My cat viciously attacked me...Extreme aggression. Any advice?

babyslim

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Hello everybody, “English is not my mother tongue, so please excuse me for any mistakes I might commit in it.

It is going to be a long post, because I do not know what to do, and I have limited options where I live.
I am at the end of my hopes, everything. We have a long history of extreme aggression by this cat.


We live in an small apartment with my husband, both he and I have had several cats through our lives. Last year I found a sick cat where I work, she was one to two months old, tuxedo cat. She used to had an eye problem, we were about to lose her eye. She was a bit anxious cat, but she always used to purr and be lovely.


On a long medication history, she got well at the end. But about 8-12 months she started to get into heat continuously.

Her vet refused to spay her due to her weakened immunity. On the other hand, it was unbearable for us, she used to scream all night long for weeks, without giving any pause.

Than we changed the vet, and her new wet said that we can spay her and did the surgery.



After the surgery, because she used cone, lost her balance fell down somewhere and broke her leg.

No surgery was needed but her feet needs to be wrapped. After all, she got well.



1st attack episode



So, now I come to the point. One day, my husband saw our cat swallowed a small piece of plastic bag, my hubby took her to vet. Vet gave an oxygenated water to her.

Meanwhile because of the cat, we started to argue with my husband because of the cat. I started to cry and yell, and I am sorry to say this, I start to hit and and shake my husband.

Suddenly, my cat came towards me and attacked me viciously in the kitchen, which is a very narrow place.

Several scratches and bites, which were serious, I needed to be hospitalized for the attack. No need to say that my husband was my cat ‘s favorite person, and the one she trusts.



Following the attack we found a cat behaviorist, he recommended some adaptations in our house, but as I mentioned in the beginning our apartment is very small, so the things that we can do is limited. We started to use felliway, and we added some boxes in order to catify the house. Also we put her to prozac.

And every evening I played with her using an cat to fishing pole.



2nd attack episode



One night my phone rang, I had a very very good news, and start to cry because of happiness. My husband and I was in the kitchen again. He also got happy and we got very close. The cat was very near of us, she start to show agression signs, My husband warned me and I left the place. Unfortunately, my husband moved towards the cat to calm her down, and the attacked happened again.



The second attack was very very serious , she started to pee and poo and could not get to normal even after two days.

This time she was very angry with my husband. When he sees her start to hiss and get mad.

She was ok with me, but when she sees the husband, she was getting mad.



3rd attack episode.



We took her to her bed behaviorist (he lives in another city) and she stayed there for 40 days. We take back her yesterday, and bring back to our house.

She was extremely lovely, and good to my husband. She was so so ok.

But than suddenly she saw my husband in the hallway suddenly, and start to hiss and tried to attack...



Now I closed her in a small room with food and toilet. She stayed in the room for the night.



Could you give me some advice, depseratly I need and advice. How my husband and her could establish the bonds again? Is it possible?
 

di and bob

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Those are very serious wounds, I feel sorry for you.....what your cat is suffering from is, believe it or not, somewhat common. It is called redirected aggression. She is triggered by something, in these cases by raised voices, crying, and being startled, and gets extremely fearful and scared, to the point of talking her fear out on the nearest person,(or anything that moves) in this case, the two of you. She is a very sensitive cat. you might try some calming aides, found at a vet or on a pet med site, but since you don't know when you will startle her by crying, fighting, etc., it is hard to pinpoint when to give them to her. now that you know what is going on, you could go to another place, or a closed room if you are aware of any of these triggers coming on, or be very aware of where she is. Most vets would prescribe Prozac or some other antidepressant drug for her, it has been done many times and successfully. If a cat attacks, grab them by the scruff of the neck (loose skin) and hold them to the floor, if they struggle too much, lift their front feet off the ground. it instinctively calms them. You would have to deposit her in a closed small room or a carrier to confine her until she calms down. Or stick her in a room and close the door quickly to get your arm out of the doorway. she may have something going on that is causing her to do this, you should have a vet check her over for any pain, and be alert to any outside causes to make her on edge, like a strange cat coming around she sees from the window, or any loud new neighbors or noises. The good thing is, you know what the triggers are. you might want to call out before entering rooms, etc for a while to not upset her. NEVER approach her while she is in this state, as your husband did, She needs time to be alone and sort out her fear. Talk to her in a low soothing voice and back out of teh room slowly. Hopefully this doesn't happen often and she will hide rather than feel she has to attack. She feels trapped and gets even more fearful. She feels she is being attacked. Try to remember she is scared out of her mind when she does this, and really doesn't mean to hurt you. I pray you to find a solution.....
 
