cat went crazy... can she be trusted?

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!

mrcoyote gmail.com 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).

I'm glad the cat didn't claw your son's eyes, it can happen.

.... after secluding the cat and treating the wounds, the first thing
to do is clip your cat's claws, the best time is upon waking it up
from a nap. It's really not too difficult. I put the thing between
my legs and sit on it with its head pointing towards my knees and my
feet keeping it from scooting away backwards. If sunlight isn't
available, a flashlight might help. Also, you might want to put on
glasses or goggles before you wake it from a nap to clip its claws.
Do it regularly.

.... keep in mind that giving your cat away is better than declawing
it

.... take care of your 12-year-old cat, in case it's stressed out

Good luck.











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From: mrcoyote gmail.com
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Subject: cat went crazy... can she be trusted?
Date: 20 Feb 2006 12:51:44 -0800
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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.

Sounds like misplaced aggression. Perhaps the cat saw another animal
outside, and took the aggression out on your other cat, then your son.
I would definitely supervise until you're sure the cat won't attack
again. I'm sure your son is quite traumatized over the event. You can
explain how animals sometimes get too excited but that she didn't mean
to take it out on him. Be supervising when they do have contact again.
You may also wish to contact an animal behaviorist to find out the
best way to deal with this situation. As someone else mentioned,
declawing the cat will probably just make her a biter, and cat bites
can be much worse than scratches. Also, declawing involves the
amputation of the last digit of each toe in order to remove the claw.

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.



It sounds like a possible case of misplaced agression. They see
something that they cannot fight, such as an outdoor cat, and then turn
on somebody that they can attack in the house.

It may also be a leftover issue with the foster cat. I have one cat
that likes to attack another cat. After I got Jay Jay, Chase had a new
buddy to play with, and his attacks on Kira became very rare. Things
were fine. Then, on saturday, I took Jay Jay to a cat show. I came home
and discovered tufts of Kira hair near the litter box and a pee spot on
the other side of the room. Chase ambushed her in the box. Why?
Probably because he was bored. The second day of the show, I left Kira
downstairs and Chase upstairs to prevent any problems while Jay Jay was
gone.

Did you actually witness the start of the event? I know this is hard,
but it is possible that your son witnessed the attack, and either
stepped into it, attempting to separate them, or he reacted by yelling,
screaming, or flailing; and that attracted the cat's anger toward him.
It's not something we can prevent since a 5 year old wouldn't know
better. But the cat may not have been as agressive had it just been the
two cats and nobody else arround. If that is the case, then you can
probably just make sure your son isn't alone with the cat until he is a
little older or you know your cat is okay.



There are also other possibilities. I would take her to the vet and
have her checked out. My dog, who is normally a sweet docile dog, will
growl and bite if the other dog gets too rough with her. And she
doesn't stop with a single bite. She keeps at it, like she is freaked
out. I have to bear hug her and settle her down. I've seen her go from
play to attack because the other dog jumped and landed on her back. If
your cat has any kind of injury or illness, she might be reacting in
pain, in a panicky way.

Also, there are some brain disorders that can cause problems. It has
been seen more in people since we animals don't get examined as much.
But certain brain tumors and illnesses will cause violence.

These are things that should be ruled out.

As for what you can do right now, I would keep her separated and calm.
Your vet can give her medication to calm her down. If your vet doesn't
think that is neccesary, you can try some herbal supplements like
Rescue Remedy. They don't work for everybody, but they won't cause any
harm either.

If you don't already, trim her nails. Declawing might sound like an
option, but don't consider it. Not only is it inhumane (they cut off
the last digit of the toe, like cutting off the whole tip of your
fingers), but declawed cats have a higher incidence of biting. And
bites are worse than scratches. They are deeper, and also more likely
to get infected. If you take away her claws, and she has another
episode like this, she will feel forced to attack with her teeth.

