Immediate Help Needed!

We have 7 indoor cats that all get along very well. Tonight Tinkles lost his mind and starting attacking everyone like he was going to kill them. When I went to pull him off whoever he was attacking he totally shredded my arm and I have some very deep bite puncture wounds I have to go to the doctor for tomorrow.

I locked Tinkles in the bathroom. Let him out after 10 minutes and he lost it on the other cats again. So he is back in the bathroom again.

I called my emergency vet (it is 1 am here she wasn't very happy) and told her the situation and all she suggested was that I keep Tinkles up in the bathroom overnight ... I need help, PLEASE...will explain more in my next post...

Keep him confined and away from the other cats and humans he may harm for now to see if he calms down on his own. You will of course need to get him in to the vet immediately to make sure he is OK, but I wouldn't attempt trying to catch him until you are confident you can handle him safely.

Do you have any novasan or neosporin in the house? If so, wash those punctures really well with antibacterial soap and as hot a temperature of water as you can reasonably stand. Take the novasan or neosporin and literally plug it into the holes - it will hurt and it won't be pleasant, but you will begin a process sooner than the doctor will tomorrow.

Tinkles has always been the top cat in our household, but he has never outright attacked anyone like this before.

This all started a few nights ago. Peter and I have been feeding a group of about 6 feral cats on our porch, and Peter insists upon leaving the door open with just the screen door open because he wants air. Well a few nights ago when Tinkles first went crazy we *think* it was because one of the male cats outside was standing up looking in the screen door. Tinkles immediately started the yowling and attacked any of our cats who was closest.

Then this hasn't happened again until tonight, and I know it erupted at the screen door.

I do not understand this behaviour. Does Tinkles feel threatened by the feral cats? If he does why does he feel the need to attack the cats he has lived happily with for the past 3 years?

His sense of place in the heirarchy is gone. The ferals on the porch have given him reason to believe he must now defend his place as alpha even though the residents are not the ones threatening him.

I mean I am seriously worried about Tinkles. When I got him in the bathroom I sat with him in there and his heart was racing and his pupils were fully dilated (but reactive, I checked with a flashlight) and he was panting and breathing through his mouth.

I am hoping this is just a behaviour issue because of the outdoor cats. We think one of the feral males is spraying near the screen door, as our cats have been peeing in front of the door on the inside, could this have set him off?

I hate to think this is some neurological disorder or something, if it is just caused by the feral cats we can feed them elsewhere and I can put my foot down on not leaving the door open to "get some air".

I am just so worried because the first time he did this a few nights ago we let him out of the bathroom after 10 minutes and he was fine. Tonight he was not...

I am really very scared...

Also I would bet you have cat pee sprayed outside on the walls of your home. There are blacklight flashlights you can purchase, I would suggest you get one and check it out. When you see the stains use www.urine-off.com to get rid of the stains, it will work no matter how old the stains are.

Ok, lamb, just breathe. He is in the bathroom now, right? Is the light on or off? If on, go ahead and leave it, but if you can get in there safely and feel comfortable doing it, turn it off. Just leave him in there until YOU regroup.

I know well the look you are describing. But he is just trying to defend you, his people, the other cats and his territory all at the same time. He has to be feeling rather ferocious. Just let him calm down in there for now.

It might be best if you didn't feed the ferals up close to the house if this is going to set him off and I agree that's what it sounds like. Take their gear away from the house and away from windows or doors that your boy could see/hear them. He will still know they are there because he will smell them, but if he can't see them, it might not upset him quite so badly.

Yeah he is in the bathroom with the light off. I was just sitting in there with him petting him and he was purring. I let one of our other cats sniff him through the door with me holding it barely cracked and he was just fine. He is acting normal now, I even put a bowl of food in there and he ate some. I put a cat bed in there and he is lying in it now peacefully.

OK good - get a litter box in there for him too unless you want a mess. But let him stay in there overnight, just in case. Don't let him out with the other cats unless you can sit up and supervise. Do you have any Feliway or other calming agent there, Rescue Remedy or Clomicalm? Anything? Soft music and dim light is good if you can muster that up in the bathroom ...

Just let him decompress- now is it possible that a cat actually got into the house without you knowing it? You would be surprised, we had a little black cat sneak in one day in our cat door and hide upstairs in a cupboard. My cats went ballistic and we couldn't figure it out at all until the cat got spotted-

This is the damage. One of the bites is up on my palm near a joint and that is the deepest one, I felt his tooth tear into my flesh pretty deeply, and that was from his broken front upper canine that is very very sharp. Some more bites and scratches on my arm too. Also got a scratch on my foot when trying to pull him off Grayson.


