Hi! I'm new here and was hoping some of you lovely people might have some advice. When my wife walked in the door from work today our cats freaked out for some reason. Our female cat viciously attacked her brother and continued to pursue while he tried to run away. I had to hold him in my arms out of her reach to protect him, and in her continued efforts to attack him, she attacked me (which she's never done before) and drew blood on both my legs through my jeans by biting and scratching. When I ran upstairs with her brother to get safely inside a room, she tried to chase us. When I was safely behind the door with her brother, she then turned and started to attack our other cat. Luckily, my wife was able to corral her into the other bedroom to separate them. I'm now scared to let her back out of the room for fear of her attacking the other cats again. She seems calm now. Has anyone experienced such sudden inexplicable behavior before? What do you recommend?
Backstory:
We have three older cats ( 9 and 11 years old), two of whom were litter mates. The litter mates are a sister and a brother and are 11. They used to be better friends but fight more often now. The other cat is a 9-year-old male. The brother and sister occasionally fight to the point of hair flying and a small amount of blood, but it doesn't happen often, it clears up quickly, and when one tries to run away they don't pursue.
We recently moved to a new house that has a large population of ferral cats outside. When the outdoor cats fight, the sounds freak the indoor cats out and they respond by hiding, growling, or hissing but not fighting each other. We've lived here almost 3 months now and this is the first time we've had this kind of extreme behavior.
Backstory:
We have three older cats ( 9 and 11 years old), two of whom were litter mates. The litter mates are a sister and a brother and are 11. They used to be better friends but fight more often now. The other cat is a 9-year-old male. The brother and sister occasionally fight to the point of hair flying and a small amount of blood, but it doesn't happen often, it clears up quickly, and when one tries to run away they don't pursue.
We recently moved to a new house that has a large population of ferral cats outside. When the outdoor cats fight, the sounds freak the indoor cats out and they respond by hiding, growling, or hissing but not fighting each other. We've lived here almost 3 months now and this is the first time we've had this kind of extreme behavior.