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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / October 2004Any advice? sort of long
About 14 days ago my cat of 6 years (Moggy, spayed calico female, 6 years old), attacked me with all the ferocity and viciousness of a wild animal. She wanted to hurt me and hurt me badly. It was only the quick thinking of my husband and a handy chair that kept her from inflicting some serious wounds. Of course, I contacted the vet immediately (this was a new vet, as I have recently moved), and he saw her two days later (the first appointment that was available). Aside from the fact that the doctor discounted everything I said and actually made fun of me saying that her attacks were "nothing", he told me that the best thing I could do would be to assert my dominance over her by "smacking her good" the next time she pulled a stunt on me like that. Horrified at his advice (using violence against an animal that is obviously upset or sick), I left. Oh, by the way - a blood work-up was done to try to establish if there was any organic cause. Rabies was ruled out because she is an exclusively indoor cat and also because she is not exhibiting this behavior to anyone other than me. That is - she is still a purring bundle of fluff to my husband. I did some googling and found that the best treatment for unexplained aggression is to remove the simulus - so we isolated her in an unused bedroom for one full week. When we let her out, I kept out of sight for about two hours while she readjusted to not being in the living room. She greeted our other cat (her friend and playmate) with a nose touch and spent most of the time interacting with my husband in an affectionate way and laying behind our couch in the sun in her "usual" place. After a couple of hours had passed, I decided to make an entrance. Bribed with a bit of cheese, my kitty came out and sniffed my leg once and then the fur puffed up, the eyes dialated, the ears went back and the horrific MEWRROOOWWWWWWWWWing and hissing started. Luckily, my husband snatched her up and threw her back into the bedroom before she could inflict anymore painful damage to me. Needless to say I am heartsick about this. I cannot understand WHY she hates me so. I have never done anything to her to cause such anger. While she has always been my husband's cat, and "tolerated" me being around - never terribly affectionate. She has NEVER ever attacked me or shown such hostility. I have contacted a different vet, but it will be more than a week before he can see me. Frankly, I have very little hope that anything can be resolved. If any of you have had a similar incident happen, or know of one, could you please give me any advice that might help? I am so angry myself at the very poor treatment I have received by "so called" professionals and frankly, I have no place else to turn. Thank you for your input. It is so appreciated. Em Be careful what you wish for.... >From: Auntie Em AuntieEM@yahoo.com >Needless to say I am heartsick about this. I cannot understand WHY >she hates me so. I have never done anything to her to cause such [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >before he can see me. Frankly, I have very little hope that anything >can be resolved. Hi Em, Sorry to hear about what's going on with your cat. Try to think really hard what was going on right before she attacked you the first time. Was she near a window where she could have seen an animal outside? It quite possibly could be what is called "misdirected aggression". I highly doubt it's a physical cause since she's fine with your husband and only has aggression towards you. I would highly recommend a cat behaviorist, or perhaps someone else here will post who has experience with this kind of misdirected aggression and been successful at resolving it. Best of luck and please keep us updated, Lauren ________ See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html Declawing Info: http://www.wholecatjournal.com/articles/claws.htm >Hi Em, >Sorry to hear about what's going on with your cat. Try to think really hard >what was going on right before she attacked you the first time. Was she near a >window where she could have seen an animal outside? It quite possibly could be >what is called "misdirected aggression". The official "neighborhood" cat, Stinky, was out back, but he is ALWAYS out back and Moggy has never shown any aggressive behavior toward other cats, even when our next door neighbor's cat came inside one day, accidentally, there was no hissing or aggression involved. We also had company staying with us for the week preceeding, which I think contributed to the stress level of both indoor cats somewhat, although neither exhibited any type of unusual behavior. It is so out of character for her. I am flummoxed. Em Be careful what you wish for.... >After a couple of hours had passed, I decided to make an entrance. >Bribed with a bit of