Cat has begun hissing and clawing at us for no reason!!! Help!!!

All of a sudden last evening when we came home from work our older cat began hissing and growling at us. He has never been like this in the 5 years we have had him. He'll start to become affectionate again and then when one of us moves he starts hissing and growling again.

Any information would be great!

Thanks in advance!

Gchild,

It could be over stimulation or if there are other cats around, it could be that he is stressed out. I have a 7 year old male (6 cats total) and he can be affectionate one minute and then turn into a grumpy old man. He gets stressed out because there are 3 females and a male that are far younger than he is and they are more active.

The first thing I would do is maybe have him checked by your vet to rule out any kind of medical problem. If he gets a clean bill of health, I would just try to give him a little more attention. That's what I do with Casey and it seems to work.

Good luck.

Thanks a lot, I appreciate the information.

We do have a younger cat and he (the troubled one) and her get along fine. I'll keep an eye on him and if it continues, I'll be sure to set an appointment with the vet.

Thanks again. =)

I agree with Donna....a trip to the vet is in order.

Also, look to see whether there are any cats outside that are irritating your cat. One of our cats was doing this until I realized that I was bringing outside kitty smells into the house on my shoes. Now, I take off my shoes as soon as I come in and wash my hands -- no more aggression!

Typically, if a cat's behavior suddenly changes there is either a medical problem or something has changed in the cat's environment. Finding the illness or environmental change is the key to solving the problem.

Good luck!