Depressing Maniacal Behavior Issue

[Ricker]

Hello everyone. I'm new on this site and I'm also a first-time cat owner. You all probably get lots of questions regarding odd cat behavior but I feel mine takes the cake. In a nutshell, I adopted a feral kitten I found meowing outside my window one Saturday morning. I named her "Bebe" (Spanish for "baby" pronounced with short e, NOT "bee bee"). She has always been a more nervous and anxious-than normal kitten but had been making good progress when she suddenly changed for the worst.

There is not a word in the English language to explain the extremity of her scared behavior these days. She is also very aggressive but in a very creepy, total unacceptable way; she basically gets so incredibly scared, she kind of goes nuts with this wild look in her eyes. She plays frantically and manically with her toys (like having a seizure) and finally it progresses to constant stalking and pouncing aggression with a look so terrified, it's distracting. NOBODY could live with that look and constant hyper paranoid behavior. It's just too much.

She has yet to actually attack me but she's getting bolder every day. Recently, she got so aggressive, she had me locked out of my own office. I spent over three hours trying to calm her down but nothing worked. I lost my patience and rushed in with gloves and violently grabbed her and placed her into her carrier. I also screamed at her very loudly twice. Most animals get over stuff like this. She does not.

If her behavior was over-the-top scared before, it's just nutty now. If I'm in a room with her and she can't get out, she literally scratches the walls violently in a desperate attempt to escape and she won't stop.

I regret yelling at her. It seems to have been the thing that caused all this extreme fear in her. And the aggression before the extreme fear was actually the fear itself causing the aggression. I had done absolutely nothing to cause her to fear me until I yelled at her. Now she won't even look at me. She looks above or to the side of me when I look at her then runs away in terror, spending the next day frantically jumping randomly and scratching walls and wailing in agony. I will admit this is greatly offensive and very depressing to me. I love her so much and now I feel I've lost her. I don't feel there's any hope. I've tried everything and I've concluded it was basically out of my hands as well, meaning she has to be mentally ill. The fighting for her life-like behavior is just way over the top. So much so, I've been forced to keep her in an enclosure where she is actually able to relax a bit and eat. However she hasn't slept a wink in over 3 days because she is anticipating my presence and lays there trembling with her eyes half closed and ears twitching.

What happened? It's as if she's a different cat. I want my Bebe back. I love her and miss her so. I've wept hard the last 48 hours because she now hates me and am a walking terror to her. Are there any techniques out there that have been proven effective for extremely sensitive, very frightened and traumatized, possibly mentally ill cats? The behavior has to be seen to be believed. Everyone I've told is at first incredulous and they say the behavior I describe is common. Then they see what I'm taking about and they tell me, "she's insane. Good luck with that."

 

[ileen]

I am a first-time cat person as well, since December, and I sympathize with you. Although your kitten's behavior is more extreme than my cat's, my cat does attack me, scratching and biting on a now daily basis. I would advise you to take her to the vet, especially if you can find a behaviorist. It's possible your kitty needs medication to calm her moods. Good luck.

 

[susanm9006]

A lot of what you describe in the first paragraph sounds like typical hyperactive kitten behavior. They do act often like they are insane or possessed, but that doesn't make her mentally ill, just an energetic kitten. You mentioned stalking and pouncing but you also say she has never attacked you. So, what makes you think that she will actually attack?

I do agree that the way you grabbed her and yelled at her left her terrified of you, and no, this isn't something that a cat will get over quickly. Now that she is fearful of you, you will need to work at regaining her trust. Start with leaving her alone and ignoring her until she calms down and comes to you. You can also try giving her some treats When she is ready to come near you.

If you can post a video of your cat when she is acting "insane", we may be able to provide more insight into her behavior.

 

[Ricker]

Thank you for the advice. It has helped me form my own technique based on her behavioral patterns as well and it has been a surprisingly resounding success. She is now curled and purring on my lap. I'm still shocked over the effectiveness of what I did last night but I'm also a tad worried of any additional issues it may bring.

I let her out of her enclosure and allowed her to roam the house. It was much the same thing; her panicking and rushing me and yelping in terror. I relaxed and soon realized the rushing was a way to scare me off and it usually does because I had assumed she would attack me. This time I didn't flinch and she ran the other way instead of attacking me. I continued by going about my normal routine for the next 3 hours and all she did was stalk me, rush me, and frantically find a way to escape. It was the most stressful and annoying three hours ever. Nothing made her calm down but I did notice one thing; her behavior wasn't convincing. Meaning, it was over the top as if she were some drama queen and was simply acting out. Don't get me wrong, she was truly frightened but the extremity of it was a bit of a stretch. It all began to anger me but I relaxed and decided on an alternate approach.

That alternate approach involved a stuffed animal of a kitten that belongs to my niece that she left laying around. I call my kitty "Bebina" for long (as opposed to for short since you can't shorten "Bebe." I know, I'm weird, lol) and so I began to carry around and call the stuffed kitten "Bebino." I stealthily slipped my fingers underneath to maneuver it as if a real kitten and she totally fell for it. Suddenly, her terror turned to curiosity and eventually jealousy as I cuddled and petted my new Bebino. She tried rushing it and just as dramatically as she had behaved before, I very melodramatically exclaimed, "No! You leave my Bebino alone!" and I walked into the office (which is HER room) and shut the door. I spent the next 15 minutes audibly being affectionate to my fake kitty Bebino.

I had IP cams running in the Living room and kitchen so I could observe what she was doing and she sat inside her litter box as if guarding a fortress. I thought I'd take it up a notch and began to remove her toys and eventually her litter box and told her they were for my new Bebino. She went nuts with jealousy and hugged one of the dining room table's legs and gnawed at it like a demon possessed cat. But when I closed the office door she looked heartbroken and it moved me so much I cried. That was the hardest thing to do, to pretend I didn't love her anymore.

I couldn't take the charade any longer and thought I had further ruined everything by now making her heartbroken and jealous and it lasted the entire night and I was tired so I put on my gloves and got the carrier and asked her gently to go inside. I placed some tuna inside and that made her go right in. I told her in a gentle voice, "Very good Bebina." I returned her to the office expecting her to go nuts again but was shocked to see her calmly looking for the fake kitty. When she couldn't find it she jumped on my chair and meowed at me. I sat down and she got on my lap and she rubbed her head on my chest as tears streamed down my face.

She is more affectionate than before all this started. She sort of panics a little when I move her things I guess because she fears I will give them to Bebino. So I took the stuffed kitty and showed it to her and said "Bye bye Bebino" and left him outside the back door. She seemed a bit more content after that. She is so happy now playing with her toys. It's more than I ever could have wished for. I love my Bebe so much.