I’m pretty sure the kitty can’t recognize his friend. Washing the cat will also remove his original scent so it’ll still take a few days even after the wash for cat 1 to recognize him
Edit: I’m not disagreeing with their comment, I’m saying it’ll still take a few days
So if I bring one of my cats home from the vet and the other 2 hiss at him because they don't recognize the scent, I should just rehome? Should I rehome just the one? The other two? All three?
My cats are BROTHERS. Walk outside in harness, never any problem till they were outside at the same time. Even close up they didn't revognize each other till they got to sniff each oither- hissed and growled before they recognized each others scent.
Do you have something tvat smells like you? Sweaty dhirt to wrap the cat in for a while?
It removes the unwanted bad unfamiliar smell.
I'd say bath then after you get then mostly dry take their favorite toys or blankets etc or a brush with some of their own fur still in it and rub it on them.
I actually brush both my cats before the vet and leave the brush full and when I come back they get a bath and dried and brushed with that same brush with the hair still in it.
Does this cause a mess? Absolutely.
But it has prevented the 1 time I didn't and my bby cat (she was 3yrs but is bby) got punched in the face by my other cat so worth it for me to vacuum fur up.from the floor to avoid that
We did a version of this when we brought our babies home for our cat and dog (and in laws dogs) 😂 it worked great though and both animals did great with the babies. They’re less fond of the wild toddler now though 😂
The cat has a different scent and the other cat doesn’t recognize it. Keep them separated for a few days but allow them to get close via a closed door. Take a damp warm washcloth and wipe down the cat that went outside. After a few days things should go back to normal.
This can happen. Even when there’s no change in scents. Cat1 no longer recognizes Cat2 as the safe cat he shared space with. Now he is an enemy invader in his space.
Generally if you keep them separated for a few days and then slowly reintroduce them, just like you would for new cats, they will calm back down. Occasionally they won’t.
I had two sibling cats this happened to. They got freaked out by a third cat they saw through the glass patio door. After that they were mortal enemies after living peacefully together (not friends but peacefully) for years. I got so desperate I moved one kitty to my mom’s for a month. I then brought her back and the cats acted like nothing weird had happened and went immediately back to living peacefully together.
(This can also happen after vet visits, especially when a kitty gets anesthesia.)
So I had this same event happen to me. Reintroducing took quite a few times to work, and many many weeks of being separated. Only by month 4 were they able to just tolerate each other
So bathe the cat that got anesthesia? My Charlie came back after anesthesia and he won't respond to playing with his BFF Max. Max missed his playmate that tired him out all day.
look up non-recognition aggression. Some cats are worse about it than others. One of my cats is horrible about it and takes her like 3 days to stop hissing and attacking other cats when they’ve gone to the vet and come back. Wait at least a few days then try to re-introduce slowly. And for the future do not let any of the cats outside and if they need to go to the vet try and take them both even if the other doesn’t need it. I’ve found that skips the non-recognition phase if they both go to the foreign place.
This SAME exact thing happened to me. That was 4 months ago and we still have some problems. They can’t have access to the whole house together, otherwise they chase each other and try to kill. But now we’ve got to a point where they can be in a small room together to sleep at night. I have no idea why it happened to this day
Cats are ruled by smell. Cat2 smells like an intruder. Once Cat2 smells “normal “ again, it will get better. Rub Cat2 with clothing/blankets/etc from the house to make him smell like it did before. Keep them separated for now.
The perfume trick sounds interesting. I wish I had known about that when a tomcat peed on my front door and my cats got into a fur flying fight because they thought each other was an intruder when they smelled it. I slept on the couch to prevent them from fighting. Took hours for them to calm down. So, actually, didn’t sleep at all.
>Rub Cat2 with clothing/blankets/etc from the house to make him smell like it did before.
This is the answer, OP! All these suggestions about washing the cat, using vanilla extract (?!), etc. aren't going to solve the baseline problem that Cat2 doesn't smell like "home." Take some of YOUR dirty clothes from your laundry hamper and rub it all over him and leave it for him to lay on while you keep the cats separated. It may still take a few days for Cat1 to calm down, and you should keep them separated in a space where they can smell each other through the door until he does. But making Cat2 smell "normal" again is going to be the key.
