I am an AVID cat lover. I asked for and received The Cat Bible for Christmas. Even though I've had cats for the 36 of the 38 years of my life, I was intrigued by an interview Lee Elcie (WXLM) held for you about some little known facts about cats (e.g. eating meat vs. dry food). It made me want to read the Cat Bible to see if there was anything else I could learn. I consider myself a very experienced, involved and intuitive cat owner, and so far, the book is telling me nothing new (which is a good thing because it proves that I am a good cat owner!).

I have a situation about which I am hoping you have time to provide me insight. We have a 12-13 year-old female tortoise named Monkey. Five years ago we adopted siblings (sister/brother, Bunny/Jasper respectively) who are now 6 years old. They all got along just fine - played and chased each other. Fourteen months ago I brought home a 1-1/2 year old female stray, very friendly, very small (Isabelle). About four months after Isabelle came into the house, the siblings started viciously attacking Monkey. We brought them all to the vet and found nothing to be wrong; Monkey had blood tests for everything geriatric but was found to be in perfect health. Since then we have kept Monkey sequestered in her own "suite" (about 900 square feet) where she sleeps with us every night, eats in peace, plays with Isabelle, basks in the sunshine and enjoys the attention we give her whenever we can. Once she wanted to go out of the suite and when left alone, got attacked again. I think Bunny (female) starts it and her brother just follows suit. They are copy-cat siblings.

My question is - do you think this will ever change? I think that perhaps the new "Isabelle" cat posed a threat to Bunny who was my "baby" and she needed a way to lash out. Her brother was just going with the flow. Bunny never lashes out against Isabelle though.

Do you have any advice?
Thanks in advance.
Dianne, Norwich, CT

Dear Dianne –

I’m so glad that you got The Cat Bible although I’m pretty surprised that you didn’t learn anything new (myself, I keep learning new things about cats every day, even after years of research). But I’m delighted that you turned to me for some help with your sad situation.

It sounds to me as just what you suspected – a case of “redirected aggression” and poor old Monkey is getting the brunt of it.  My thoughts are that the safe haven and special time you’ve set aside for Monkey are definitely the way to go, and there’s no rational reason to hope that this unpleasant behavior by the “Attack Siblings” will stop. You’ve done the right thing by the old lady and that’s what matters. However, I turned your quandary over to Dear Sally, the behavior consultant on Cat Chat, in case she had anything to add and here are her comments. By the way, I’d suggest that you contact Sally Bahner from her page on www.CatChatRadio.com and see whether a private consultation with Sally might give you some subtle help, given how tuned in you are to your cats and knowledgeable in general about the feline frame of mind. 

Sally writes:

I think Dianne has a pretty good bead on the situation, however, the behavior may be ingrained because it's gone on so long.

Sometimes it just takes one new kitty to upset the harmony of a household. There seems to be some jealousy going on that is aggravated by the copy-cat situation (I had something similar in my household with two Russian Blue sisters who were very close). Sounds like the attack on Monkey may also have been a displaced aggression thing.

It's good that Monkey has a nice, large safe zone and the company of her people and Isabella. Dianne could try to reintroduce them gradually under strict supervision and reward Bunny when she doesn't attack Monkey. Flower essences (the Ultimate Peacemaker package) can be used. She should keep an eye on Bunny and distract her with a toy when she's stalking Monkey. I would avoid leaving them alone together, but encourage brief sessions together, i.e. gradual desensitization.

Good luck to you, and kitty kisses to Monkey,

Tracie