Aggressive Cat
 

I have a 3 year old Manx-Tabby mix. She was a rescue cat and I rescued her when she was about 3 or 4 months old. I have no idea about her past. She has always been a good cat overall. She sometimes acts nervous around strangers but is ok once she warms up to them. A few months ago, I was in the living room and I tripped and fell to the ground. I laid there for a minute, and then got up and started to walk away. My cat witnessed this and immediately attacked me. She was hissing and growling, biting, and scratching. I could not get her to stop. She finally ran under the bed, but kept hissing and growling. I took her to the Vet. They ran all sorts of tests and found nothing wrong with her. She was uncomfortable towards me for a few nights and I had to lock her into a safe room until she calmed down. Eventually, she was fine. I have sinced moved from a good sized home into a new Apartment. The Apartment is very small. The cat adapted well to the Apartment since all of her familiar scents (toys, blankets, furniture) were present. I have lived there now for over two months. Then, a couple weeks ago, I had just returned from going for a run. She greeted me at the door as ususal. I few minutes later, I was in the kitchen and she was in the bedroom. I heard her crying so I ran into the bedroom and she had got her paw stuck in one of the blind cords. It took me a couple seconds to set her free, but after I did, she hissed and growled at me and attacked me. She then followed me into the kitchen and VICIOUSLY attacked me! It drew blood. I locked myself in the bathroom and after awhile she was back to normal. Then, the next day I came home from work and I went for a run. When I returned from the run, I bent over and she rubbed against me and then suddenly she attacked me again. I am not sure why, but maybe she smelled the sweat from the run and associated that with the trauma of getting her paw stuck in the blind cord? At any rate, she seems ok and loving one minute and then gets in attack mode out of the blue. I have learned to recognize when she gets in this mode and I either ignore her or re-direct her aggression by playing with interactive toys, etc. Now, it seems that she is attacking me periodically when I am in the kitchen area. The apartment is too small to put her in a safe place when she gets like this. I am afraid to go into my own Apartment. She is nice one minute and aggressive the next. I have tried everything. I am to the point where I would like to re-home her. But, she might just do the same thing. I am single and work very hard and am scared to go home. The Vet says there is nothing physically wrong with her. The behaviourist says to be patient and hopefully she will improve. Do you think she can be re-homed? I don't want to get injured anymore. I hope the shelter is not the option as I am not sure they would be able to place her.

I am so sorry that something like this has brought you to pets.ca. I am not vet savvy with cats but there should be someone along soon who can maybe give you some guideance. Would you like to share some pictures.....:angel:

From what you've described she's only attacked shortly after you have fallen or come back from a run - both physical "activities" (if you allow that term for a fall).

Are there other circumstances this has happened?

Have you had your own blood sugar/pressure etc checked? I'm wondering if she is sensing a chemical change in you that she isn't recognizing, for example animals can sense when a diabetics' levels drop too far etc

Has there been any changes to her food, litter etc?

Does your cat have any climbing structure she can use to burn off some energy? Maybe if she get a good workout it will help her relax a little. Maybe some homeopathic treatments could help her with her anxiety . Poor kitty , something awful had to happen to her to act this way.