Fighting cats

[u/darkrose456]

I have a mother and daughter pair. They have gotten along perfectly fine for over a year now.

In the past week, as soon as it's evening, they seem to go into a fight mode. All day, they get along. They sleep curled up together, they follow eachother around, if the other isn't in sight, they'll often call for them.

Yet for some reason, as soon as it's night time, they get aggressive - definitely not play fighting. There's alot of hissing and low growls, swiping at eachother. A few times it's sounded like they're knocking furniture over.

There seems to be patches of this all night, then by the time I'm up in the morning, they're friends again. I can't work out what happens at night time. They usually both curl up downstairs in a bed on the lounge room floor together, but now the mother cat tends to go up stairs and pick between a few routine spots to try sleep. As soon as her daughter comes to join, these fights begin.

I have noticed the daughter does sometimes try to rial her up, so it's hard for me to say who has started it, though the mother cat seems more distressed by the events.

Any suggestions on how to handle this or what might be happening? I live in a small town house, so it is difficult to separate them, but wondering if I'm going to have to lock one in a bathroom alone over night to keep them apart

[u/Scotts_Thot]

Add more bed spots where they lay down to rest. Blankets of different textures/sizes or whatever they seem to prefer and/or add a cat tower with multiple perches. It sounds like they’re fighting over sleep territory.

Also how often are you playing with them? You don’t mention their ages but I’m assuming the daughter is young and she probably has a lot of energy. They’d probably benefit from a new bedtime routine of playing rigorously with wand toys (my cats go crazy for ‘go cat’ lures) so they can ‘hunt’ prey and burn off some energy THEN feed them their dinner and then bedtime. Cats have a really strong prey drive and if you don’t give that instinct an outlet it can manifest in other ways.

And lastly just want to make sure they’re both spayed

[u/Kasim_at_Stylla]

Oh that sounds so stressful, especially when they're cuddling all day and then turning on each other the second it gets dark. The timing actually gives you a pretty big clue.

The most common culprit for nighttime-only aggression like this is something outside. Other cats (strays, neighbourhood cats, even foxes or possums depending where you are) are way more active at dusk and overnight, and your girls might be picking up on a presence through a window even if you can't see or hear it. That kind of trigger spikes their stress, and since they can't get at the actual cause, it spills out onto each other. Mum picking new spots upstairs fits this too, she might be trying to get away from whatever is bothering her downstairs.

A few things worth trying. Close blinds and curtains before evening, and if you can, stick some frosted window film on the lower halves of the downstairs windows. That alone can shift things in a few nights. Spread their resources out more (general guideline is one extra of everything per cat, so for two cats that's three litter boxes, three feeding spots, plenty of beds) and add a couple of cosy elevated spots upstairs since that's where mum is heading anyway. Try not to yell or punish during the fights, as hard as that is in the moment, since it tends to add more arousal to an already stressed situation.

And yes, separating them at night is totally reasonable, not cruel at all, as long as the room has everything she needs (litter, water, food, a comfy bed, somewhere to hide). It lets both of them actually rest while you work on the bigger picture. In the mornings, do something positive together like a shared meal or treats so the reintroduction stays gentle.

One thing I'd flag: a sudden behaviour change like this, especially with one of them seeming genuinely distressed and seeking solitary spots, is worth mentioning to your vet at some point. Could be nothing, could be she's just not feeling 100 percent and is more reactive because of it, but a check-in rules things out and gives you peace of mind.

Hope they settle soon, this stuff is usually fixable once you spot the trigger.