Sudden violent aggression in my cat

by Lisa
(Pennsylvania)

I am at a loss on what to do. I have 3 cats, 2 males just turned 1 year and the other about 10 months and 1 female, about 8 months. They have all been raised together as they orphaned feral kittens I took in when living in Egypt. My males were only about 2 and 3 weeks old, and were hand fed until they could eat on their own and the female I had since about 8 weeks old. All have gotten along well until recently. My males started eyeing each other a few weeks ago and getting into small fights and I would separate them. I was still in Egypt at that time in an area where neutering/spaying was not an options. I left there 2 weeks ago and brought 2 of of my kittens with me my 10 month old male who has allways been very docile but recently has become the agressor in all of this and my female. I made arrangements for my 1 year old male to be shipped unaccompained almost 2 weeks later as I was only allowed to bring 2 cats on the plane with me.

After coming home with my 2 I brought have adjusted well. Have become extremely loving and have just done so well. I picked up my 3 cat yesterday and as I wasnt sure how they would act,I carried my 3rd cat into the house. He was already terrified from this trip. As soon as I carried him into the house my little male started attacking my pants leg and then immediately started growling severely and literally jumped into my arms to attack my other male and starting fighting with him. I have never seen him act this way or attempt such an agressive act of this extent. Naturally the cats jumped from my arms and ran into a room and starting fighting terribly.

No matter what I tried, loud noises water etc... it did not let up for a long time. Even my older male hid under something my other one would pace around what he was hiding under and growl and try to get to him. What makes this even more difficult is that he is not afraid of water so this of course did not work either. Finally I was able to deter him by throwing a sheet over him and steering him from the room and close the other cat behind him.

My little female had growled when he first came in but when this flight started she ran and hid herself.after a few minutes I had gone into another room and suddenly my little male came and searched me out into the room I was in a viciously started attakcing my foot and ankle. I managed to shake him off and close the door behind me.

I proceeded to take shower as I thought it might help to wash the scent off from the other cat and when I did this he was fine except he was even much more loving then normal and continuously rubing against me, climbing on my lap to be held and so forth which was unusual for him until I had brought him back to United States with me 2 weeks ago.

I am very concerned about this and how I can possibly do something about this. My older male cat is terrified and is afraid of encountering him again as I can tell by his skepticism of wondering where the other cat might be.

None of them have been fixed but I intend to take both of my males this week to have them fixed at the same time. Should this help? I had planned on waiting a bit for the female just to make sure she is not already pregnant. Please advise.

Answer by kate
All the behavior you mentioned sounds completely normal to me. Uneutered males and females can be very aggressive towards each other as their scents are very strong and almost act like a threat signal to each other. So the behavior wa pure instinct.
yes having the males neutered will definately help but i strongly recommned having your female spayed soon as well as her scents can still provoke fights.
Afterwards your cats will find their own place in the home. make sure they all have separate litter trays and sleeping areas and places where they can retreat from each other if they need to.

Best Wishes Kate

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