Expert: Ali - 12/6/2009

Question
Dear Ali:

We are having a problem with our older cat acting violently and not accepting our new cat.

We’ve had Circe, our original cat, for 1.5 years (she’s 2 years old now). She was a stray that a co-worker had rescued, and we took her in, had her spayed, and have enjoyed her ever since.

Almost three months ago, we found a stray kitten hanging around our house. After a couple days, we started feeding her and named her Magnus. We got her checked out by the vet (she was already spayed), tried to find the previous owners but ended up keeping her. At the time, the vet indicated she was about 6-7 months old (9-10 months now).

Circe is an indoor/outdoor cat that pretty much comes and goes as she pleases. For the 2 weeks before we brought Magnus inside, the cats had already been around each other outside without incident. They would occasionally sniff faces when they saw each other outdoors, but then they would just go their separate ways. But we still gave each cat its individual territory in the house (for about 2 days) before bringing them together in the house. The first week or so with both cats inside went OK. They were pretty indifferent to one another. They would still occasionally sniff faces when they saw each other. And there was a little hissing around the food bowl (we didn’t do the two feeding stations at first – oops). Still, at first, it looked like things were going to work out pretty well.

About a week after being together in the house, Circe began to attack Magnus more and more frequently (mostly batting a paw at her), without provocation. Magnus began to growl every time Circe came within five feet of her. And even as Magnus would try to slink away, Circe would try to follow. Magnus ended up hiding under furniture to stay safe, and would continue to growl until Circe went away. We figured dominance was being established and for the most part did not intervene, because it didn’t appear anyone was getting hurt. At this point, both cats were still being let outside whenever they wanted.

Then the fights started to get ugly. First, Magnus was sleeping in our bed. During the night, Circe jumped right up on the bed and attacked. As opposed to the mild fights we had seen, this one was full of shrieking and tumbling.

Less than a week later, while my wife was outside, she saw Circe ambush Magnus in the driveway. Again, it was a full-on, claws-out fight with both cats locked together, rolling around making horrible noises. Magnus tried to run away, but Circe ran after her to try to attack again. At this point, we decided we needed to separate the cats and try a re-introduction.

So, we divided the house in two with a series of doors, giving both cats their own feeding stations and litter boxes. We also only let one cat outdoors at a time so they were never outside together. We did the “sock trick,” and neither cat reacted much at all to the other cat’s smell. We sprayed Feliway (to help the cats calm down). Then we started bringing the cats together in the kitchen to eat their nightly treat (a small bowl of wet food for each). They would see each other while they ate their wet food and then instantly be separated again. After three weeks of separation, we figured it was time for another try.

One day, before their treat, we gave each cat a dose of a product called Calm Down (an herbal relaxant.) Then, after their treat, we let them both stay in the kitchen with the doors open and watched to see how they would react. Magnus started to leave the kitchen. Circe started to run after her. There was a hiss from Magnus and then they sat staring at each other for a few moments, Magnus growling like before. Then Magnus started to walk away. She only got a few feet away before Circe ran and pounced on her. What followed was the worst cat fight yet. A shrieking ball of fur rolling around our floors, (fur was literally flying), for about 10 seconds. We clapped our hands hoping to startle them, and they eventually separated. Magnus tried to run up the stairs to escape, but again, Circe charged up after her. They tumbled around the upstairs hallway for another 10 seconds or so before Magnus ran in the corner behind a plant. I managed to finally grab Circe and put her outside.

So, for the last three weeks, we have again been a house divided, with each cat in its own quarters, never being outside together. We haven’t even brought them together for their snacktime for fear of another attack. To help Circe feel like she’s still the “boss,” we bought a fairly elaborate Kitty Condo with five levels of perches for her section of the house. She uses it quite a bit.

Circe still looks under the doors to see when Magnus is coming or going. Her tail is flicking fairly intensely when this happens. Sometimes Magnus notices this and growls at Circe from the other side of the door.

I’m afraid my wife and I are not in full agreement about what we ought to do next. We would give anything for these two cats to get along, or even for them to be indifferent towards one another. If you could provide any suggestions, we are open to anything! Here are some specific questions:

1. By separating them for weeks on end after each of their fights, are we not allowing dominance to be established?

2. We have never seen any blood on our cats, but the fights do seem violent (like Circe is trying to hurt Magnus) and like they would be lengthy if we did not intervene. Are we over-reacting? Are the fights possibly not as bad as they seem?

