cat went crazy... can she be trusted?

John Doe wrote:
Or maybe you declawed them because it ate your birds?

And maybe you didn't give them away because you are selfish or just
not smart enough to know that claws are to a cat like your fingers
are to you?

Lying troll.

heh
you never can tell!

have you thought about selling ladies handbags on ebay?

mr coyote wrote:

The story is as I initially wrote. I put "apparently attacked my
siamese" as that is what my son said he saw - from a distance away
(the cats at the top of the stairs, he at the bottom). No, I wasn't
there, I was cooking breakfast for my son.... should I be shadowing him
hand in hand because we have two cats in the house that have _never_
had an agression problem before? Perhaps I'm a bad parent for not
being attached to my son's hip on any given second of the day.


Not at all. Nobody expects to shadow a child every moment, and without
a prior history, you would not expect a problem with the cat.

But the facts remain the same. You did not witness the event, so it is
unfair, and probably wrong to blame the cat. In most cases of an animal
"attacking" a child, the child did something (often by accident or
ignorance) that caused the animal to react in an agressive way. It
could be something intentional like poking the cat or grabbing an ear.
Or something as innocent as running by in a hurry. In your case, he
probably saw the cats fighting and reacted by screaming (a child's high
pitched voice is not very calming), or he stepped into it, innocently
trying to help. He didn't know any better. Nobody's fault.

The point is that your initial point sounded like you are blaming the
cat when you don't know what really happened, and most people's
experience with small children and animals is that the child did
something to provoke the animal.

So, keep them separated for awhile, unless you can supervise, and let
both of them get over this incident.


Anyway, I don't have plans to declaw her... right now, she is likely
going to be going to a new home - a quieter home where there aren't
children. The cat has been in a loving home since she was a kitten
(obtained from a shelter, I might add) and will no doubt be going to a
new loving home if this is what it comes down to.

If you do that, don't get another one until your son is older.


If she ended up
stressed out, I can't help that - I'm not sure what we could do
differently to have prevented that. We have a busy family (4 kids that
love the cats, but our 5 y/o enjoys playing - and I believe him when he
says he wasn't near the two when the fight occured).

And all children tell the truth, right? The whole truth? He feels he is
going to get in trouble, so he may not tell the whole story. Also, he's
only 5 years old. He may not even *know* the whole story. Sure, he may
not have been near then when the fight started. But cats don't stay
still when they are fighting. They run. And if they ran toward him, or
he moved toward them, he could easily end up in the middle, even if he
didn't start there.


Again, thanks for the replies... I'm still not sure what to do - but we
do have a new home in line if that is what it comes down to.

On Mon, 20 Feb 2006 20:01:36 -0800, mr coyote wrote:

Wow.. thanks for the many replies I've gotten... most are well
received, but a few I'm not to sure about- some of you people really
read into things and perhaps need to relax a little bit.

The story is as I initially wrote. I put "apparently attacked my
siamese" as that is what my son said he saw - from a distance away
(the cats at the top of the stairs, he at the bottom). No, I wasn't
there, I was cooking breakfast for my son.... should I be shadowing him
hand in hand because we have two cats in the house that have _never_
had an agression problem before? Perhaps I'm a bad parent for not
being attached to my son's hip on any given second of the day.

Anyway, I don't have plans to declaw her... right now, she is likely
going to be going to a new home - a quieter home where there aren't
children. The cat has been in a loving home since she was a kitten
(obtained from a shelter, I might add) and will no doubt be going to a
new loving home if this is what it comes down to. If she ended up
stressed out, I can't help that - I'm not sure what we could do
differently to have prevented that. We have a busy family (4 kids that
love the cats, but our 5 y/o enjoys playing - and I believe him when he
says he wasn't near the two when the fight occured).

Again, thanks for the replies... I'm still not sure what to do - but we
do have a new home in line if that is what it comes down to.


IMHO a wise move. As much as we love our pets, our little ones come
first. MLB

On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 00:42:54 +0100, cybercat wrote:


"mlbriggs" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 20 Feb 2006 12:51:44 -0800, mrcoyote wrote:

My ~2y/o spayed female cat went crazy this a.m.... she apparently
attacked my siamese (male,neutered ~12y/o) - didn't end up being
serious, but when he got away, she turned on my 5y/o son.

She ripped at his legs, he then got away ran to me where she followed
and attacked again. I gave her a smack to get off and held her down to
the ground (had to use force) while he left the room.

He ended up behind a closed door upstairs when I let go of the cat, she
then took off immediatly in pursuit... hair fluffed out and growling.

My son now has multiple deep claw marks on his legs up to just above
the knees and defense marks on his hands & wrists. The cat seems fine
now, but she is being kept away from the other family members.

Her diet has been the same, the only thing is we parted with a fostered
cat (1y/o had him from a kitten) last week. They weren't great
'friends' and did fight regularly (not to the point of injury).

Can we trust this cat now? She is normally very affectionate,
inquisitive and loves everyone (never had a problem with our kids).


Any thoughts would be appreciated. We don't want to part with her, but
obviously can't keep her if she's going to have 'mental' breakdowns and
attack our 5y/o in this manner (let alone the degree of attack and how
long it may have continued if I wasn't right there to stop it).

Thanks!


FYI If my 5-year old were attacked by any animal, that animal would be
history. MLB

How horrible is that. So, how long has your child been in prison?

What an asinine question. Grow up. MLB

"mlbriggs" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 00:42:54 +0100, cybercat wrote:


"mlbriggs" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 20 Feb 2006 12:51:44 -0800, mrcoyote wrote:

My ~2y/o spayed female cat went crazy this a.m.... she apparently
attacked my siamese (male,neutered ~12y/o) - didn't end up being
serious, but when he got away, she turned on my 5y/o son.

