Cat Hissing at Me

[voltron98]

I have two beautiful cats, sisters, that I've had since they were kittens. They are now 4 years old. LaCienega has always been the dominate cat and Willow the non-dominate. Over the weekend, I had to take LaCienega to a 24 hour emergency clinic because she was not able to urinate. She was there for two nights and is in tip top shape now minus the shaved parts of her body. She's also walking around a little drunk-looking probably because of the pain medication or something. Anyways, since bringing her home, Willow immediately started hissing at me, tried to pounce on me, and tried biting me. Neither of my cats has EVER done anything like that. Willow is the sweetest cat ever. Whenever I walk into the room, Willow runs and starts hissing. If I go near her she jumps at me. At first, I thought she was hissing at LaCienega but then quickly realized it was aimed at me. Do you think Willow thinks that I took LaCienega away and hurt her and now she is afraid? I hope someone can help me with this. It's extremely troubling to me. THANKS!!!!

Vernon

[Traci]

This is a common occurance between cats when one of them has to go to the vet or has been hospitalized....it's because of the scents the hospitalized cat brings home. If Willow is hissing at you, it could be because she sensed your stress over the weekend. It's more likely she is hissing at the strange scents though. Relax, this will soon pass. Just try to act as if nothing has changed, continue to give her the attention/affection she's accustomed to, let her and the Lacienega smell each other/re-acclimate to each other at their own convenience.

More importantly, however, how is Lacienega doing? What pain medication was prescribed, and did you notify the vet about the reaction she is having? This isn't normal for a pain medication prescribed for cats unless the dose is too high, or given too close together in doseage times, or given on an empty stomach etc. Some pain meds can in fact cause drowsiness, but under no circumstances should they cause "drunken" appearance. Call the vet immediately and notify him of this. What was the diagnosis? Crystals? Inflammation? Infection? And, how is he addressing it?

[voltron98]

Thanks soooo much for the reply! I keep trying to give Willow the attention I normally give her, but when I get near her she either runs or hisses and jumps at me. I'm going to go find her now and just sit near her and see if she'll come up to me without me coming towards her. It has me extremely upset.

LaCienega is great! She is walking and running around fine now. I think the drunkeness was more because she was exhausted and from all the IV's and such. I'm thrilled because she seems like her old self again. For a few days before I took her to the vet she was depressed and not doing anything. The pain medication is Buprenorphine.

Thanks again for the reply! I REALLY appreciate it!

Vernon

[voltron98]

I forgot to add... The problem was crystals.