3. Would we be better off not separating the house, or at least giving them five minutes a day, every day, together to get them used to one another?

4. We really want to keep both cats, but will find a new home where Magnus can be happy if necessary. How can we know if Circe is one of those cats who just won’t accept another cat? When is it time to just give up and move on?

Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer. Sincerely,

Andy


Answer
Andy,

Thank you so much for providing a detailed and thorough history, it helps me quite a bit when I'm trying to help pet parents with any kind of issue. At this point I suspect that part of the reason for the fighting is because Circe was comfortable with Magnus when she'd meet her outside, however some cats can be rather nasty with each other when changes are made to their environment - in this case Magnus being brought into the house may be the catalyst for this behavior. Rather than providing each cat with half of a house I'd recommend that you start over with the introduction process to integrate Magnus back into your home. The way that I normally do introductions like this is to isolate the new kitty (Magnus) in a room of her own where Circe will have plenty of opportunities to pass by Magnus's temporary living quarters. It's perfectly okay to hear some hissing, spitting, growling and other vocalizations when these girls are on opposite sides of a closed door, that will fade in time - you just have to have patience. Since Circe is clearly quite worked up about the whole issue of Magnus coming into her home I don't think it would be wise to set a time limit on this phase of the introduction process.

Based on the detailed history that you've provided it sounds to me like these two fur kids have had some pretty nasty fights, this isn't something that should be allowed to continue because there's really no value in such high level aggression in terms of establishing places within the household hierarchy and there's serious potential for one or both of these cats to get seriously hurt during one of these confrontations. Cats do have very tough skin and a thick coat of fur to hide injuries and it's completely normal for cats to hide signs of illness or injury until they're no longer able to do so - by the time an issue progresses this far it can be quite serious. In my experience allowing cats to sort their minor squabbles out without human interference is fine, however this doesn't sound like minor squabbling, this sounds like full on fighting and that needs to be treated much differently than a minor disagreement between these two kids. Based on the history that you've provided I really don't think that you're over-reacting to these scraps, I think that there is real cause for concern. If I understand you correctly Circe didn't seem to have an issue with Magnus prior to these recent fights, this is likely because some subtle change has upset the balance within the household and Circe is taking out her frustrations on Magnus. Once you deal with the cause of the fighting and gradually reintroduce them so that Magnus isn't responding to Circe as she has been lately since Circe has been beating up on her.

Since these kids have been engaging in pretty serious fights with each other I don't think that it's a bad idea to keep a close eye on both of them just in case there are bite wounds that they've managed to inflict on each other that you haven't been able to see. It's fairly common for cats to visit their veterinarian as a result of injuries sustained during a cat fight and in this situation I do believe that the fighting was intense enough to result in injuries such as scratches or bite wounds. When cats bite each other they end up injecting bacteria under the skin, generally a cat's skin will seal the wound quite quickly which provides the perfect environment for bacteria to multiply (warm, moist, dark) and cause an infection. A cat's immune system will do the best it can to fight off the infection however they usually require medical attention. Veterinarians treat bite wounds that have progressed to the point of becoming abscesses by to draining and thoroughly disinfecting the wound and removing any dead tissue- this is generally done under sedation or general anesthesia depending on the severity of the infection and how much pain it's causing the cat. Once the wound is cleaned and disinfected the vet will likely send kitty home with a course of antibiotics and some pain medication. In order to avoid having the cat cause further damage to their wound or cause it to become more seriously infected s/he may have to wear the cone of shame to avoid causing further damage to their wound. It's important to recognize that just because a cat doesn't appear to be in pain doesn't mean that s/he isn't, cats are incredibly good at hiding any sign that might lead someone to believe that they're sick or in pain, this survival mechanism is part of their incredibly precise evolution over thousands of years. I realize that it can be difficult to tell whether or not a cat is in pain due to the simple fact that cats are incredibly stoic and they're great at hiding any signs of illness or pain - cats will do whatever they can to minimize their chances of being on the losing end of a run in with a predator simply because they've shown weakness. It's important to remember that when predatory animals are looking for a meal they will generally start off by targeting the young, elderly, weak, sick or injured prey animals first because they're easier to catch and it takes less energy to get ahold of them so in the wild that's the closest a predator will come to getting himself an easy meal.

