Expert: Norman Auspitz - 6/3/2009

Question
Hi, my name is Tanya. I took my 2 year old cat, Daisy, to
the vet on Monday, so they could check to see if she had
any ovarian tissue left after being spayed since she was
showing signs of being in heat. I brought her back from the
vet on Tuesday (yesterday). Our other cat is almost 5 years
old and her name is Jade. She is the mother to Daisy. So,
they know each other quite well. I am having a problem with
Jade, though. She keeps hissing and growling at Daisy. I
brought Daisy home yesterday early morning and today, she's
still hissing and growling at her. I have to keep them
separated since Daisy has stitches and I don't want them to
come out. When Daisy got spayed in November 2007, Jade only
hissed at her a couple of times and then she was fine. I
don't know what else to do. I want them to get along again.
I don't want Jade to end up attacking Daisy cause of the
stitches and she's been known to do that with other animals
that she wasn't familiar with. Any advice that you could
give me would be greatly appreciated. I'm loosing my mind
about this. They are both good cats and love each other.
Please help me! Thank you!!

~Tanya~

Answer
Tanya,

What you are seeing between Daisy and Jade is very, very common.  Cats really recognize each other by their respective scents.  Daisy comes back from the vet smelling different, so Jade does not recognize her and does the usual ritual when a cat meets a strange cat, hisses! Usually after a few days, the scents return to normal and all is well again.  You are right to keep them separated until the sutures are out just in case, although it is highly unlikely they will get into it to that extent of Jade getting at Daisy's sutures. But, why take the chance.

In almost every case I have heard about, all returns to normal. I expect those cases where the cats do not go back to their normal relationship are extremely rare.  There may be a slight difference in the relationship since Daisy will no longer produce as much female hormone.  This usually has an overall calming effect on things.

Please let me know how things go.

Best regards... Norm.