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Old June 20th, 2007, 10:25 AM
mycatsmylife mycatsmylife is offline
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Question Aggressive Cat - Second attack in 5 years - Scary!

Hi
I have a cat named Kitty, who is a bit aggressive but the majority of the time she is very easy to get along with and she is submissive to me, although she is the dominant pet in the house. This morning though she attacked me. What happened was that my other cat, Minnie, was coughing up a hairball, and Kitty was near, and I picked Minnie up and put her on the bathroom floor to be sure she did not throw up on the carpet. Kitty was getting scared. Then Minnie started to choke on her hairball, and I freaked out and tried to shake Minnie a bit to help her and I was very scared. The next thing I know, Minnie coughed up the hairball and ran into another room, and Kitty had me cornered and was growling, hissing and jumping at me. This happened one time before when she saw a strange cat outside, and that time I ran away from her. This time, I did not want to let her think that she is boss, so I raised my voice and tried to get her out of my way, which made it worse. I ran out of the room and shut the door. I gave her a few minutes to herself and opened the door and started talking to her very calmly, and she was meowing because I think she was scared. I went into the bathroom to clean up the hairball, Kitty followed and I tried to entice her with a treat and she let me pet her a little. She was fine until I went into the other room and started to walk up the stairs to leave, then she chased me up the stairs hissing and growling. I opened the door a crack to talk to her and the growling continued so I had to leave her and the other cat together and be on my way to work. I am pretty sure that Kitty's attack was due to her being protective over Minnie because she is like a mother to her, and I think maybe Kitty thought I was hurting Minnie when I was trying to help her when she was choking. So my question is, what do you do with an aggressive cat when they want to attack you? She has never seriously bitten me, just jumps at me hissing and growling and claws me mostly, but it is very scary. Also, what do you do with a cat choking on a hair ball? I am 99% sure Minnie was choking, she was rolling around on the floor on her back after she had coughed up the liquid portion, I had never seen that before. PLEASE ANY HELP AND SUGGESTIONS would be greatly appreciated, I am scared to go home and face my cat! - Tanya

Last edited by mycatsmylife; June 20th, 2007 at 10:28 AM. Reason: forgot something
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Old June 20th, 2007, 11:41 AM
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happycats happycats is offline
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I also have an attack cat,

Here's another thread, that may help you.

http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread....ght=attack+cat

I hope all goes well.
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Old June 20th, 2007, 12:25 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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As I expected...my dog mentality leaves me clueless here. But I know that Chico2 has had a similar experience recently--I'll drop her a PM and have her check out your thread. (I don't think you've posted enough to be able to PM yet.
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Old June 20th, 2007, 01:26 PM
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badger badger is offline
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Quote:
I am pretty sure that Kitty's attack was due to her being protective over Minnie because she is like a mother to her, and I think maybe Kitty thought I was hurting Minnie when I was trying to help her when she was choking. So my question is, what do you do with an aggressive cat when they want to attack you?
You get the hell out of the way and wait for it to pass. Use your feet to distance the animal from you, not to do harm - no swift kicks to the head - just to remove him.

Once in five years is pretty good, it's really a one-off and you shouldn't assume it will be repeated. All of my cats have thrown a fit at one time or another. One climbed me like a tree and dug all ten claws into my scalp until the blood was trickling down my face. In that case it was deferred aggression, he wanted to get to another cat and I put myself between them.

Have your tried some hairball paste on their paws? Butter would probably work as well. I always leap up when I hear mine hacking, it can be a pretty scary sound, but I think on the whole there's nothing to be too concerned about. That being said, a cat lying on its back making choking sounds would definitely get my attention!
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Old June 20th, 2007, 03:20 PM
mycatsmylife mycatsmylife is offline
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Update

Thank you everyone for your replies so far. UPDATE: I went home around 11 am this morning to check on the kitties, my father in law said he heard them fighting, I guess Kitty was telling Minnie who's boss while I was out. Anyways, I brought my father in law downstairs with me just in case, and as I thought, Kitty was still very skittish and was putting her ears back and doing her scared meow. I got down to her level and kept telling her it's ok, calmly, and gave her a few pets, she was ok, but still scared and on the defensive very much, scared of any noise around, and she won't let me walk in front of her or walk by her, again she starts the scared warning meow that she might start to growl, however she did not attack me this time. I will see how she is when I get home tonight, but I already had her scheduled in at the vet's for tomorrow, she has this strange skin condition in which she loses hair and get scabs, so maybe she is in pain as well as stressed out? I don't want to stress her more by bringing her to the vet but it has to be done, along with getting her nails clipped and the only ppl that can do it is at the vet's. She is usually a big baby at the vet's office, stays close to me, never hisses and growls, just takes it as long as I'm there to comfort her. She really is not a bad cat, usually quite affectionate when she wants to be, gives you a nibble if she's had enough, and I've had her since she was 6 weeks old. WISH ME LUCK!!!
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Old June 20th, 2007, 04:36 PM
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chico2 chico2 is offline
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Well,my cat Rocky,whom I adore put me in the ER 3 times in 5yrs,with serious infections from bites.
However his behaviour is different from your kittys,he freaks out seeing strange cats outside or in the latest attack I tried to get him away from fighting a little Cocker Spaniel,Rocky got out accidentally.
I suspect your cat has a healthproblem that is bothering her and makes her stressed,good thing you are taking her to a vet.
My Rocky was on calming meds for a while,but I stopped,since the only time he freaks is when he sees another cat through the window and I have learned to see the signs and quickly close the door.
I have 3 cats and he never fights either one of them,he is actually submissive and a very loving cat,to me and his 2 pals.
I hope you will get some answers from the vet,it could be her skincondition is painful and itchy and makes her a very unhappy kitty.
Good Luck!
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