My sweet cat one minute, the next minute mean and aggressive

[T.shelby.murray]

My cat is around 4 years old, female (Layla). She lives in my house with my girlfriend and myself, another small cat (Bella), and a year old puppy. Layla has always been a little sassy but in the past 6 months, it's become a serious problem. One minute she's rubbing and purring on me, the next minute she will scream (the best description), her eyes get totally black and she attacks whatever is near her, usually me. Bella and the puppy then try to keep her off me, and it becomes a whole thing. Layla is double Bella's size and I'm worried she is going to hurt her or the puppy, or myself. She continues to scream and lash out, so I try to put her in her crate to get her away from the animals. She attacks me when I do so, her bites and scratches feel like she isn't holding back at all, like she's fighting for her life. I got bird handling elbow length gloves to protect myself when I handle her into her crate, but sometimes it isn't enough. When I approach her, she urinates everywhere and poops a lot, everywhere. She has never had an accident before this. I am not sure what else to do. She will cuddle me during the night after an episode of this, like usual. it is like a switch flips from my normal sweet cat, to a wild animal. She is up to date on vaccines and boosters, her blood was tested in 2019, for a variety of things I guess, it all came back normal. A few months ago, she was seen by a vet and her said her kidneys felt fine as well. He did not have any insight on the problem, just gave me meds to calm her down. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Can you contain her to a specific room, and make that her room?
Have you tried gabapentin, or cbd if it's legal in your state?

 

[T.shelby.murray]

We don’t really have any extra rooms, unfortunately. The medicine that the vet gave us was gabapentin I believe, and it didn’t help at all. I haven’t tried cbd though!

 

[T.shelby.murray]

Hi!
Can you contain her to a specific room, and make that her room?
Have you tried gabapentin, or cbd if it's legal in your state?

We don’t really have any extra rooms, unfortunately. The medicine that the vet gave us was gabapentin I believe, and it didn’t help at all. I haven’t tried cbd though!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Blood tests from 2019 don't mean much if something is wrong with her now that wasn't wrong then. So, talk to your vet about this aspect. And, if she didn't have a Chemistry Profile done at that time, you might talk to the vet about doing that now - this blood test will show if there are enzyme or chemical imbalances that might be behind her behavior. The other thing I would discuss with your vet is how they could test for possible seizures/neural disorders, given your description. It might be helpful to have someone take a video of her while you are working to 'control' her, as that might help the vet think of some potential conditions that they might not think of otherwise.

Get health issues ruled out first, and then head down the road of calming products. I am not positive, but some calming products might be helpful for neural disorders, but maybe not so much for seizures.

 

[T.shelby.murray]

Hi. Blood tests from 2019 don't mean much if something is wrong with her now that wasn't wrong then. So, talk to your vet about this aspect. And, if she didn't have a Chemistry Profile done at that time, you might talk to the vet about doing that now - this blood test will show if there are enzyme or chemical imbalances that might be behind her behavior. The other thing I would discuss with your vet is how they could test for possible seizures/neural disorders, given your description. It might be helpful to have someone take a video of her while you are working to 'control' her, as that might help the vet think of some potential conditions that they might not think of otherwise.

Get health issues ruled out first, and then head down the road of calming products. I am not positive, but some calming products might be helpful for neural disorders, but maybe not so much for seizures.

Thanks for your insight! She has a vet appointment for tomorrow. The thing is. she is totally fine and just a normal kitty 95% of the time. But maybe a few times a month, she has one of these episodes; so I'm not sure the calming products would be very beneficial. I have the feline calming things that plug into the wall already, that hasn't helped at all

 

[FeebysOwner]

I am glad you are taking Layla to the vet! Let us know what all you discuss with them and their reaction to it. The randomness of it just seems to me to be a health related issue somehow. If it were something like over-stimulation, I would think it would be happening more often. And, while some cats will pee/poop inappropriately as part of a negative reaction to something, it would still be worth looking into health issues first.

The only other thing that comes to mind is that there is something going on outside your house at those times, such as a stray cat or other type animal crossing into 'her territory' and she is reacting to that. Something like that might not be readily obvious to you, so you would have to check to see if there is an outside influence going on at those times.

Not all calming products work on all cats, so if nothing else is found out to be contributing to her behavior, you can always experiment with other such products.

 

[Furballsmom]

I'll give you a list of other calming products, --my boy is unaffected by the diffusers as well.

As mentioned, do you have other animals roaming outside? This sounds a bit like redirected aggression...

Why Do Cats Attack? – Cat Articles

Re-directed Aggression In Cats – Cat Articles

Cat Aggression Toward People – Cat Articles

Only Natural Pet has a calming product called Just Relax Calming spray with essential oil (catnip oil).

There's this one, be sure and scroll all the way down the page;
Bach Flower Remedies - Rescue Remedy Pets Dogs Cats Horses Birds

Also, there is ThunderWunders calming chews, Richard's Organic Pet Calm drops, Naturevet Hemp, HomeoPet Anxiety Relief, Head to Tail Calming, Relaxivet Quiet Moments Cat treats, GNC Calming formula, and there is Calm-o-mile, Natures Miracle calming spray, Vetri-Science's Composure is another item to look at, Pet Remedy - UK (it has valerian) is yet another, as is Essential Pet Pet-eze, Pet Organics No Stress, Only Natural Pet (brand and website) has other calming products, Pet Naturals also has one I believe, and there are others.

Lambert Vet Supply is a website to look at, and of course chewy, also there's Petwishpros, animaleo, 1-800-petmeds, Petco and PetSmart, and other pet stores.

There is also a product called a lickimat which could be helpful, as cats can be calmed by the process of licking. The LickiMat - Food Puzzles for Cats

This post talks about some other products;
Calming Treats For A Very Picky Cat

 

[di and bob]

She may have overstimulation aggression. I have had several cats, all females, that have had this. Itr means they are fine until their 'stimulation point' is reached and then turn incredibly aggressive when it is passed. Usually it is actually touching the cat, like in stroking. My Chrissy was the worst, two strokes, and any after that she would attack like you describe. I would always warn people to leave her alone and i would tell them about it. They would laugh until they stroked her three times and she would attack. Her pupils always dilatred right before an attack. The trick is to learn what, how many pets, etc. is safe and how many is too much. I learned the hard way, but once I did, she was loving and fine. Maybe you could really study what is setting her off and what her point of no return is. Both of you would be much happier! PS watch for signs of an oncoming attack, there always is something if you look for it. Dilated pupils usually is too late, but raised back fur, puffed tail, low growling, meowing, or staring intently are all signs too, to leave her alone.

 

[susanm9006]

I would keep a journal for a while of the incidents. Where you were, time of day, what you were doing for a few hours before the behavior. Looking for a pattern or a trigger, maybe something on your hands or clothing.

 

[fionasmom]

I am wondering if this is some version of hyperesthesia. There is no agreement about what causes it but from watching my cat who has this condition I consider it to be seizure/neural related. If you can get a video for the vet, it might help. I do understand that you are in danger from this cat when these episodes start; maybe if your girlfriend could be ready with the phone?

When I first asked my vet about Chelsea's episodes, the first question she asked me was whether or not her eyes got big and black.