aggressive kitty

nwk

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Hi

I'm a new member and have a question regarding my gorgeous cat.

She is 8 months old, is very playful and exhibits otherwise 'normal' behaviour, except she attacks me often at night, with jumping (body slams often on my head) and biting with embedded claws too!
It seems as though she is trying to get my attention (it works!) to play with her, but then she seems to be afraid of me when I say "NO"! so then her behaviour excalates. This seems to happen when I'm in bed at night reading, or, if I get up out of bed to use the bathroom after I've been in bed for just a little whle. She is usually napping on the bed prior to this happening. When I return to bed after a bathroom call, she looks at me with those huge black eyes, crouches down low and prepares to attack me. I resort to hiding under the covers for safety and wait for her attack to pass (usually a few minutes of jumping on me and biting through the covers). Ignoring her seems to be the best response.

Last night she started biting me in the middle of the night, but my husband distracted her by petting her. She never does this to him, interestingly._

I'm at a loss at what to do. The attacks are unprovoked, we have a very affectionate relationship apart from this, and I hate to see her aggressive.

She does seem to do this when her schedule is out of sync, ie: if I'm away more than usual (I'm at home during the day a lot normally, and she's an inside cat who is very dependent on me).

I would really appreciate some input here, I know there's smething I can do differently to make her happier and less aggressive.

NWK.
 

sandie

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From what you are describing, she's not actually being aggressive. It's play for them, and some play harder than others. The best way to get her out of the habit is to keep telling her no, and putting her down or away from you. If you even seem as if you are playing back, it's going to continue. Make sure to get plenty of appropriate play time in. Play with her using things that don't involve physical contact such as a feather on a rope or one of those feather toys. You can throw toy mice and see if she will chase them, or get one of the lazer pens for her to chase around. If she seems to do this more at night, try and get a real good play session in before bedtime. The only other suggestion I have for you, is to get her another kitty to play with
 

a_loveless_gem

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NWK, I'll have to agree with Sandie. Your gorgeous cat is playing with you at a rather inappropriate time.

Try an interactive 'high impact' play session with your kitty at a time before you go to bed using the toys Sandie suggested and makes sure she plays with the toys and not you otherwise you become a large and very interesting large toy.

It works with the two of my cats. Though these days they play with each other wearing themselves out before I get to play with them. Just as well too. I have to replace all the damaged and worn out toys.
 
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