Expert: Ali - 4/5/2009

Question
We have a tabby named Sunshine that has been a member of our family since she was 6 weeks old. She is strictly an indoor cat and is very shy. Recently she has developed a feral behaviour pattern that is very alarming. She has been attacking Piddle, another member of our family, a black and white short-haired beauty. Tonight she caused significant injury to the right front leg of our poor Piddle. We have tried distracting her by talking to her in soothing tomes and trying to gently stroke her but she just runs off to chase Piddle around the house and then engages her full on. I am worried about both of them and do not know what to do any more. Do you have any thoughts about the origin of this behaviour and how we can get our loving little Sunshine back? We would all be so grateful for any insight. Thank you.

Answer
Emily,

It's not normal for a healthy indoor cat to suddenly develop serious aggression. This is an indication that something is very wrong. I would recommend that you consider seeking the advice of a holistic veterinarian, this is a vet that practices conventional medicine as well as one or more alternative therapies such as acupuncture, homeopathy or massage to name a few. My vet is a wonderful and experienced holistic practitioner and she has prescribed homeopathic remedies to my cats, sometimes with amazing results. Cats tend to respond quite well to alternative therapies and in the event that the aggressive behavior isn't related to a serious health problem natural treatments offer an effective, safe way of helping to turn things around. In my opinion there's a serious problem going on with Sunshine - she needs to see a vet, such a drastic change in behavior may indicate that she has a potentially serious health problem or painful injury. The sooner the vet can see Sunshine the better. For the safety of Sunshine, Piddle and any other pets in your household I think it's best to isolate Sunshine in a room on her own with all of her usual necessities to minimize stress on her and reduce the risk of further injury to Piddle. Part of the reason for this isolation is to help you give the vet a more accurate history in terms of eating, drinking and litter box behavior as it's often difficult to tell who is eating what or making specific deposits into the litter pan in a multiple cat household. Based on your description of Piddle's injuries sustained in a less than diplomatic discussion between her and Sunshine I would also recommend that Piddle see the vet as soon as possible because she may require antibiotics or other treatment. Cat bites have a tendency to get infected which can cause serious pain and potential loss of function in the injured cat's leg. If the cats aren't spayed/neutered territorial disputes may be at the root of the aggression issue, in this case I'd recommend having them spayed/neutered ASAP to avoid further confrontations. It does take a couple of weeks for hormone levels to drop when you sterilize a sexually mature cat.

I have some other theories as to what may have caused the aggressive outbursts, but it's very important to rule out health issues prior to assuming that the trouble is purely behavioral. Cats often don't show signs of illness/injury until they're so sick/injured that they can no longer hide it. If the aggression is behavioral you may want to think back to when the problem started - were there any changes within your home (having a baby, adding/subtracting people or pets, doing renovations or repairs, a move, etc). Cats are very territorial animals and they really tend not to like change, some cats can have more serious reactions than others. If your cats are reacting to change it may help to separate them completely for a minimum of 2 weeks and then reintroduce them gradually over the space of 1-2 weeks just as you would if you were adding a completely new cat to the household. Another possible trigger for aggression may be that Sunshine is taking out her frustrations on Piddle because she saw or heard something outdoors which frightened her, made her angry or otherwise upset her - an example of this could include seeing, hearing or smelling stray cats using her yard as a litter pan. If this is the case you may want to consider applying a temporary privacy film to the windows that the cats normally spend time looking out of, many styles, price ranges and designs are available (it's best to shop around until you find a design that you like and a reasonable price) and often times out of sight is out of mind with cats. Seeking the assistance of a holistic veterinarian may yield better and more permanent results because they can offer treatment specific to the type, intensity and character of the behavior in question. I suspect that homeopathy may be the way to go in this case and I've suggested a safe remedy to give both cats that won't negatively affect any other remedies they may receive during the course of treatment.

For the moment I think that it would be in Piddle and Sunshine's best interests for you to try out a safe, effective homeopathic remedy called Bach's Rescue Remedy which is a blend of flower essences designed to calm and reassure. You can add 7-9 drops of Rescue Remedy to Sunshine's bowl of fresh water each morning and 5-7 drops to Piddle's fresh water each morning. The reason for the different doses is because I think that Sunshine needs a bit of extra help to calm down and get back to her usual self. Rescue Remedy is completely safe, you don't have to worry about overdosing the cats - if one or two extra drops end up in either water dish it's no big deal, it won't hurt the cats. This remedy is used by some people to treat their own anxiety and fear, it's also used by pet parents and some veterinarians worldwide to treat fearful, anxious and traumatized pets. You can sometimes find Rescue Remedy in the mainstream pharmacies in the section where you'd find vitamins and other nutritional supplements. Rescue Remedy is more commonly available in naturopathic pharmacies, health food stores and I believe you can also purchase this remedy online. Another way that you can administer Rescue Remedy is by rubbing a drop onto the relatively hairless part in front of the cat's ear, you need to be careful to avoid accidentally getting any of this remedy into the ear because the flower essences are preserved in a grape alcohol solution which can sting a bit.