The most frequent sites for abscesses on cats include: the head, limbs, back, base of the tail or neck, however it's important to remember that your kitties could potentially be bitten anywhere on their bodies during a fight and anywhere that they've been bitten could potentially be the site for a future abscess. In many cases pet parents don't actually find the abscess until it's begun to drain, the material inside an abscess is generally yellow or brownish, foul smelling pus. You may not always be able to see evidence of an abscess, but if your kitty displays any of the symptoms from the following list then I'd recommend taking her to the veterinarian ASAP to be assessed (and treated if she's got an abscess).

It's important to realize that not every bite wound will result in an abscess or infection, this truly depends on the severity of the injury, the depth of a bite or scratch wound, how strong the victim's immune system is and what the kitty's general health status is prior to being bitten or scratched. Cats with compromised immune systems from chronic viral infections like FIV (feline immunodeficienty virus) and feline leukemia which act somewhat like HIV/AIDS in people will obviously be more vulnerable to infections of any kind. Feline leukemia and FIV are transmitted from cat to cat often during cat fights where one cat bites another, if Circe routinely fights with other cats then she should be tested for the virus, if Circe and Magnus aren't vaccinated against feline leukemia then you should speak with your veterinarian about whether the vaccines benefits outweigh the the risks that go along with this vaccine. I would strongly urge you to check out a few websites about vaccines just so that you're aware of current research (annual vaccines aren't recommended anymore if the can be avoided since there is some concern that specific ailments that have been on the rise in our pets are related to overstimulating the pet's immune system by overvaccinating them) Some signs that your girls may have a bite wound that's becoming infected include:

- lethargy
- kitty suddenly begins eating less than usual or nothing at all
- swelling on the skin
- your kitty may lame if she's been bitten on a leg
- cats with an abscess may feel warm to the touch which may mean she's got a fever
- swollen lymph nodes
- painful or obviously crabby when the affected area is touched or when picked up/handled
- visible puncture wounds (you can examine the cats entirely by parting fur to look at the skin)
- hot, swollen, painful area that may be red and/or missing fur
- listlessness, kitty may sit hunched over for long periods of time
- your kitty may be reluctant to move or play
- your kitty is reluctant to be touched or she's in obvious pain when you do touch her
- some cats will sleep more frequently for longer periods of time than they normally would

Three to five days later the abscess can be seen or felt as a soft painful swelling under the skin. Not every wound will abscess. Development depends on the extent and the depth of the bite, the number and type of bacteria present in the wound and, most importantly the ability of the victim's immune system to fight off the infection. Apart from local soreness your cat may not show ill effects from the bite wound for some days. However, as the infection worsens, fever, loss of appetite and lethargy may be noticeable. These are symptoms of release of bacteria toxins and by products of dying tissue into the blood stream. The cat can become quite ill.

It's crucial to wipe the slate clean and start the introduction process over since it's clear that Circe isn't about to accept Magnus without proper introductions anytime soon. Magnus and Circe should have any meals, treats or even tidbits from the table that they would normally get served to them on either side of a closed door. Essentially by providing each cat every bit of food that passes their lips on either side of a closed door they're being given an opportunity to smell each other and associate each other's scent with something positive - FOOD! It's not a bad idea to purchase an identical cat tree to the one that you've given Circe and place it into Magnus's room, while it's great to reassure Circe that she's still top cat in your eyes purchasing a single cat tree may cause a nasty fight when Magnus is finally accepted as a family member by Circe. Cat trees are pretty attractive to the majority of cats out there and given the history that you've provided for me if you don't pick up a second cat tree I'm quite concerned that events will play out something like this:

1) Magnus will come out of her private living quarters with minimal fuss or completely without incident.

2) During the course of Magnus exploring the house she'll find the cat tree and like any good cat she'll naturally be curious about it and interested in exploring it further.

3) Magnus will mark the cat tree with her scent by "sharpening" her claws (cats don't actually sharpen their claws, this behavior is a scent marking behavior because cats have scent glands in their paws, "sharpening" also serves the purpose of stretching and strengthening the cat's front paws, shoulders and back).

4) Once Magnus is satisfied that she's left her scent behind on this new and exciting piece of kitty furniture then she'll likely climb up to the top of the cat tree.

5) Circe sees Magnus scent marking HER cat tree and climbing her way to the top.

6) Circe immediately goes on the offensive and starts a full on cat fight with Magnus, possibly causing injuries to one or both cats in the process.

