Dori's Agressive Behavior

Some of you may remember, as I have mentioned on a few of my posts, Dori gets very agressive with me when she wants to play. I read the post about how to stop agression, and believe she has play agression. I read about tossing a toy when she begins to act that way and tried it, and when I toss the toy she looks at it for a sec and then attacks my leg. When I say attack, I mean she runs to my leg and bites me, hard, and just recently she started using her claws. I haven't tried the time out in the bathroom for 5 minutes because I can't get hold of her when she is acting this way. She will tear my arms up.
When Dori was little, I did used to play with her with my hands, wiggling my fingers etc. for her. I learned after visiting this site not to do it and stopped. It is not really my fingers she attacks though, it's just me.
I have been trying to pay attention and find out what is going on before she attacks. She attacks me every time I go to bed. If I get up and go to the bathroom and go back to bed during the night, she attacks me. If I take a nap, she attacks me. I can't have any part of my body out of the covers during the 1st 5 minutes or so I am in bed or she will bite me hard or scratch me. She even will attack my head. I have to cover up and wait for her to get bored and leave. I don't want to lock her out, because after she comes back she snuggles with me, and will sleep with me for the whole night.
I try to play with her so that she will get tired and not try to attack before bed, but any toy that I play with her with, she is only interested in attacking me. I play with a fishing pole toy, and instead of looking at the feather and bell at the end, she watches the movement of my arm swinging it and would rather attack that. I have scars all up my arms from her bites. She doesn't bite my bf or his son at all, only me.
She is a sweet kitty when she isn't attacking, she is an only cat and she is a year and a half old. I take very good care of her, she has never been abused, she isn't sick, there haven't been any major change lately, (this behavior has gone on for 8-9 months now) Any suggestions as to how I can get her to stop. This has been going on for so long now, and now that she uses her claws, I just can't continue to let her get away with it. I truly feel like she thinks this is the way to play. I may have taught her that by letting her playing with my fingers as a kitten, OH and the bed thing might be because when she was a kitten we played the 'wiggle your toes under the covers and Dori pounces' game. But we haven't done that for a year or so. How can I teach her this is not the way to play?

I would make her a ball bin. Simply put it is a large cardboard box (such as the type that small appliances come in- with holes carved in the side that Dori can jump through. Inside the box is 4-5 ping pong balls. Scatter a bit of loose catnip in the bottom of the box and place Dori inside. She will be able to take all of her play aggression/energy chasing the balls, they don't end up vanishing under the freezer or armchair and cat and owner are happy.

Ok, I found some good sized boxes in the storage room from when we moved. I thik one of those will work. I am going to run next door to Petsmart and get some catnip and see how she likes it Thanks for the suggestion, I hope it works.
Will this work because it gives her a place to release some built up energy? And is the reason she attacks is because she has too much energy built up and she gets rid of it by attacking?
Also, one more question, if you don't mind. This morning I was walking down the hall toward my bedroom and Dori walked up, stuck her ears back and came at me, she attacked my leg, I backed up stood perfectly still and said No Dori. Firmly but I did not yell at her. She made this mean sounding meow, stood sideways, ears back, head tilted funny and attacked my leg again. Ouch! Once I backed up and she was in front of me, how can I get her to not attack the 2nd time?

If you can carry around something like a hand-towel (or some other harmless, but kind-of large soft thing) when she attacks, simply drop this soft thing ont her. This will likely startle her out of attack mode. Once in attrack mode, it takes something drastic to cause the brain to switch out of attack....a soft and safe startle (like from a towel) might do the trick.

I tried the towel thing this morning. I was getting ready to get in the shower and she jumped on the back of my leg bit me and clawed me. I turned around and grabbed the towel off the towel bar and as she got ready to attck again, I dropped the towel over her. She ran out and went under the bed. I picked up the towel, started to get into the shower again and she got me again. I am not understanding why she is doing this to me. I am going to keep working with her and will try everything. I probably could just ignore it if it didn't hurt so bad. Because she isn't going anywhere, so we just need to find a way to get along!

