We have a full bengal Boy and a half Bengal Serengeti girl. The two have always got on play fighting and at times fighting to the point they need to be split up but nothing serious.

Returning home after a recent brief Vet visit the Serengeti girl who is the smaller out of the two and not the alpha cat has viciously attacked the Bengal boy it seemed with the intent to kill him. The only time I have ever witness the amount of aggression from her was being injected by the Vet a few years back. The attack was so bad that when trying to break them up I was scratched and bitten to the extend I went to A&E to get checked out and now on antibiotics.

Currently both cats are in different parts of the house though our little boy bengal who is the alpha cat hides in a wardrobe upstairs.

I have bought feliway spray and sprayed it around the house, though it really hasn’t had much effect.

Has anyone had any similar issues before? Im guessing that the Vet visit confused her and she’s adjusting to being back at home.

Thank you for any insight

This seems like a common thing with two or more cats and vet visits. In future when they visit the vets you'll probably have to keep them separate and re-introduce slowly. There are quite a few members who will give you lots of advice about the issue.

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Melissa

UK
Oscar - Rescue (Rascal!!!) Bengal

Yes, this is pretty common. Jagger seems to 'blame' Hendrix when he goes to the vet and takes a good week to accept him again. Hendrix however is much quicker and it only takes a day for him to accept Jagger is still his brother after all.

Your girl clearly gets highly agitated and upset with vet visits and redirected her aggression at your alpha boy. Buy some plug-in feliway and put in the separate parts of the house where they are. Do some scent swapping and I tend to use grooming wipes on both of mine after a vet visit, to try to get their scents back to being the same. You can also spray feliway onto your hands and then rub both cats with it. I can't as Jagger gets cross about that too, the stroppy so and so! Also wipe down the cat carrier after going to the vet, Jagger will even be aggressive to the carrier if he can smell 'vet' on it.

I try to keep my two separate for a bit after a vet visit, so the home scent can get back on to the one who's been to the vet and also for them to calm down from what is always a traumatic experience for a cat.

Good luck!

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Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK

Thank you for the replies.

The girl (Ruby) has been to Vets 3 times before but never acted like this. It may have been the case that there were no other animals in the reception area on previous occasions where as this time there were 4 or 5 big dogs and a couple of other cats.

Will give it time and try more scent swapping.

many thanks

Kitties pick up "strange smells" at the vet. It may depend on how many animals your vet has handled previously (mine do not wear gloves and I don't know if they actually wash their hands between examining the animals). And it could just be a "certain" smell that triggers this reaction. It is truly quite common. You just have to keep them separated and slowly introduce them again. There are also kitty wipes that you can buy that will change the fragrance of the cat. Or rub a worn sock over their fur to transfer your smell to the cat. Just be patient and give them time to get re-acquainted. This is not the end of the world for them. Things will get better. A cat's sense of smell is 14 times stronger than a human's. So what you cannot smell, your kitties can.

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The little monsters 3

My girl went to the vets about a week ago, when we got back my boy was aggressive towards her and was spitting in her face, she didn't take any notice.

I took off my top and socks I was wearing and rubbed both cats with it so they both smelled of me then rubbed it on each other to spread the smell, I did this several times and by the next day they were fine again.

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Clare
Magic (brown spotted boy born 31 March 2012)
Pearl (seal Lynx Point girl born 1 October 2015)
Bristol, UK

What a brilliant idea to rub your clothes on the cats. Inspired thinking and most likely helped both cats a lot!

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Melissa

UK
Oscar - Rescue (Rascal!!!) Bengal

Thought I'd just update...

The guys have been kept apart still. Yesterday (5th day since attack) were let near each other and managed to sleep on the same sofa though there were growls and hissing after 30 mins.

Still being kept apart and reintroducing slowly. The thing is now that the Alpha cat the Bengal boy is terrified of the little Serengeti girl.

guess it will just take time to get the trust back

all the best
Mark

Yes, this can take some time as the kitties need to work this out at their own pace. The fact that they slept near each other is a good sign. Five days is still not a long enough time. Let us know again how things are going and, hopefully, within a couple of weeks, all is back to normal.

When Lennon went to the vets and Tabitha was left at home she also attacked Lennon viciously and hissed and growled at him. We've learned to take them both to the vets even though only one of them may need to be seen as this has stopped Tabitha from attacking Lennon any further.

Oh gads -- taking two cats to the vet when only one needs to go? That's double the trouble! But it obviously works for you. I had never thought of that. Most cats hate going to the vet just once a year for a checkup. But the smells they bring home usually cause the conflict if there are other cats who did not make the trip to the vet.