One of the most common forms of cat aggression occurs when cats who live together are briefly removed from one another.
This type of cat assault may cause mental suffering in both the victim cat and the cat owners. The unanticipated attack frequently results from misdirected aggression, in which the aggressor strikes a secondary target because they can’t get to the original target.
This scenario commonly occurs when one cat from the household goes the groomer or vet. When the healed cat comes home, its former feline friends either avoid it or actively pursue it. The cats hardly recognize one another from the other. The missing cat smells different from the other cats in the house, therefore this is basically true.
Confident kittens usually learn to correct their poor vision over life. You can speed up the process, though, and prevent the cat encounters from getting worse.
Scent Communication Guidelines to Consider
Cats communicate using sounds, sights, and smells. Each cat has a unique scent that serves as an identification mark for other felines. When cats brush against one another, sleep together, or groom one another, they trade scents. Think of their same scent as a means to distinguish them as belonging to the same family.
When a cat comes home from the vet, it smells unpleasant. It has been handled by outsiders, might have taken a bath or been treated with unpleasant-smelling medications, might even be ill and smell bad. Because the other cats may not immediately recognize these new odors, they may act as if someone is invading their area.
When the other cats hiss at the house cat when it returns, the cat gets on its back and acts defensively. The situation of the sick cat could get more serious if it keeps going to and from the veterinarian’s clinic.
Plan a joint cat and vet visit.
Make an effort to schedule all of your cats’ routine veterinary visits at the same time. After being treated in this way by clinic staff, they will all smell the same, making them less likely to fight when they return home.
Separating sick cats
The bodily chemistry of the cat may cause it to smell differently even before it visits the veterinarian, and other cats frequently act differently around sick cats. If a sick cat is being mistreated by the others, keep it apart from them. Everyone’s stress level increases as a result of cat-bashing, and it will take longer to cease the longer it continues.
Plan to keep the cat in a room by itself for at least half a day after it leaves the vet. This gives it time to groom itself and remove the offensive clinic odor from its fur, which annoys its feline pals so much. The cat also has time to recover from the stress of the visit to the vet, which lessens its propensity to act aggressively.
Re-distribute the Community Cat Scent.
Use a hand towel to pet the other cats at home. Your cat’s cheeks are your best friend, so rub the towel on them carefully. This collects the unique scent of your best friend cat, which you may later massage on the cat that is seeing the vet to help reestablish the family scent.
There are times when it would be desirable to scent all the cats with a strong, appealing scent that would not only make them all smell the same but would also discourage cat-hating. For instance, rub your hands in tuna water from a can while petting the back of each cat. The family odor should be revived as a result of them being encouraged to groom themselves and possibly even one another.
Problems and Proofing Techniques
Keep an eye on them and immediately separate the cat that has been treated if there are any cat-bashing or hissing events within the first few hours of the cats’ encounter. It is useless for the cats to fight, as it will only make them more confused than they already are.
All the cats may be more receptive to reestablishing contact after a brief cooling-off period. Don’t rush the process of reintroducing the sick cat to the group. Since it might need extra time to recover from the shock of the vet visit, there is no immediate need to rush it back with the others.
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