I live with my fiance and three cats. One of the cats was originally mine (Karma), one was originally his (Mouse), and then there's one we acquired together (Theo). We've been in this living situation for a couple years now.
In general, Mouse doesn't like other cats. She absolutely hates Karma, even after two years of trying different strategies to encourage them to get along (introducing them slowly, and using Feliway diffusers). The majority of the time she will tolerate Theo, and they even groom each other from time to time, but it took a long time to get to this point. Mouse is very territorial, but not about any specific place in the house. She's mainly concerned with guarding her personal space. If Karma gets within a few feet of her, even by accident, she will growl and hiss. She also does this to Theo, unless she's in a particularly good mood.
There tend to be quite a few stare-down matches between Mouse and Karma, and often one of them will guard the exit to a room, and won't let the other by. They usually get into a fight at least once a day, when one of them is caught off guard, and the other uses the opportunity to attack. It is very stressful for me to be constantly breaking up fights. If one of them runs for any reason (chasing a toy, for example), the other usually decides that it's an opportunity to chase, and this results in an ugly confrontation. It's not a happy coexistence. So far, when this happens, I break them up by making loud, startling noises and using a squirt bottle on the aggressor (which is usually Mouse, although Karma has learned to retaliate), but it doesn't seem to make a difference, and it always reoccurs. I have also tried "scruffing", to no avail. They don't mind eating next to each other, and they don't guard the litter boxes, so it doesn't seem like it's a fight for resources. Also, we have plenty of space in our house, so I don't think that's the problem.
But here's the bigger problem: Mouse is also occasionally aggressive towards people. Once she finds a comfortable spot to camp (like in front of a door, on someone's lap, or somewhere else that's inconvenient for people for a long time period), she resents being moved, and growls or hisses if we push her away, or if she's physically reprimanded (by scruffing her, for example), or when she's backed into a corner for any reason. Generally this is as far as this has gone, though, and she hasn't actually attacked us during these instances. A few times, however, she has been more violent. Once, I was restraining her to trim her nails (which she doesn't like much, but will occasionally tolerate), when she started screaming and biting like nothing I had ever heard, and reached up and repeatedly swiped at my face, leaving several long, bleeding scratches. And while that was upsetting, it didn't compare to what happened today:
I don't fully understand this, and am still quite shaken up. I was sitting on my couch, and had just received a frustrating phone call. Once I got off the phone, I laid face-down on the couch, and letting out my frustration, screamed into a pillow. Something about my screaming caused Mouse to run over to me and start mauling the back of my head. I sat up in shock, and she launched herself at me, multiple times, scratching and biting. For a few seconds, she continued to attack me (and was trying to get at my face), until I grabbed a pillow to use as a shield, and was able to squirt her with the squirt bottle. She left several deep cuts and puncture wounds across my arms, but fortunately none on my head/face.
I have no idea what would cause this. Did she think my screaming was an angry cat noise? Was she trying to attack me because 1) she hates me, and 2) my face was hidden and I couldn't see her (She usually waits to attack Karma til her back is turned)? I'm really worried that this will happen again-- that something will set her off, and I will have no warning.
How common is it for non-feral cats to be this violent towards people? I know that dogs who attack humans are usually put down, and while I don't want that for her, I would like to find her a new home. However, despite her behavior, my fiance can't bear the thought of giving her up, and still thinks we can find a way to change her behavior (medication, perhaps?). We're planning on having children down the road, and if she would do this to me because I made a high-pitched sound, I imagine she might do the same to a crying baby. Any advice? What is the best option?
In general, Mouse doesn't like other cats. She absolutely hates Karma, even after two years of trying different strategies to encourage them to get along (introducing them slowly, and using Feliway diffusers). The majority of the time she will tolerate Theo, and they even groom each other from time to time, but it took a long time to get to this point. Mouse is very territorial, but not about any specific place in the house. She's mainly concerned with guarding her personal space. If Karma gets within a few feet of her, even by accident, she will growl and hiss. She also does this to Theo, unless she's in a particularly good mood.
There tend to be quite a few stare-down matches between Mouse and Karma, and often one of them will guard the exit to a room, and won't let the other by. They usually get into a fight at least once a day, when one of them is caught off guard, and the other uses the opportunity to attack. It is very stressful for me to be constantly breaking up fights. If one of them runs for any reason (chasing a toy, for example), the other usually decides that it's an opportunity to chase, and this results in an ugly confrontation. It's not a happy coexistence. So far, when this happens, I break them up by making loud, startling noises and using a squirt bottle on the aggressor (which is usually Mouse, although Karma has learned to retaliate), but it doesn't seem to make a difference, and it always reoccurs. I have also tried "scruffing", to no avail. They don't mind eating next to each other, and they don't guard the litter boxes, so it doesn't seem like it's a fight for resources. Also, we have plenty of space in our house, so I don't think that's the problem.
But here's the bigger problem: Mouse is also occasionally aggressive towards people. Once she finds a comfortable spot to camp (like in front of a door, on someone's lap, or somewhere else that's inconvenient for people for a long time period), she resents being moved, and growls or hisses if we push her away, or if she's physically reprimanded (by scruffing her, for example), or when she's backed into a corner for any reason. Generally this is as far as this has gone, though, and she hasn't actually attacked us during these instances. A few times, however, she has been more violent. Once, I was restraining her to trim her nails (which she doesn't like much, but will occasionally tolerate), when she started screaming and biting like nothing I had ever heard, and reached up and repeatedly swiped at my face, leaving several long, bleeding scratches. And while that was upsetting, it didn't compare to what happened today:
I don't fully understand this, and am still quite shaken up. I was sitting on my couch, and had just received a frustrating phone call. Once I got off the phone, I laid face-down on the couch, and letting out my frustration, screamed into a pillow. Something about my screaming caused Mouse to run over to me and start mauling the back of my head. I sat up in shock, and she launched herself at me, multiple times, scratching and biting. For a few seconds, she continued to attack me (and was trying to get at my face), until I grabbed a pillow to use as a shield, and was able to squirt her with the squirt bottle. She left several deep cuts and puncture wounds across my arms, but fortunately none on my head/face.
I have no idea what would cause this. Did she think my screaming was an angry cat noise? Was she trying to attack me because 1) she hates me, and 2) my face was hidden and I couldn't see her (She usually waits to attack Karma til her back is turned)? I'm really worried that this will happen again-- that something will set her off, and I will have no warning.
How common is it for non-feral cats to be this violent towards people? I know that dogs who attack humans are usually put down, and while I don't want that for her, I would like to find her a new home. However, despite her behavior, my fiance can't bear the thought of giving her up, and still thinks we can find a way to change her behavior (medication, perhaps?). We're planning on having children down the road, and if she would do this to me because I made a high-pitched sound, I imagine she might do the same to a crying baby. Any advice? What is the best option?
