# cats fighting how do I get them to be friends again?



## samf1971 (Mar 27, 2012)

Hi, I have searched for help with our situation and hope that someone can offer a bit of advice.

We have two cats, Casper (female) & Twinkle (male)they are both approx 2 years old and have both been spayed/neutured, they have always been house cats who go in the garden for a little while on their leads. 

We moved into the country last October and they settled into the new home quickly and have enjoyed trotting about the garden on their leads just the same. However last week Twinkle escaped out of the window and didn't come back for a couple of hours, when he returned Casper went completely crazy and attacking him. After reading on a few pages I guessed he may have picked up some kind of scent so we rubbed them both with the same towel, gave them a little scent of vanilla etc so they both smelled the same again, after a couple of hours they were fine again. We took them out into the garden yesterday and as we were bringing them both inside again after their time outside, again Casper went berserk, unfortunately in the kerfuffle they both slipped out of our hands and ran down the field resulting in an almighty scrap, Casper came running back to the house & Twinkle remained outside for twenty minutes or so until we could find him and release him from the bush he'd got entangled in.

The same thing happened when they met Casper went crazy & they haven't been together 24 hours later. Casper is wandering about the house perfectly fine until coming across Twinkle (who is hiding in the bathroom) and then they both start hissing and growling at each other. I'm bothered that Twinkle will not come out to use the tray or eat as he is scared of another attack.

Will they ever be friends again - how can I get them to go back together. I'm worried that one of them is going to kill the other they are so viscious (no bloodshed as yet just lots of fur flying). We are actually going to be away overnight next week and I'm now worried how they're going to be!


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## loubyfrog (Feb 29, 2012)

Sorry ive no advice for you (apart from maybe separating them for a bit) but hopefully someone from here can help you out.

Hope they become best buddies again very soon


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## samf1971 (Mar 27, 2012)

Thanks for that , still no sign of the male! still think hes in the airing cupboard !


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## broccoli (Jul 1, 2011)

thats a tough one... cats can react funny if one is ill

if not feliway or pet remedy can help with stress - worth a try.


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## The Minkey (Feb 6, 2012)

I've heard it's possible for one half of a pair of cat friends to take badly against the other if it's come back from the vet because it smells different. Cats seem to trust smell more than sight from my experience. My own cat Tia attacked me one day because I had the smell of tomcat on my hands and had unwittingly got a few drops of tom spray on the sole of my slipper. She got a scare and suddenly to her nose and in her eyes I was an intruder tom cat so she went for me. The vet laughed and said I reckon it was a bit like a husband returning home smelling of someone else's perfume, where I'm in the role of the husband and she the angry wife. Whatever her reason, it taught me a valuable lesson about my cat which is that smell overrides appearance in her brain.

Before I introduced my kitten to resident cat for the first time, I used the same brush to groom them both so they wouldn't smell so alien to each other. This might be more effective than using the same towel, especially if you use brush the cheeks of one to work up the scent glands, then use the brush to transfer that cheek smell to the other's coat, and vice versa. Try and get the smells mixed up as much as possible. If that doesn't help, are you able to keep them apart and try reintroducing them as if Twinkle were a new cat coming into Caspar's home? 

That's just what I'd try if my cat indoors developed a hatred of the other on its return from somewhere outside, but I'm really no expert. Good luck with it.


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## lyle (Feb 29, 2012)

This is an interesting post for me as a similar thing has happened with my 2 cats since they started going outside - although they have remained in the garden. If it is a scent thing, surely it must wear off eventually. 

It has been suggested to me that when cats discover new territory, they feel like they need to re-establish the hierarchy of their relationship, maybe that is the case with your cats?

Perhaps you could try encouraging the cats to join in games together to re-establish their friendly bond. Mine like pushing a feeding ball about to release the biscuits in it, or chasing a laser pointer. It distracts them from their squabbles for a bit! Also maybe feed them in different rooms?


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## samf1971 (Mar 27, 2012)

Hi thanks everyone for your responses, i finally managed to get Twinkle out of bathroom and locked the door so he couldnt get back in.I kept them both on their leads and put them together yesterday evening for the first time,there was much hissing and growling from Twinkle,where as Casper took a more submissive stance by lying her head and body low to the floor. So i kept them apart overnight and again re introduced them this morning still on their leads with less hissing,they stood or lets say lay about 10ft apart on the floor. I decided as this was going well to remove their leads and see what happened. And after a few minutes Twinkle jumped into the kitchen sink (empty i might add!) as he does to drink the water from the tap and Casper jumped up behind him,in away catching him unawares and they sort of had a little kiss in the sink! They have been ok since! certainly caused us some stress in the house as we look after our little Boy who has Autism so yes the last few days have been VERY STRESSFUL!


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## The Minkey (Feb 6, 2012)

That's great they made up - what a relief for you! 

Spookily enough, Tia took against the kitten on his return from Tuesday's chip and chop. He smelled strongly of surgical spirit (or similar) so I was on alert. They touched noses in greeting OK, but as soon as she checked out his rear end she began hissing and looked most aggrieved so I removed him straight away - poor thing was groggy and didn't understand why his surrogate mum was being hostile - got the brush out to do some smell transference and also gave him a couple of sprays of feliway and brushed that across his coat towards the rear end where the smell of his vet visit was. When I reintroduced them, she gave him a few more suspicious sniffs but no hissing and she fully accepted him again within a relatively short time. Phew.


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