Agressive Behavior

I'm new to fostering and I have a mom cat that is very aggressive and even attacks my other cats. Her kittens are all gone as of a couple weeks ago (they were about 10 weeks old). I have her in an extra bedroom, where she has been the whole time. At first she got very aggressive when she would hear my cats through the bedroom door, which I thought was normal because she was still protecting her kittens. She would growl, hiss, and even try attacking the bedroom door. She isn't as aggressive with me, unless I pet her too long or she hears or sees my other cats. I have a kitten that accidently ran into the room where I have her and she attacked him, ran up on him, batting, claws out. This also happened with another one of my older cats. I have let her see the other cats, but had to stop because she gets so upset. Besides one of my cats can be a little territorial and hiss back. She is getting spayed today. Will this help? I would love to let her out, but I'm really afraid for my other cat's (2 adults, and a kitten) safety, especially the kitten.

Thanks,

Kim

Hi Kim,

It will undoubtedly help to get her spayed. My guess is she is tired of having kittens and needs space from all the other cats for awhile just to calm down. I see this sometimes in the momcats that come through my place. I would also let the vet know about the aggression and ask him to check her out, do a blood panel just to be sure she is okay and not perhaps fighting an infection inside. Having kittens is so hard on cats, and who knows how many litters this one had before being rescued.

Thanks,

It's just so frustrating when you want everybody to get along. I've had her almost 2 months now. But of course, she was still with the kittens until just a couple weeks ago. And having never been around a cat like this before, it was pretty scary to see her get so upset and go after my other cats. She has gotten me pretty good a few times, but now I know her behavior and can tell if she's getting aggitated with me. According to the vet this was probably her first litter. He thinks she's just over a year old. She's still pretty skinny so maybe she is trying to fight something off.

Her kittens were still pretty aggressive too. I thought they were ok, since they seemed fine with me, but once I took them out of the bedroom and to the vet, they hissed and spat. Now they are at another foster home being tamed a little better than I could do. I commute to work and am gone about 12 hours a day, so I really couldn't give them the attention they deserve. I just hope that I have time to work with the mom cat. I'm learning a lot, but I feel bad that these were my first fosters and didn't really have enough experience to work with them properly.

Thanks again,

Kim

Her and her kittens are probably feral then. That's how they sound to me. There are several things you can do to make this transisition easier all the way around. Here is an article about introducing cats as well as one about ferals, I hope they help you!

Handling A Feral

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