Loving cat attacks?!?!

stanley

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Please help! My kitty, Stanley, who is 3.5 years old is a rescue kitty...he is the love of my life...so affectionate. However, last night just before I went to bed he attacked...really bad, I believe I might have a couple of puncture wounds...he ripped through my PJs. Anyhow, I had a hard time getting him off me, but I was able to close him in the shower. When I raised a tissue to blow my nose he lurched forward into the glass to attack again. He's been in the bathroom (he opened the shower door) all time and I've periodically popped my head in trying to sooth him with my voice and all he does is growl at me.

The vet doesn't open for another hour and I've called the emergency vet hospital and they suggested putting him down. There has to be another option...he's my baby and my love.

Please help!

Stanley's mom

Update:
The vet was very helpful this morning, however, inconclusive. The results from his blood and urine test will be in tomorrow, but he was not running a tempature. Right now I'm giving him Rescue Remedy twice a day...hopefully it's just stress (I was out of town the night before and he might be sensing that I'll be gone for two weeks next month.) He doesn't like it when I pack my bags, which I rarely do. Unfortunately for me, the bite wounds got infected so I have to keep hot compresses on them and take antibiotics.

Thank you for all that showed concern, it was a tramatic event more so because he really scared me...and I love him more than anything (he's my baby.)
 

deb25

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He sounds as though he may be sick. A trip to the vet is definitely in order. You want to have your wounds attended to, as well.
 

hissy

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I would agree that he sounds like this is a stimulus to pain. Hopefully you can curb your fear long enough to get him to the vet's office and find out. I sure wouldn't take him to the one vet who said they would put him down if he were their cat.

Is he inside/outside? What were you doing before he attacked you? Any new cats in your home, a new roommate, major changes? That type of thing? Please let us know a bit of the history and let us know what the vet says. Are his vaccinations current? And also attend to those wounds with great care!
 

sicycat

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Originally posted by Stanley
I've called the emergency vet hospital and they suggested putting him down. There has to be another option...he's my baby and my love.
omg are you kidding me?
What is wrong with them??

If this is the first time this has happened, then something must have freaked him out, or he could be sick and a vet trip could solve all your problems.

Please keep us updated.
 

oava

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How long have you had your kitty, you say he is 3 and half yrs old, is that how long you have had him?
 

lotsocats

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I can't believe the emergency hospital said to put him down. Sheesh!

This kind of aggressive behavior can occur when the cat goes into attack mode after seeing an outside cat who waders by, or if some other frightening stimulus triggers the fight/flight response. He attacked you simply because his brain was in attack mode and you happened to move, which triggered the response.

Or...as Hissy and the others suggested, this aggressive behavior sometimes occurs in sick or injured cats. My sweetest, most shy and demure cat once attacked the vet when he was sick. This aggression had never happened in the past, and hasn't happened since.

I hope your vet isn't as crazy as the emergency vet and will do a good exam to find out what happened.

Please let us know as soon as you can.
 

tuxedokitties

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I hope your cat is allright!

Did you get the name of who told you to put your cat down at the vet? If it was one of the staff (a receptionist or a vet tech), I would say to call the clinic at another time (after you've found out what's actually wrong with your cat) & speak directly to the vet & tell them what you were told, or write a complaint letter to the clinic to the vet's attention & let them know what their staff is telling people. That's just plain wrong!


Like lotsocats said, there are many behavioral issues or incidents that can cause things like that, in addition to a possible health problem.

My tortie went ballistic a long time ago when I brought home a stray kitten - she walked around the bed, growling & hissing, and would jump up on the bed, clawing & scratching at me like she'd gone nuts. I was really frightened, and locked her in the bathroom until I could get her to the vet the next day (there wasn't an emergency vet in the small town)- turned out she was just upset (very upset!) by the newcomer. Separation & a slow introduction handled the problem.
 

lorie d.

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Oh my gosh, I just saw this! I really hope the vet was able to get to the bottom of what caused that behavior. Do you have an update for us?
 

sweets

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This happened to my sister a number of years back. Her husband's coat was on the floor by the washer cause he told her he dropped it in something. Her cat came into the room, sniffed the coat, and went ballistic on my sister. My sister's leg was bitten badly and needed butterfly stitches. She escaped into the bathroom and called her husband on the cell phone. He came home and cornered the cat in a bedroom with heavy gloves and put her into the carrier. Then he told my sister he dropped his coat into a strange litterbox and his coat was sprayed by the homeowners male cat.

Please let us know what the vet says.
 

rosiemac

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That's shocking to hear the Emergency Vet Hospital tell you that!!!, especially when they had'nt even seen him?!


Thank God you did'nt take their advice!. I'd have knocked doors through windows if they told me to have Rosie put to sleep!.

I hope Stanley is better soon though!.

Susan
 

tuxedokitties

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Thank you for the update.

(for those that may not see it - it's posted as an edit in the original post)

There's also a product you might want to try in addition to the Rescue Remedy - it's a calming product called Feliway, and comes in a plug-in form or a spray. It's available at most pet stores.
www.feliway.com
I've found it to be very helpful in calming stressed cats.

Take care of yourself - cat bites can be pretty bad (they have a lot of bacteria in their mouths. If they get any worse you should probably go to the doctor.

Please keep us posted on how he's doing.
 
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