Need help, Cat is attacking everything that moves

I've had a cat since she was a kitten, and she's always been a little high strung, but never violent until recently. She never fully adjusted to my wife and her son, but for the most part just ignored them with the occational hiss. About a year ago that changed when she started to attack my wife first, and then the dog. She stopped though after a few times, but then again lately she did it again.

I finally got her neutured, and because she had some really bad claws that wouldn't retract I had her front claws removed. Her behavior is worse now, and at any minute she can go from cuddling and purring to full out assault on anything in range for no reason at all. She doesn't even give a hiss either, just springs into attack mode and she's bitten me up pretty badly now 3 times in the last 2 weeks.

What I want to know is if someone here has actually used the St. John's Wort & Feliway Comfort Zone and actually had their cat completely change? I'm really worried because my wife is pregnant and I can't have a psychotic animal around a baby. I'm facing either getting rid of her or finding a solution that can honestly work.

Sadly when you declaw a kitten or a cat, sometimes behavior issues are worsened, depending on who did the declaw and how profecient they were at it. Of course she is biting you now, she has no other way to defend herself.

I would suggest you get rid of the conventional litter that you are using and switch instead to rabbit pellets- (the rabbit food) this will feel better on her feet, and may help to stop one stress in her life. Plus the alfalfa in the feed will mask litter pan odors.

Feliway Comfort Zone Room diffusers do work, but if there is something wrong in the environment that is triggering this cat's behavior it won't alway work. Is it possible that someone is terrorizing this cat when no one is looking? Many cat haters are cowards and only attack cats when they know there is no audience- perhaps a frequent visitor?

I also suggest you go to www.littlebigcat.com and send off an email to their Spirit Essence site, they will come up with a custom flower remedy mixture to use on your cat.

Best of luck to you

There are folks here with more knowledge than I so I'm sure one of them will be here soon.

She may be sensing the hormonal change in your wife due to her pregnancy as well.

From a personal standpoint, I'd be pretty pissed too if someone cut all my fingers off at the first knuckle joint and probably act up worse than before they were all cut off.

I've been slowely getting her to interact with the house again, and the only time she has been with people has been fully supervised so no one is taunting her at all. My son is staying with his grandparents which is why we chose this time for her surgery, and I've left the dog outside up to this point. I changed her litter to the pellets immediadly after the surgery to avoid any infections. She's fully healed up now. She is exhibiting the same violent behavior as before, but now there is no warning signals at all.

PS: Before all the anti-declawers come in and get upset, understand she had 3 or 4 extra claws on each front paw. Some were growing into her skin because they couldn't retract, and she would get them caught on things and cry out in pain. The Vets were the ones who suggested she have them all removed because her paws were damaged.

Right, anyone who reads your thread fully will understand that there was a serious health issue which is why this cat had to have a declaw. But alot of people read declaw and stop reading and jump in to attack- that is just the way of it sometimes-

Where did you originally get her? Have you thought about a cat behaviorist to come into you home? I don't know where you are located, but I do know there are some pretty good cat behaviorists out there that could help you-

I agree 100% with Hissy....a cat behaviorist will be your best bet.

Until you are able to get the behaviorist to come for a visit, please click here to read about stopping cat aggression. If you go to the bottom of the thread you will see how I stopped this kind of aggression in one of my cats. His name was Spike the Killer Cat From He11. He was so aggressive that my husband and I were afraid to be anywhere around him. But, once I implemented the behavior modification program described in the thread, he became a much calmer cat.

BTW...have you told the vet about her behavior to see whether there might be a medical cause?

I originally got her when she was still a kitten. The family who had her were allergic to cats and only had her a week when I adopted her from them. She was only a few months old, so I've had her for nearly her whole life.

The Vet suggested a Behaviorist but the one we contacted just wanted $200 and for us to send them in a questionaire. I'm honestly a little skeptical someone who's never seen my cat could suddenly have an epiphany on what her problems are after spending a few moments with her... I can streight up tell you that if I braught a stranger near her she would attack them, myself and everything around her and a Pet Psychologist would just prescribe Kitty Prozac and bill me for their time.

I've removed everything from the environment that could remotely threaten her, and she just goes from snuggling, purring loveble kitty to growling and charging us in a split second, and it takes her hours to calm down after I isolate her in the bathroom.

Originally Posted by lotsocats

I agree 100% with Hissy....a cat behaviorist will be your best bet.

Until you are able to get the behaviorist to come for a visit, please click here to read about stopping cat aggression. If you go to the bottom of the thread you will see how I stopped this kind of aggression in one of my cats. His name was Spike the Killer Cat From He11. He was so aggressive that my husband and I were afraid to be anywhere around him. But, once I implemented the behavior modification program described in the thread, he became a much calmer cat.

BTW...have you told the vet about her behavior to see whether there might be a medical cause?

Click to expand...

I want to attempt to start using the St. John's Wort and the Feliway stuff, and I was looking for anyone here who has used them and noticed a real result. I'm going to talk to the Doctor tomorrow about any health concerns for her using those products and go from there. Thanks for atleast giving me some hope that another psychotic cat out there was helped by this stuff. I'm honestly at the end of my patience.

I used to have a violently aggressive cat and I tried everything possible, including behavior modification training and prozac.
He was simply not a good candidate as his mood swings were directly related to his being developmentally disabled.

Please, do try everything you can first, but if nothing works, don't rule out drug therapy.

As for her claws... my old boy's claws were removed out of medical need as well, so I'm not jumping you, just informing you, because a lot of vets don't.
I just don't want you to assume that because they are healed they are painless.
Cats, by nature, walk on their toes, after a declaw that isn't possible, and they must retrain themselves to walk differently, which can cause pain.
Also, the risk of long term pain increases if the cat is an adult at the time of declaw.

Good luck with her, and please, don't give up.

I've used Feliway diffuser with my cats when they were a little neurotic after we had been away. It mellows them out, for sure. But I dont think it would provide the radical change that you are looking for. It basically tells the cat "Hey, this is a nice safe place. Chill out a little." It doesn't prevent them from going ape, playfighting or attacking each other (yes, there has been some growling and fighting even with the Feliway). I get alot more eye-blinkies (when they feel happy) and some more snuggles. I think they feel more secure, which is the main reason I got it.

It sounds like your cat is flipping a switch somewhere and she goes from snuggles to attack mode. I am not an expert and I understand there were legitimate reasons for the declaw--but there may be pain that is still there that is flipping her out, or she be having some pyschological problems adjusting to being clawless. Is it possible that she might have some mental/chemical disorder that would cause her to switch on and off like that?

If you have the money, go ahead and try Feliway--it will definitely make her feel at least a little more secure. But even her feeling more secure may not bring about the behavioral changes you want, so dont expect a miracle.