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babyslim

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Those are very serious wounds, I feel sorry for you.....what your cat is suffering from is, believe it or not, somewhat common. It is called redirected aggression. She is triggered by something, in these cases by raised voices, crying, and being startled, and gets extremely fearful and scared, to the point of talking her fear out on the nearest person,(or anything that moves) in this case, the two of you. She is a very sensitive cat. you might try some calming aides, found at a vet or on a pet med site, but since you don't know when you will startle her by crying, fighting, etc., it is hard to pinpoint when to give them to her. now that you know what is going on, you could go to another place, or a closed room if you are aware of any of these triggers coming on, or be very aware of where she is. Most vets would prescribe Prozac or some other antidepressant drug for her, it has been done many times and successfully. If a cat attacks, grab them by the scruff of the neck (loose skin) and hold them to the floor, if they struggle too much, lift their front feet off the ground. it instinctively calms them. You would have to deposit her in a closed small room or a carrier to confine her until she calms down. Or stick her in a room and close the door quickly to get your arm out of the doorway. she may have something going on that is causing her to do this, you should have a vet check her over for any pain, and be alert to any outside causes to make her on edge, like a strange cat coming around she sees from the window, or any loud new neighbors or noises. The good thing is, you know what the triggers are. you might want to call out before entering rooms, etc for a while to not upset her. NEVER approach her while she is in this state, as your husband did, She needs time to be alone and sort out her fear. Talk to her in a low soothing voice and back out of teh room slowly. Hopefully this doesn't happen often and she will hide rather than feel she has to attack. She feels trapped and gets even more fearful. She feels she is being attacked. Try to remember she is scared out of her mind when she does this, and really doesn't mean to hurt you. I pray you to find a solution.....
She has been on prozac for three months, honestly I think that it does not work.
Now she is in a point that whenever he sees my husband he starts hiss and scream, walk against to my husband.
My husband feels totally betrayed and thinks our cat is not rescu-able.
Re-homing is not an option for this cat. Also euthanasia is not possible in here.
We are looking for a new house for new memories, what do you think about it ?
Because I believe that this apartment is reminding her traumas.
 

di and bob

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Cats do have long memories. If you move, keep him in a small room for a while. Until he gets comfortable. Remember moves cause stress too. Cats thrive with routine. It is their whole life. Any antidepressant drug such as Prozac take up to 6 months before they really work, they do in humans too. At LEAST 3-4 months so don't give up. There is a good supplement called Bach's Rescue Remedy. As for your husband, have him stand still or crouch even to make himself less threatening, talk quietly to herald leave a treat on the ground when he leaves. Do not throw it! This WILL work, you are not alone with your problem.
 
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babyslim

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Cats do have long memories. If you move, keep him in a small room for a while. Until he gets comfortable. Remember moves cause stress too. Cats thrive with routine. It is their whole life. Any antidepressant drug such as Prozac take up to 6 months before they really work, they do in humans too. At LEAST 3-4 months so don't give up. There is a good supplement called Bach's Rescue Remedy. As for your husband, have him stand still or crouch even to make himself less threatening, talk quietly to herald leave a treat on the ground when he leaves. Do not throw it! This WILL work, you are not alone with your problem.
Many thanks great advice.
 
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babyslim

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Many thanks great advice.
But my husband is traumatized as well. I dont know what to do. He refuses to see the cat, lives in a room.
And the cat lives in another room.
I release the cat first, and lock my husband. I lock the cat and my husband gets out of his room.
 

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But my husband is traumatized as well. I dont know what to do. He refuses to see the cat, lives in a room.
And the cat lives in another room.
I release the cat first, and lock my husband. I lock the cat and my husband gets out of his room.
I would try other medications. Taper off the prozac and try gabapentin. I used that for 2 fearful aggressive cats and it was a miracle for them. I hope something can help you and your kitty. ❤
 
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babyslim

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I would try other medications. Taper off the prozac and try gabapentin. I used that for 2 fearful aggressive cats and it was a miracle for them. I hope something can help you and your kitty. ❤
How do you give gabapentin to the cats ? Because we tried to give her Amitriptyline, but it was impossible, she used to refuse to eat her food.
Where I live there is only human drugs, and they are in the tablet form.
Prozac was the only medicine in the liquid form, so we started to gave her.
 

