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Is my older cat aggressive to spayed kitten after surgery normal?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 5 lbs

Hi, we brought home our 8 month old kitten from getting spayed yesterday. Our female cat who is 4 years old is now being very aggressive towards her and we are trying to keep them seperated for now as our kitten heals from surgery. Is this aggression normal and will it go away?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Ana M, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on August 16th, 2019

Thank you for submitting your question regarding your cats. This can be common after a trip to the veterinarian. The kitten will be covered in different smells. This can cause stress in the older cat resulting in her to act out in aggression. Keep them separate unless they are fully supervised. They should be fine with each other in a few days. In the meantime, you can try a pheromone diffuser to help calm them. Feliway is a good brand. I hope this information helps!

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    Answered By Laura Johnson VMD

    Veterinarian

    Published on January 26th, 2018

    Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! I am sorry you are going through this! Cats are funny creatures sometimes. They can act this way when housemates come home from the Vet. There are 2 reasons for this: 1) the cat that was at the vet is acting weird (stressed, crouching around the house, running around, vocalizing, acting scared) which is normal after getting spayed, traveling in a cat carrier in the car and sitting in a cage. They act different and not themselves for a few days. This behavior causes the other cats feel threatened by the odd behavior. And 2) she likely smells strange to them. I recommend a slow re-introduction and purchase some Feliway diffusers. In most cases everything returns to normal quickly but a few rare cases can have issues long term. http://pet-supplies.drsfostersmith.com/search?w=feliway%20for%20cats I hope this helps and I wish you all the best!

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