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Falling out after operation
08/01/98. Len Goddard writes...
Thanks to your advice from a previous note I have successfully quelled
the toe-hunting behaviour of one of my Bengals, but I now have a
potentially more serious problem:
I have two Bengals, male litter mates, which have always been very
friendly and affectionate towards one another. They sleep together if
I'm not around, play-fight and groom one another. However, I have just
had them neutered and since I got back from the vet (about 6 hours ago)
they will not have anything to do with each other - spitting, hissing
and growling alarmingly whenever they see one another. I may be
panicking unnecessarily but I do not want this to become ingrained
behaviour. Apparently it started when they were put together after
awakening from the anaesthetic.
Any suggestions for healing this rift would be very much appreciated.
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The editor replies
I hope your cats have settled by now. It is a common reaction for cats who
are housemates to attack a cat which has been to the vets (or to kennels)
because they smell different to usual. Your two boys will also smell
different because of the operation, and they may simply have not recognised
each other. It may also be that when animals are hurt and traumatised in
any way, they wish to be alone and will make this very plain. It should
not take long before they get back to normal, and my experience of
neutered cats is that they become still more affectionate. Feed them treats
together and get a basin of water and swish the water round attractively,
and they will be interested in this, which could lead to them playing
together again.
Let me know if there are any further problems.
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10/01/98. Len Goddard responds
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, all is not well. The level of
apparent aggression is such that I am unwilling to leave the two boys
roaming free in the house for fear of a fight starting which I might not
be able to break up. I am currently feeding them together by the
expedient of putting one of them in a kitten pen and putting the two
bowls on opposite sides of the mesh. Even this is not terribly
successful as the more aggressive of the two (neither were at all
aggressive before the op. and are still not towards me) will not settle
at all in the kitten pen. I have currently confined the two in separate
rooms and am going through an exercise designed to re-acclimate them to
one another's scent (suggested by Dr. Ann McBride). Hopefully I will
eventually get them back together but the current situation is quite
heartbreaking for anyone who knew how close they were a few days ago.
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The editor replies
The swapping of smells in different rooms is an
excellent exercise, and it can be augmented, apparently, by spray hormones which you can buy from the vet. These
imitate the hormones secreted on the facial marking glands of cats, and
this creates a sense of well-being and security when sprayed round the
room.
Whilst these steps can be taken to speed things up, cats need to accept, or
re-accept, each other on their own terms, and sometimes this takes time.
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13/01/98. Len Goddard responds
Thank you for the hormone hint - I had heard of it but forgotten it
existed. I am making some progress ... I now have the cats eating next
to each other, one inside a kitten pen and one outside, without any
hostility. Initially I could not understand how Vlad (my brown boy)
could eat and growl so mush without choking. They will also now sniff
without ears going back and hissing. I think Ming, my snow, would
happily make friends again but Vlad is still a little spooked by things
which smell strongly of Ming so I'm taking it very slowly. If all goes
well I will try feeding them loose on opposite sides of the lounge
tomorrow evening, ready to separate them immediately at the first sign
of hostility (this is a week from the op).
I'm willing to give the beasties as much time as they need but it is not
very convenient ... with one cat confined to each bedroom I've ended up
on a camp bed in the lounge as I don't want either to consider me as
part of their exclusive territory!
Thanks again for your support/advice.
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