Meowmee

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How do you give gabapentin to the cats ? Because we tried to give her Amitriptyline, but it was impossible, she used to refuse to eat her food.
Where I live there is only human drugs, and they are in the tablet form.
Prozac was the only medicine in the liquid form, so we started to gave her.
Here gabapentin comes in a capsule, i open the capsule and sprinkle it in their food. It is tasteless so most cats just eat it in food.

The tablets can be crushed with a pill splitter/ crusher.

If the cat can be pilled you can put the pill either crushed or cut into pieces into a gel cap, put some oil on the capsule and just put it in the back of their mouth so they can swallow it.

It could be Elavil tastes bitter and she did not like that so if you put it in the pill pocket or a gel cap it may work that way or you could try having it compounded- almost any medication can become compounded but it will cost more – with a flavor some cats will eat it as a liquid if not as a pill.

You can still add a liquid to food or you can syringe it into her mouth. Putting a crushed pill or a cut pill in a capsule or a liquid or crushed pill in food for a medication that can cause drooling and which has a bad taste will help to avoid that.

Another thing you can try is to give the cat an appetite stimulant as well and give them the medication when they haven’t eaten for several hours when they will be hungry- if you put the medication in a stinky food like tuna, just a small amount, they should eat it.
 
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babyslim

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Here gabapentin comes in a capsule, i open the capsule and sprinkle it in their food. It is tasteless so most cats just eat it in food.

The tablets can be crushed with a pill splitter/ crusher.

If the cat can be pilled you can put the pill either crushed or cut into pieces into a gel cap, put some oil on the capsule and just put it in the back of their mouth so they can swallow it.

It could be Elavil tastes bitter and she did not like that so if you put it in the pill pocket or a gel cap it may work that way or you could try having it compounded- almost any medication can become compounded but it will cost more – with a flavor some cats will eat it as a liquid if not as a pill.

You can still add a liquid to food or you can syringe it into her mouth. Putting a crushed pill or a cut pill in a capsule or a liquid or crushed pill in food for a medication that can cause drooling and which has a bad taste will help to avoid that.

Another thing you can try is to give the cat an appetite stimulant as well and give them the medication when they haven’t eaten for several hours when they will be hungry- if you put the medication in a stinky food like tuna, just a small amount, they should eat it.
Great advice by the way.
Where I live compounding is not done unfortunately. Also, there is no anti-depressant in the gel form are sold in here.
She gets stressed when I try to give her unpleasent food, so it is difficuly to shringe it into her mouth (I tried before). She makes it foam.
I will talk about gabapentine with her vet, I hope she will eat it with her favourite food.
 
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babyslim

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Here gabapentin comes in a capsule, i open the capsule and sprinkle it in their food. It is tasteless so most cats just eat it in food.

The tablets can be crushed with a pill splitter/ crusher.

If the cat can be pilled you can put the pill either crushed or cut into pieces into a gel cap, put some oil on the capsule and just put it in the back of their mouth so they can swallow it.

It could be Elavil tastes bitter and she did not like that so if you put it in the pill pocket or a gel cap it may work that way or you could try having it compounded- almost any medication can become compounded but it will cost more – with a flavor some cats will eat it as a liquid if not as a pill.

You can still add a liquid to food or you can syringe it into her mouth. Putting a crushed pill or a cut pill in a capsule or a liquid or crushed pill in food for a medication that can cause drooling and which has a bad taste will help to avoid that.

Another thing you can try is to give the cat an appetite stimulant as well and give them the medication when they haven’t eaten for several hours when they will be hungry- if you put the medication in a stinky food like tuna, just a small amount, they should eat it.
Hello I talked to my vet, he said that gabapentin is generally prescribed for the cats before vet visits etc.
What is your cat's problem, does he or she also have fear agression?
 

