From the point of view of the cats, she was in the middle of a cat
fight - never a safe place to be.  The fight hadn't actually come to
blows, but it was still a fight or flight situation, and the resident
cat was not about to flee.

T.E.D. (tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu - e-mail must contain "T.E.D." or my .sig in the body)

Ctas are very funny animals.  The wild streak of their ancestry is very close
to the surface.  Cats' get freaked fairly easily.  Cats' have a nervous
response which is also close to the surface.  I've had cats who were loving and
gentle and perfectly domesticated go off the dep end, if only for a short
moment.  One cat would love to be petted a certain way, but then you would see
an uneasiness build up in him, as his senses seemed to get overloaded.  You'd
noctice the look in his eye and the feel of his body, and it was time to stop
this activity which he, up till then, found very pleasurable.  If I continued,
just past that point, he'd lash out at me.

So, it is hard to answer your question, about that particular moment, other
than to say that he didn't have any evil intent in his mind.  His senses just
got overloaded and your mother was in the wrong place.  Please don't attribute
anything to this as an indication of conscious meanness.  It is more
instinctual than conscious.

Your mother is fortunate. I know of someone who ended up in hospital for a
week in exactly the same situation, only that there was no strange cat but a
dog involved.

Carola

it was redirected aggression.  Since your mom's cat couldn't attack the
interloper, Bear had no other choice but to take out his frustration on the
closest moving thing.

The other cat must really have "freaked out" your mother's cat.
And when a cat gets "freaked out" like that it can almost turn into an
animal!!!!

My cat did almost the same exact thing, I was sleeping on the couch with
only the screen door locked, it was like 3 am totally dark in the house. I
heard a loud bang at the door, I jumped up and my girl attacked my leg (I
was wearing shorts), she tore my leg to shreds in an instant, deep scratches
and a lot of blood, I screamed and flipped the light switch on, she just
looked at me- hissing and growling, like she didn't know who I was. It took
a good minute for her to calm down. There was another cat outside the door,
I guess my inside only cat was just protecting her territory.  I think she
thought I was the cat outside and got in. For that 60 seconds she was as
wild as an animal could be. I also don't think she even knew she hurt me.