Mary Allen
When two cats suddenly don’t get along anymore, redirected aggression can be the cause. A cat perceives a threat or an annoyance that it cannot remedy and takes out its fear or frustration on the next best thing – in multi-cat households on the other cat, but sometimes also on you.
Redirected aggression isn’t just possible in cats; we humans, too, tend to occasionally take out our bad mood, fear, anger, or pain on innocents who happen to get in our way at the wrong time and in the wrong place. A typical human example of redirected aggression is the husband who yells at his wife about a trifle at dinner when he is actually stressed and worried at work. Another example is a lovesick teenager who picks fights with his parents for no apparent reason.
Redirected Aggression: Instinctive Behavior
If the otherwise peaceful cat attacks suddenly and without warning to outsiders, it is usually due to redirected aggression. The actual trigger of the fear, frustration, or anger is not accessible, but the aggression has to go somewhere – this is then felt by other pets or people who happen to be nearby. It is important to know that this behavior is not malicious, even if it sounds like it from the description. In fact, it’s an instinct that most living things carry within them. How strong the instinct is also a question of personality, but they all have the potential for redirected aggression.
A common trigger for cats is when they look out of the window and see neighboring cats encroaching on their territory. Being indoors, they cannot drive out the intruder, which annoys and frustrates them. They solve the internal conflict through redirected aggression towards the innocent. However, it is also possible that your cat got startled and frightened by something and then reacted aggressively. The reason is not always easy to determine, as fur noses perceive their environment differently than we humans do. In doing so, they notice things that remain hidden from us, that make them angry or scared.
However, redirected aggression can sometimes be a symptom of illness or pain – if you can’t find an external reason for it, take your cat to the vet as a precaution.
Avoid Redirected Aggression in Multi-Cat Households
If you know the trigger for the redirected aggression—for example, a cheeky neighborhood cat invading your velvet paw’s territory—you should try to stop it. Because the redirected aggression can lead to lasting tension and discord, and can even permanently damage long-standing cat friendships. For example, try to secure your garden against intruders with a cat fence, keep the neighbor’s strange cats off your property using natural, harmless means, or scare them away.
You can also lower the blinds on the patio door if the neighboring cat is strolling through your furry friend’s territory. So that your cat still has a lookout, you can set up a cozy place for her by another window, without a view of the garden.
What To Do When Cat Friends No Longer Get Along?
If you don’t know the trigger or if the redirected aggression has already caused damage, your cats need to get to know each other again. First, you have to separate the brawlers from each other, but without putting yourself in danger. So never intervene with your hands or your body, but use a pillow, thick towel, piece of cardboard, or a broom to separate the combatants and keep them at a distance. Caution! Don’t yell, clap your hands, or make other loud noises to try to disperse the cats. Water pistols or spray bottles are also not recommended here. This only frightens the already highly stressed animals, which can exacerbate the aggression.
After separation, move the attacker to a quiet, darkened room to allow them to calm down while the victim recovers from the sudden attack. Until then, keep both animals spatially separated and without visual contact. If this phase lasts longer, change rooms more frequently so that no fixed territory claims develop that cause new problems later. Bach flowers for calming and pheromone distributors for the socket can have a supporting effect. If in doubt, talk to your veterinarian or animal healer about appropriate measures.
You then have to merge your cats together as if they were strangers to each other. Be patient, it often takes weeks, sometimes even months, for the animals to become friends again. Proceed as follows:
● Separate cats spatially, but allow visual contact, for example through a net or grille in the door.
● Feed and play with animals on either side of the partition.
● If this works without growling, hissing, and threatening gestures, exchange animal smells with each other. You rub one cat with a soft cloth and place it next to the other cat, and vice versa.
● Open the barrier wide enough for the animals to sniff each other but not attack each other.
● Remove barriers, but only allow cats to eat and play with them under supervision.
In this way, your animals will learn to appreciate each other’s company again and understand that the other is not a threat.