What's wrong with my cats? (fighting)

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m at a loss, turning to the cat lovers of the Dope. Sorry it’s long.

I have 3 cats. Two are 3 1/2 years old, littermates, a boy and a girl (Jack and Zach) who are both fixed. The 3rd (Simon) around 18 -20 months old, I’ve had for more than a year but didn’t get him fixed until last week. They’re inside cats for the most part, but the older 2 will go out for 10 or 15 minutes at a time maybe every other day. I never let the little guy out, because he hadn’t yet been vaccinated.

They’ve all always got along with each other, although the baby has always been a bit of a loner. The older 2 sleep together often, the baby by himself in the laundry basket most of the time. The boys would play together a lot, and all 3 bathe each other. All has been well.

Until. . .

About a month ago Zach, the girl, started urinating on my laundry, on books, newspapers, pretty much anything I left on the floor. Not super often, but any of that is too much. She’d get a swat if I caught her in the act, and I’d toss her in the box.

About the same time, Simon turned teenager on me and started with the humping. Me, the other cats, pillows etc. He’s not spraying, but he’s certainly growing up.

Then, maybe 3 weeks ago, Simon and Zach start fighting. A lot. A lot, but not bad fights, just some growling, a little tumble and off to separate corners. But often enough that I figure I need to get him neutered sooner rather than later. But life gets in the way, and I put it off (I know, my bad) until another fight last Sunday. I got on the phone that minute, but the vet couldn’t get him in until Thursday, so Thursday we went.

I pick him up from the Vet on Thursday evening and put him in the spare room with water and a little food. I knew he’d smell like the Vet and the others wouldn’t like it, but I had to go back to work anyway, and I figured they’d get somewhat used to his smell through the door while I was gone, and all would be well. And it was. I got home about 10, opened the door to the spare room, they all smelled each other, the big one’s left him alone and he went back to sleep. Thursday night we all slept well.

Friday morning, however, different story. Simon and Zach were at each others’ throats. Not much I could do about it, I had to go to work. When I got home Friday night, all was peaceful for about 1/2 an hour, and they were back at it, more violently than normal though. Zach ran to the front door and Simon to the back room, so I opened the door to let Zach out. She bolted. Normally she’s timid on her way out the door, making sure there’s no other animals or children out there. Not this time. She ran. And she didn’t come back until this evening, so almost 48 hours. She’s never even been gone an hour before, so she was really roughin’ it.

(All this time Jack has been fine. He sometimes looks a little concerned when they fight, but he doesn’t get involved. He’s the good cat, always has been.)

The 2 days she was gone all was peaceful. Simon is fully recovered, and now sleeping with Jack at least part of both nights. Then she came back, and about 10 minutes later all hell broke loose. It started with the usual suspects, but this time even Jack got involved. I couldn’t get near any of them for awhile, the were all claws. Eventually I got ahold of Simon and locked him in the bathroom (closest room with a door). I found Zach behind the couch, growling at nothing, and Jack under the dining room chair hiding and scared.

So for the last hour Simon’s been back in the spare room, but now Zach’s growling every so often at Jack (who’s back to normal and not taking the bait). I don’t want to leave him locked up, but I honestly don’t know what else to do right now. Sometimes she attacks him, sometimes he attacks her, and sometimes they’re fine. My hope was that getting him fixed would work this out (and the not so little problem of her “marking” her territory, too).

They’ve lived together quite nicely for more than a year now, any one have any idea why they’re behaving so badly? Where the violence came from? I plan to call my vet tomorrow, but any advice would be very welcome.

Thanks in advance

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The title should be “What’s wrong with my cats? (fighting)”

Would a mod be so kind as to fix that for me. I hit enter while aiming for shift. Thanks.

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[Mod mod]Is done.[/Mod mod]

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I’m afraid you’ll have to let your cats sort it out for themselves. You can prevent them from fighting when you’re in the room, but left to their own devices they will have to figure out some kind of pecking order.

After my recent move to a new neighborhood my 3 cat have been fighting with other cats quite a lot the first four months. Now the neighborhood cats have reached a new equilibrium.

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The guy who was just neutered will still have high testosterone levels. It can take up to six weeks for his levels to go down to “normal-neutered” levels. It could hopefully be just a matter of time. He may have just decided it was time to change the pecking order, and you just haven’t seen it until it turned into obvious fighting when you’re home, too. This could have been brewing for some time. Cats are sexually mature around 6 months of age, so your newly neutered guy has been a Tom for far longer than you seem to think. It’s possible the fighting between your male and female is rooted in advances made by him that went unnoticed by you, but that your female has had to fend off for some time and she’s finally had it, and is being preemptive now about keeping him away from her. Hopefully things will calm down as his scent calms down, but cats are fickle and very subtle in their communication sometimes, saying things to each other that the human in the house never picks up on, until it turns into knock-down drag-out fighting.

If it were me, I would separate one of them for a while. Set him or her up in a room alone for a week or two and after that, use re-introduction techniques as if the separated cat were new to the home, positive reinforcement, treats under the door, positive play, territory swapping. A pecking order will still need to be re-established, but hopefully in a more peaceful manner once the “new” cat is re-introduced to the rest of the house. Yes, this can be a pain, but what’s a couple weeks in terms of peace for the rest of these cats’ lives? I’m in a small one-bedroom apartment and successfully separated one cat for 2 weeks so he could recover from surgery. It can be done!

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Thanks for the replies.

I let Simon out this morning, and put Zach in the spare room. She’s got food and water and a box, so hopefully she’ll be ok until tonight when I get home. And not too mad at me. I don’t want her to feel like she’s being punished, but she is definately feeling threatened, growling at everything that moves, including me. At least locked up back there she’ll be safe (and hopefully feel safer).

I know I should have gotten him fixed earlier, but he was such a sweet boy, I never saw a problem.:frowning:

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I hope you have luck with re-introducing them. He’s neutered now, so hopefully if you’re able to take some time with slow, positive introduction, it will be easier once his hormones take a back seat. If the girl and her brother still seem to get along, you could let the brother in and out for company. With cats, the slower the better, so take as long as you can stand it!

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That’s a good idea SeaDragonTattoo. I’ll give it a shot tonight.