Cat behavior Question

by R.T.
(Atlanta, GA)

Hello,

Let me start off by saying you have a cute website! and very informative :)

I have 3 cats , 1 is 14yrs and the other two are brother and sister 2.5yrs. I have leashed trained all of my cats and they go outside frequently :) Just like you would a dog.

2 weeks ago my older cat wandered off when the door was left open by my nephew. He was gone for 15days and we just found him. (Thank heavens! Posters really do work LOL)

Now the 2 younger cats are being very unfriendly twords him, staying very distant, hissing and growling. Very tense even to me. They all got a long just fine before.. played, slept spent time together; excluding the occasional spat.

I have my own theory's but I came across you website and wanted another opinion.

Thanks for your help!
R.T. - Atlanta GA

Answer by Kate
Hi
yes this is common and is known as trauma aggression, basically when something changes or upsets a cat they can take out their fear on another animal even if that other animal is not directly the cause of the fear. in this case your cat will probably smell a bit different, may be behaving slightly differently after his adventure and also he was gone and now he's back a change which could be unnerving for the other two cats.

usually over time this situations calms down again once they get used to each other again, however it is often advisable to reintroduce all your cats to each other using the method described here

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/introducing-cats.html

This can build confidence and can prevent the aggression getting out of hand or becoming a learned behaviour.

Love the picture he looks like my old cat Tigger :)

best wishes Kate

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