Expert: Tina - 9/6/2008

Question
Here is the problem. The afternoon before around 4 PM Gracie was laying out in our fenced in back-yard.6 ft wood non-see through fence. Gracie  has taken to laying out and sun bathing. She lives for this and only this. When I went into the kitchen to start dinner. I heard screaming and ran out and saw Gracie on her back hissing at what I thought was the largest tom cat ever. I ran up in between them so she could run in the house. The cat turned out to not be a cat but what is called a wildcat(my vet told me). I looked this up on the net and saw that it called an Serval bred of some sort. She had no apparent wounds at first. But has been terrified whenever anyone approaches her now.Especially my other 2 cats(10 years old). Whenever they come near her she wets herself and pooped twice on the floor so far. I tried keeping her in her own room then switched rooms with the other 2 cats. It only worked briefly. As soon as they got in her face for to long she would start screaming bloody murder then pee. The vet told me to not put them in separate rooms but to let them duke it out since they had been together for 8 years. It worked for a little while then she freaked out again and pooped on the kitchen floor. I had asked the vet for a tranquilizer but he said she did not need one. I have antibiotics and she had a revaccination shot in case of rabies. What do I do. I took her down to the litter box room but she is in mortal fear to go in the box because the other cats keep coming down to check on her.She is also afraid to come up. I will go down and carry her up but this will not solve the problem. The injuries she has received are bites all over that have been starting to show up. That is what took us to the vet.

Answer
Hello,

Sorry to hear about your kitty. THis is one of many reasons I highly recommend keeping cats INDOORS ONLY or access to a fully-enclosed outdoor enclosure.

First, you do need to keep your kitty isolated for a while, in order for her to heal (bite wounds can become badly infected) and to allow her time to settle down. Letting cats "duke it out" is never a good idea. Once aggression starts it is hard to stop.

1. Keep her separate in a  calm quiet area for now (at least a few weeks).

2. Use Feliway spray or plug-ins near her and around the house. It is sold in pet stores and helps calm scared cats.

3. Monitor her for any signs of infection - swollen spots, discharge, changes in behavior.

4. When she has recovered physically and mentally, start re-introducing her to your other cat as if they had never met. Follow the steps here:

http://catnet.stanford.edu/articles/introducing_cats.html

5. Keep your cats indoors and/or build an enclosure - here are a wide range of ideas from cheap and simple to elaborate:

http://catnet.stanford.edu/articles/enclosures.html

Good luck!