As you may know, I am the owner of two kitties – Fanty & Mingo. You can find out more about them here. Fanty and Mingo are having a bit of a tiff. They need relationship counseling.
Here’s what happened:
Fanty was having diarrhea issues for a while. He was getting better, but since we went off to Petra and Aqaba for the weekend, and left the kitties in charge of the super, he must have grown despondent. When we got home, Fanty looked a fright. He had obviously soiled himself, and then just hung out in the litterbox for a while, letting the stray kitty litter pebbles cling to his fluffy backside. Then the entire thing dried into an unholy crust.
He was making no attempt to clean himself, and although the diarrhea was no longer an issue and he looked like the picture of health, he was filthy.
We took him outside and we hosed him and soaped him and hosed him some more.
Then the weirdness started.
I expected the bath to alter Fanty’s scent, and for Mingo to get all hysterical about it (she gets hysterical about most things), but I didn’t expect it to last this long. Fanty can’t get within a couple of feet of Mingo without the latter having a hissing fit. It’s particularly sad, because you see him sitting there, lonely, regarding her from a distance, wondering why she will no longer play or clean his ears and stuff.
And she is not refusing to get over it! It has been two days!
Any suggestions, Cat Community?
Natalia A. 
cats have painfully long memories. Let them be, she’ll get over it eventually. When I brought Gracie home, Phleud kept his back to me for a month. When I was gone for 2 weeks, he wouldn’t speak to me for a month. I say give it a month.
Catnip.
But then, I always think mood-altering herbs are helpful. 🙂
Depending on what you washed Fanty with, Mingo might think s/she smells like a male cat. Cats have much more delicate sense of smell that we do so something that seems quite innocuous to us can be overpowering to them.
The best thing to do is try and get Mingo’s sent back onto Fanty. The best way to do that is to mix their bedding up for a few days, take an old hand towel and ‘groom’ mingo with it, then do the same to Fanty to get their scents nicely mixed up.
Yes, and I’d second Daisy’s catnip suggestion too :).
Good luck! 🙂
Poor kitties! Call around to a few veterinarians and ask them if they sell the “happy hormone” spray for stressed kitties. It’s a synthetic replication of the hormone cats put on you when they rub you with their heads. If you’re lucky they’ll even sell the diffuser you can plug into an electrical outlet so the happy happy happy wafts around the house for a week. I tried it with my cat adjustment issues a few years ago and it worked great.
Thanks, guys! They ate side by side for the first time tonight, so maybe they are getting back to their groove…? Will see.
One thing I’ve heard of for reacclimating traumatised cats to each other is to rub them *both* down with something strong-smelling.
I’ve been trying to get them to share a blankie, with limited success. She’s still hissing every time he tries to ask her to play. It’s very sad. 😦