cat went crazy... can she be trusted?

Spot wrote:
Any 12 or 13 year old that can not be trusted around animals has serious
issues and needs help. If this is truely the case and nothing is done to
intervene you are looking at a future member of the prison population. The
abuse starts out directed at animals and escalates to humans eventually.


I agree with you there.

Back when this started, she was much younger, and we strongly
encouraged her mother to get professional help. She was diagnosed with
attention deficit and put on medication. She is still well behind in
school, refuses to do homework etc. I worry about her future, but all
we can do is offer advice and support. They live 2 hours away, so we
cannot take her for short visits.

I wish there was more we could do, but we don't have that much
influence on her. She and my brother did not marry, and my nieces are
with the husband, not my brother. Most of our contact is because of my
nephew, who is now 19 and lives with us. So, it's not as much as it
used to be.

She is currently 13, and she has been good with the animals during her
visits for the past 2 years (which shocked us), but we do not trust her
unsupervised. She may be over it, but it is not a risk we are willing
to take.



Her older sister is fine, and my nephew lives with us and is great with
animals. He's actually my assistant with animal photos. He's great at
working the animals, and he knows what I want. I don't have to tell him
much.

wrote in message
oups.com...
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.


What apparently? Did you or someone else witness this or did the 5 year old
tell you. An animal is not going to turn on you unless you did something
such as got in the middle of the fight or messed with it some way to over
stimulant it or harm it some way. But from what I am reading something
more is going on or you did not describe the whole situation fully.

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.


The cat did not attack you I take it and I am not talking about making a
cat-er waling fuss. You would have not been able to hold a true attacking
cat without it giving you a piece of it mind.

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

This is where you need to think about what you said" why would a the cat
take off after the 5 year old unless something was done by the 5 year old.
If the cat was having misplaced aggression from attacking the other cat.
You would have been the target from holding it down. Think about this
carefully the cat would have attacked you. Did it?

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.


Make sure you clean the cuts out real good and watch the cuts for infection.
How deep are the cuts are stitches going to be necessary. If not try liquid
Band-Aid I wish they would have had this when our kids were young.


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).

Cats do this if there is not injury either is play or dominance factor


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


Yes it sounds like there is more going on than the 5 year old is telling
you


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!


I may be wrong IMO but when it comes to young children and small animals
you suspect the child first if a problem happens. Specially a 5 year old
they are very curious and get into things as any parent will tell you. It
sounds like the 5 year old got messing with the cat maybe got the cat over
stimulated or got in the middle of something and found out just what it
means to mess the cat. Lesson Learned hopefully to many of us know about
this growing up when the furball showed us who was boss when we messed with
them.

If you are worried about the cat I would take the cat to the vet and have
some blood work done to rule out a medical factor. But it sounds like a
child being in the wrong place do something that all children do best not
knowing not to do it .

Please if you think you need to declaw the cat because of this give the cat
to a loving home instead. Declawing is never the answer. If you don't know
what declawing pertains someone out here will gladly give you the truth on
the horrors of what is done to a cat to have them declawed


Matthew

wrote in message
oups.com...
"declawed cats have a higher incidence of biting"~~~~ I have had cats
my whole life (I will be 37 in April) I have never declawed any of my
cats UNTIL I got my last 2. Its been 3 yrs now and they do NOT bite,
nor have we have any complains at the veterinary hospital that I work
at as a health care assist. of "cat bites" after or because of a declaw

I have very mixed feeling about declawing, I never did it before.But my
husband put his foot down and told me to get it done or get rid of them
after they torn his brand new chair up the same night we got it. I
chose to declaw and keep them instead of giving them away and them
possibly not have the good life they do now.

BTW~~ I have a 6 yr.


I had the same problem and bought my cats something they like to scratch
more than the chair. They don't scratch the chair anymore and they have not
been mutilated, neat, eh? Your husband is an idiot and so are you.

wrote:
"declawed cats have a higher incidence of biting"~~~~ I have had cats
my whole life (I will be 37 in April) I have never declawed any of my
cats UNTIL I got my last 2. Its been 3 yrs now and they do NOT bite,
nor have we have any complains at the veterinary hospital that I work
at as a health care assist. of "cat bites" after or because of a declaw

That has to be a lie. I cannot tell you how many reports we have had
of aggression after declaw surgery. Let me guess - you're a
receptionist.



I have very mixed feeling about declawing, I never did it before.But my
husband put his foot down and told me to get it done or get rid of them
after they torn his brand new chair up the same night we got it.

Cats cannot tear up a chair in one night. Sure, they probably
scratched it - because they had no alternative that was more appealing.
If your dickhead husband wanted to get rid of your kids would you do
that, too?


I
chose to declaw and keep them instead of giving them away and them
possibly not have the good life they do now.

You mutilated your cats. Declawing is partial digital amputation. Not
only did you remove the nail and the nail bed, but you removed the
distal phalanx - the last bone in the paw. It is this bone that the
cat uses to walk on. So now your cat is forced to walk on his pads and
the ends of the bones which were not designed for bearing weight.
Congratulations - you took the lazy person's way out of a situation
that could easily have been solved by buying appropriate scratching
tools and/or by using Softpaws.

-L.

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.

Displaced aggression. Let me guess - your son was right there in the
middle of the frey...


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.

Because you smacked her and held her down...


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.

NEVER leave a 5 year old alone with any animal. NEVER.

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).

You caused this incident, indirectly. You kept the cats together
despite them fighting. You gave away the one cat, which changed the
dynamic between the other two. You allowed your child free access to
the cats. You then exascerbated the situation by smacking your cat and
holding her down. Your cat is stressed out - what she needs is love
and attention in a stress-free environment - no other animals, no kids.
Do what you have to do to make that happen, before you reintroduce her
to your other cat or your child.

I would suggest rehoming the cat because she is clearly not happy where
she is, but I don't trust you to have any judgment when it comes to
placing her in the right kind of home.

Call your local Humane Society and ask to talk to a cat behavioral
specialist - they can either have someone call you back or give you the
number of a professional.

-L.

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
....right there to stop it).

Thanks!

there is no way you are telling everything
i can hear it in your typing

tell it all, and maybe you get some help

Barry keep that display signature it fit you

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.

"mr coyote" wrote in message
oups.com...
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.


far from a bad parent you are just like the rest of us if we were attached
to our kids hips they would never leave home

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).

Don't get rid of the cat i doubt you will have a problem again if so you
know where to begin at ;-) keep us posted



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.

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.


CoastieOhana yahoo.com wrote:

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From: CoastieOhana yahoo.com
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Subject: cat went crazy... can she be trusted?
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"declawed cats have a higher incidence of biting"~~~~ I have had cats
my whole life (I will be 37 in April) I have never declawed any of my
cats UNTIL I got my last 2. Its been 3 yrs now and they do NOT bite,
nor have we have any complains at the veterinary hospital that I work
at as a health care assist. of "cat bites" after or because of a declaw

I have very mixed feeling about declawing, I never did it before.But my
husband put his foot down and told me to get it done or get rid of them
after they torn his brand new chair up the same night we got it. I
chose to declaw and keep them instead of giving them away and them
possibly not have the good life they do now.

BTW~~ I have a 6 yr.