This only happens to my girlfriend. My cat (female 5 years old) loves her. My cat always comes to her to get pet. They lay together in bed, and a lot of times, the cat even gets under the covers with her. Lately, however, my cat will be sitting next to her in bed, my girlfriend is petting her, and the cat will start hissing, growing, then violently attacks and scratches her severely. A few hours later she is totally normal. Why does this happen? How can I fix it? Can someone please help me?
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Cat suddenly attacks.. Why?
- Thread starter Josh989
- Start Date
However she is petting her, it is overstimulating the cat and resulting in an attack. Have your girlfriend give the cat a pet or two and then gently set her down. While she is petting the cat she needs to always be aware of the cats body language and stop immediately if the ears go sideways or back, or if the cats tail starts to twitch.
Hmmm, petting over stimulation is a thing. I've never personally seen severe attacks from it, but perhaps more to the point, why now? This is a 5 year old cat that, I assume, she has had since kittenhood or at least for years? So it seems to me that we should consider other possibilities as well. Is an injury to the cat possible? Does it *only* happen during petting, and do you pet the cat in the same spots? Certain illnesses, like arthritis or god forbid a tumor, could have the same effect. Has something changed with the GF? Things that might trigger this are mostly new smells, especially of other animals, that would be on her clothing for some reason, like if her dad just got a German Shepherd and she goes over everyday or she started work at a slaughterhouse. Lol, unlikely I know, but my basic point is to think about new scents.
I would likely recommend a vet visit even if you cant see any evidence of injury or illness unless thinking about new scents is helpful. That said, certainly talk to your GF about petting over stimulation -- maybe she is petting differently for some reason. I suppose we must also consider whether the over stimulation could tie into a Coronovirus quarrantine -- if your GF is home all the time now and bored (who isnt), that could possibly answer my "why now" question. All those cartoons about dogs running from their owners that are home all the time and bored are not entirely without truth, and it stands to reason that some cats could have issues with too much attention as well.
I would likely recommend a vet visit even if you cant see any evidence of injury or illness unless thinking about new scents is helpful. That said, certainly talk to your GF about petting over stimulation -- maybe she is petting differently for some reason. I suppose we must also consider whether the over stimulation could tie into a Coronovirus quarrantine -- if your GF is home all the time now and bored (who isnt), that could possibly answer my "why now" question. All those cartoons about dogs running from their owners that are home all the time and bored are not entirely without truth, and it stands to reason that some cats could have issues with too much attention as well.
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