WTF.

So I have two Orange Tabby cats right? OK...cute as can be, the whole 9. They get along perfectly and have for 2 years, like brothers. Names are Bubby and Tater. You can see picutres of them together in my profile.

Well something complete bizarre happened last night....we had the window open to let some air in while I was showing my friend Super Paper Mario...all of a sudden they both jump up to the window quickly, and the younger cat, Tater, sees a stray come up to the window and arches his back and starts the whole 'meow growl and hiss' routine. Bubby quickly follows suit. So far this is pretty typical, normal fair right? Wrong.

All of a sudden Tater turns to Bubby and lets out this death snarl moan that went back into the lower registers (keep in mind this cat is a frappy little one, the younger more shy one) and just jumps Bubby. Like a serious fight, and I'm seeing somehow feathers coming out of the cartoon like ball of it. Not sure if they were chunks of fur or what. Totally fucked. They are going crazy.

I threw my wiimote at them becuase it scared me, as well as all the nearby pillows and shit. Now they are both doing this Clint Eastwood growl shit that sounds really fucking loud and they are both pissed off. They've never done this, even when first introduced together. They continue to do this all night, and now Tater is shitting everywhere in my room and they can't stand to be around each other...keeping me up all night with screams and shit. Still hate each other. I can tell they mean business, but these are the same cats that share litter box, food bowl, and hell - groom each other and sleep together all cute style regularly.

It is absoultely 180 degrees out of character for them, and now they have gone 24 hours in nuclear war mode. So long story short (which I failed at already), WTF just happened? What should I do?

[Edited on April 14, 2007 at 9:50 AM. Reason : ajfk]

4/14/2007 9:50:03 AM

seriously this stuff has solved all of my cats' behavioral issues. i have 3 cats and used to foster cats too. you should give it a try.

keep them separated for now with their own food, litter box, etc.

[Edited on April 14, 2007 at 9:57 AM. Reason : ]

4/14/2007 9:56:37 AM

I LOL'ed, for real

4/14/2007 12:32:54 PM

^^good advice

also,

Quote :

"I threw my wiimote at them"

i'm sorry, but that's hilarious

4/14/2007 12:34:51 PM

it sounds like they just "snapped." honestly, i think the first one got overstimulated by the stray cat, and then was "wound up" enough to provoke the other cat. then just fighting back and forth (both growling, hissing, etc) just provokes both of them to keep fighting.

i'd second the pheromone stuff, and they SHOULD calm the fuck down soon.

cats are so weird. mine occasionally spaz out for no particular reason. eventually they calm down and it's like nothing ever happened.


on second thought, maybe bubby asked tater if he'd tapped that stray cat ass?

4/14/2007 12:40:33 PM

Quote :

"I threw my wiimote at them becuase it scared me"

fuckin fantastic

i lol'd

4/14/2007 12:59:19 PM

GL with the cats. I bet the pheromone stuff will work but you might want to get a second litter box for now to avoid picking up crap all the time. The story itself is hilarious though!

4/14/2007 1:04:58 PM

That stray cat, do you know anything about it, or was it just some random cat passing by? If the cat was a female, and your guys both are unaltered (still have their male parts), that could have an effect on them.

Quote :

"I threw my wiimote at them "

I LOLed at that one too.

4/14/2007 3:36:38 PM

its anxiety, dude. i got (9) cats now. cats are bugged out. i say get them some anti-anxiety meds. like xanax or klonopin and mix it in with there food. it calms them down. and also keep smoking some bud in the house. it calms you down and they relax a bit too.

4/14/2007 3:40:15 PM

well i dont smoke pot *anymore*

They are both fixed male cats, the female cat is from the roomate who just moved in next door..she's spayed as well. So like, is that normal?

Where to get pheromone stuff, pet smart?

4/14/2007 4:15:18 PM

I have no idea how this stuff works, but here's the product se7entythree was talking about:

http://tinyurl.com/284sfr

4/14/2007 4:37:29 PM

yeah, you could buy it at petsmart but their instore prices are more than their web prices, and you can get it elsewhere on the web for MUCH cheaper.

try http://www.upco.com

petsmart marks it up at least double what upco sells it for. it's ridiculous. it'll be around $27 for just the refill if you buy it in store. if you need it ASAP, call around to other petstores and see what they have it for...or print it out and take it into petsmart. they might not match upco's price, but they might match their own website price. it's worth a shot, it doesn't always work though.

[Edited on April 14, 2007 at 4:54 PM. Reason : ]

4/14/2007 4:51:32 PM

it's called "redirected aggression." they see something they want to beat up, they can't get to it, so they beat up the first thing they get to.

http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/aggression3.html

Quote :

"The classic example of redirected aggression involves two cats that are sitting in a window. Unknown to one of the cats, the other sees another cat outside. Because that cat cannot have access to the one that is outside and is agitated by that, the cat redirects its aggression toward its housemate. This behavior involves both an aggressive response that is related to the social system and-this is very important-frustration at not being able to resolve the perceived social conflict. Another example of redirected aggression involves the dog that is chasing the cat. A person stops the dog from chasing the cat and the dog redirects its aggression to the person. In such cases, when there are no physical barriers that thwart the continuation of the aggression, it is very important to distinguish true redirected aggression from an accidental bite. An accidental bite is one that occurs to persons or animals simply because they found themselves between fighting animals. In these cases the animal generally releases the person as soon as it realizes that it made a mistake. In redirected aggression the animal acts as if it is angry at the person or animal who interrupted it and pursues the new victim of its aggression."

---http://www.kingstownecatclinic.com/Redirected%20Aggression.htm

[Edited on April 14, 2007 at 7:17 PM. Reason : links]

4/14/2007 7:14:17 PM

se7entythree + Elise = win.
/thread

4/14/2007 8:19:45 PM

looks like you will be having some fun for awhile.....

4/14/2007 9:32:44 PM

my cat once snapped at my roommate like that in the same situation. there was a stray outside and since he couldn't get to it, he acted out on my roommate. her leg didn't appreciate it much.

4/14/2007 9:57:51 PM

Redirected aggression

check

4/15/2007 3:16:33 PM