Squirting

Question
I have 3 female young cats all spayed and one male cat that is about 13 years old,  for a year now they have been fine with each other, but i fell pregnant about 5 months ago and all of the females are now acting weird, the two sisters no longer sleep together and they have all turned on each other and are constantly fighting, however, one of the females has started to squirt every where, and i have tried showing her more affection than the others, giving her more treats and love, i have tried leaving her outside and bringing the others in, i am at my wits end with her now as the other night we had guests over and she squirted on friends trousers.  Is it because im pregnant or is there something else, i dont want to have to get rid of her, because i believe and animal is for life, and i love them all dearly, can i get a plug in nursing hormone, or is there something more wrong?

Answer
Tracey,

What may be happening is a behavior called Redirected Aggression. That happens when a cat sees a strange cat outside and  becomes territorial, but can't get to the strange cat to defend his territory. The cat then turns on the closest animal member of the family and fights with them as if they were the other cat. They have been known to attack other family cats, even though they may have lived and gotten along together (as yours is doing), the family dog, and even their owners (though that is rare). They are not attacking each other in their minds...they are attacking the strange cat. It is also common that they can begin 'spraying' and defecating outside the litterbox due to the stress of the cat outside.

First thing you need to do is block the window past the cat's eye level of the window that they can see another cat out of (out of sight, out of mind). If it is allowed to go on the cats may develop a permanent personality change.

If you can, keep the cats away from each other for awhile unless you are feeding them yummy cat treats TOGETHER. That is so they will associate something pleasant (cat treats) with each other and not unpleasant (the strange cat).

There is a very popular cat calming spray and plug-in you can use called Feliway (or Comfort Zone with Feliway). It is available at pet stores, vet's offices (they use it too), or on-line. It copies relaxing pheromones that cats produce from rubbing their faces on things.

There is also a calming product that you can add to the cat's food or water that reduces anxiety called Bach's Rescue Remedy. It is available on-line and in health food stores. Here is a link about it: (copy and paste, or type the whole links into your address bar)
http://www.bachflower.com/Pets.htm

If the cats are still being very stressed the vet can put them on "kitty Prozac" for a short term (usually 2 weeks) until they calm down. You may want to speak to the vet about it.

I am including some excellent articles about cats and babies that you should find helpful: (copy and paste, or type the whole links into your address bar)

http://www.sthuberts.org/petpouri/articles/catmeetsbaby.asp

http://westwoodanimalhospital.com/BhvArticles/Infants,%20Children,%20And%20Cats....

http://www.petplace.com/cats/helping-your-cat-and-new-baby-get-along/page1.aspx

Something to be aware of is that pain can cause aggression. Ear infections, bite wounds, and abscessed teeth can cause a cat to become aggressive. The spraying may be caused by a urinary tract infection or urinary crystals. They both are painful and the cat will associate the litterbox with the pain from peeing and go elsewhere.

When a cat has a noticeable change in behavior or becomes aggressive you should have the cat(s) examined by a vet to rule out the possibility of a medical issue before dealing with it as a behavioral problem.

I hope I provided enough varied information to help answer all of your concerns. And congratulations on the baby!

Tabbi