Last week we had an incident that I can’t really explain. We had the door open to the new catio just enough for a cat to get through. Chris was lying inside looking out the door and growling. It was that growl that you sometimes hear when a cat encounters an unknown cat. I looked out to see what the problem was and saw he was directing that growl at Frankie. When Frankie saw me he tried to come inside and Chris attacked him. I had to break it up and for a long time afterward, we had to keep them separated.
Rose thought an outside cat had sprayed Frankie through the screen but I never heard of a cat spraying another cat. Besides, there was no sign of a wet spot on the screens. I assumed he got into something that made him smell different but a quick inspection of the catio revealed nothing unusual.
What was unusual was that his ears were twitching and he was scratching himself. Rose checked him for fleas but nothing was obvious so I brought her the flea comb and she tried again. This time she combed out at least three live fleas.
Since they were due for their flea medication we put it on Frankie and on Floki, which wasn’t easy, at least for Floki. Chris had a three-month flea med put on him a couple of months ago so he wasn’t due yet. Rose also said she didn’t want them going outside anymore, but that didn’t last.
The next morning Chris and Frankie were getting along and nobody was scratching themselves. I put some diatomaceous earth down in the house to help control any stray fleas and I plan on getting a flea spray to put around the perimeter of the house. I am told there are environmentally friendly sprays out there so I will be looking for that today.
As far as what happened to Frankie that got Chris so upset, I still don’t have a clue.
One other issue I noticed, and it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, is that everyone seems to have a hard time deciding on what side of the door they want to be on.
When they do make a decision, they change their minds as soon as the door is closed.
Bad Cat Chris 
cats sure do change their minds. I hope you can keep the flea bags out of there
Thanks. I hope so too.
I wonder what set off Chris about Frankie! We will probably never know for sure. Hope you don’t get anymore fleas!
Thanks. sprayed some flea killer. I hope it works.
It didn’t take the fleas long to get to them-yikes.
No, it didn’t. Hopefully, I can keep them in check.
It must have been some kind of different smell that got Chris going. That’s the only thing we can think of.
I just wonder where the smell came from.
I think that maybe Chris saw another cat., got scared and took it out on Frankie. It is a phenomenon that often happens with cats in a home.
That makes more sense than anything else I can think of.
One of those mysteries we have when we have cats I think……sometimes I have no clue what has Teddy on edge or acting afraid – there’s only THREE of us in the house after all and he’s the only cat! I think sometimes it’s a small or a sound but who knows. Cats are rather mysterious even if we’ve been around them all our lives! LOL
Hugs, Pam
Not SMALL – I meant SMELL!! LOL
I knew what you meant. I do that all the time. 🙂
I guess that is what makes them so interesting.