Unprovoked Attacks

My 4 year old tortie Luna has always had a very playful personality, but she’s also been very sweet. She doesn’t bite and she doesn’t really scratch, preferring to give a warning meow or swipe with her claws still retracted in your general direction. She’s even been known to gently place a paw on my hand (no claws) to show displeasure so I’ve never had a problem with aggression with her before but lately if I am wearing a sweater or jacket she’s taken to pouncing on the arm and sinking her claws into the material. I think it’s playful behavior and she’s not meaning to hurt me since she’s never done it when it’s just my bare arm, only when I have something fairly thick on. Despite the fact that I’m don’t think there’s ill intent it is inappropriate play behavior and needs to stop. Sometimes she does miscalculate and scratch the skin. There are two instances where she’s has gotten stuck in a sweater and I’ve had to maneuver to take it off before helping her get uncaught. She doesn’t do this when I’m petting her or playing with her only when I’m sitting nearby not messing with her or doing something unrelated to her. I’ve tried playing with her more to get that energy out but it hasn’t worked, it even seems to make the problem worse at times. I don’t think it’s redirected aggression since I am a one cat household and I haven’t noticed any dogs or strays in the area that might be causing her alarm and it’s never after she’s looked out of the window or at the tv or anything. Any advice would be much appreciated.

When she does that, peel her off you, tell her “no biting!” or similar in your sternest mom voice and give her a gentle push on the chair or sofa, and walk away from her. At four she has a sense of when she has done something naughty or when you are withdrawing from her so it shouldn’t take doingmthis more than a few times before she catches on that this isn’t allowed.

And if "NO!" doesn't work, try hissing at her. That's "STOP IT" in ALL dialects of "Cattish." LOL, sometimes, when I'm typing that out, I'll actually hiss myself, and poor Hekitty jumps and looks at me as if to say, "What did I DO? I was just sitting here!"

See your other thread, Darlin. I posted there.

Today I am happy to report that she didn’t attempt to attack my arm a single time, unfortunately though, I was just met by another behavioral problem. I was laying in bed about to fall asleep when Luna jumped on to the bed. This is not unusual as she sleeps with me every night. What is unusual and completely unacceptable is that instead of coming up to my side for scratches like normal she laid in my stomach and tried to pee on me! I managed to get her off before any got on me but not before she soiled my favorite comforter a bit. Of course I’m going to try to rule out any health issues but she has recently received a clean bill of health and her litter seems normal. If this is strictly behavioral do you think it is any related to the pouncing also what should I do to try to correct the bag or should it continue. I know I need to remove her scent but apart from that or shutting her out completely what options do I have? I’m debating on starting a new thread but if might be related I thought I best pop back here.

Correct the behavior* not bag or haha.

I really appreciate the advice on my earlier problem and perhaps for this one if he pouncing behavior shows itself again I’ll definitely keep it in mind.

I believe that, in any scenario, she is trying to tell you that something is wrong.

First of all you have to rule out that it is medical. Behavioral issues that include peeing incidents are, more often than not, caused by something medical.

If it's not then you have to start thinking about what may have changed in the past two months. Are you home less? Is there someone new coming over a lot? Is there a new neighbor or a neighbor cat around? Are you pregnant? (cats can smell the hormones, there was a thread abouit this just a bit ago) Or is she not getting the same amount as attention as usual?

Thank you for the advice! I understand that the medical aspect needs to be checked as soon as possible , like I said I’m going to try to rule out any medical problems to start. She did pee on me once before in my sleep when I first got her about 10 months ago but there was nothing wrong medically and she never did it again so I chalked it up to the stress of a drastically different environment. so peeing without a medical issue wouldn’t be completely out of the range of possibility for her.

You’re right that I should try to pin point what it is that is causing her to act this way specifically. Instead of just trying to correct the behavior I should try to find the reason for it and if possible correct that as an option first. I didn’t punish her apart from saying her name a bit harshly and pulling her off of me so no need to worry about that. It can be hard to keep your cool when you’re being actively peed on but I know that lashing out wouldn’t help her and probably worsen the problem.

The most change to her routine came with the holidays. I spent them at my dads house and she came with me. She adjusted fine to his house. In fact, I think she even liked it better simply because he has a few more shelves and hidey holes for her than I do. I came back on the 31st and everything has seemed fine until recently. The pouncing began around the 6th and the peeing was tonight, right before I updated this thread. I’ve been home with her as I’m a student waiting to get back from break so she has plenty of attention right now. I’ll have to keep thinking.

If it turns out not to be medical and I can’t pinpoint the issue, I’m afraid the bahavior will continue despite the enzymes currently soaking into my comforter. If it does and I can’t find the problem what would be my options? I’d rather not shut her out of my room as she has claimed me more than any particular spot as her territory and can have quite bad seperation anxiety. The only other times she has failed to use the liter box are anytime she’s gone without seeing me (even when I’ve had her stay with a friend or had someone go check on her) for more than 18ish hours (not often but sometimes it’s unavoidable) Then she’ll poop but never pee on something that belongs to me. She will also whine and scratch quite desperately if she finds herself shut out of any room I’m in. (Please note: these are all things I have been working on and have been getting better but I thought I’d give some background as to why shutting her out might create more problems) That is a behavior that I am working on, but I don’t know what to do if peeing becomes a regular thing and I can’t discover the cause.

This sounds more and more like stress, but yes, make sure there is nothing medical. There's a pretty good article on separation anxiety here, Separation Anxiety In Cats, that may give you some ideas you haven't tried yet.

And keep in mind that even small (to us) changes in the environment can assume gigantic proportions in a cat's mind.