Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Warm Welcome to Purrs! => Welcome to Newbies :) => Topic started by: claire_m on January 17, 2012, 20:38:06 PM
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Hi Everyone I'm Claire from carluke in scotland and would love some advice if anyone has any....
Just found this place after looking for some advice on the t'internet.
I have two gorgeous cats who I adore more than life itself. They are both sisters and I have had them from about 7 weeks and they are now five. Up until yesterday it has been an idyllic life with them. They are mine and my husbands first cats and they have been absolute angels (well almost :naughty:) so our lack of experience with cats has never been an issue up until now.
Anyway yesterday I took one of the cats, Pheobe, to get her teeth cleaned so she was away at the vets for most of the day. I took the day off work just so that the other, Muriel, wouldn't be too stressed out on her own in the house (They are both housecats).
Everything went to plan up until the point where I brought a doped up Pheobe back from the vets at which point Muriel turned into a cat possessed, she was hissing and growling at poor pheobe and generally going crazy - neither of them have every behaved like this before and its really stressing me out. Everytime Muriel sees Pheobe now she hisses and growls at her - and now everyone is stressed.
I phoned the vet this morning and he gave me a diffuser of feliway to try. So far no change at all however.
Just wondering whether anyone else has ever had any similar experiences and if so how did you manage to fix things.
I really hate seeing both my girls so upset and stressed and its so out of character.
I am panicing as well because I am due to take Pheobe back to the vets again for a check up on Friday and don't want to make the situation worse.
Anyway hopefully someone has some advice as I'm at my wits end.
Many thanks
claire
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Hiya Clare and :welcome: to Purrs :)
aha this sounds a simple case of, who are you and why do you smell funny??
Of course a trip to the vets with all the jiggery pokery being done, a doped up strange smelling cat is what you will get when you leave
Poor Muriel has came face to face with a strange cat :scared: and doesn't recognize Pheobe
I would think with time, things should go back to the way they were before
Someone will probably be along shortly with some tips on how to speed the process along, it's quite a busy forum ;)
edited to add, maybe get some of Muriel's bedding ( scent ) and try and transfer her scent to Pheobe so she doesnt smell like a strange cat
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:welcome: to Purrs ;D
Stuart is right, Muriel doesnt recognize Pheobe anymore cos she smells of the vets. So exchange of scent is needed and another way of doing this is to take a damp towel and rub Muriel with it and then rub it on Pheobe, so Muriel recognises her on scent on Pheobe.
The check up should not cause the same problem because there has been no operation and the visit not long enough. ;D ;D
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Hi Claire & :welcome: to Purrs
As the others have said, Muriel's reaction is perfectly normal. I went through a similar thing with my two cats who are brothers, they are normally head over heels in love with each other but when one of them had to stay in the vets overnight the other one kept hissing at him when he came back :( It was upsetting to see them like that and the hissing continued for a good few days but after about a week they were back to normal.
I would second the scent swapping tip, I also made sure I gave the one who came back from the vets extra cuddles in the hope that his brother would see it and become more accepting of him. Luckily the poorly one seemed none the wiser and kept just plonking himself down next to his brother while his brother hissed in his face!
Hope your girls are back to being friends before long :hug:
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Thanks Guys your speedy response is much appreciated.
I will try the scent swap towel thing tonight.
Hopefully normal service will resume soon. Its just made me realise that even after 5 years I don't know enough about my little ones. I think I have been spoiled with them cause they have never been the slightest bit of bother before and as my first cats have been amazing so far.
Glad I have found this site and am enjoying looking through all the articles and help posted.
(Already bought two cigars :-[)
Thanks again for your help its good to know that they should be back to normal soon.
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Hi Claire, I see you have received excellent advice so will just add my :welcome: to Purrs :)
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My goodness you really should have stopped smoking those things :rofl: :rofl:
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:welcome: :welcome: :welcome: :welcome:
I'm sure after you've given your girls lots of love and cuddles and Phoebe starts to smell of home again Muriel will soon accept her again. :hug:
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:welcome: to Purrs Clare. Glad to see you have been getting usual good Purrs advice :)
I'd just add that it can take a while for the Feliway diffuser to kick in; some days in fact :hug: The scent exchanging is more likely to produce quicker results but we have Feliway plugged in all the time in an effort to keep things calm :)
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Thanks for your warm welcomes. :thanks:
Just have to wait for a few days and hope normal service resumes.
Although Pheobe is settling back down to life in her hammock (http://i759.photobucket.com/albums/xx237/claire6018/pheobecat.gif) as you can see :)
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Phoebe is :Luv2: :Luv2:
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:welcome: to Purrs What a gorgeous pussy cat!
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Welcome to Purrs Clare
Some very sound advice already given. You have our sympathy - it's horrible when something happens to change the natural order of things. :hug: :hug: Hope it settles back down again very shortly.
even after 5 years I don't know enough about my little ones
We never fail to learn from our cats , even after many many years. There's always something new to encounter somewhere. :evillaugh:
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Good morning Claire and a warm :welcome: from me too
I would imagine the girls are just about back to normal by now ?
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:welcome: to Purrs!
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thanks again for the warm welcome.
Happy to report that things are slowly getting back to normal. Don't want to tempt fate by saying we are ok now but.....
glad to have found the site as I have already picked up some invaluable advice whilst looking around.
:Luv2:
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So good to hear they're settling back down again. :)
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Sounds like they're moving in the right direction :) It took about a week before my boys were fully back to normal.
When they're pals again we need to see a pic of them cudding, purely for evidential purposes you see - not just to ogle over them :naughty: :Luv2:
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Hello and :welcome: :welcome: :welcome:
Good you've found some answers already. Stick with Purrs, you'll be alright. Answers to everything on here, and if Purrs don't know, someone here will usually find out for you, cos we all want to know. :) :)
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Hellooo!! and :welcome: :welcome:
Glad you have got the answers you needed :) and pheobe is gorgeous :Luv2: :Luv2:
My late cat Tazi, last year had a really bad cold - it was horrendous and even vet was concerned at the severity....anyhooo my younger cat Nuggie kept hissing and spitting at him at every opportunity (Tazi was his big brother-daddy so it was very out of character) mainly because he had the vet smell, the "i'm poorly" smell, he snotted everywhere and honestly sounded like Darth Vader....so to Nuggie this imposter wasnt even a proper stranger cat - an alien had invaded!! :rofl: :rofl:
Hopefully, all normal service has been resumed with your two and we can ogle :shify: admire your close loving babies :evillaugh:
:hug:
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Welcome! Enjoy your stay!