Major Meltdown in my house

[Harley]

Please help! There was a major meltdown in my house about 4:30 this morning. I have 3 cats - Bo, 3 years old - Trixie, 3 years old, and Jazz, 1 1/2 years old. All have gotten along well together - although Trixie is a little nervous and doesn't really appreciate the other's attempts at play.

This morning, I was awakened by the sound of cats screaming and knocking things over. I jumped out of bed and found Bo & Trixie all over each other, puffed up, growling and hissing. Trixie ran into my bedroom and under the bed - Bo tried to follow her but I quickly threw a bathrobe on top of him and held the edges down to keep him from getting to Trixie. For over 15 minutes, the two of them growled continuously until Bo settled down enough that I could get him out of the bedroom and shut the door, separating them. I kept Trixie in the bedroom for several hours (needless to say, I did NOT go back to sleep) until they both calmed down. However, the tension in my house is extremely thick and I'm concerned that our happy, relaxed home will never be the same. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Thank goodness I was here - but I have to work tomorrow and next weekend I'll be out of town for 3 days. I'm afraid to leave my cats alone.

It's been about 5 hours since this incident and Bo & Trixie can hardly be in the same room without growling at each other. Trixie's so on edge she could jump out of her skin. I don't know what brought this on - it's probable that Bo was playing with her and got too rough but there's never been an explosion like this before.

All of my cats are fixed. Bo is a very gentle and mellow cat who I've never even heard growl before - although he does play a little rough and Trixie has always been a little wimpy.

Has anything like this happened to anyone else before? Did things ever return to normal? Have the dynamics of my home changed forever? I know the situation needs time to resolve itself but, believe me, it was REALLY ugly this morning.

[Dogz]

I have seen some pretty ugly cat fights, and I think that time will heal.. usually the cats that had the cat fight, are friends by the next time I see them, but I don't know...
Good Luck,
Dogz

[Denyce]

I know that you must be scared and upset about the fight. Cats pick up on these feelings very quickly and respond to them. So you need to try and take as many deep breaths as possible. I have also found that letting them work it out as long as there isn't any blood is the best thing. *sigh* Ok that doesn't sound right either. I don't really know what to say. You have to play it by ear. Watch the cats and try reintroducing them slowly. Good luck and I hope your happy home comes back quickly.

[Harley]

It's been two days now and things are back to normal - although it took about 10 hours. It was just so upsetting for me - my babies had never acted like this before. There continued to be growls and big eyes for a while but eventually all seems to be well. I sure hope this never happens again - my heart can't take it!

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

This used to happen at our house too awhile back. I found out that there was a neighborhood cat (probably a stray at the time) that would see T & P through the window (our windows go all the way to the floors), come right up to the window and growl and hiss and generally aggravate Tubby. Everything was fine until the cat moved, at which time Tubby (the more aggresive of my two) would attack Peanut. What he really wanted to do was attack the cat outside, but he couldn't get to it (thank God!) and the nearest thing to take his aggression out on was poor little Peanut. I'd have a major cat fight going on in my living room at all hours of the early morning, with fur flying and everything - literally. At first I didn't know what was going on, but then I saw the cat one night. After that I put paper on all the windows - at cat height - so they couldn't see each other. Worked like a charm. I eventually got one of those electronic noise maker things. It makes a certain noise (set for cats) that cats don't like. It is on a motion sensor, so when the outside cat steps up on the stoop, it starts making this noise and the cat leaves. I seems to be working because either the cat has learned to avoid the area because of the noise, or - and this is my idea of what happened - the neighbors took the cat in and got it neutered so it isn't so territorial and won't come and aggravate Tubby.

So anyway, my point is that maybe something like this triggered your cat fight in the middle of the night. I really believe it was because the other cat wasn't fixed because we have lots of neighborhood cats that walk right by the windows and never bother with T & P, but this one actually attacked the window once - good thing it wasn't the screen door with Tubby on the other side. The screen would have never held the cat back. Whew, I'm glad this whole experience is in the past!

[Ally Cat's Mommy]

Your experience with the stray sounds exactly like what is going on in my yard! I feed approx 6 to 8 feral cats every day. Ally, who was a rescued feral kitten, tolerates them all, except one.
This beautiful pitch black female with eemarld eyes (she is stunning) will come and eat, and then sit and STARE at Ally for ages. It's like she just liked to wind Ally up! Of course Ally eventually loses the plot completely, and launches herself at the window while growling hysterically. Her whole body goes spiky too!