Yoho
August 16th, 2005, 07:30 PM
I grew up with cats. We always had cats and litters in various stages. Playing with the litters was certainly among the highlights of my childhood. I have a story to share about one cat that literally went insane and I'm telling the story because I'm wondering if anyone else has ever experienced anything similar. I'm wondering how common this problem is.
This particular barn cat was tiger stripped and her name, ironically, was "Claws". I raised her by hand when I was 9 years old because her mother had died in childbirth. I used a very cute little bottle with a nipple to feed her watered down evaporated milk. She was a playful kitten and earned her name. I naturally became very attached to her and my father let me bring her to live in the city when we moved from the country.
She got on well and raised a fine litter of kittens not long afterwards. When she went into heat again, we tried our best to keep her away from the males who came spraying (yes, now I know better than to let a cat go un-neutered so don't lecture please), but she got pregnant again. Oddly though this time after the kittens were about one week old and SO cute, my father and I were getting ready to go to the laundromat and Claws suddenly attacked my Dad's leg. He kicked to get it off and she went into the air as I watched. She literally twisted in mid-air and lunged with her claws out and her mouth open at my face. I managed to dive my head into a pillow to save my face.
She ripped huge long scratches down my back with her splayed claws. She shredded the shirt I was wearing. A series of very quick movements by my father managed to get me in the basement behind a door and he in another room. The cat was howling and lunging the whole time. I waited while my father called the humane society and asked them what to do. They said to throw a blanket over it, put it in a box, and bring it in along with the litter of kittens to be put down.
Several attempts at getting a blanket over this raging cat were unsuccessful. At a loss as to what to do at this point, my father got out his pellet gun and shot the cat many times before it finally gave up the ghost. It was a horrifying experience for me. I had loved this cat dearly but had been so amazed by it's sheer insanity that I felt killing it was necessary and I only felt sad for my father having to do it himself. We brought the remains and the kittens to the humane society and they tested for rabies.
They told us that the mother cat developed a form of insanity that happens when a cat is not weaned properly. They said that the kittens had to be put down because they would be likely to develop the same insanity since they would now miss being weaned properly as well. It was a very sad and scary day.
Has anyone else ever had something like that happen or heard of such a weaning disease?
This particular barn cat was tiger stripped and her name, ironically, was "Claws". I raised her by hand when I was 9 years old because her mother had died in childbirth. I used a very cute little bottle with a nipple to feed her watered down evaporated milk. She was a playful kitten and earned her name. I naturally became very attached to her and my father let me bring her to live in the city when we moved from the country.
She got on well and raised a fine litter of kittens not long afterwards. When she went into heat again, we tried our best to keep her away from the males who came spraying (yes, now I know better than to let a cat go un-neutered so don't lecture please), but she got pregnant again. Oddly though this time after the kittens were about one week old and SO cute, my father and I were getting ready to go to the laundromat and Claws suddenly attacked my Dad's leg. He kicked to get it off and she went into the air as I watched. She literally twisted in mid-air and lunged with her claws out and her mouth open at my face. I managed to dive my head into a pillow to save my face.
She ripped huge long scratches down my back with her splayed claws. She shredded the shirt I was wearing. A series of very quick movements by my father managed to get me in the basement behind a door and he in another room. The cat was howling and lunging the whole time. I waited while my father called the humane society and asked them what to do. They said to throw a blanket over it, put it in a box, and bring it in along with the litter of kittens to be put down.
Several attempts at getting a blanket over this raging cat were unsuccessful. At a loss as to what to do at this point, my father got out his pellet gun and shot the cat many times before it finally gave up the ghost. It was a horrifying experience for me. I had loved this cat dearly but had been so amazed by it's sheer insanity that I felt killing it was necessary and I only felt sad for my father having to do it himself. We brought the remains and the kittens to the humane society and they tested for rabies.
They told us that the mother cat developed a form of insanity that happens when a cat is not weaned properly. They said that the kittens had to be put down because they would be likely to develop the same insanity since they would now miss being weaned properly as well. It was a very sad and scary day.
Has anyone else ever had something like that happen or heard of such a weaning disease?