She ripped at his legs, he then got away ran to me where she followed
and attacked again. I gave her a smack to get off and held her down
to
the ground (had to use force) while he left the room.

He ended up behind a closed door upstairs when I let go of the cat,
she
then took off immediatly in pursuit... hair fluffed out and growling.

My son now has multiple deep claw marks on his legs up to just above
the knees and defense marks on his hands & wrists. The cat seems
fine
now, but she is being kept away from the other family members.

Her diet has been the same, the only thing is we parted with a
fostered
cat (1y/o had him from a kitten) last week. They weren't great
'friends' and did fight regularly (not to the point of injury).

Can we trust this cat now? She is normally very affectionate,
inquisitive and loves everyone (never had a problem with our kids).


Any thoughts would be appreciated. We don't want to part with her,
but
obviously can't keep her if she's going to have 'mental' breakdowns
and
attack our 5y/o in this manner (let alone the degree of attack and
how
long it may have continued if I wasn't right there to stop it).

Thanks!


FYI If my 5-year old were attacked by any animal, that animal would be
history. MLB

How horrible is that. So, how long has your child been in prison?

What an asinine question. Grow up. MLB


Oh, I see. If your 5-year-old (who would now be, what, 55?) was attacked by
an animal you would kill or otherwise dispose of the animal. Sorry, I
misunderstood.
Thanks for clarifying.

iam so sorry to hear of the cats distress and your young childs injury
i do love animals very much however i love children more and i do
believe your childs safety should be paramount i do feel removing the
foster cat has some direct link with this issue

mr coyote wrote:
Wow.. thanks for the many replies I've gotten... most are well
received, but a few I'm not to sure about- some of you people really
read into things and perhaps need to relax a little bit.

The story is as I initially wrote. I put "apparently attacked my
siamese" as that is what my son said he saw - from a distance away
(the cats at the top of the stairs, he at the bottom). No, I wasn't
there, I was cooking breakfast for my son.... should I be shadowing him
hand in hand because we have two cats in the house that have _never_
had an agression problem before? Perhaps I'm a bad parent for not
being attached to my son's hip on any given second of the day.

A five year old does not have the knowledge or impulse control to be
left alone with any animal.


Anyway, I don't have plans to declaw her... right now, she is likely
going to be going to a new home - a quieter home where there aren't
children. The cat has been in a loving home since she was a kitten
(obtained from a shelter, I might add) and will no doubt be going to a
new loving home if this is what it comes down to. If she ended up
stressed out, I can't help that -

/me bangs head on wall...


I'm not sure what we could do
differently to have prevented that. We have a busy family (4 kids that
love the cats, but our 5 y/o enjoys playing - and I believe him when he
says he wasn't near the two when the fight occured).

He was close enough, unsupervised, to get attacked.



Again, thanks for the replies... I'm still not sure what to do - but we
do have a new home in line if that is what it comes down to.

Please do not get any more cats.

-L.

On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 04:40:03 GMT, John Doe
wrote:

Margarita Salt brandyalx kittylittercomcast.net wrote:


I'm with you. I think getting rid of a pet you love is the last
resort AFTER declawing. I love Kami dearly, but she has had these
"breakdowns" since the day I brought her home. She's just psycho,
but she's my "daughter." There's no one out there who would put
up with her, much less spoil her the way I have. It wouldn't be
fair, and she has forgiven me.

Getting rid of your pet is what you do after you disable it. You
can't cope now, and you can't cope with problems arising later. You
take away its self-defense, its mode of play and exercise, and then
you get rid of it.

Wrong, you get rid of it before you disable it.

If you can't cope with the claws, don't get the cat.

A cats claws are the functional equivalent of our fingers.

Right. And you are a good example of why some people should be
de-fingered... so they don't type a constant stream of negative ****,
shredding the social upholstery, so to speak.

Charlie

On Mon, 20 Feb 2006 23:23:30 +0000, mlbriggs
wrote:

On Mon, 20 Feb 2006 12:51:44 -0800, mrcoyote wrote:

My ~2y/o spayed female cat went crazy this a.m.... she apparently
attacked my siamese (male,neutered ~12y/o) - didn't end up being
serious, but when he got away, she turned on my 5y/o son.

She ripped at his legs, he then got away ran to me where she followed
and attacked again. I gave her a smack to get off and held her down to
the ground (had to use force) while he left the room.

He ended up behind a closed door upstairs when I let go of the cat, she
then took off immediatly in pursuit... hair fluffed out and growling.

My son now has multiple deep claw marks on his legs up to just above
the knees and defense marks on his hands & wrists. The cat seems fine
now, but she is being kept away from the other family members.

Her diet has been the same, the only thing is we parted with a fostered
cat (1y/o had him from a kitten) last week. They weren't great
'friends' and did fight regularly (not to the point of injury).

Can we trust this cat now? She is normally very affectionate,
inquisitive and loves everyone (never had a problem with our kids).


Any thoughts would be appreciated. We don't want to part with her, but
obviously can't keep her if she's going to have 'mental' breakdowns and
attack our 5y/o in this manner (let alone the degree of attack and how
long it may have continued if I wasn't right there to stop it).

Thanks!


FYI If my 5-year old were attacked by any animal, that animal would be
history. MLB

That's very bold and resolute, but kind of DUMB. Plenty of kids get a
minor mauling by the household cat.

Charlie

Charlie Wilkes wrote:

Right. And you are a good example of why some people should be
de-fingered... so they don't type a constant stream of negative ****,
shredding the social upholstery, so to speak.

lol, lets just pay for every other finger to be removed