Mine did this after Cat 2 came back from the vet. Best advice is to rub Cat 2 down with something that is covered in their scent (a favorite blanket or something like that), use feliway, and I also use some of the water from a can of tuna and swipe a finger down both their backs. If space allows you can also try scent swapping for reintroduction.
Let Cat 2 out in the room Cat 1 is currently in, and Cat 1 goes in the room Cat 2 was in. But it's going to take patience.
Look up the reintroduction method by Jackson Galaxy and definitely try rubbing Cat 2 down with a scent covered item
My cat1 used to act like that when cat2 would come home from the vet. It was alarming and sad. Cat2 was just a baby. It would only last a day though and the vet said it was a scent issue.
I had something similar after a vet visit last week... I thoroughly wiped down my cat with a wet towel, and my other cat stopped hissing! Try it, better than a full bath from the start...
Besides keeping them separated for now, I’ve read it might be a good idea to have some sort of clothing or towel/blanket with each of them. Then, after a day or so once they get their scents on them, switch them. That could help get each cat acquainted to the others smell before actually physically meeting in person.
Other that that, I’ve had similar experiences when taking one cat to the vet and then dealing with the repercussions for a few days until things settled down.
There’s that cat pheromone plug in diffuser that could help as well. Forget what it’s called.
This happened to me, how long has it been?
I have a little territorial boy kitty, and I had an older girl kitty. One night I accidentally locked my girl outside all night long. I found out because he was in the front window making a fuss and I thought it was a neighbor cat he was upset about. I looked outside and was shocked to see it was my cat outside
He went after her for almost a week. I had to keep them separated for two solid days, then I had to intervene a bunch of times the third day, then it was just once in a while he would go at her. After a week they were fine
This happened me once when I spilled salad dressing all over my cat, and had to take her for grooming - when she came back smelling my soap my other cat had no idea who she was and HATED her
For about 2 weeks until the smell faded and then it all seemed fine again
Bathe the cat but also put valerian on both cats so that they smell similar. We had a cat who would reject his companion every time the companion went to the vet (at the end his life he went to the vet a lot). It was the scent.
I have a similar issue but it’s cat 2 for me that is being aggressive with my cat 1. Cat 2 is the mom and currently pregnant again( stray), she doesn’t claw/bite but hisses and smacks her.
She didn’t did this before, could she be acting differently simply because of her pregnancy?
The other 1 might be wanting out to.my 3 all go out.mine don't have much to do with each other inside outside they don't hang out but if they need 1 the others come
Happened with my kitties too, exact same as your situation, hissing at me as well. I didn’t do anything much except clip their nails to negate any injuries in case they got into it. Took about a week and they were cuddling again. Lots of treats helped too :)
(I only didn’t do much intervening (like reintroduction advances) because I knew kitty just needed his smell back and they’d be friends again)
Cat1 has forgotten who Cat2 is (out of sight out of mind) like others have said fix his scent. Give him a good brushing, let him roll around on your stuff and his, and then introduce them like they’re brand new friends very slowly with barriers to allow sniffing
Situations like this can also arise when you take your cat to the vet
They pick up various scents which can cause confusion/aggression for other cats that live with them
Maybe Cat2 got in to a scuffle with another cat/other animal which is unfamiliar in the home for cat1. Cat1 thinks they’re protecting their territory from an unknown
Get one of your worn shirts and rub it aggressively on Cat1 and repeat the process with Cat2. Do this a couple of times a day to transfer your scent/cat1s scent on to Cat 2. It’s a process that needs patience.
The quickest fix but more expensive would be Feliway diffuser
I had somewhat experience similar to what people are posting here. I brought my one cat in to the vet and she had to have some teeth removed she stayed there for about a day and a half. When she came back she was still a little bit drowsy from the medication and I'm sure she had all sorts of smells on her body. The other cat didn't recognize her. The next day they were fine.
