Aggression in Foster Cat

Spookymoo

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Hi all,

I was hoping for some advice on a cat I am currently fostering. Background: She was found so no idea what her history is before the shelter but since her arrival she hid and had no contact with people...she was there since July 2024 with no interest poor little thing. She has come to me for fostering as I am experienced with shy cats. Very aggressive when getting her into a carrier but not unexpected from a scared cat that has had little to no human interaction for 7 months.

She has been with me for two weeks and has done far better than expected. After two days she started coming to me on her own initiative asking for attention and fuss. However, she wasn't eating much and after a few days she started randomly attacking me (sudden lunge, teeth and claws followed by hissing before she would then retreat to her safe space under the sofa). I thought it could be pain related and she has been on pain meds for nearly a week now but, whilst her eating has improved, the attacks haven't and if anything the more confident she gets with me the more she attacks suddenly.

This isn't my area of expertise and I was wondering if anyone had any tips to try and work out the cause plus how to positively deal with this to try and stop them happening in the future. Currently I don't react when she does it (luckily it is jumper weather, if not I am not sure I could be so calm) then, after she has retreated, I leave the room. I am also trying to engage her in play more but she is always more interested in attention from me.

One additional thing is the attacks are getting a little longer - where as before she would do it in a split second and then retreat now she does it and will look at me before doing it again. There is nothing playful in her behaviour that I can recognise, her ears are flat, her eyes have the whites showing and she looks terrified.

Thanks in advance and if you need more info please let me know.
 

Eurocat

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Hi there
Think you‘re doing a great job and have really considered all angles and are approaching everything in a really good way.
I think the pain aspect is a good place to start looking and it may be worth getting her checked by a vet in the near future (and her teeth too) although I totally understand the huge dilemma of totally stressing her yet again by the vet visit.
Like you I always gravitate to the shy animals and I agree that aggression is, of course, often a fear response. With your kitty now you also have no idea of her background before the shelter, which means anything is possible in terms of what she has experienced.
My current kitty (previously unhandled extremely skittish semi-feral who came off the streets) also initially could quickly switch to aggression (only suddenly swiping and hissing though) when she first discovered the joys of being touched. It was as though once the barrier had come down, she didn‘t know what to do with her suddenly ignited emotion and the threshhold for overstimulation was therefore extremely low. Although I encouraged her, I always let it be her choice to approach me, so I was in no way forcing physical affection on her. Like you I did not initially really react when she turned on me, but I did stand my ground, retreating only a time after she had stopped. It was important that she realized her actions had no effect. However I did resort to (imitated cat) hissing which stopped her in her tracks and I always had a big kicker toy at hand to deflect her if I saw the certain glint in her eye appearing, which really seemed to do the trick. This was especially useful in the evenings and mornings when she was most full of beans. And even though she went through a phase of prioritizing cuddling over play, play really was the golden bridge and I always insisted in playing with her after her cuddle sessions as this was important for her to let of steam.
In the end it was also all about predictability and trust. The more time she spent around me and was able to judge and predict my behaviour, the more she settled and became predictable to me and any aggression disappeared completely. I was in the lucky situation to be able to work from home so she had to get used to having me around.
When I finally allowed her to roam the house at night I woke a couple of times to find her squatting on my nighttable, staring at me. It was slightly unnerving, but her sitting at a raised location watching me in defenseless sleep mode really helped her to grasp that I was no threat. (However if I had a cat who tended to attack me out of nowhere I‘m not sure I‘d want her in my room! 😉)

And - I thought this video by this amazing cat rescue lady in the UK, Tiffany Dodd, could be helpful. Here she deals with an aggressive, terrified rescue cat with a really difficult background.


I‘m sure you‘ll get some more feedback from other more experienced members here too.

Wishing you and kitty all the best! 😺
 

Eurocat

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P.s. If the link doesn’t work, look for „Tiffany Dodd“ on youtube and go to her video „cat rescue, free cat“.
 
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Spookymoo

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Thanks so much for your reply Eurocat, it's good to know I am not alone with this kind of unwanted behaviour! I do think a vets visit would be good to fully rule out any issues but she did go when she first arrived at the shelter and was deemed as being 'unhandleable'. We have looked at options to help calm her for this but I have to admit if I can put it off a little longer until our trust is more built it is my preferred option.

I do wonder if the over stimulation that you mentioned could be a cause of the attacks, although she initiates everything it could be that it suddenly becomes too much for her. What toys were effective for you in initiating play? Pixel (the foster kitty) does seem to be interested in peacock feathers but balls, mice etc she just ignores. I am pretty sure she has no idea what to do with them, anything new I bring to her she hides from initially.

And thanks for the video link, I shall have a look at it shortly. My main concern with all of this is that I make the behaviour worse in some way as I haven't had to deal with something like this before, I would hate to be doing something that may encourage this behaviour and also make her less trusting of people. The more scared shy cats will also always have my heart, we have fostered many such cats and it is so wonderful to see them start trusting again and then finally get into their forever home....but they do always come with more complex issues than the typical moggy.
 

azpops

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P.s. If the link doesn’t work, look for „Tiffany Dodd“ on youtube and go to her video „cat rescue, free cat“.
Thanks for the heads up. Enjoyed, and enjoy watching her vids. So far watched 4 of the 13 vids posted. .. 👍👍


Spookymoo Spookymoo : good luck!
 
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