Expert: Karen Craft - 7/31/2010

Question
ok so i have 2 house cats they're Persian...well we had our female cat for about 12 years now and our male cat for about 7 years they have lived together for those 7 years and everything was fine except for the first few days the female cat was a bit aggressive...the male is neutered but the female is now...i'm not saying they were always "best friends" but they got along just fine. Sometimes the female cat attacked him but that was only when something frightened her...The last couple of days though whenever she just sees him she attacks him for no reason he might be sleeping and she spots him and attacks really aggressively we even tried to separate them for a few hours but it didn't work and she's always trying to look for him so she can attack him again. She's only aggressive towards him with all of us she just acts normal. We even tried spraying her with water but she's only scared of it when she's not attacking him just yet only when she's about to attack, but once she attacks him it doesn't stop her. I have no idea what to do about it they cant be in the same room together without one of them being locked in another room. Please help. THANK YOU.

Answer
Hi Kat,

I would first get your older girl checked out by a vet. Sometimes when older cats get sick they get very touchy and lash out. If she checks out okay I would then investigate what has changed in and around your house that is upsetting her. It could be something as simple as a cat walking around outside that she can see. You need to remove whatever is bothering her. She is taking her frustrations out on the male. After removing what the problem is you will then need to do a cat introduction protocol. She needs to be reintroduced to the male all over again.

Find what is causing her to be upset, remove it and reintroduce them again. This is what will take of your problem. Until then keep them separated or supervise them together. Good luck.

Ciao, Karen