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[Weaver]

Earlier this week, my old black and white moggy, Beileag was not well and had a night in at the vet’s. She had an infection and was severely dehydrated but IV antibiotics very quickly perked her up and she was amazingly lively and very happy when she came home. Now a couple of times in the past few years Somhairle my black and white oriental tomcat went into the vet’s for dental work and when he came home his friend Pangur Bán growled and hissed at Somhairle all the time and this bizarre behaviour took three days to fade away. Now on these occasions we have decided that Pangur Bán’s uniquely loony growling behaviour is to do with a vet’s smell on the other cat.

This time, Pangur Bán is growling at Somhairle even though it is Beileag, not Somhairle who is the one who went to the vet’s, so Pangur Bán has been avoiding, growling and hissing at the wrong cat. Beileag is in the room but not nearby. A new level of madness, no?

[Alex Atkin UK]

Power of association I guess, if its the other cat primarily is the one who has come back smelling of vet its become a learned behaviour to react that way?

[Weaver]

You have to be right, Alex. I wonder if it’s also an association with being black and white as both ‘guilty’ and ‘accused’ cats are.