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ChiccyT · Mar 22, 2009, 01:34 PM

One of my parent's house cats they have had for 11 years began to display sudden and without any external cause aggression. In the past two weeks she has at different times of day and with apparently no reason viciously attacked them (and one of the other cats) 4 times. She also had a fit once while in the cage they have had to keep her in since this has been happening; during which she was slamming herself into the cage walls and growling, hissing and screaming. Every time, about 15 minutes after her fit is over, she is totally normal again. She is not displaying any other symptoms of rabies, like the thirst or foaming, and this is not constant - only sparatic and unexpected. What could some other possibilities be of what is wrong?

tickle · Mar 22, 2009, 01:47 PM

Brain tumour, cancer, whatever, who knows, chiccy. Is it male or female. Best is take the cat to a vet and have them take a look. Is it an outdoor cat? Could the cat have been hit by a car? Injured in an fight with another cat? Change of life?

Tick

ChiccyT · Mar 23, 2009, 11:09 AM

Female cat, indoors her whole life (11years). There have been no changes in her life and the vet just got back the bloodwork and said it is all clear, kidneys, liver, no hyperthyroid, etc... I also asked the vet about a brain tumor or other type of cancer and she dismissed it as a very remote possibility - too remote to even consider. I told my folks to find another vet and get another opinion. Any other ideas?

amricca · Mar 23, 2009, 11:17 AM

Good idea to try another vet I think. I had a cat that started acting weird (not violent, just very vocal) and it turned out to be a tooth ache, vet pulled the tooth and she was all better. Your cat might be experiencing some kind of pain, just a thought, hope you find out what it is.

tickle · Mar 23, 2009, 03:34 PM

amricca has a good idea. Have the vet check teeth. If any have to be pulled, then cat can do without quite well.

I read somewhere that our little pets can only tell us one way, extreme ways, otherwise how do we know something is wrong. If Pickle displayed some really extreme displays then I would know, because I know her so well (she is such a little turkey most times) but I would know she was hurting some way. I know she is happy when she is hanging off the dog biting a leg or something, however, Taffy (60 lbs) walker hound doesn't know she is there so don't be alarmed. This is how they play.

Does this make sense ?

Tick

PARIS1 · Jan 12, 2011, 11:18 AM

I have a cat that i have had for 6 years now with the same syptoms! I know how frustrating it is to not get any answers. She has been in the vet hospital for two days now and the vet says that she finally saw and video taped the (episode) that occurred today. She said that she believes that it has to do with her cns. Please tell me did you ever find out what was wrong woith your cat? I think we may have yo eventually have her put down. I am hurting so bad about it.

klsmith402003 · May 29, 2012, 08:27 PM

Hello. Whatever happened with the cats in these postings? My mom's cat keeps STALKING her and scratching and biting my mom! Absolutely beautiful 2-year-old cat. Sure, cats play, but this cat is VICIOUS! I told mom that there could be something medically wrong with the cat and that is why he attacks her. She can't afford a huge vet bill, so we will probably have to have the cat put to sleep. :((

tickle · May 30, 2012, 01:25 PM

Is the cat spayed or neutered? This could be the solution; try this before you do anything else ask your vet.

klsmith402003 · May 30, 2012, 02:07 PM

Yes. The male cat was neutered probably at 6 months old. Mom hasn't taken him for his rabies booster which was due a couple months ago. She's going to Care-a-lot where the price is lower for vaccinations and try their calming stuff (drops or cat treat with some kind of herbal stuff). Sure it's not rabies, this is an indoor cat and has always been mean, but hasn't gotten worse lately. Mom has decided if that doesn't work (the booster and the calming stuff) she will take Big Boy to the Vet and take it from there. Thanks for your response!

holliemo · Aug 30, 2012, 09:43 AM

This happened with my indoor cat when she was about 5 years old. She was nice as pie all her life then suddenly started viciously attacking me. If I ran away she would follow me and continue to attack (mostly my legs) and draw blood. I started to carry around a spray bottle of water which helped in the short term, and took her to vet. The vet said nothing was wrong with her (although apparently sudden aggression can sometimes be a sign of illness) but I should get her spayed (she was an indoor cat so I'd never done that). So I booked her in to be done but the behaviour continued. I noticed her attacks often came after she'd been sitting on the windowsill looking out at another cat, so I think it was what they call "redirected aggression".

I tried Feliway and I think it helped a bit, and I think her being spayed helped a bit too, but the solution was mostly behavioural.

The aggression eventually stopped but it took months and quite a lot of hard work. I learned how to behave so as not to upset her, and how to interpret her behaviour before it got to the attacking stage. In particular I learned to walk around slowly, NEVER to walk behind her, not to make too much eye contact as she finds it threatening, and, once she was calmer to approach her very slowly to stroke (pet) her and to turn my hand when stroking so that the fingers are facing her head, not the palm. It takes time and there are setbacks. I had her on my lap once and she was purring her head off - I thought we were making good progress - then suddenly the claws came back out again. So you have to be patient. The good news is that she's pretty much completely back to normal now and we have a strong bond again, but I will always be careful to behave in a non-threatening way just in case.