My cat gets upset when I take others to vet

My cat Goldie is sensitive and gets upset when one of our other cats goes to the vet without him.
My cat gets upset when I take others to vet

CHENNAI:My cat Goldie is sensitive and gets upset when one of our other cats goes to the vet without him. He will hiss and spit at them when they return home, and sometimes, it takes several days for him to settle down. How can I stop this?

— Sonali Kumar

Cats are territorial animals and have a natural instinct to patrol their territory and defend entry of any other outside cat. They generally tend to hunt alone and their prey is usually meant to be a meal for one. This gives them an urge to guard their resources, and the entry of another cat seems threatening to them. In a typical household where there is more than one cat, the cats accept each other and learn to live with one another as long as their basic needs are fulfilled and they don’t have to compete for food or space. Given that they communicate with each other using smell, the smell of a new cat at home trends to freak them out.

Your cat Goldie seems to be picking up the scent of new cats that don’t belong in your household. He is simply bothered by the smell of the veterinary clinic visit that the other cats in family have brought in.
If not handled appropriately, this situation may ruin the harmony in the house. There are a few things you can do. Once you return from the vet, keep the cats in separate rooms and wait for them to relax before reintroducing them to one another.

Use regular cat wipes to wipe out any external smell the cats may have picked up. This way, they smell like their usual selves and will not cause any alarm. Clean out the cat carrier with commercial cat odour management sprays that your cats are familiar with. You can even let the cats play with objects that have Goldie’s smell so that they smell like him. As much as possible, try to take them all out together so that they are no surprises. No matter what, always consult a veterinarian to rule out medical issues, if any.

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