2 male cats ?sibling conflict

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

I am most distressed.  My two male cats (sooty & sweep)who have spent the lalst year together in total harmony seem now to be in conflict!  This seems to have happened all of a sudden.  I woke up yesterday morning to them fighting and hissing at each other and then noticed that sooty was limping.  Sooty evidently didnt want sweep anywhere near him and kept hissing at him - sweep seemed to be winding him up just standing there and looking at him.  I also noticed a spraying like smell in the lounge.  Anyway - took sooty to vet who found several pucture wounds on his leg.  When I took sooty home and took him out of his carry case it wasent long before sweep pounced on him bitting his neck.  In the end we had to lock sweep out to prevent further agression.  Sooty was evidently scared out of his wits!  Later that evening I sprayed feliway arounf the house and they sat toh=gether with me quite happily.  I still decided to split them up that night - locking sweep in the kitchen and sooty in with me.  Then this mornign when putting them together again sweep attaked sooty again!

Sweep has always been the dominant one - the more confident one and often eats out of both food bowels and sooty just fits in.  Sooty alwasy likes time alone as well, whilst weep always likes to be with us (me and by partner).  Perhaps the bullying has been going on a long time and we should have done something sooner?

I cannot believe it has come to this after such harmony and they really were close and did everything together.  I am worried I am pushing sweep away for being naughty and sooty seems to be getting more stressed and scared all the time.

Pleas help I dont know what to do next!  I cant face having to get rid of one of them - I love them both dearly.

Would apprectiate any advice anyone can offer!

Thanks
Jess


ANSWER: Jess,

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 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 links to 2 good articles on Redirected Aggression that may be helpful to you: (copy and paste, or type, the whole links into your address bar.

http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/aggression3.html

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=redirectedagr

Also when a cat comes home from the vet he brings a lot of smells from the vet's office clinging to his fur. Cats go by smell and not sight for recognition and the other cat may think that the cat that went to the vet is a different cat because of the smells. The smell needs to dissapate from his fur then it should be OK. Some say to put a touch of vanilla on each cat's forehead so they smell the same, though I have never tried it.

I hope this helps.

Tabbi

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

QUESTION: Hi Tabbi,

Thank you very much for your answer.  Just to give an update - sooty and sweep seem better.  I wouldn't say they are 'best mates' again but sweep seems to be less aggressive towards sooty.  We are being strict now about food and treats - they only have these together now.  Sooty did disappear yesterday for the whole day without any food however.  This is very unusual as he always stays in during the day.  We were very worried especially as he is currently injured.  But he did come home in the end and sweep seemed to accept him (we were worried sweep had chased him off).

Following your advise I will be putting my ironing board down every morning from now on!  As this is the perch sweep uses to look out into the garden - he has a very good view and will spend hours sat on it just looking out.  He may have seen a strange cat as you suggest - so I will move this now.

I am taking sooty to the vets today for a check up.  I was thinking of taking sweep aswell so they smell the same but may reconsider this option for the vanilla.

Thank so much for advise

Best wishes
Jess

Answer
Jess,

I sure hope they do better and get over their disagreements. Sometimes you have to be a detective to figure out some behavioral issues!

Sooty may have disappeared because he didn't feel good due to his injury,  and all the stress with Sweep, and wanted to lay in the sun somewhere. I would have the vet check Sooty for a urinary tract infection or urinary crystals when you are there. Either can be fatal to a male cat if he gets completely blocked. It always good to check that it isn't a medical issue like that causing problems. If Sooty had something medically wrong besides his injury then that would make him smell different too. It's also a possiblity that Sweep has some pain somewhere, or the urinary tract infections/crystals, causing his sudden behavior change. It may be a good idea to have him checked for any medical issues also.

If the cat enjoys looking outside on the ironing board then choose a completely different window with a different view. Hopefully that will help.

Also, you can try to distract Sweep when he starts picking on Sooty. A great thing for that is a Pet Laser Light (you can get them at PetSmart, Petco, etc.). Cats love to chase the "little red bug" on the floors, walls, and ceilings. It would help divert his mind and energy, and it encourage the cats to play together. Or you can get a long shoestring and pull it around.

You didn't say...but ARE YOUR CAT'S NEUTERED?? That would be a major reason for the problems if one or both were in heat. I'm guessing that they are fixed, but I had to ask!

Keep me posted. I hope things smooth out soon. They may just end the strange behavior, and go on like nothing happened! They are 2 lucky cats to have such a caring and loving owner!

Tabbi