell the same!

When the spayed cat grooms herself she will be replacing her regular scent. You can also rub the cats who did not go to the vet with a towel, then rub the cat who did go to the vet with the same towel to transfer familiar smells but do not do it the opposite way because you will then be transferring the vet's office smells to the other cat.

A trick that I've heard a lot of people use in that situation (though I have never tried it) is to put a drop of vanilla on each cats forehead so they smell the same.

Things will go back to normal when the smells are gone from the spayed female.

Tabbi