Expert: Dear Tabbi - 5/27/2008

Question
we have 4 cats, the first 2 are the eldest (they are now 2 and a half years old) and are brother and sister, they got along fine, we then got 2 more cats(kittens - who are now 8 months old) they are brothers...everything was fine, they were a bit cautious at first but they eventually got on wonderfully, with Isis (the sister) licking them all like they were her childern, all the cats would sleep together...but recently (about a month) Isis hisses and swats any of the cats if the come near her, we are worried about them all, we don't want to get rid of her but she disturbs the happiness of the home, the boys get along fine with each other, playing together well, but our beautiful Isis has it in for them all, what can we do? Thankyou for your time.

Answer
Laura,

Pain can cause aggression. A cat that becomes aggressive with other cats (or you) should be be given a checkup by a vet to rule out a medical problem before treating it as a behavioral one. Ear infections, bite wounds, abscessed teeth, are some of the problems that can cause a cat to become aggressive.

Is the cat spayed? If not then that could be her problem. Are the new kittens neutered? If not they could be coming into heat which would cause them to smell different which would upset her.

Are the cats indoor cats? She may have what is 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 her territory. The cat then turns on other animal members of the family and turns her aggression on them.

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 your cat is still being very stressed the vet can put her  on "kitty Prozac" for a short term (usually 2 weeks) until she calms down again. You may want to speak to the vet about it.

There are a number of other possibilities that it could be too. Her attitude may be a 'kitty thing'. The younger ones may have done something to her that made her cop an attitude. One of them may have chased her, swatted her first, or scared her.  If she were really serious/being mean the younger ones would be scared to go near her. They may also be teasing her and she is responding. What looks mean to us sometimes is just normal 'kitty communication'. She may be schooling them'or training' them, or establishing the pecking order of the home.

I hope this was helpful.