My cats are fighting

[TomL]

Hello everyone. I'm new to this board and this is my first post. I have a male cat and a female cat, they are brother and sister 5 1/2 years old, spayed and neutered. They used to get along great. They would sleep together, clean each other, overall a great relationship. This all changed this past Saturday. They are indoor cats and love to look out our windows. Our neighbors cat got into our yard and up onto our deck and came up to our patio door. Our cats flipped out, howling and hissing, and then suddenly they turned against each other and started fighting. My wife and I seperated them and put them in different rooms. Later in the day we let them out and there was alot of growling and hissing but eventually they tolerated one another. They were getting better for the next few days. They would seem to be on edge and almost constantly looking out the window to the backyard. Things started to get back to normal, they would sleep together and everything seemed fine. Occasionally they would be a little skeptical of one another. Tonight, Thursday, they were both sitting together looking out the window and suddenly they attacked each other. We don't know what happened or who may have instigated. There was a lot of hissing and growling and fighting. The female, which is smaller and got the worst of the fight, was so scared, we think that see urinated in a few spots during the brawl. We eventually got them separated and put into different rooms. They both seem to be physically OK. I'm sorry that this post is so long, I'm trying to put in as much info as I can. My wife and I don't know what to do. We plan on keeping them separate until we can figure out what to do. Does anyone know what is going on here and what we can do? We are afraid that if left alone they would kill each other. Please help!

Thanks,
Tom

[Traci]

Tom, you're not alone, this happens with many multi-cat households, especially when an outside cat is visible. It's a natural instinct for the indoor cats to 'protect their territory' and they therefore will act agressive to their otherwise faithful companion.

You're doing the right thing by seperating them, but it's been 5 days now, so you want to start re-introducing them together again and try to involve them together in something they will feel is safe and secure. Like playtime, one on one attention, with your supervision of course in the next few days. In a few days, all should be back to normal. Most cats forget the incident sooner, but it may take a few extra days for some.

If you know when an outside kitty presents him/herself, try getting the cats away from the window until the 'crisis' is over. Divert their attentions to something else, like toys or attention, calming voices, etc. It has to be a pleasing and safe event for them in order to expect them to divert their attentions from the window or each other. Don't give up, this too shall soon pass.

[TomL]

Thank you for replying. The original incident happened on Saturday morning. We kept them separate for the day and then reintroduced them on Sat. night. After some growling that night , they seemed to have been getting along for a few days. They were sleeping together and so on. But on Thur. night, all of a sudden they went at it again. I'm not sure if the neighbors cat reappeared(I don't think that it did, we closed up the hole in the fence). My wife and I think that they are a little edgy and they are seeing reflections in the window of each other and that is what is setting them off. We are looking into solutions for cutting down the reflections. We are just afraid that when we reintroduce them and all seems fine for a few days, like it was the last time, if they do fight when we are not home, how does it end? Will they keep going until the other one is severly injured or driven away? Thanks again for your reply.

Tom

[Tina B and crew]

Tom...I've dealt with this myself. I have two (Willow and Gizmo) who just don't get along well...and just to be on the safe side I seperate them when I leave home. I only do this because one of them did injure the other one before and I don't want to take any more chances. Chances are slim that this will happen, it's never happened with my other two who don't get along (Frodo and Gizmo...notice a common denominator here?) so I never seperate them...if they do get into it when we are gone, Frodo will usually find a spot away from Gizmo and he will leave her alone. Just continue to monitor them. You will know whether you need to seperate them when you leave.