cat son attacking mom cat

by Mary
(Florida)

2 wild (not feral)stray cats adopted me. Mother and son. Son was a kitten so he is touchable. Mother will not let us touch her. They used to lie together, grooming and licking each other. Everything was fine for 2 years. Now the mom is @ 3 yrs old, the son is @ 2 years old, per the vet. She's spayed, he's neutered, and both are chipped. Suddenly, the son has been harassing the mom - blocking her from her food dish, standing guard at the doorways so she won't come in, and then stalking and chasing her all over the place. If he is in her face confronting her, she will hiss at him, and smack him in the face, and then run away and hide. They do not have a litter box and have always gone outside as they pleased (cat door) 24/7. I have seen him chase her outside as well. In the past two weeks, he has stalked and chased her, and she has jumped up on the couch and peed in that gap right between the couch cushions on 2 of our couches. I see lots of questions about cats peeing in this exact location all over the interweb! What is going on here? I read your causes for peeing and one said the cat might be being bullied, well she is DEFINITELY being bullied by her kid! I sprayed Feliway around, didn't seem to matter. Of course they have a cat tree, scratching posts, toys, catnip, treats, the works. I will take her to the vet for a checkup to rule out a UTI and cystitis and all those conditions, but how do I curtail the bullying? Thanx.

Answer by Kate
Umm tricky one this. All i can say something must have triggered this behavior. It sounds a little like trauma aggression. This is a strange occurrence when something frightens one cat and they sort of blame / take it out on another cat even though they may have nothing to do with the thing that frightened them. in cases like this a period of re introduction is called for. this however is a little time consuming and does take some effort on your part. but if done correctly and for a few days to a week, the cats should relax enough to be able to return to their old selves again. the process is described here

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

I think it is a good idea though to take them for a check up to rule out anything else which may be going on.

best wishes Kate

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