Cat Attacking Me Suddenly

[Conniew]

hi,

I have a cat called marley. I’ve had him since he was 6 weeks old and he was like my shadow. If he wasn’t on my lap licking me and purring he’d be right behind me every second.
He had his operation about 3 months ago and ever since then he’s been randomly attacking me. He’ll come into a room just to jump up growl hiss and attack me. I’m covered head to toe in bites and scratches. I’ve tried distracting with a toy, shouting and a spray bottle but it doesn’t work. I’ve found keeping my hands in his sight usually stops him going for my face so this works if I don’t have a toy on me. If I attempt to move away he’ll jump and cling onto any part of me he can. The other day it was side and he slid down me with his claws still in. ;(
We do have another cat. They don’t get along so they are separate at the moment - 1 year down the line I’m still trying introductions. I haven’t attempted for a few weeks now due to the change in his behaviour, my other cat is very petite and at the moment his neck is shaved due to a blood test so I dont want Marley’s teeth sinking straight into his neck.
I’ve had Marley checked, he is 100% healthy.
I have two children and they’ve never been victim to him, it’s only ever me.

Does anybody have any advice? I’m really upset about it.

I’ve added a link to a video, usually I wouldn’t try to stroke him I just wanted an example to show his behaviour towards me.

 

[rubysmama]

Sorry you're dealing with Marley's aggressive behaviour.

Strange that it's only towards you. Did you by any chance change any personal hygiene products (soap, mositurizer, makeup, etc.) around the time as Marley's neuter?

When you had him checked out at the vet, and he was deemed healthy, did the vet have any thoughts on Marley's aggression?

Not really sure what to suggest, other than saying "noooo" when you see he's about to attack, and "owwwww" when he bites/scratches you, to let him know he's hurting you.

TCS has a couple articles that might be helpful. Here's the links:
Cat Aggression Toward People | TheCatSite
Why Do Cats Attack? | TheCatSite

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi! He looks to be cowering in your attempt to pet him, and yet when he 'attacked' you his ears were upright (not back against his head, as they would be normally for a cat who is meaning intentional harm). The spraying him with water did not likely help, and might have exacerbated the issue as cats just do not make a connection between their behavior and being sprayed by water as a form of discipline. Being shouted at is not that much less traumatic than being sprayed with water.

In addition to a change in personal hygiene products, how about a job change or medicine change? All of these can make you smell differently. If you are the primary caretaker of the other cat that was in for blood testing and had his neck shaved, you could be carrying on you smells that Marley is unfamiliar with due to whatever is going on with the other cat, including any smells this cat carries on him from the recent vet visit, meds, etc.

Who is being 'sequestered', btw, and did that change at some point so that Marley is in a different set of circumstances/environment than he was before?

This might have coincided with his surgery, but there is something else going on. You need to backtrack and create a diary/log of all that you can remember in terms of changes/events/etc. in your home/environment to see if you can find some clues through that.

 

[walli]

He needs to learn that biting and scratching is unacceptable.
My Joey was biting and scratching me, I started hissing at him every time he would do it, and I also started scruffing him, gently grab the back of the neck for a few seconds, hiss or say OW! you have to say OW!, hiss or scruff every time if you skip its like you start over. some people don't like the idea of scruffing, if you choose to do it, it needs to be gentle if it persists you can lift his front legs off the ground just a little bit, I had to train my self to do this automatically. My first response was Hiss but I think OW! works better, they don't really want to hurt us.
sounds like something happened and he doesn't know how to behave.

My Joey isn't biting anymore, I do see him stop himself tho, so He still has it in him. This morning I was carrying him and my husband dropped something, scared him pretty bad, He launched off my body, and I got scratched, it really hurt and I said OW! not for him because it really hurt, Joey looked at me like he was really worried for me! It was awesome!

It has only been 2 months since I started doing this, He is on CBD also too, but I'm pretty sure the discipline was a major part, if you do a search for Scruffing @diandbob is very knowledgeable in this area and has helped a lot of people!

 

[ArchyCat]

What Walli suggests is also what I have read. The hiss! and gentle scruffing is exactly what his mom cat would if he were misbehaving. After the hiss & scruff, ignore him for five minutes or so. Also, I think rubysmama and FeebysOwner make good points. Pluus please don't spray your cat! It won't help, and it just might make him angry!

Good luck!

 

[Conniew]

Thank you for your replies.
He hasn’t attacked me since this I put this post up.
I can’t think of any change that could of caused this other than the fact my other cat has been up and down from the vets quite a lot as he’s still unwell.
Next time I will hiss at him.
They take it in turns during the day of who goes in a different room, Marley naps in the afternoon so that’s when he’s out into my bedroom and he’s in my bedroom all night aswell. I know it’s not ideal but I’m hoping soon this will pass and they’ll be happy together.
Someone did suggest than maybe my other cat being unwell is unsettling him and he’s sensing something.

I’ll try your suggestions next time & hopefully this behaviour stops I just miss our cuddles!

 

[Lisannez]

To me it does not look like he's being aggressive or attacking, he may just be playing. My cats have done that before randomly. I also find that oddly they really hate bandaids. So if I have a bandaid on my finger, both of them will try to bite it. Weird, are you maybe wearing bandaids? I think it smells like the vet. The other thing is you smell like the other cat. If they don't get along that could be an issue.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

C Conniew , what is his food schedule? is he able to eat alone for each meal to ensure he can eat all of his intended meal, or is there a chance another cat is eating some of his food? I've seen some similar behavior and facial expressions when my cat was younger and it was when she was hungry/ready for her next meal or if she was just plain bored... she would seek me out, have that "hangry" or cranky look, focus too much on my hands, and try lunging when I wouldn't get the point (e.g. "Can't you read my mind, human? I am hungry or I am sooooo bored! Pay attention to me!"). If you are the main human that feeds him and he is younger than 2 years old, that could be why he is 'attacking' you more than others (e.g. they don't feed him, you normally do). I would just try to give him small meals a few more times a day to keep his appetite calmer (just in case you are feeding him, for example, larger meals maybe one or two times a day instead?). It really does help; cats are naturally grazers, in a way, and many do well eating smaller meals several times a day. Especially if they have high metabolisms. How old is he?