Expert: Dear Tabbi - 9/21/2008

Question
Hello, I have 3 male kitties, 2 of which have been togther for the last 5 years and the other we got a year ago.  Never have had any issues w/ fights other than the typical wrestling around. Today we came home and our black cat(5yrs) was intensley going after our orange Tabby(5yrs) while the other was hiding under the couch. It was something I have never seen before and terrifying, there was no seperating. We finally were able to chase our black cat into a spare room to calm down. Our orange tabby was so frightend that he urinated on the floor. We seperated them, and have yet to get them all back together, the black cat is being very out of character twd the others (very dominant-like) Our black cat has always been the type to rather be left alone unless it is attention from us humans, but we are a tad freaked out, we love our kitties and are afraid that something permanant has changed???  Looking for any input!!!

Answer
Bridgett,

He 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 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 people if no other animals are in the house. You may not see the animal that the cat sees.

The first thing you need to do is block the window past the cat's eye level of the window he can see another cat out of (out of sight, out of mind). If it is allowed to go on your cat may develop a permanent personality change. Also put the cat in a room by itself for at least 4 hours to calm down when he behaves like that.

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 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 him on "kitty Prozac" for a short term (usually 2 weeks) until he 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:
(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...

But first make sure it's not a medical issue causing the behavior. Whenever a cat changes his behavior noticeably you should take him to the vet for a checkup. Pain from ear problems, tooth problems, etc. can cause aggression.