Cat just attacked me / redirected aggression... are they usually the sweetest cats?

mycatpaulie

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.i am so upset everyone, I have had a 1 year old female cat for almost a month now. She has been so sweet, will let me hold her, sleeps in my bed and follows me around the house. Today my sister who lives with me dropped a fork and my cat went crazy, she started howling, hissing, biting and starching me, I froze in place and tried to talk nice to her but she wouldn't let up. I wwas finally able to walk slowly out of the room and left her alone for a while, i came back in the house and she followed me into my bedroom where I slowly shut the door, she has food water toys and her litter box. I am crying because I do not know what to do, I know she was trigger but i don't know what do. Please help.
 

suzeanna

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I have also been the object of redirected aggression. In my case the cat was an 8 y/o female we adopted in August 2020, and the triggering event was 3 weeks later, me dropping a bunch of cloth masks and making a yelping sound. I am sooo sorry to hear about this event and know it feels really traumatic, especially when you're not doing anything to prolong the attack. In our case, the attacks became increasingly frequent over other stimuli/bad timing (e.g., a few days later the cat was watching cat TV and my partner stubbed his toe and lowered himself to the ground in pain quietly but kind of quickly -- she turned around startled and tried attacking him). Sadly we got used to keeping flattened cardboard boxes around to fend her off. I tried distracting her with kibble or shutting her in the bedroom for a few hours to cool down. She would get very lonely and be kind if I went into the room and not attack me. We ended up getting her on gabapentin, which was really life-saving. I cannot tell you how much of a difference it made. Before, she would stalk after my partner if he literally nudged a cardboard box while walking past it. After she started the gabapentin, the results were almost immediate -- I walked past her in the hallway and she raised a paw halfway to swat at my leg, then stopped. My vet described it as a way to give the cat some extra thinking time, and I feel like that ended up being really true. We ended up transitioning her to fluoxetine/Prozac, which I'm weaning her off currently to see if any of the behaviors return. I think after the first episode her anxiety just went increasingly crazy. Maybe she got positive reinforcement since we'd try to give treats to distract her. The fluoxetine was also really helpful as an initial appetite suppressant bc she needed to lose weight and consume far less food. Anyway, talk to your vet if you can, but short-term gabapentin could possibly help if her fight-or-flight starts going haywire more frequently. I wish we had started her on it sooner instead of living in semi-fear and having occurrences randomly for a couple months. It was really, really hard and I didn't know if we could keep her, but returning her to the adoption agency felt unthinkable and I didn't want her to have to deal with biting being on her record when I know that she was just really scared and startled. The medication saved our life together! I also have feliway plugins in the bedroom and living room, not sure if they have any effect at all tbh.
 
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mycatpaulie

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Thank you so mu, I am stilshock. My leg has black and blue marks on it. I'm so glad the medicine helped your cat, this is an awful condition.
 

Kieka

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Some cats can be triggered by traumatic experiences, PTSD for cats if you want to apply human terms. The above is right that sometimes medication can help give them that pause moment to realize what is going on and get past the trigger without reaction. I'd encourage you to speak to your vet about it but do make sure your vet is a cat specialist or cat friendly vet first. Some vets just aren't that into cats and that can cause them to apply some negative stereotypes instead of recognizing the problems.
 

suzeanna

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Totally understand that you're still processing the event. You should wash your scratches as soon as possible (it not already) and put some Neosporin on them (or something like it). Moving forward, try to remember that your cat loves you and try not to feel super anxious or nervous around her -- they can definitely sense that and it can make them on edge. I really hope for you that this is a one-time event.

P.S. We also do our best to limit possible triggers or create positive associations with them -- try to not clink dishes around loudly in the sink, give her a treat when the doorbell rings (it's a horribly loud buzzer that we've already tightly covered in layers of cloth), etc.
 
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mycatpaulie

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Thank you so much for the replys. The vet said she looks like an exotic mix, do you know if these type of cats are more prone to this condition? It's just so strange because she is the sweetest caught me off guard. Should I give her some Benadryl to calm her down.

I have black and blue marks. I am on antibiotics for 10 days. Before this she was the most loving cat, never even hissed at anything, dose RA usally happened in otherwise calm cuddly cats. She is going to the vet next week but I am thinking it's more in her blood since she was rescued from a house that was breeding siblings. I am really upset and honestly scared of her.
 
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Kieka

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Most vets have no real ability to determine cat breeds, it isn't part of their training and usually based on just random knowledge. Unless your vet is active in breeding, take their opinion with a heavy dash of salt when it comes to identifying breed.

If the household was breeding siblings, it's more likely that some mental imbalance was passed down or amplified. I know my girl is the product of inbreeding and she is very much unstable at times. I really wish there were cat therapists because my girl needs one. Or it could be simply the conditions in the house that caused her to have the cat version of PTSD to some trigger that seems like nothing to you.
 

minish

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I'm so sorry that this happened. Cats are such fragile creatures while they constantly try to look cool (courageous, indifferent etc.) but they can break instantly. Minish bats my nail files when I do my pedicure in sudden hostility although she's seen and smelled them since she was kitten.
There may be a medical reason for her lashing out but it looks like the event or something prior to it (unfamiliar scent, noise, etc.) triggered a fear reaction.
If ı were you, I would retrace the steps leading to the event. Was something off those hours? Was she off before she reacted? Etc. This will help you understand and hopefully prevent its repeat
 

requin

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Thank you so much for the replys. The vet said she looks like an exotic mix, do you know if these type of cats are more prone to this condition? It's just so strange because she is the sweetest caught me off guard. Should I give her some Benadryl to calm her down.

I have black and blue marks. I am on antibiotics for 10 days. Before this she was the most loving cat, never even hissed at anything, dose RA usally happened in otherwise calm cuddly cats. She is going to the vet next week but I am thinking it's more in her blood since she was rescued from a house that was breeding siblings. I am really upset and honestly scared of her.

I hope your wounds have healed. I'm so very sorry this happened to you. I'm dealing w/ the same thing now although luckily so far my cat has not gotten to me while going thru one of his 'episodes'. (He would if he could though, I know that!).

I'm waiting for my vet to call after my cat's latest episode yesterday. He's 3 years old and has had 3 episodes..one 2 years or so ago (trigger was a smell), then nothing until about 2 weeks ago (trigger again was smell), and then again just yesterday (I cannot figure out the trigger this time).

Please let us know how you and your cat are doing. I'm really nervous and walking on eggshells around my cat now, although he spent the night in the garage and is mostly back to normal now (although he's wary, and goes around sniffing everything....gah..) I put a few grains of gabapentin in his food this morning which is prob helping keep him calm.
 
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