Cat gained weight, peed on floor, attacked kittens. Is he sick or stressed?

While loss/grief can certainly cause behavioral changes in cats, losing weight, not eating and urinating everywhere make me worry there is an underlying health condition such as a urinary infection that is causing him distress. Not being neutered can also lead to marking behavior/stress if there is a female in heat nearby. It is a good idea to have a thorough exam done along with bloodwork, X-rays and urine tests potentially to determine if there is any health issue. If he checks out healthy, spending more time together may help him to relax some, as well as using a pheromone diffuser such as Feliway to help with the marking behavior/stress. If you think he'd benefit from a friend, gradually introducing a new cat may help as well, but can also be stressful.

I'm sorry to hear this! I know how frustrating behavioral issues can be! This sounds like Tatty is behaving this way out of stress. Stress can result from a underlying medical issue among other things. Inappropriate elimination (peeing or pooping outside the litter box) in cats can be frustrating and difficult to treat. The first step you should take is scheduling an appointment for your cat to see a veterinarian. A lot of times a cat will start going outside of the litter box due to health problems like urinating tract infections, pain, urinary tract inflammation and digestive problems. Once you have established that there aren't any medical reasons for inappropriate elimination the following may be helpful: 1. Cats will urinate or defecate outside of the litter box for stress related reasons. Therefore it is best to keep the litter boxes in several different, quiet areas of the household. This may also help reduce Tatty's stress level. 2. A pheromone diffuser like Feliway can be quite helpful. This can be very useful when a cat is showing agression like Tatty. 3. Ensure you have at least one litter box in the household per cat plus one. For example, if you have 3 cats, then 4 litter boxes are recommended. 4. Feeding an all canned food diet can help if there is inflammation in the bladder. There are also prescription diets available to help with bladder inflammation or digestive issues. Your veterinarian can help you choose the best one for your cat. 5. The litter boxes should be cleaned once to twice daily and completely emptied and washed weekly. Most cats prefer litter to be the clumping type that is kept a few inches deep. Certain litter types like Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract litter may be helpful. 6. If you are still having problems after taking the above steps you may want to talk to your veterinarian about behavioral medication. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and good luck to you and Tatty!

Poor guy. There are two most likely possibilities. One is that something scary happened to him during the party (kids being too rough or even just the noise being scary for him) or he has been ill for the past 7 months and is feeling poorly because of that. I would recommend starting with a vet visit to make sure he seems medically healthy, and talking them through the behavioral changes you've noticed to decide if he needs treatment.

Okie is gorgeous! Having a physical exam and screening bloodwork and a fecal exam and urinalysis to rule out a medical cause for his crankiness such as an ear infection, diabetes, kidney/liver issues, hyperthyroidism etc. would he best. Using a Feliway mulicat calming pheromone plug -in several rooms in your home along with daily VetriScience Composure chews or oral liquid may help significantly with stress related aggression /inappetance. Both of these products are available without a prescription on chewy.com and PetCo.com. Good luck!

Those are tough questions to answer without being there to visualize each cat. But I would say generally speaking whichever cat is acting abnormal. Abnormal behavior can mean anything from the cat being lethargic (lacking energy), vocalizing more, drinking more water, or even going to the litter box more frequently. As far as what illness could be causing this, there isn't enough information as of yet as to what symptoms either cat is displaying besides be increased aggression. Do some monitoring of both cats over the next few days to gather clues and then feel free to repost your question with specifics so that we can discuss some possible causes. However, in general we do worry about kidney and urinary infections in cats. Also a change in mood could indicate an endocrine disorder, brain malfunction or even diabetes. I hope this helps and look forward to more information about your fur babies. I do hope we can figure things out soon and get them to being friends again.

I'm glad to see that Pippin has been neutered because this eliminates that possibility of hormone-fueled behavioral changes and aggression. Behavioral changes in cats can occur at any point in time, and could be related to anxiety or stressful situations (even rearranging furniture or introducing new people to the home can be stressful to cats). Without a lot more information and observing Pippin's behaviors, I can't precisely tell you why these changes are occurring. It may be best to consult a veterinary behaviorist in your home so that they can observe everything firsthand. You can also try using calming pheromone collars or diffusers (Feliway is one example), and discussing the use of anxiety medication with Pippin's vet. I hope that all goes well!

If this is a recent behavior change for Cuddles, the first step would be to have him examined by a vet as soon as you are able to - there are a number of medical problems that can cause accidents outside the litter box, so your vet may recommend basic blood work and other testing to check for any evidence of a problem. If everything comes back normal, then it is likely that the issue is behavioral. Having accidents like this is often a stress or anxiety-related behavior in cats - if there have been any recent changes in the household, such as a new pet or a new baby, a move to a new house, or a guest staying with you, these could all be reasons for him to be pottying in inappropriate places. There may also be something about the litter box that he finds objectionable - he may not like the type of litter provided, or the location of the box. It can sometimes take some detective work to pinpoint the problem in cases like this, so if you're still stumped, I would consider making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist - he/she can meet your cat in person and do an in-depth evaluation to help diagnose the problem and develop a plan to treat it. In the meantime, you can try a Feliway diffuser in the house or a natural calming supplement such as Composure to see if this helps.