Expert: Dear Tabbi - 7/28/2008

Question
Our five year old female cat has started attacking our 2 year old dog.  We have three cats and the one dog.  The two older cats are 5 and from the same litter.  The dog has been with us for 2 years ad she just started attacking him for no reason.  He tries to just get away without hurting them, but I am worried he might hurt one of the cats.  When the first one starts the fight, her sister comes to her aid or the dogs aid,I have not figured out who all is fighting with who.  It looks like both cats are attacking the dog, but sometimes it looks like the one cat is protecting the dog from her sister.  I am not sure what to do.

Answer
Leann,

What you are probably seeing is a fairly common problem. It 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 the closest animal member of the family and fights with them as if they were the other cat. They have been known to attack family cats, the family dog, even though they may have lived and gotten along with them for years (as yours is doing), and even their owners (though that is rare). She is not attacking the dog in her mind...she is attacking the strange cat. She may also can begin 'spraying' and defecating outside the litterbox due to the stress of the situation.

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

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

When she gets too aggressive put her in a quiet room by herself with no contact for about 4 hours to calm down.

The other cat is jumping into the fight by instinct. She doesn't know what your other female is fighting about but she is going to help. That is a very common reaction also.

There is a very popular cat calming spray and plug-in you can use called Feliway. It is available at pet stores 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 your cat's food 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 she is still being very stressed the vet can put her on "kitty Prozac" for a short term (usually 2 weeks) until she calms 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:

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

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

Also when a cat has a noticeable change in behavior it is wise to have the cat checked by a vet. Excessive pain somewhere can cause cats to suddenly become aggressive.

I hope this helps. I would also ask this question of a dog expert because I can't help you on how to deal with the reactions of the dog.

Tabbi