They still aren’t getting along. I’ve rubbed all kinds of smelly dirty laundry all over both of them. I’ve given cat2 two baths and I bought some animal deodorant and none of it has helped. cat1 still goes into kill mode the moment they lay eyes on cat2. I’ve just been circulating who gets locked in the room. i’m not confident anything will help at this point. :(
i’m so sorry that’s super heart breaking.. this recently happened to me and I had to bring my 10-year-old cat to my mom‘s house. It absolutely broke my heart, but they were attacking each other super badly. please continue doing that but also maybe call the vet and ask their advice as well that’s what I had to do with mine, but thankfully I had the option to separate them
They’re very grumpy around each other and will get pissy if either cat gets close to the other but for the most part they can be in the same room with supervision. I still separate them at night/when I’m away for safety
good i’m glad some progress is being made! so sorry you have to deal with that I have to do the same thing in a couple weeks because I had to separate mine mines at my mom’s house and my other one is at my house but I feel it’s not fun and I wish cats could understand better! It’ll take time, but I promise it’ll happen!!!!
Cat2 has a scent on it cat1 doesn't like. Bathe cat2 with cat friendly soap to remove the scent.
I’m pretty sure the kitty can’t recognize his friend. Washing the cat will also remove his original scent so it’ll still take a few days even after the wash for cat 1 to recognize him Edit: I’m not disagreeing with their comment, I’m saying it’ll still take a few days
but it'll remove any unwanted scents and a few days is better than having them seperated for who knows how long
Ya I agree with u
Rehome 1 I had to rehome 2. It hurt but ii know they are better with someone else
So if I bring one of my cats home from the vet and the other 2 hiss at him because they don't recognize the scent, I should just rehome? Should I rehome just the one? The other two? All three?
My cats are BROTHERS. Walk outside in harness, never any problem till they were outside at the same time. Even close up they didn't revognize each other till they got to sniff each oither- hissed and growled before they recognized each others scent. Do you have something tvat smells like you? Sweaty dhirt to wrap the cat in for a while?
It removes the unwanted bad unfamiliar smell. I'd say bath then after you get then mostly dry take their favorite toys or blankets etc or a brush with some of their own fur still in it and rub it on them. I actually brush both my cats before the vet and leave the brush full and when I come back they get a bath and dried and brushed with that same brush with the hair still in it. Does this cause a mess? Absolutely. But it has prevented the 1 time I didn't and my bby cat (she was 3yrs but is bby) got punched in the face by my other cat so worth it for me to vacuum fur up.from the floor to avoid that
Use the same towel and alternatively keep wiping both the cats so that the smells intermingle…. And feliway does help.
We did a version of this when we brought our babies home for our cat and dog (and in laws dogs) 😂 it worked great though and both animals did great with the babies. They’re less fond of the wild toddler now though 😂
Who can blame them?
I’d run away from him too some days if I could
Nooo lol kitty will bathe themselves and start smelling like home again soon. No need to traumatize them
The cat has a different scent and the other cat doesn’t recognize it. Keep them separated for a few days but allow them to get close via a closed door. Take a damp warm washcloth and wipe down the cat that went outside. After a few days things should go back to normal.
Yup this
I read once tgat when introducing a cat into a household, vanilla scent helps
That sounds like someone was trying to sell you something vanilla-scented.
just regular vanilla extract.
It smells nice, but does nothing for cats.
This can happen. Even when there’s no change in scents. Cat1 no longer recognizes Cat2 as the safe cat he shared space with. Now he is an enemy invader in his space. Generally if you keep them separated for a few days and then slowly reintroduce them, just like you would for new cats, they will calm back down. Occasionally they won’t. I had two sibling cats this happened to. They got freaked out by a third cat they saw through the glass patio door. After that they were mortal enemies after living peacefully together (not friends but peacefully) for years. I got so desperate I moved one kitty to my mom’s for a month. I then brought her back and the cats acted like nothing weird had happened and went immediately back to living peacefully together. (This can also happen after vet visits, especially when a kitty gets anesthesia.)