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Hello I talked to my vet, he said that gabapentin is generally prescribed for the cats before vet visits etc.
What is your cat's problem, does he or she also have fear agression?
It is also used longer term for fear/ aggression and pain. It does not have to be only one time for a dvm visit. Zena took it daily for a few weeks for fear/ aggression after he was trapped. He had a great result with it. He stopped hissing, lunging etc and any aggression is gone. He is super affectionate now- he went from being untouchable to being a big luvbug 😻 He is still a bit skittish / nervous he but makes progress daily and is off the meds now.

I think I already wrote all of this in my other post here so maybe review that.

Jezabel took it pre and post enucleation for pain but it also helped her aggression / fear a lot. She was another outdoor rescue but she died tragically from oral/ facial cancer which was the real cause of her eye damage and which was misdiagnosed initially as an fhv infection.

Actually I didn’t write that much detail here it must have been another post. But anyway here is the info here. 😀
 
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babyslim

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It is also used longer term for fear/ aggression and pain. It does not have to be only one time for a dvm visit. Zena took it daily for a few weeks for fear/ aggression after he was trapped. He had a great result with it. He stopped hissing, lunging etc and any aggression is gone. He is super affectionate now- he went from being untouchable to being a big luvbug 😻 He is still a bit skittish / nervous he but makes progress daily and is off the meds now.

I think I already wrote all of this in my other post here so maybe review that.

Jezabel took it pre and post enucleation for pain but it also helped her aggression / fear a lot. She was another outdoor rescue but she died tragically from oral/ facial cancer which was the real cause of her eye damage and which was misdiagnosed initially as an fhv infection.

Actually I didn’t write that much detail here it must have been another post. But anyway here is the info here. 😀
Thank you so much!!
 
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babyslim

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Thank you so much!!

Her vet and behaviorist prescribed her gabapentin (Due to legal issues where I live, I have learned that it is very difficult to get gabapentin.., But he prescribed us only for 10 day dosage.), and after giving her the gabapentin he told me to introduce my husband to our cat.
I am scaring to death because a possible new agression/attack episode.
 

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Her vet and behaviorist prescribed her gabapentin (Due to legal issues where I live, I have learned that it is very difficult to get gabapentin.., But he prescribed us only for 10 day dosage.), and after giving her the gabapentin he told me to introduce my husband to our cat.
I am scaring to death because a possible new agression/attack episode.
That is too bad you can only get 10 days worth. But if it helps maybe you can figure out a way to get more. I hope it helps. It is understandable to be scared. 💕
 
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babyslim

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Hello People, we were doing extremely fine so far.
We have been on Prozac past seven months; and out vet decided to ween off and we have tapered slowly. Three weeks since she has been taking the last dosage of prozac.

And a week ago; she did her first attack to my husband in the hallway. and then not attack but growled on him next day after the attack
Today also she attacked my husband when she lie on his nap.

We just started to give her medicine but now we are on the 5th day.

Any advice?
 

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Hi
I wanted to mention that I think you are doing wonderfully in communicating in English 💕

I have been wondering if you would be able to stop her, before she actually launches into an attack.

Can you detect when she's about to go into the attack mode? If so, slam something down really hard so it makes a very loud noise, yell, make yourself look big, be the aggressor (just temporarily) so that she gets surprised and literally shocked out of that mental state.

You would have to do this more than once but if it is not a health type of issue, your actions should break her of this emotional issue over time. During other times when she's more normal, try Cat Music, it's remarkable for helping cats to relax :)
 
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Furballsmom

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These thoughts are from K Kflowers , who's been having nasty headaches these past few days but wanted to comment;

I'm wondering if these attacks, since they are erratic and where they once seemed to have a trigger but they no longer do, might they be epilepsy? Could your vet check for that, or at least tell you what to look for?

Epilepsy comes in several forms; Grand mal - during which the cat is having a classical fit of shaking and twitching, no focus and the eyes can be closed. Cat seems unaware of surroundings.

Petite mal - which can be very little movement, and the cat is unaware of surroundings.

There is a third form that has been noted in certain breeds of dogs, which is similar to a rage state and involves attacks. There is no focus, there is only the attack and it's a strong attack. The dog or cat does not recognize her people, only the fury of survival fight.

Talk to your vet and see if s/he can check for epilepsy.
 

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I would try other medications. Taper off the prozac and try gabapentin. I used that for 2 fearful aggressive cats and it was a miracle for them. I hope something can help you and your kitty. ❤
What does of gabapentin do you give your cat?
 
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