Redirected Aggression - Moving Forward

[yeva2292]

I woke up at 4 am to a crashing sound and my cat growling. I went to check on Smokey - I guess something or some animal outside had terrified or angered her - when she saw me, she redirected and jumped at my face. We couldn't move her out of the living room and she tried attacking me a couple more times. It took an hour, during which she was constantly growling, for her to calm down enough and for my dad to be able to lure her with treats into the bathroom.

She now sounds like she has settled down. We haven't heard any growling and she was meowing and pawing at the door to be let out. She has never been aggressive before, so I don't know how long to leave her closed in the dark bathroom to decompress. I also don't know if she will go for me again when we let her out. If she is still terrified/aggressive towards me, how do I work towards teaching her that I'm not a threat? I'll take any advice I can get on how to handle this.

- As a side note, she'll be spending the night in the bathroom from now on. We're only in this apartment for 2 more months and I don't want see her so terrified again.

 

[rubysmama]

That sounds scary! Here's a couple TCS articles that may be helpful:

Re-directed Aggression In Cats
Cat Aggression Toward People

 

[yeva2292]

That sounds scary! Here's a couple TCS articles that may be helpful:

Re-directed Aggression In Cats
Cat Aggression Toward People

Thank you for the links! I probably have to do a better job of staying calm and not panicking during stressful situations, but hopefully, this doesn't happen again and I don't have to worry!

 

[yeva2292]

We let her out. She was still a bit skittish, but overall friendly. She brushed up against us and asked for treats. However, poor decision maker that I am, I decided to replicate her growl when talking to my sister over the phone. That set her off again - not as bad as the morning though as I was able to redirect her with treats. However, I'm back to square one with her on trust.

It just sucks because she's my cat and its clearly only me that she's focused her aggression on .

 

[catlover73]

I think you may have just startled her. She will trust you again. I would try using play to help her relax. This may also help re-direct the aggression away from you. The fact that she calmed down the first time and was allowing you to pet her shows that you have not completely lost her trust at all. She will get over this and things will go back to normal. Do not try to force interaction and let her come to you for pets. This will get better just be patient and re-direct her since this seems to be working. I went through a less aggressive form of re-directed aggression between my cats and it resolved on it's own in a few days. One of my cats was at the vet for 3 days. My youngest cat failed to recognize him and kept hissing at him. He also hissed at one of my other cats which was re-direction after he hissed at the cat coming home from the vet. There were not outright attacks and it resolved in a few days. Casey hissed at us too but never attacked. Things went back to normal. If you can put up a piece of cardboard or poster board to block the sight line in the windows where the original incident happened.

 

[yeva2292]

Thank you very much for your kind words. I do have a question. I know with dogs that are fearful, the advice is to stay low (maybe in a crouched position), with your side to them, to be as nonthreatening as possible. Do you know if this applies to cats as well? When I'm not able to redirect her and I try backing away, she comes after me, so I'm wondering if maybe just trying to look nonthreatening will help - or maybe I should close myself away from her for a couple days?

 

[catlover73]

I am not sure if the information about dogs applies to cats since I have no experience actually having a dog in my home. I am trying to get a little more information from you. Exactly what is she doing when she is coming after you? Is she biting or scratching you? How frequently is she coming after you? What happens when you back away from her? I am asking because she may need more time alone to decompress if she is actually doing things to injure you. If there are times when she is not trying to attack you and is calm there are things you could try. When she is not trying to go after you just sit on the floor in the room she is in and talk to her or read to her. You could also give her treats when she is calm. Has using toys to re-direct her helped at all?

 

[yeva2292]

During her attacks, she'll walk up to me with either her hair on end or growling, then strike. She'll jump and try to bite, land, then try again if I'm not able to get away or block her with a towel or door. Yesterday night she came after me three times - the first two I was able to redirect or get away, the third time she bit my hand. The first was when I made the growling noise, the other two times I was just walking by her, maybe 5-6 feet away. Her second attack was about 10 minutes after her first (in between which she took treats from my hand). I was walking from the living room to the bedroom when I saw her get up to follow me with her hair on end, but I was able to calmly get in my room and close the door. When I try walking away, she keeps following.

Her third attempt was 2 hours after the previous two. She let me sit on the couch without bothering me, walk past her multiple times to clean the litter box, wash her bowls, put down food, etc. A couple minutes before her attack I was actually throwing around mouse toys for her - she wasn't super interested, but didn't mind me being a foot away. After that, my dad was giving her some treats when she saw me, made a bee-line (I tried backing up) and attacked.

Do you think we should give her time completely alone or should I just stay away from her and let her interact with everyone else? I didn't have any toys on me the last time, but I'll make sure to keep some in my pocket and I'll follow your suggestion to spend some time with her on the floor (when she's calmer).

 

[rubysmama]

Thank you very much for your kind words. I do have a question. I know with dogs that are fearful, the advice is to stay low (maybe in a crouched position), with your side to them, to be as nonthreatening as possible. Do you know if this applies to cats as well? When I'm not able to redirect her and I try backing away, she comes after me, so I'm wondering if maybe just trying to look nonthreatening will help - or maybe I should close myself away from her for a couple days?

When people are trying to socialize feral cats, they are advised to not loom over them. Crouch down low, or even lie on the floor. And when you look at them, slowly blink. That lets them know you're non-threatening.

 

[yeva2292]

When people are trying to socialize feral cats, they are advised to not loom over them. Crouch down low, or even lie on the floor. And when you look at them, slowly blink. That lets them know you're non-threatening.

Good to know, thanks! I'll definitely keep that in mind with my next interaction. I also just bought her some new, hopefully highly distracting toys

 

[yeva2292]

So far, from what I hear, Smokey has spent the entire morning snuggling on my mom's lap! Hopefully when I get home she'll be ok with me as well!

 

[rubysmama]

Wonderful. Hopefully it goes well with you too.