General Chat

We rehomed a two year old male in 2015,

The story was he had been had from a kitten but the owners were being evicted from their home and couldn't take him with them

He had only been with cats protection for two weeks when we said we will take him


He was more my hubbies mate than mine . Yes I fed him but he liked to jump onto hubbies lap for a cuddle

Even when hubby came home bedbound from the hospital after a 7 week stay he wanted to be on the bed with him.After hubby passed and the bed was still in situ he wanted so sleep on the bed.this was late 2015

So increasingly I am finding he wants to attack me .he just suddenly turns and claws out he goes for my legs, getting his claws caught in the trousers just enrages him more

I don't do anything to enrage him .indeed I am up and down like a yo yo letting him in and out the garden. He is intelligent and will swipe my arm from the side of the armchair to let him out.

He wiil suddenly crouch and tail switching and eyes dilated got into attack mode and go for me . He goes into a stalk position and then strikes
I have had many leg and arm scratches from his attacks

To be honest I am very wary of his behaviour but try not to show it but I am getting afraid of him.
He is now 5 years old

I did mention it to the vet at his last jab time only for the reply he shouldn't do that

Well yes i know that but why and what can I do if anything

Does he have any floor toys that he can chase about with bells in.or on a stick that he can pat about...


try him with a catnip filled soft toy,cats usually go silly with them.

He is an indoor /outdoor cat
He has several toys like stuffed mice etc that he plays with but then ignores .
He has a scratch post and a bed type unit that he loves to lay on and also scratch

I do have one of those toy feather things but he really isn't interested in catching it he likes the live variety as well as mice etc

Summer is a problem as I get many presents bought indoors

I just wish I knew why he wants to turn on me with eyes ablazing and claws out as if I have upset him or he sees me as a threat
Cat nip and plug in soothes make no difference

Yes Shirley, one of those we adopted some weeks back is an upstart !!
Not a day goes by without a cat fight. Pebbles gets equal shelter, food and water, yet unfortunately he's a trouble maker. I think he trys to mate with Fluffy, who has been spayed. Not welcome.

Are you able to get hold of him to look in his fur.He may have a Tick.

Have a word with the vet to see if they will come and check him out.

Shirley ...............

I wonder if it is possible that he is a "one person cat" or a "one sex cat", ie he was attached only to your husband and blames you for him not being there, or that he can get attached only to a man.

please, please watch him very carefully.

We had a friend whose cat started to behave like that, nothing she did worked, and then one day he attacked her really viciously when she was sitting down and her trousers had ridden up a little bit ............... she had to have plastic surgery on her calf where he ripped the skin so badly.

The vet said the only thing he could suggest with a cat that was so vicious was to put him down ........... she didn't want to keep him as she didn't trust him and it would not be fair to pass him on to another household. There is no treatment or training that the vet could suggest.

Just give him a stern glare and a loud NO,when tries again...and put him out.so he knows he done wrong.

maybe hes just got past the teen stage and wants to lay the law down.

Yes when he wants to attack I say sternly NOOO

I have had to defend myself by using the iPad as a shield
He backs off but then try's again

It's a pity if he has a one person problem cos i would hate to get so frightened of him that putting him down would be the only option

Most of my cats considered Garfield as over active ....

You need somebody like this

http://www.catbehaviourist.com/

Shirley, do be careful. There must be a reason for the cat becoming aggressive but while you are finding out what the reason is, you don’t want to be on the receiving end of a bite. Cat’s mouths carry a lot of germs and a bite can be very serious.

A few years ago my granddaughter, then aged 6, was bitten on the arm by her cat and very quickly ended up in hospital on a drip. Thankfully, with prompt treatment she made a full recovery but she was off school for three weeks.

I hope you find out what the problem is and the cat calms down.

My sister has a cat like that, Shirley. :-(
Similar situation to yours, too.
My niece gave the kitten to my sister and brother in law about 13 years ago.
Missie was definitely my BiL's cat. BiL then became ill.
The cat would lie on his bed constantly, then BiL died.

You can go to stroke Missie (or Miffy, as I call her) - and she will just lash out and bite and scratch. She even sits on my sister's lap - and attacks her!
Unfortunately she's an indoor cat, so never gets rid of energy, and gets treats for the slightest thing - like my sister going into the kitchen. :-S

When my sister has visitors, Missie is locked in a bedroom - for everyone else's safety. I once caught her hiding by a chair. My nephew looked down and Missie went for his face - but I'd seen her, and as she went for him, I put my hand out - and she hit her face on my hand, then ran off.
One day she appeared downstairs when there were visitors. Without thinking, I picked her up to put her back in the bedroom.
I was halfway up the stairs when it dawned on me, this wasn't one of my cats.
I looked sideways, and she was about to lash my face, I quickly moved my hand onto her chest and spread my fingers out so she couldn't move her front legs - she couldn't bite me from there either.
She immediately calmed down - defeated! I did wonder what she'd do when I put her down - but she just strolled off.
I think Missie just needed 'thwarting' a few times, so she realised she wasn't in charge, but at 13, I think the time is past.

I've had 5 cats of my own, plus two a friend could no longer look after, and the neighbours 'vicious' cat that they abandoned when they moved.
Once I let her in the house, and removed her collar, she was sweetness itself.
None of my cats have ever attacked anyone.
If the children teased him, or peed him off, the big ginger would 'bop' the child twice, then the third time, he'd 'catch' their hand, put it to his mouth and bite!
He never bit hard - never broke the skin, but the children soon learned. :-D

At one point I had 2 of my cats, the friends 2, next doors cat - and a GSD/collie cross dog I was looking after - oh and 2 children. There wasn't enough room for any bad behaviour.