NB: Contrary to popular belief, no, cats don't *always* land on their feet when they fall, they require a certain amount of time and distance to right themselves in order to land on their feet. If these girls are fighting over the cat tree while they're in it and they don't have time to right themselves one or both cats could suffer serious injuries including broken bones, serious bruising, etc in addition to any bite wounds they may inflict on each other which will have the potential to become seriously infected since kitty mouths (and most mammals, including people) are full of bacteria and germs.

For the time that Magnus is in her own room, equipped with all of the usual kitty comforts including food, water, toys, a cozy bed to sleep in and at least two litter boxes for each cat. There are a few basic reasons that I recommend a minimum of two litter boxes per cat, especially when there's a history of territorial disputes between feline "siblings" (or current/past house soiling issues) is to avoid a common cause of litter box avoidance - one cat bullies another, the more submissive cat is kept away from food, toys, cat beds, scratch posts, human furniture and even litter boxes which can easily get out of hand and cause the more submissive cat to begin urinating/defecating outside of the litter box. Having several litter boxes located in different areas of the house makes it impossible for a dominant, territorial cat to control a more submissive, less territorial/aggressive cat to the point where they're left with no other choice but to soil outside of the litter boxes, especially in light of the recent scraps between Magnus and Circe which suggest in my experience that Circe is quite territorial. Trust me when I say that you want to do everything you can to avoid house soiling problems and an ounce of prevention is so much simpler than fixing a problem like house soiling once it's started. It's not a bad idea for Magnus to have her own cat tree or at least access to the one you've purchased for Circe, this will minimize the risks of the girls fighting over a single cat tree when they're finally ready to meet each other face to face again. If you aren't in the market for a second cat tree then it's not a bad idea to rotate it between the girls as equally as possible so that they get comfortable with each other's scent on such a high value item for them.

There are a few questions that I have that would help me to get an even clearer picture of just what might have gone wrong to cause the fighting between Circe and Magnus.

- As far as you know have there been any changes within your household (including things like brands/scents of laundry detergent, adding/subtracting a family member whether they've got two legs or four, renovations in your home with tradespeople coming in and out frequently, construction in your neighborhood, etc)?

- Do any neighborhood kitties use your property as a litter box where they'd be seen by one or both of your cats?

- Have there been any events that may have startled one or both cats and caused them to redirect fear/anxiety based aggression towards each other ?(this happens when they can't interact directly with the source of their fear, frustration, anxiety, etc)

- Does Circe have a history of being jealous and/or possessive of food, toys, treats, people, places within your home, etc?

I routinely make use of homeopathic remedies in our household for resident and foster kitties and I've seen some incredible changes happen for cats of all ages coming from a variety of situations when the right remedy is given to the right cat at the right time. You weren't far off the mark in using Calm Down, however it's not nearly as effective as the Bach flower remedies are because the quantities of each remedy are too small and the products that contain multiple remedies like that don't tend to be as effective in the longer term. Bach flower remedies are fairly easy to find - most health food stores carry them and you can purchase them online in case you're not able to find them locally. In Magnus's case I suspect that she's probably become a bit frightened of Circe and the changes in how they've been interacting lately so the remedies that I would recommend for her are going to have very different purposes than the remedies that I would recommend for Circe. Before I make any recommendations as far as the Bach flower remedies go I'd like to find out a bit more about what happens prior to, during and after these fights between Circe and Magnus on a few different levels.

- Who typically started the fights in the beginning?

- Does the other cat now start the fights as well or does she try to avoid them?

- What is the body language like when these kids are building up to a scrap?

- Who typically winds up on top in these fights?

- Has the way that either cat interacts with you changed since the fights have started or is the posturing and physical end of things confined to each other?

- What is Circe's personality like normally?

- Have there been any changes in Circe's personality overall since the fighting has started?

- What is Magnus's personality like normally?

- Have there been any changes in Magnus's personality overall since the fighting started?

- You mentioned that the cats will hiss/growl at each other through the door - how far away from each other (approximately) do they have to be to hiss/growl with a door between them?

- Who typically starts the vocal exchanges between these kids while there's a door between them?

- Do the physical fights start seemingly out of nowhere or do they seem deliberately planned by either kitty (exhibiting predatory behavior, stalking, crouching, pouncing, catching the other kitty unaware)?

Hopefully with more information I'll be able to help you, Circe and Magnus resolve the whole situation - I don't think that the situation is hopeless, but it will require some time, energy, consistency, patience and commitment on your part to get these girls back to being friendly with each other. I look forward to hearing from you soon.