cheese, my kitty came out and sniffed my leg once [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] >Thank you for your input. It is so appreciated. >Em Your vet needs to be smacked, not the cat. Something is ailing that cat. Something is wrong. If you've had her six years, and this is the first show of extreme aggression towards you, she is begging for help. This is so weird. I wish I had something more helpful to say. Good luck, and please keep us posted. Sherry <snip kitty attack and horrid vet advice> > If any of you have had a similar incident happen, or know of one, > could you please give me any advice that might help? I am so angry > myself at the very poor treatment I have received by "so called" > professionals and frankly, I have no place else to turn. > > Thank you for your input. It is so appreciated. The vet should be treated the same way he suggested you treat your cat. I'd like to give him a few good smacks and shakes. What terrible advice. Anyway, since she's fine with your hubby and other cat, I'd bet something triggered this. I don't think she's ill. A check is always a great idea, but if you do, get another vet. Did you recently change anything at all about yourself? Perfume? Soap? Shampoo? Detergent? Diet? Hairspray? You might smell very odd for some reason. Have YOU had a physical lately? Not to be morbid, but animals can smell tumors. Did anything precipitate the attack? She may now be associating you with something that scared her, redirected the aggression to you, now she just sees you and gets scared all over again. Eyes dilated, fluffed fur, and ears back is intense fear. Your vet would have you scare her even more. Good for you for realizing how bad that advice is. Without knowing what happened, my advice is to try again with separating her. Do let the other cat and hubby visit her - she needs interaction. Just isolate her when you are home. Then instead of having her come out and all, you just crack the door, get her attention, throw her the food, and close the door and leave. Do this a few times a day. The next day, walk in a step or two, throw the treat, and leave. Two more days later, walk in 3-4 steps. If she comes to you, put down the treat and leave. Use a praise voice if you talk to her. Don't pet her or lean over her. You get the picture. The second she puts her ears back, you get out of the room and go back to the last step she allowed. If you're willing to take the time (it can take weeks, easy), you can re- adjust her to you. If it is a simple trigger, such as I mentioned above (smells), removing it might put her back to normal right away. Considering the suddenness and ferocity of the attack, my opinion is that suddenly you smell funny or there was a definite redirected aggression thing that would have been obvious to you. If you can't think of an obvious trigger for redirected aggression (loud noise, strange animal in yard, etc), take a good stock of what you might be doing to smell very odd to her. Good luck.  Signature-- ~kaeli~ Cthulhu saves our souls and redeems them for valuable coupons later. http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace >If you can't think of an obvious trigger >for redirected aggression (loud noise, strange animal in yard, etc), take a [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >-- >~kaeli~ Em - any chance that you are pregnant? Janet Boss http://bestfriendsdogobedience.com/ http://photos.yahoo.com/bestfriendsobedience >>If you can't think of an obvious trigger >>for redirected aggression (loud noise, strange animal in yard, etc), take a [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > >Em - any chance that you are pregnant? Bite your tongue. Just to show you how impossible it is for me to be pregnant, do a search on alt.support.childfree for "auntie em" as the author, and I think that will convince you! Em Be careful what you wish for.... >Just to show you how impossible it is for me to be pregnant, do a >search on alt.support.childfree for "auntie em" as the author, and I >think that will convince you! > >Em LOL - sorry! Just a thought, since that sort of thing can send an animal into thinking of your very differently - hormones are weird things. Ok - menopause maybe? Grasping at straws. There's gotta be a trigger, it's just figuring out what it is! Janet Boss http://bestfriendsdogobedience.com/ http://photos.yahoo.com/bestfriendsobedience >>Just to show you how impossible it is for me to be pregnant, do a >>search on alt.support.childfree for "auntie em" as the author, and I [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >maybe? Grasping at straws. There's gotta be a trigger, it's just figuring out >what it is! That's ok. It was a fair question for anybody who doesn't know me. Anyway, I am not certain what the trigger could have been other than the fact that Moggy has never really "cared" for me much. Maybe she finally realized that she could scare the ever-lovin bejesus out of me by being the "cat from hell", and really likes the idea that she can intimidate me! Em Be careful what you wish for.... Are you wearing a new kind of perfume or cologne? Using a different detergent? Perhaps a new odor is upsetting your cat. Alan Signature--------------------------------------------------------------------- ** Please use address alanh77[at]comccast.net to reply via e-mail. ** Posted using registered MR/2 ICE Newsreader #564 and eComStation 1.1 BBS - The Nerve Center Telnet FidoNet 261/1000 tncbbs.no-ip.