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jamiemae82 · Nov 19, 2007, 03:01 PM

I have a 3 year old male cat who is fixed, I have had him since he was a kitten. Well, about 1 week ago he saw a stray cat in our garage.. he just saw her and got VERY angry, and since then he has attacked me twice. He only tries to attack me.. not my boyfriend, just me. And when he attacks me its very scary because he will be fine one minute and the next he is right next to me howling and hissing and if I move he starts running after me.
I called his vet and one assistant told me I should put him down because he has a aggression problem and when they have treated him before when he was sick, he had tried attacking them. Then when I called back another vet assistant told me all what they could do is put him on behavioral medicine.
I don't know what to do.. I honestly don't think this medicine will work. He has always seemed kind of dominate over me, with how he acts sometimes. If anybody has any advice I would love to hear it.. Thanks

NowWhat · Nov 19, 2007, 03:09 PM

Have you ever tried a squirt bottle? When he does this to you, squirt him. If he continues to attack - and you don't want to put him down - try the meds.

jamiemae82 · Nov 19, 2007, 03:12 PM

Yeah I was actually looking for the water bottle when it was happening but I couldn't find it.. but that is a good idea.. thanks

NowWhat · Nov 19, 2007, 03:18 PM

I really think he is just trying to show you who is boss. So, you need to show it right back. That is probably why he doesn't attack you boyfriend. He knows better.
Good Luck.

peggyhill · Nov 19, 2007, 05:00 PM

Try the squirt bottle. I once had a tomcat who was the same way. He was as nice as could be to my fiancée, but he would get so mad at me for no reason. When he is aggressive, squirt him! Also, another thing that helped me was for me to be the only person who fed him and cleaned his box. Once I started doing it, instead of taking turns with my fiancée, he seemed to depend on me more and started being nicer. After a while, he gave me more good attention than my fiancée! I hope he starts getting along with you. He could be trying to act dominant too, esp. since he is a male. Maybe your boyfriend has disciplined him when he attacked him, and kitty knows better than to go after him. Also, if he bites or anything, put him in a large room (with food, water, and litter box of course) by himself for a while. For some reason, giving my kitty a "time out" hour or two seemed to calm him down when he was mad at me. But, my cat was really weird, so maybe that was just him! :) Good luck!

froggy7 · Nov 19, 2007, 07:05 PM

It sounds to me like this started as redirected aggression. Cat saw stranger in his space, couldn't get to stranger, and attacked the closest thing. So one thing to watch for is if his other attacks are also possibly correlated with seeing other animals outside.

Behavioral modification on cats is harder than it is with dogs, mainly because people are more used to dealing with dogs. However, there are behaviorists that work with cats. You might want to see if one of them could come and assess the situation. Personally, I would try that, and then potentially rehoming the cat as either a barn cat or at a sanctuary, before I put him down.

jamiemae82 · Nov 19, 2007, 08:00 PM

OK well believe me I am willing to try anything to make him stop, I don't want to put him down..
And your right PeggyHill the second time he attacked me I actually had my boyfriend put him in a pet carrier that I use to take him to the vet. He was in there for about 1 hour alone in his room. When I let him out he was still being aggressive so I left him in his own bedroom ( he is a very spoiled kitty) alone all day, and right now he is acting like nothing happened, its weird he turns on me so quickly.. one minute he is fine, and the next he wants me dead.. its like there's a hit on me and he's the hitman!

froggy7 · Nov 20, 2007, 08:51 PM

I have to say that my generally loving sweetie girl will occasionally attack me (especially my elbows), although she hasn't done any damage, just hard smacks and runs. However, that's generally when I have been neglecting her, and she wants attention. Playing chase-string will generally calm her back down in those situations. It's also her way of letting me know that she is feeling stir-crazy, although that one is harder to fix, since I let her out under some pretty strict guidelines, and if she's been house-bound too long it's because the weather's not cooperating.

Feliway diffusers might help the situation. It's hard for me to tell if those actually work or not, since cat's behavior can be so variable. But they don't seem to hurt, which is the important thing.