please help i really don't know what to do

I really don't know where to go for help, i'm new to this forum and i am having terrible problems with my cat Dexter he's 4 years old and has never acted how he is doing now, these past few weeks he seems to have taken a severe dislike to my other half's feet and shoes consequently attacking me and my feet, legs and ankles also, the way he does it it's like he's terrified he's so scary we're at a loss at what to do and try he stalks us in the house and wails, hisses strikes out at us we can't walk around the house in peace its so upsetting to see him like this and its causing us strain as it causes arguments, he's never been kicked or stood on i just need some help its making me ill worrying about him i have an appointment at the vets tomorrow to see if he can shed any light im so worried he's making himself ill im terrified of him i just dont know what to do .. please help :-(

I'm, glad to hear you scheduled the vet appointment already! Either you're ahead of most new posters or have been lurking long enough to know the new behavioral problems can be due to a health issue.

Since the kitty hasn't been to the vet, yet, I'll work from the point of it purely being environmental/stress first.

Can you pinpoint the exact time this started? Did someone wear a new pair of shoes? Has there been a strange cat about? Did anyone step in anything or get something on their shoes that could make them smell bad to the cat? (yes, stepping in poop counts as bad to cats, too )

The idea with this is maybe a new smell was introduced to the home that your cat really cannot stand and that he associated it to feet - or the smell is still on one of the pairs of shoes.

You can try looking for a product called a Feliway diffuser. I'm not sure if you'll be able to find them, or maybe you'll have to order online. That might help calm your cat.

As for a health issue, make sure your vet thoroughly checks your cat's eyes. If for some reason your cat's vision has any problems with it (blood pressure and thyroid issues can lead to this is some cats) that could make feet and legs very scary things! They move fast and can carry odd smells.

I hope the vet can help.
BTW: Seeing your user name, I expected to find a Finnish or Scandinavian user when opening the thread.

thank you for i thought the vet would be best thing he's had a few health problems in the past he's still so young in my eyes but i didnt know if they had returned :-( it first happened about 3 weeks ago what i initially thought was that he thought he was going to be stood on by my partner he put his foot infront of him to move him out of the way and Dexter went crazy ive never seen him react like that before he's always had a thing about shoes chewing no end of my work shoes, so bad that they have little teeth marks in them, when you mentioned the new shoes my partner was wearing a new pair of trainers he's had that day, hes since made the effort to not wear them in the house but Dexter won't let it lie he goes for me now aswell and my partners terrified of him :-( he's such a mardy clingly little guy and can just turn for no reason, i did expect it to cause problems with my younger cat but its like he knows she has nothing to do with it and goes straight for our legs/ankles i love him so much i just don't know what to do. they are both house cats if that makes any difference? they've never been outside un-accompanied due to his previous health problems and us living on a really busy main road and its never happened before in 4 years its just so strange :-(

Originally Posted by Moomin123

thank you for i thought the vet would be best thing he's had a few health problems in the past he's still so young in my eyes but i didnt know if they had returned :-( it first happened about 3 weeks ago what i initially thought was that he thought he was going to be stood on by my partner he put his foot infront of him to move him out of the way and Dexter went crazy ive never seen him react like that before he's always had a thing about shoes chewing no end of my work shoes, so bad that they have little teeth marks in them, when you mentioned the new shoes my partner was wearing a new pair of trainers he's had that day, hes since made the effort to not wear them in the house but Dexter won't let it lie he goes for me now aswell and my partners terrified of him :-( he's such a mardy clingly little guy and can just turn for no reason, i did expect it to cause problems with my younger cat but its like he knows she has nothing to do with it and goes straight for our legs/ankles i love him so much i just don't know what to do. they are both house cats if that makes any difference? they've never been outside un-accompanied due to his previous health problems and us living on a really busy main road and its never happened before in 4 years its just so strange :-(

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Wait and see what the vet says. It could be a physical problem, but it could just be the shoes, since he's attacking both of your feet. Lord knows what gets brought inside with shoes and it could be that your partner or you stepped in something that maybe YOU don't know about or can't smell, but he can (ie, urine, spraying, etc). It could be that he is just being territorial and associating your feet with the "invader".

I will say....cats are weird. I love them to death, but their thought processes don't match ours. What we think of as a an unfortunate incident, they think of as betrayal or territory issues.

Best thing to do is FIRST, find out what the vet says. Then, if everything is ok with your kitty, wash the shoes with an enzyme cleaner. At 4 years old, I'm guessing if it isn't physical, it has something to do with what he's smelling on the shoes.

Good luck, and let us know what the vet says.

update from the Vets .. they said Dex is perfectly healthy and theres nothing wrong with him at all they think its fear aggression and have given us some feliway? spray to spray our legs with and shoes in a hope to calm him down and if it doesnt work they have offered a behaviour therapist to see if they can do anything else poor little guy he was so scared on the way to the vets he wet himself in his box ..hopefully he'll calm down now and get back to normal, so far tonight he's being fine with us i guess its just take it day by day see how he goes :-( .. thank you for your help ive washed all the shoes and trainers incase there was something on them to see if that helps too :-)

Feliway is awesome. If you add the diffuser to the spray I think you'll see better results. I order mine from Amazon. Here's a link from the States: http://www.amazon.com/Farnam-Electri.../dp/B000FH708I

I get my diffusers @ www.petguys.com.

Just a reminder in case anyone doesn't know - Europeans cannot use electric diffusers from the US - different plugs, different voltage. So order from European suppliers - there are several.