Cat violent with *all* other cats

Hello,

About seven months ago, my partner and I adopted a rescue cat who had been found by someone we knew. At the time, she was about a year old and spayed. She's a tortoiseshell and quite small for her age. She has been to the vet and there is nothing obviously wrong with her.

Once she was acquainted with her new home, we started to let her outside. It wasn't long before we noticed that she doesn't like other cats. She attacked the female cat from across the road and tries to claw her way through the glass door in the apartment above us to kill the cat who's inside. There are a few others around the estate (male and female); when she sees them, her tail goes mental, her ears go right back and she postures herself for a fight. If they come near our windows, she will try to attack them.

Later on, it transpired that she was violent towards our friend's other cats and that's why he wanted rid of her.

So, as far as we know, she has never been friendly with another cat and has tried to attack every one she has come in contact with.

The strange thing is that she is very affectionate towards humans within minutes, but if you smell like another cat, you can expect to be mauled. She has attacked a few visitors who have cats of their own after taking a sniff.

We really don't know what to do. It looks like whoever had her first (and subsequently abandoned/lost her) didn't give a ****e and failed to socialise her with other cats. Has anyone else experienced this before? It's becoming quite distressing since she is constantly crying about being kept inside, but if I let her out I can't really concentrate on work since I have to keep an eye on her; over 50% of the time, she will start a fight.

Thanks.

braddun

cats are also territorial


get a water bottle and spray fighting cats


it might be medical

like stress

VonVix

Like you said she is quite small for her age, is there a chance in the past she had to fight for her food and most likely lost frequently due to her size?

Nody

Honestly it sounds like you have a stressed out cat who's not feeling secure in their territory. First of all she should obviously not be allowed outside short of a harness mainly for her own safety (cat fights can leave nasty scratches) and the other cats around the area. Secondly use Feliway plugins to see if that helps her relax and start taking notice of where things are triggering off and can also look at Royal Canin Calm and Zylkene (sp) to help her relax further. Third you said she tried to claw her way through a window so can you offer her a way to have a high spot to look down through said window and in all rooms in general; she needs to feel secure in her ownership. Cats like to be able to be high up and watch things; it's one way you can help her by giving her these spots to sit and look down and make her feel safe that she "owns" that area. Fourth keep an eye on her peeing habits; esp. if she pees outside the litter box as once again this can point towards where she's feeling insecure (no she's not doing it to punish you) and esp. if it's around vent intakes or similar that would bring in the smell of other cats.

Having said that some cats simply do not like other cats; it's simply a fact of life but the fact your cat would attack people who even smell of other cats to me would points more towards stressed out then anything else at this stage.

Nody

Nody wrote: »

Honestly it sounds like you have a stressed out cat who's not feeling secure in their territory. First of all she should obviously not be allowed outside short of a harness mainly for her own safety (cat fights can leave nasty scratches) and the other cats around the area. Secondly use Feliway plugins to see if that helps her relax and start taking notice of where things are triggering off and can also look at Royal Canin Calm and Zylkene (sp) to help her relax further. Third you said she tried to claw her way through a window so can you offer her a way to have a high spot to look down through said window and in all rooms in general; she needs to feel secure in her ownership. Cats like to be able to be high up and watch things; it's one way you can help her by giving her these spots to sit and look down and make her feel safe that she "owns" that area. Fourth keep an eye on her peeing habits; esp. if she pees outside the litter box as once again this can point towards where she's feeling insecure (no she's not doing it to punish you) and esp. if it's around vent intakes or similar that would bring in the smell of other cats.

Thanks. We have a Feliway plug-in at the moment and she has a high spot at one of the windows so that she can survey her 'domain'.

Originally, we thought she was suffering from stress, but since April she has become very relaxed, affectionate and playful around humans. She used to bite (not hard enough to break skin) and claw at us while playing, but that has all stopped. None of her body language suggests stress unless she sees or smells other cats (and dogs, but to a lesser extent, I think) and I'm fairly certain she knows she's the boss of the house. Her litter box use has been flawless since the day she arrived here.

I collaborated with one of our neighbours whose cats she really doesn't get on with so that they're not outside while she is. As such, I've let her out for an hour or two per day this week and it's going fairly well; she only had a very quick spat with a relatively new cat in the estate today, but I was watching them closely and that one was asking for it.

Having said that some cats simply do not like other cats; it's simply a fact of life but the fact your cat would attack people who even smell of other cats to me would points more towards stressed out then anything else at this stage.

We don't know anything about where she came from originally, but as she was found as a lone stray, it's possible she had to defend herself from other cats as a kitten. If she was never socialised with other members of her species and her only contact with them in her formative years was hostile, it could explain everything. I only wish I knew the answer.

Thanks for all the help. Much appreciated.

Ever2010

We have a fiesty little 5 year old tortie! She sometimes likes our 3 year old female - they often sleep together, the two boys she hates, and our late female she also hated. We've had numerous foster kittens & she hissed at them all - and currently have one here for the last 3 weeks and she hates her too.

She's grand with people though, in fact we reckon that she thinks she's our mammy. She ADORES my husband.