Question:
We are a "blended family" of kitties. My two (both 8 years old), Maris and Lilith, moved with me into my husband's apartment when we were married. My husband had his own little one named Annie (6 years old) . (all 3 are spayed, Annie is front declawed, and the other two have claw caps on their front paws). Annie is a gray cat with black stripes, Maris is a mostly white calico, and Lilith is a large torti, but I've been told she is part siamese.
We followed all the advice on keeping them separated, etc, before introducting them, and at first they all got along really well! BUT, after a few months or so, (and for no apparent reason) Lilith and Annie started fighting. Annie tends to not be a very friendly cat, (you can only hold her for a minute, and only pet her on the head, again for just a minute, or else she will bite and hiss!) but the cats were fine in the beginning!! I don''t know if play fighting went too far, or what happened, but they get into nasty fights, and Annie has had some bites on her, one which turned into a bad absess that needed some surgery on it. Even stranger, Lilith tends to be submissive to Maris, and Maris and Annie get along fine. (Lilith and Maris weren't littermates, but were together from just a few weeks old, and get along very well) This has been going on for a year and a half now, and goes through phases of being better and worse.
This stress has led Annie to live much of her day on top of the kitchen cabinets, and any time she hears the bell on Lilith''s collar, she runs and jumps back up there. (She really only comes down when we are out in the living area, and she is sure that Lilith is in another room asleep!) She has also been acting a little strange lately, running around, twitching, biting at her back, and doing a lot of licking. In fact, she has licked a spot on her her side almost bald! She has also been urinating on top of the dryer (in the kitchen, as well), and even on the stove! And just the past couple of days she has been deficating on the kitchen floor!
We put the bell on Lilith, so that she knows when she''s coming, and we have a Feliway plug in, and I plan on buying another. There are only two litter boxes at this time, and one is in a very open area where there are multiple exits. I also might try the vanilla extract trick.
I've read about some "flower extract" I can put in their water that might help, so I may try that. I've also heard trying to repeat the separating and introduction process can be helpful. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Anything I find online talks about cats that don''t get along, but not about cat''s that USED to, and for no reason suddenly stopped! What can we do????
PLEASE HELP!!!!! THANK YOU!!!
Answer:
Take them all in for a full medical evaluation to rule out any physical problems. Hyperthyroid will make a cat aggresive.
I would get rid of the bell too, seems that may be a little disturbing on top of not getting along. Maybe even a room by herself until Annie gets a clean bill of health., she may have a digestion/infection problem.
Answer:
Sounds like you have a case of redirected aggression on your hands. This happens when a cat becomes agitated in some way and is unable to direct their aggression toward the cause of the arousal. Instead, the cat goes after another animal or person who happens to be nearby. Even something as benign as seeing another cat in the yard can trigger an episode.
Here's a link on it for you:
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/aggression3.html
If you do a search on this forum and on Google for redirected aggression, you will find additional info that should be helpful.
jsampson wrote: I've also heard trying to repeat the separating and introduction process can be helpful.
This is what I had to do with my cats and seems to be a common strategy for addressing this issue.
Good luck and keep us posted.
P.S. Welcome to the forum!
Owned by Pepper and Pumpkin RIP Snickers 8/22/00 -- 11/28/06
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/

Answer:
THanks for your comments!
I put the bell on Lilith, because the vet told me to. He said this way Lilith can't "sneak up" on Annie. If Annie can hear her coming, she feels safer, because she has time to leave the room, climb to "safety", or whatever. Before she was paranoid all the time, because she never knew where Lilith was, and she would be caught off guard. Now she at least knows she's going to get pounced on, and has time to retreat!
I will try the rescue remedy (yes, that was it! I just couldn't think of the name! ) and see if that helps at all. And the additional feliway (which does seem to help a bit... maybe more of it will do the trick!) I may and another litter pan, as well.
I have entertained the idea of redirected aggression. And I've by NO means ruled it out! It just seems odd that it would be the problem for almost 2 years now! Plus, we've moved a couple times in there, so the "External sources" would have changed. But I'm sure it's still possible, and it probably won't hurt anything to try that approach.
I feel so bad for Annie, because she lives in fear so much! And Lilith is SO sweet to people, and to Maris, but just DOES NOT like Annie! Like I said before, Annie isn't really a sweet cat. She's never really let people pet her much, etc. But she will play with people, if they bring her a toy or whatever. She seems pretty much fine when Lilith isn't around, though. She'll play, eat, sit on the couch with my husband, etc. SHe has those occassional fits of tail chasing, twitching, biting, etc, but that has calmed down now that I've refilled the Feliway.
Keep giving me advice, though!!! HAHA! I will try just about anything to help!!
Thanks again!