Crazy Ophelia strikes again!

This cat's gonna kill me yet. She has recently had a series of aggressive behaviors....towards me! She is on Amitriptyline, an anti-depressant. It has been helping so far, but lately(the last 2 weeks or so?) it doesn't seem to work anymore. Before she was attacking other cats & dogs. Now, she is good about the dogs. She has gotten to playing really rough/aggressive with Dorian....and poor little Dory doesn't like it.

I'll be calling the vet later this afternoon. I want to know if there are other choices for meds out there. I'll have to pick up a refill for the feliway diffuser...not for Ophelia but for poor Damita. Ophelia takes pride in the fact that she can walk right up to Damita's face & beat on her without Damita knowing.

Ophelia still maintains her "I love people" stance, though. She greets people when they come to see her & loves the attention. She's actually an attention hog & for the most part good with me. I can't come up with a reason why she attacked me last night. I'm pretty sure the world revolves around this cat, at least that's what she thinks.

Would a "time out" work for a cat? Would she even understand? I thought about keeping a carrier out & just putting her in that when she misbehaves....but I don't want to cause more problems.

I beleive this is part of being semi feral ... Zoey exhibits some of the same things to a lesser degree....

Is it possible she is in pain?? Kandie becomes vicious when in pain....

If anti depressents arent working I will check on somethign and PM you

I really don't think she's hurting. Before she was put on the anti-depressants a month & a half ago she had a complete check-up. The vet wanted to be sure she wasn't in pain before he put her on the pills. I might have him check her over again.

Have you tried anything like Rescue Remedy? That might help chill her out a bit.

Stephanie

If you have a small kennel cage or something like that, I think it would be better than using a carrier. I say this because I am thinking she will learn to really hate the carrier and that is such a big part of going to the vet.

My Monique bullies almost all the other cats here. The one thing that saves her from lockdown most of the time is the fact that she is front declawed so I know she can't do much in the way of damage.

I agree with giving the Rescue Remedy a try. Good Luck!

Hi, amitriptyline is Elavil, and it's notorious (in people anyway) for doing that - becoming a 'DEpressant' when it's meant to be the opposite. The problem with medication is that anything (e.g. Prozac) will have some side effects and/or eventually become problems in some respect (some people can't take them due to stomach trouble which a cat couldn't tell you about). I worked with neurologists for years which is how I know about the Elavil, but in any case, I don't believe a cat needs an antidepressant! There has to be a better answer - it's like saying all 10 yr old boys have ADD when they misbehave or show lots of energy, and putting them all on Ritalin (though I'm sure a few may need some help). Having a personality that's not just perfect and good all the time is no reason to be put on such meds and I would really rethink what you're doing... after all, Ophelia doesn't have a lot of choice, let alone informed consent.

Larke, I don't know if you know that whole story behind Ophelia, its not just regular old misbehavior, and in this particular case Natalie has done everything her and her vet(s) could think of and these meds are a last resort.....

I hope you can find a solution for this Nat! poor Ophie I wonder what is going on in her little brain, I also agree a small kennel might be a better option than the carrier, you could see if the timeouts work, if you can get ahold of her without her hurting you again

I used to work as a volunteer cat behaviorlist at my vet. Anytime you isolate the cat from the rest of the household it is definatly a "time-out" and cats hate it. I usually say put the cat in the bathroom(as long as the litter boxes are not in there LOL)for 10 minutes or more depending on the crime...LOL. I say the bathroom because usually the bathroom has no comfy spots for the cat to just go to sleep and wait out the punishment comfortably. I have a cat who does the same thing, she attacks all the other cats for no reason and when we pet her she will sometimes without warning sink her teeth into our hand. Its really bad....but with lots of time outs sometimes it will get better....no promises though. Good luck!

Larke, this is where your opinion & my opinion differ....I do believe that in some cases cats need to be medicated....like you said, not all kids have ADD, but I believe that Ophelia is one of those "kids" who benefits from the meds(well, she did before, not sure about now). I was given 3 choices by my parents:
1) euthanize her
2) completely declaw her(nail caps wouldn't suffice)
3) do something
I chose #3!

I *think* I've tried rescue remedy. I tried something along those lines...an herbal liquid. A friend of mine at the shelter gave it to me to try. No effect. For now I'll try time-outs....I don't have a dog crate, so I'll have to borrow one of the super time ones from the shelter. I can't use the bathroom as that's where she eats & that wouldn't really be a punishment!

Someone is adopting "my" deaf kitty at the shelter( )....she uses a homeopathic(is that right?) vet, so I'm gonna see if I can get that vet's number. S/he is 3 hours away, but maybe they'll have some suggestions as well.

Ok, sure, I didn't know the history, but what about at least discussing the Elavil with the vet as it really does have a backfire effect on many people.