jealous cat?

today, my 1-year-old cat turned up at our house, after almost 2 months of being missing. she was an indoor cat who accidentally got shut out late one night, and was gone by the time we realised. we all thought she had died, but somehow shes here, alive, and no visible injuries. (we have an appointment with the vet early tomorrow, of course. shes very skinny and clearly hasnt eaten or drank anything in quite a while, but personality-wise shes behaving exactly the same as she was before).

im absolutely estatic. her brother, however, is quite the opposite. he's been hissing and growling at her since we brought her inside. he seems to recognise her to an extent, having gone right up to her face multiple times, waiting a minute, and then hissing. its like when you recognise someone, but cant remember where from.

hes behaving very strangely around her, and i cant tell if its because he doesnt realise who she is, or if hes jealous. hes being very cautious around her; hissing, growling, but never swiping at her, and treading very carefully when walking around my bedroom (which they both insist on sleeping in).

i know its probably a case of him getting used to her being back, or having to rebuild trust in her, but im worried. they were very close beforehand, but her brother has a tendency to hold grudges; we have an older cat, unrelated, who he has never really liked. we thought that was a case of him having to get used to her, but even after literally growing up around her, he still hisses at every opportunity, and swipes at her when he decides shes being too annoying. is there anything i can do to try and make sure this isnt whats going to happen between him and his sister?

The problem is that relatedness doesn't have any influence on whether or not cats will get on with each other. Your boy cat sounds to me like he really doesn't like other cats - full stop. After all, cats are solitary animals and really only ever 'tolerate' the presence of other cats.

They'll find a way to rub along together - but I think hoping that they might 'get on' with each other is over-ambitious.

Hardly! Of course depends on the individual animal but cats are a social species. Theres a good reason why its nearly always recommended to have multiple over just a single one.

has it only been one day

The problem is that relatedness doesn't have any influence on whether or not cats will get on with each other. Your boy cat sounds to me like he really doesn't like other cats - full stop. After all, cats are solitary animals and really only ever 'tolerate' the presence of other cats.

They'll find a way to rub along together - but I think hoping that they might 'get on' with each other is over-ambitious.

its been about 2 months since she first went missing, about 14 hours since she returned,

yeah i was thinking about this. before she went missing, she was the only other animal he trusted at all. its just kinda sad that probably wont come back!

Have you tried rubbing her with one of your tops so she smells more like you and therefore familiar? It's what I do when I take one of my cats to the vet and leave the other at home, it doesn't stop all the hissing but it does make things less stressful for them

They will hopefully become buddies again but it may take some time. You have to think of your girl cat essentially being a stranger to your boy - to him there's a strange cat in his terrority and he's being protective, that's all. It's nothing personal.

if shes allowed home, ill definitely try this! he was being pretty spiky towards me, too, but i suppose its just because i was around her

we took her to the vets this morning, and she's been kept in overnight on a drip. called a few hours ago and they said shes quite sick (as to be expected). theyre having to do a liver scan on her as shes very jaundiced and one of her blood showed some kind of abnormality in one of the liver tests. the vet is aiming to be able to get her antibiotics once the scan is done to help her try and get through, but she said that this is one of those cases she has absolutely no idea whether the kitty will pull through or not. she seems very happy personality-wise, which i think i mentioned in my og post, its just hoping she can recover after so much malnutrition.

if shes allowed home, ill definitely try this! he was being pretty spiky towards me, too, but i suppose its just because i was around her

we took her to the vets this morning, and she's been kept in overnight on a drip. called a few hours ago and they said shes quite sick (as to be expected). theyre having to do a liver scan on her as shes very jaundiced and one of her blood showed some kind of abnormality in one of the liver tests. the vet is aiming to be able to get her antibiotics once the scan is done to help her try and get through, but she said that this is one of those cases she has absolutely no idea whether the kitty will pull through or not. she seems very happy personality-wise, which i think i mentioned in my og post, its just hoping she can recover after so much malnutrition.