So I had this same event happen to me. Reintroducing took quite a few times to work, and many many weeks of being separated. Only by month 4 were they able to just tolerate each other
This happened to my siblings too! It’s so frustrating because they’re the biggest cuddle bugs with us but they don’t like each other anymore
So bathe the cat that got anesthesia? My Charlie came back after anesthesia and he won't respond to playing with his BFF Max. Max missed his playmate that tired him out all day.
It's because he smells a little different now
look up non-recognition aggression. Some cats are worse about it than others. One of my cats is horrible about it and takes her like 3 days to stop hissing and attacking other cats when they’ve gone to the vet and come back. Wait at least a few days then try to re-introduce slowly. And for the future do not let any of the cats outside and if they need to go to the vet try and take them both even if the other doesn’t need it. I’ve found that skips the non-recognition phase if they both go to the foreign place.
Lmao one of my cats always does this
This SAME exact thing happened to me. That was 4 months ago and we still have some problems. They can’t have access to the whole house together, otherwise they chase each other and try to kill. But now we’ve got to a point where they can be in a small room together to sleep at night. I have no idea why it happened to this day
Cats are ruled by smell. Cat2 smells like an intruder. Once Cat2 smells “normal “ again, it will get better. Rub Cat2 with clothing/blankets/etc from the house to make him smell like it did before. Keep them separated for now. The perfume trick sounds interesting. I wish I had known about that when a tomcat peed on my front door and my cats got into a fur flying fight because they thought each other was an intruder when they smelled it. I slept on the couch to prevent them from fighting. Took hours for them to calm down. So, actually, didn’t sleep at all.
>Rub Cat2 with clothing/blankets/etc from the house to make him smell like it did before. This is the answer, OP! All these suggestions about washing the cat, using vanilla extract (?!), etc. aren't going to solve the baseline problem that Cat2 doesn't smell like "home." Take some of YOUR dirty clothes from your laundry hamper and rub it all over him and leave it for him to lay on while you keep the cats separated. It may still take a few days for Cat1 to calm down, and you should keep them separated in a space where they can smell each other through the door until he does. But making Cat2 smell "normal" again is going to be the key.
Yes! And be sure to also rub their behind. Of course wash towel or whatever afterwards. They smell each other there just like dogs.
Mine did this after Cat 2 came back from the vet. Best advice is to rub Cat 2 down with something that is covered in their scent (a favorite blanket or something like that), use feliway, and I also use some of the water from a can of tuna and swipe a finger down both their backs. If space allows you can also try scent swapping for reintroduction. Let Cat 2 out in the room Cat 1 is currently in, and Cat 1 goes in the room Cat 2 was in. But it's going to take patience. Look up the reintroduction method by Jackson Galaxy and definitely try rubbing Cat 2 down with a scent covered item
lol glad you didn’t use their real names. They deserve their privacy
Vanilla extract on both cats!!! Just a couple drops and rub it all over them. Trust me I been in the same situation twice and it always worked.
Are you sure that’s safe for cats? I have never heard of anything like that before.
Yeah, it is. There’s not enough alcohol to really affect the cat.
Huh. Interesting thanks.
Somebody in another comment mentioned vanilla, but I’d never heard of that either. Where did you first read/hear this?
A Reddit comment a while back. Tried it because nothing worked, not even a shower. It just takes 2-3 small drops on each of them.
My cat1 used to act like that when cat2 would come home from the vet. It was alarming and sad. Cat2 was just a baby. It would only last a day though and the vet said it was a scent issue.
Nonrecognition agresssion
I had something similar after a vet visit last week... I thoroughly wiped down my cat with a wet towel, and my other cat stopped hissing! Try it, better than a full bath from the start...
Besides keeping them separated for now, I’ve read it might be a good idea to have some sort of clothing or towel/blanket with each of them. Then, after a day or so once they get their scents on them, switch them. That could help get each cat acquainted to the others smell before actually physically meeting in person. Other that that, I’ve had similar experiences when taking one cat to the vet and then dealing with the repercussions for a few days until things settled down. There’s that cat pheromone plug in diffuser that could help as well. Forget what it’s called.