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- To: Auntie Em AuntieEM@yahoo.com It's great that you are patiently trying to discover the cause of this and are reaching out for suggestions. I'm sure this is frustrating and confusing. If preliminary medical tests show nothing, try other avenues. For example, have you done anything differently shortly before the first attack occurred? You say that you " have recently moved." Does that mean kitty moved too and might have experienced trauma? Did you change detergents or introduce an unfamiliar scent that kitty is now responding to? Do you pet or touch other animals? If no clue is yet discovered, consult a feline behaviorist. Good luck and keep us posted. > About 14 days ago my cat of 6 years (Moggy, spayed calico female, 6 > years old), attacked me with all the ferocity and viciousness of a > wild animal. She wanted to hurt me and hurt me badly. It was only > the quick thinking of my husband and a handy chair that kept her from > inflicting some serious wounds. When I was in college 20+ years ago we had a cat who developed a seizure disorder, and during the seizures she attacked viciously whoever happened to be nearby. When she developed this, she was living with my former roommate and her husband, and she attacked both of them -- unfortunately there was nothing to be done for this condition at that time, and their vet recommended having Sonia put to sleep. I wish I could remember her diagnosis, but I can't, and Google isn't helping me... and I know this isn't exactly what one wants to hear, but I just wanted to let you know that there can be organic causes for this type of behavior. If I were you I would check with another vet and specifically ask if this could be a neurological problem. I hope for your sake that it is just behavioral and that you can find a way to make it stop! --Catherine & Rosalie the calicohead > About 14 days ago my cat of 6 years (Moggy, spayed calico female, 6 > years old), attacked me with all the ferocity and viciousness of a [quoted text clipped - 54 lines] > Em > Be careful what you wish for.... I believe you said that you have had company recently? I hate to say it, but is there a chance that one of your visitors may have hurt her (even accidentally)? I had a two year old female cat (Moon) who loved my husband to death, but suddenly one day when he came in the room and reached down to pet her, she hissed, backed away quickly and ran like a shot under the couch. No amount of coaxing could get her to come out and she trembled and yowled pitifully everytime my husband came into sight. We spent weeks trying to figure out what the problem was, trips to the vet, changing soaps, shampoos, etc. to no avail. After some time, I came outside very early one morning to catch my neighbor throwing a rock about the size of a golf ball at her and strike her in the back hip. (Needless to say, this guy got an earful AND reported to the sheriff's department...as well as a very detailed description of what would happen to him if I caught him terrorizing my pets again) Moon became an indoor cat, and after alot of patience and time, she began to trust my husband again. My point is that this guy was similar in appearance to my husband, and apparently the cat 'misdirected' her fear to him. If one of your visitors did hurt her, accidentally or not, (especially if it was a woman) she may have developed a fear of you as a defense against being hurt again. It's a long shot, but it could be possible. >I believe you said that you have had company recently? I hate to say >it, but is there a chance that one of your visitors may have hurt her >(even accidentally)? I wonder. The "folks" who were staying with us were quite elderly (in their eighties), and not used to having cats underfoot. There is a possibility that one of them might have accidentally stepped on her and not even known it. Come to think of it, Moggy was sitting on the bed with me for a while prior to the last attack, seemingly unconcerned that I was less than 2 feet away from her. She didn't attack me until I came into the kitchen (standing up and walking!), and after sniffing my leg once, let me have it. Maybe having me walking around like that reminded her of something that happened when our visitors were here, it's some explanation, anyway. Em Be careful what you wish for.... |
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