I know there are a gazillion web sites on animal behavior, but that takes time, and I’m worried. Would appreciate your knowledge, any facts, and web links that might help. Kali is a 6-year-old female who doesn’t like to be picked up and has always freaked out when trying to put her in a carrier to go to the vet. I’ve had to tranquilize her each time (a pill in her food). Yesterday, same deal. Get home and the tranquilizer takes full effect; she zones out and sleeps it off the rest of the evening. However, her sister Bitsy, (4-years-old, not blood sibling) is avoiding her. Today I put down some catnip, which they both love, and Bitsy as usual was licking it up and rolling around in it. When Kali approached, Bitsy scurried away and hissed as she went. Kali is acting like her old self and is being friendly. My WAG is that Bitsy senses a change in Kali and sees and smells her as a strange cat. Maybe even smells the tranquilizer. But she didn’t behave like this before. Bitsy has never been a real affectionate cat with me and s.o. and pretty much keeps to herself, so it’s hard to tell if she is reacting differently to us. but she and Kali up till now have always been close (playing with and grooming each other). If this keeps up, I’ll call the vet, but any insights you can give me would be appreciated.
Bitsy sees Kali as a strange cat.
Cats tell each other by scent and body language. Kali is boiling off the tranq, and acting all logy. See smells funny and acts weird. Also, with a vet check, Kali got handled by strangers. So she also smells of the Evil Vet Clinic and the Horible People who work there.
As long as Bitsy is just hissing at Kali and snubbing her, things should be Jake soon. Give Kali a few days to get back to herself, and Bitsy should be better, too.
By the way…
Kali, as in the Indian Mother Goddess? Half of Kali-Shiva: the Eater of Worlds?
-Rue
Rue - yes, that one. An Indian friend suggested the name - but the only similarity is that my Kali is black. She was depressed when I got her from the animal shelter, and very fearful and timid, but she’s come a long way. I can actually pick her up if I catch her off guard. She’s a dear and very precious to me, so it’s distressing that her sister is behaving this way. Thanks so much for the positive prognosis.
Your cat has picked up a number of strange smells from the vet that the other cannot distinguish. Remember, cats have an extraordinarily strong sense of smell and this new funk that Kali is wearing is making Bitsy extremely uneasy.
It happens to our cats all of the time. When Minou or Watson go in for grooming, Loki hisses and swats at them upon thier return. It’s odd because it seems the cats’ dominant form of identification, i.e. that of smell, completely overrides their visual recognition of a cat they obviosly know very well. Either that or they simply find the new smell so utterly offensive, they make a natural defensive reaction to such a foreign smell.
My $.02
I’ll back up minlokwat’s statement. Our three do the same thing when one of them has to go to the vet’s.
Recently, our Annie had to go to the vet’s for a small procedure requiring her to stay the night. When she returned, neither Frisco nor Denver wanted anything to do with her, and there was plenty of hissing and growling. (Normally, they all get along just fine.) It wasn’t until Annie had rid herself of the “vet clinic smell” that the other two welcomed her back into the fold.
It may be the behavior caused by the tranquilizer, but I think it’s more the smells that Kali has picked up. When they disappear, Bitsy and Kali will probably act as if nothing happened.
I think it is specifically the smell of the vet. If you had asked the question, “Why does one cat avoid the other when the other smells like a veterinary office?”, it’d be an obvious answer.
My cats are fascinated with the smell of my luggage when I return from a trip - and, no, mine doesn’t smell any worse than most people’s - so I figure the smell of the unfamiliar is interesting to them, not frightening.
Luggage would be really interesting to a cat. Something novel to stimulate the big ol’ carnivore brain. And luggage doesn’t walk around in a provocative manner and try to eat the cats’ food.
A cat, being a lone-hunter type rather than a pack type, doesn’t like some stranger showing up, messing up the statis quo. Does this newcomer want my food? Want my bed? Is it big enough to kick my posterior? Cats aren’t real big fans of change. A known cat, who smells different gets classified as “stranger” till everyone gets things worked out.
An unfamiliar smell that stays put: good.
An unfamiliar smell that walks around and might be a threat: bad.
This post is a HUGE generalization. Cats have a wide range of behaviors. Not all pets respond as illustrated here.
Sycorax, how are your kitties doing? Kali is a cool name.
They seem to be getting back to normal today – I just got in from work, and Bitsy is sniffing Kali’s butt, which is a good sign, but she hissed at her once too. Bitsy goes to the vet tomorrow evening, so it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out! Thanks everyone for the reassurances.
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