I probably should go get those ping pong balls tonight for the box idea Hissy gave me.

i felt like i was reading about myself then!
everything you described is exactly how socks is with me, i try to make him play with the tous, he just goes for my arm, and so on, but i am gonna try that box thing with socks, i am gonna make it tonight

I feel like Dori must be going through the rebellious teenager stage of life. At lunch time today she was so sweet she wanted to cuddle the whole time I was there. I enjoyed it, guess she was making up for her actions. My bf tells me to pop her, or squirt her with water, I will not do either of those.

i know, socks will take a run an jump at my legs, back, arms, scratch me and scar me, my bf says the same, but im not about to start chasing him round the house with a water gun. but when hes nice, he really is nice.

Does Socks only do this to you, because Dori only attacks me. She is as sweet as can be to everyone else. Including complete strangers. It really kind of hurts my feelings

socks never attacks anyone else! not even my boyfriend, who plays with him more than i do, although bf always says he only does this to me because i let him get away with it, but i am trying to stop him.
as for other strangers, socks has always been weird around people he doesnt know, he doesnt attack them, he doesnt even go near them!
the other morning i work up with blood all over my nose, an i mean alot of blood, socks had only attacked me in my sleep, and scratched all my nose! its not as if he hasnt got any toys, because hes got tons!

OH my gosh! I can't believe how much we have in common. I get the "Dori does this to you because you let her get away with it" speech all the time. I guess we could open a support group for Mommies of abusive felines!

and boy do we know what we are talkin about, "Violent cat support"

Ok, I will start, My name is Tanya and I am the momy of an abusive feline named Midori. It all started about 6 months ago and hasn't stopped

welcome tanya

my name is carrie and have been the subject of abuse to my cat socks, i also have the scars

this is fun!

Carrie- You have come to the right place to share your story. My arms have so many marks on them, a few of my friends tease me and tell me I have tried to kill myself. I don't even feel safe going to sleep at night because that's Dori's favorite time to attack me.

i have bags under my eyes that are so big, im so afraid to go to bed, sometimes he lurkes under the bed, just waiting for me, getting ready for the attack.
last week i was teased because i had a big scratch across my forehead..... im to afraid now to walk around with no shoes or socks on, its getting worse.
tanya, youve been so brave coming out about this, but were gonna get through this

Thank you for your support Carrie.... I know how you feel. One morning a week or so ago, I forgot to cover my head with the covers when I went to bed, (that's the only way I am safe) I closed my eyes and from out of the darkness jumped Dori, mouth wide open heading straight for my forhead. I tried to cover in time, but I didn't. It hurt. Dori has just begun attacking my legs and feet over the past 2 weeks. She runs out of no where, launches into the air and wraps her paws around my leg, biting me, and when I reach down to get her off, she gets my arms. I just can't win. Carrie, hang in there, and remember it's not your fault. You haven't done anything wrong

Seriously, I am leaving work now and I am going to buy some ping pong balls for the ball box. I will let you know how it works out later this evening.

good for you tanya,
the other day, i was sitting on the couch watching tv, when all of a sudden i felt all his claws dig in my head, he even pulled a few strands of hair out, i was in so much pain, then i was talking to the bf, when i felt something land on my back, paws dug into my waist,
i am resorting to thinking about getting 24 hour padding to save my skin
tanya you have so much guts, i cant believe you dare to walk around bare legs, i admire your courage!
and i know with a bit of help you will fight your way through this tough time in your life

Sorry that last post was so funny.


Carrie- I just got home and so far so good. No attacks. She is laying in the middle of the hallway on her back with her feet in the air. I am scared to walk by, for fear she will attack. I think Carrie we need to just take it one day at a time. Each day can and will get better

I'm dying to read how these ball bin things work out for you two! I'm thinking about making one up for my cats!

When I first got Amelia and Zoey they were TERRIBLE about bedtime and playing with my hair and clawing my head and biting my ears and nose. I eventually did the unspeakable and locked them out of the bedroom at night because I couldn't take it. I didn't find it affected my relationship with the cats at all, and a while later when I started letting them back into the bedroom the behavior went away. Now every night Zoey comes up on the bed and sleeps. She used to sleep next to my leg but lately she's taken to sleeping right next to my pillow and now she insists on being "tucked in" before I go to sleep. Amelia on rare occassions will sleep on the bed, but she prefers to sleep elsewhere in the bedroom because my two little boys sleep on the bed too and she doesn't like sharing me with other cats.

-Monica.