Aggressive Bite

I have Beautiful Black Cat--shorthair--51/2 years old. SHe has been with me since she was 2 months old. She was rescued from a shelter. Our relationship up to this time has been wonderful. She is sweet and loving, loves attention. She has mainly been an indoor cat but has recently (for about 10 months now) started going outside to our yard for short periods of time.

About a week ago, she was outside and when I went to open the patio door, she got startled and tried to jump inside the house, but hit her head on the glass. I immeditately got worried because she hit her head pretty hard. She looked somewhat stunned and but otherwise was purring. I picke her up and placed her inside our house so that I could observe her and make sure she was ok. After about 2 minutes she went straight to the patio door and began pawing at the door indicating she wanted to go outside. Since I was worried about her well-being, I did not open the door and instead walked away from her into another room. The next think I knew--she had ran up to me and taken a hard bite out of my leg.

I was very surprised. In our 5 years together aside from some scratching and kitty biting--she has never shown such aggression.. Can anyone help?? I know she's a cat, but it seemed as if she was furious with me for not allowing her to go outside--although she's never bitten me before.. anyone's thoughts??

One can never tell exactly what a cat or any other animal feels.
But you should know that purring isn't always a sign of contentment. It could mean the cat is irritated also. Maybe she was hurt more than you thought.

Thanks-- I think you are right--
I did not know that purring was not always a sign of contentment--
She does purr a lot...
hmmmm... unhappy cat??

I wouldn't worry about it too much, Sweetie. When cats get injured, or are scared (and it sounds like both occurred here), they do things that they otherwise wouldn't. Just relax, keep an eye on your baby, and if she starts being lethargic, take her to the vet immediately. Otherwise, if she's behaving normally, everything's just fine. Cats have a tendency to bite or scratch the heck out of anything near when they're hurt...it's pure fear and self-defense. She was disoriented and scared, that's all.

Let us know how she is, ok?

About the purring-not-always-being-a-sign-of-a-content-cat thing...she means that when a cat is injured, they will sometimes do that. I think it is their way of trying to comfort themselves. I've had people say that they do it whenever they have a strong emotion, but I've never had any experience to prove it, so I can't vouch for it.

Bottom line...don't worry a bit, Hun...your baby is fine, and hasn't gone under any personality change.