This is just not Tinkles, he is a peaceful cat!!!

So do I try to let him out tonight? Or wait until morning? Or take him from the bathroom straight to the vets in the morning? The vet on call said they could just do a basic checkup, they do not have a CTscanner or anything there...

Got a litter box in the bathtub, food bowl and water bowl near the door, and a cat bed and a towel spread out in there for him...

I don't think another cat got inside, but I have seen them stand up and look inside the screen door...

Look at the damage (can't remember how to post pictures)

www.petersimmons.com/ebay/bite1.jpg
www.petersimmons.com/ebay/bites2.jpg
www.petersimmons.com/ebay/scratch.jpg

The worst bite I told you about I have a band aid over, but it is turning purple around it from bruising already.

It is 2 am here but I am wide awake. I am fully capable of staying up for another few hours. I want to let Tinkles back out because I hate to have him locked in the bathroom, but if he is going to freak again I don't really want to put my other cats through that again, not to mention get my arms shredded again...

On the other hand he seems perfectly happy in the bathroom, lying cozily in the bed, not digging at the door or meowing to get out...

We let Grayson (Tink's best friend) in the bathroom with Tink and Tink is being very sweet and licking Grayson's face and they are both purring...so this is good...

OK so I am really thinking this is just because of the feral cats and I don't need to get him a CT of his head...

Do you guys still think I need to take him to the vet in the morning? I mean all they are going to do is listen to his heart and lungs...

This doesn't sound like a neurological problem - it sounds like a hierarchy issue. Get the ferals away from the house and keep them away. Watch Tink around the other cats closely and if you see any aggressive posturing, then immediately separate and confine. You might also want to clean around your windows and doors tomorrow. Also, it will help to get the feral males neutered as soon as you can.

Thank you SO MUCH for consoling me, gayef & hissy.

Tinkles is laying on his back in the middle of the living room floor right now and all the other cats except Cleo are back to normal with him.

Cleo was the first one he terrorized tonight, and she is still very upset by it. She won't get within 4 feet of Tink.

Peter and I will stay up with the cats for another 1/2 hour or so just to make sure everything stays cool. If this EVER happens again I will put on the oven mitts before trying to separate a cat fight!

We went outside with a flashlight and sprayed nature's miracle around the doors and windows. Will scrub everything tomorrow. We already moved the feral cat food away from the windows where our cats can not see them

What a nightmare, that really scared me so bad. I was worried about Tink really hurting our other cats, and worried he was going to have a heart attack he was so stressed.

Everything seems OK for now.

Thanks again for everything, really you guys...

Sarah

Update us, Sarah, OK?

Of course...

I am pretty positive it is a dominance issue. When we got Tink he was a stray adult intact male, our vet at the time guessed he was 3 or 4 years old. So when we took him in we got him neutered, but a lot of his BOSS CAT attitude has stayed with him. He is so mellow and self confident usually that these episodes really bothered me.

Right now everyone is sitting in the living room, with one eye on Tink. Nobody seems to know what happened.

...

Great as I wrote that he got Grayson cornered under our bed and started the yowling thing again. I threw a towel over Tink and picked him up and tossed him in the bathroom without him shredding me this time...

Looks like Tink is spending the night in the bathroom after all.

We will try this again in the morning, in the meantime I have got to get some sleep.

*sigh*

Yes, please keep the cats separated for everyone's safety. I would finish cleaning everything to get rid of the stray's sprays before letting Tink out to mix with the other cats. He might calm down in the bathroom but he will get re-agitated because you aren't done cleaning yet.

I don't think any vet visits are needed unless a cat is physically hurt. Please take care of your own injuries -- they look pretty nasty.

Here is a random story about Nano...keep in mind she is a 6-8 spayed cat! Our neighbor has unspayed indoor cats and they can be heard a block away. Anyway, when these girls get in heat we gets lots of visitors and there is a ruckus. I am not sure what happened, but about a month ago something REALLY agitated Nano and she charged across the living at full speed and crashed head-first into the door. Then she hissed, she screamed in aggression, she tore at the door, broke off the kick-panel and ripped up the carpet right in front of the door. This went on for five minutes, continuing with the hissing and these angry screams I'd never heard before. Now remember she was inside a locked door and reacted this way to unseen adversary on the outside. If she would have got out, there would have been one helluva fight. Anyway, it was some sort of a territory problem.

Hopefully for you it is just a matter of cleaning up and allowing a little time for things to get back to normal. Good luck!