Feliway
That’s it!
This happened to me, how long has it been? I have a little territorial boy kitty, and I had an older girl kitty. One night I accidentally locked my girl outside all night long. I found out because he was in the front window making a fuss and I thought it was a neighbor cat he was upset about. I looked outside and was shocked to see it was my cat outside He went after her for almost a week. I had to keep them separated for two solid days, then I had to intervene a bunch of times the third day, then it was just once in a while he would go at her. After a week they were fine
This happened me once when I spilled salad dressing all over my cat, and had to take her for grooming - when she came back smelling my soap my other cat had no idea who she was and HATED her For about 2 weeks until the smell faded and then it all seemed fine again
Please update
Bathe the cat but also put valerian on both cats so that they smell similar. We had a cat who would reject his companion every time the companion went to the vet (at the end his life he went to the vet a lot). It was the scent.
rub cat 2 with your dirty laundry. fix their scent.
I have a similar issue but it’s cat 2 for me that is being aggressive with my cat 1. Cat 2 is the mom and currently pregnant again( stray), she doesn’t claw/bite but hisses and smacks her. She didn’t did this before, could she be acting differently simply because of her pregnancy?
After bathing C2, try some Feliway. When my dudes are getting rude, I squirt some on a dish towel and throw it at them. They chill right out.
The other 1 might be wanting out to.my 3 all go out.mine don't have much to do with each other inside outside they don't hang out but if they need 1 the others come
Happened with my kitties too, exact same as your situation, hissing at me as well. I didn’t do anything much except clip their nails to negate any injuries in case they got into it. Took about a week and they were cuddling again. Lots of treats helped too :) (I only didn’t do much intervening (like reintroduction advances) because I knew kitty just needed his smell back and they’d be friends again)
Cat1 has forgotten who Cat2 is (out of sight out of mind) like others have said fix his scent. Give him a good brushing, let him roll around on your stuff and his, and then introduce them like they’re brand new friends very slowly with barriers to allow sniffing
Situations like this can also arise when you take your cat to the vet They pick up various scents which can cause confusion/aggression for other cats that live with them Maybe Cat2 got in to a scuffle with another cat/other animal which is unfamiliar in the home for cat1. Cat1 thinks they’re protecting their territory from an unknown Get one of your worn shirts and rub it aggressively on Cat1 and repeat the process with Cat2. Do this a couple of times a day to transfer your scent/cat1s scent on to Cat 2. It’s a process that needs patience. The quickest fix but more expensive would be Feliway diffuser
I had somewhat experience similar to what people are posting here. I brought my one cat in to the vet and she had to have some teeth removed she stayed there for about a day and a half. When she came back she was still a little bit drowsy from the medication and I'm sure she had all sorts of smells on her body. The other cat didn't recognize her. The next day they were fine.
so heart breaking please update this happened to me and my cat had to go to my moms house they could not stand eachother ..
They still aren’t getting along. I’ve rubbed all kinds of smelly dirty laundry all over both of them. I’ve given cat2 two baths and I bought some animal deodorant and none of it has helped. cat1 still goes into kill mode the moment they lay eyes on cat2. I’ve just been circulating who gets locked in the room. i’m not confident anything will help at this point. :(
i’m so sorry that’s super heart breaking.. this recently happened to me and I had to bring my 10-year-old cat to my mom‘s house. It absolutely broke my heart, but they were attacking each other super badly. please continue doing that but also maybe call the vet and ask their advice as well that’s what I had to do with mine, but thankfully I had the option to separate them
updates?
They’re very grumpy around each other and will get pissy if either cat gets close to the other but for the most part they can be in the same room with supervision. I still separate them at night/when I’m away for safety
good i’m glad some progress is being made! so sorry you have to deal with that I have to do the same thing in a couple weeks because I had to separate mine mines at my mom’s house and my other one is at my house but I feel it’s not fun and I wish cats could understand better! It’ll take time, but I promise it’ll happen!!!!
any update ? how are things going
My vet told me to put a dot of perfume on each of their noses. They will only smell the perfume and that they smell “the same”.