Actually, we also had a vicious cat when we were children.
Mickie moved all around with us, various places in Scotland, down to Cornwall, Devon, Cornwall again, then a few places in Hampshire and stayed, where she could have run off - but she was a bit unpredictable.
I Scotland, I thought she loved me, because she would get into bed with me, but she would make her way down to the hot water bottle, and if I moved, she bit.
I did get quite badly scratched, but I did dress her up :-\
However, she'd attack others who didn't dress her up. Hide behind things, jump out and claw!
When we lived in Southampton, my sister and I (and Mickie) shared a house.
A group of friends stayed over one night, in the living room.
Mickie got in there the next morning and went around systematically scratching them! That was the sort of thing she did.
Anyway, when Mickie was about 16, my sister had a baby - too much for Mickie, who moved in with an elderly couple up the road. The lady was very apologetic. Her husband was frail and blind, and spent the day in front of the fire - with Mickie on his lap.
Apparently she was a 'gorgeous, affectionate' cat, and her husband had fallen in love.
We told her not to worry - Mickie could stay with them - and we used to buy cat food for the couple to give her. The husband died, but Mickie stayed with the lady. Mickie was over 20 when she died.

I would hate to get so frightened of him that I am i need to protect myself

Most times he is ok , he wiil eat and sleep and seem very laid back and placid . He wiil wander around and want a pat as he winds himself around my legs
It's the sudden turn and stalk mode with lashing tail that I know he has gone on the turn and its me that needs putting in line

I have never neglected him or been aggressive to him so why he wants to attack me is a puzzle

Sadly if it becomes too much and I get too frightened of him then it's a one way trip to the vet

Really don't want to do that but it may come to being the only option

Has he been nutered? Might calm him down a bit.

Oh yes he is neutered

He had been "done " before he was taken in by cats protection

They don't rehome them uneutered or unspayed

He was ok till the last year when the odd occasion has built up to several times a week and comes completely out of the blue as he goes on the turn

About 20 years ago, there was a cat coming in and out of all the gardens. I didn't know whether it was a feral cat or if it was suffering the trauma of someone having been awful cruel to it.

It was so thin and hungry that it would look up at the sky, trying to watch the birds, knowing that they always flew to a garden where food was being thrown out. This cat was so starved that it was eating bread meant for the birds. I'd never heard of such a thing but that was what it was doing - anything to fill its stomach. A cat eating bread - I could hardly believe it. Very VERY unusual!

It was terrified of people. If I approached it, it would immediately run away. But I also regularly threw out bread to the birds, so it was drawn to my garden.

I wanted to try to make it less afraid. I tried to feed it some cat food or left over chicken, but I didn't have any success. It kept running away. Then I tried throwing a bit of chicken to the far end of the garden, which is as close as it would come. Very tentatively, it would come and eat the food - or it would grab it in its mouth and scamper off. As time went by, I didn't throw the food quite so far, and it gradually got closer and closer to me each feeding time.

There was a small hut near our back window, which our own cat (now dead) used to use. It used to jump onto the hut roof, onto the window ledge, and then come into the house when we opened back window.

To cut a long story short, it was summertime, so that window was often open - and eventually, to my amazement, I lured it (with food) to come in that window. One day, it jumped in the window and actually came and sat down on a comfy armchair next to the TV. Next to the chair, the TV on, and it was a sheepdog trials competition that was on screen. The sheepdog was running around, chasing and rounding up the sheep.

The cat sat there, absolutely captivated by the dog chasing the sheep. I sat in the other armchair watching this with glee. The cat made jerking movements with its head as it followed everything that was happening on-screen.

...It wouldn't come into the house for long periods of time though. In the wintertime, I made a trap-door in the greenhouse and taught the cat how to use it, and it slept there all winter in a comfy cat box I made for it. I would go out to feed it and by now it trusted me and didn't run away.

I was lucky. I think there was something deep down in the nature of the cat that made it come round. Maybe other cats just don't respond.

So, he actually goes in to 'stalk and attack' mode?
How about having a few pom-poms handy, and throwing them to/just past him when he gets like this, see if he goes for them, rather than you?
...or you could throw them at him if he's aiming for you!

George forgets he's 13, and sometimes comes in full of testosterone (he is neutered), he then 'stalks' Betty - who's not too happy.
I've been known to throw a bit of material over George at such times.
Sometimes I just move him towards the stairs and close the door.
He knows I'm not too happy.

Now, I just shout 'stairs' - and he knows where to go :-D

I found a water pistol works or the behaviour spray in a can that makes a loud hiss. Our black cat was a b****r for having a go but it sorted her. I also use one finger to tap my other 2 between the ears if they misbehave a bit like I was taught with the horses :-D :-D

Sorry to read of the trouble you are having, Shirley. Maybe you need to wear some thick knee length socks under your trousers to protect your skin while you find a way to stop your cat being aggressive. It's such a shame this is happening, what an ungrateful cat! I have seen programmes on tv about animal behaviour and I am sure there was a cat there which was aggressive but I can't remember how they dealt with it .

How about getting one of those bright plastic flyswats to swish at your cat if he starts, not to hit him, but let him feel the rush of air as you flick it.

Good luck

Lizxx

Sounds like he wants you to play with him more. Maybe buy a laser pointer for him to chase.

Try watching some of the Jackson Galaxy shows called "My Cat From Hell" on YouTube. Aggression is covered a lot.

Rose