Cat Aggression - Please help!!

[Elmo0713]

I have a 10 year old tabby who acts aggressively at times towards my 5 year old. This has not always been the case (but he is definitely better as an only cat in the household - which he is now).

He is cuddly and sweet with me especially. My daughter is so careful around him (she knows not to go close to him or pet him unless I am right there).

An example of things that occur:
1. She will just be standing in the room, he will wander over to her and then just swat at her leg - she does not provoke him at all)
2. He will sit in the middle of the room (even though he has lots of perches/cat tree/beds) and if she walks past him he will swat out at her and sometimes even bite.

I have tried playing with him to tire him out but an incident can occur right after I do this. It seems random and we just don't know what to do. My daughter has learned to be scared of him because she never knows what he will do. He does not do this with myself or my husband and it does not seem to matter if she is running around (actively playing) or just standing quietly.

Please any help would be so appreciated. I love this cat so much and want to find a solution.

[hazelrunpack]

Oh my goodness...my cat JD can get like that--but he only does it occasionally. When he bites, does your tabby break skin? Or is it more of a play bite? When he swats, is it claws in or claws out?

JD got much better about the biting (though he still playfully bats at my ankles sometimes as I pass) after our other stray, Dusty, arrived. I think he just needed someone to play with that knew how to tell him unequivocally, in a very feline way, that he was being too rough.

In JD's case, it was misdirected and undisciplined play behavior, but in your case, it seems more like 'sibling rivalry'. But being relatively new to cat ownership, I have no experience with fixing it. You want to develop a positive association between your cat and your child, but I'm not sure how to accomplish that with cats... Sorry, not very helpful... Have you asked your vet if they can recommend a behaviorist to talk to? (Be aware that they're more likely to want to recommend something like Feliway, which I've found to be remarkably unhelpful , so be persistent about the referral. )

[Elmo0713]

Thank you for your reply. It has been really frustrating. I’m hoping to get some more insight on here.