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

"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?

mlbriggs wrote:

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

What if that animal was provoked by the child? I got the impression
from the original poster that she did not actually witness the
beginning of this. Otherwise, why did the child have to run to her? If
she was there, she would have been the one breaking up the cats, and
she would have described how that happened and how the cat suddenly
went after the child.

I think it is much more likely that the child was startled by the cats,
and reacted by screaming or flailing, and that is what misdirected the
agression toward him. It's like breaking up a fight between dogs. The
person is just as likely to get injured as the dogs.

In this case, it was a small child who didn't know better and probably
reacted in a way that made the situation worse.

If you give up the cat with the explanation of being violent, it will
most likely end up bein euthanized. Is that fair to a cat when the
situation wasn't even seen by an adult?


Here's another example. A neighbor kid was visiting and tried to squash
my cat. The kid was only 5 or 6 years old, but was trying to sit on my
cat. He didn't get attacked. I was able to rescue my cat before
anything worse happened. But had my cat attacked him, it would have
been a fair response. And the fault would have been the mother's for
letting her kid sit on my cat.

Another situation. Years ago, my youngest neice was a terror to
animals. She pulled tails, grabbed ears, etc. She totally ignored us,
and her mom wasn't doing anything about it. We warned her, and she got
scratched. Not too seriously, but enough to make her cry. I did not
feel sorry for her. After that, whenever they pulled in the driveway,
all animals were locked away for their safety. And the girls were not
allowed in the basement. No way did I want that terror near my animals.
My niece is 13 years old now, and she has never spent the night at our
house. We simply cannot watch her 24/7, and we do not trust her with
animals. She can come for visits, but never overnight.

It is very frustrating to see on the news that a dog attacks a child,
and the dog has to be euthanized, yet the child was in the dog's yard
without supervision, and nobody knows what actually happened. We punish
the animal automatically even though it could easily have been provoked
by the "victim".

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.



wrote in message
oups.com...

mlbriggs wrote:

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

What if that animal was provoked by the child? I got the impression
from the original poster that she did not actually witness the
beginning of this. Otherwise, why did the child have to run to her? If
she was there, she would have been the one breaking up the cats, and
she would have described how that happened and how the cat suddenly
went after the child.

I think it is much more likely that the child was startled by the cats,
and reacted by screaming or flailing, and that is what misdirected the
agression toward him. It's like breaking up a fight between dogs. The
person is just as likely to get injured as the dogs.

In this case, it was a small child who didn't know better and probably
reacted in a way that made the situation worse.

If you give up the cat with the explanation of being violent, it will
most likely end up bein euthanized. Is that fair to a cat when the
situation wasn't even seen by an adult?


Here's another example. A neighbor kid was visiting and tried to squash
my cat. The kid was only 5 or 6 years old, but was trying to sit on my
cat. He didn't get attacked. I was able to rescue my cat before
anything worse happened. But had my cat attacked him, it would have
been a fair response. And the fault would have been the mother's for
letting her kid sit on my cat.

Another situation. Years ago, my youngest neice was a terror to
animals. She pulled tails, grabbed ears, etc. She totally ignored us,
and her mom wasn't doing anything about it. We warned her, and she got
scratched. Not too seriously, but enough to make her cry. I did not
feel sorry for her. After that, whenever they pulled in the driveway,
all animals were locked away for their safety. And the girls were not
allowed in the basement. No way did I want that terror near my animals.
My niece is 13 years old now, and she has never spent the night at our
house. We simply cannot watch her 24/7, and we do not trust her with
animals. She can come for visits, but never overnight.

It is very frustrating to see on the news that a dog attacks a child,
and the dog has to be euthanized, yet the child was in the dog's yard
without supervision, and nobody knows what actually happened. We punish
the animal automatically even though it could easily have been provoked
by the "victim".

"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.

oh.......... you can use "softpaws" on your cat, they even come in
colors. (they are plastic tips that fit over the claw to keep the cat
or dog from scratching)