Psycho Cat

My kids and I have a cat, Triscuit. She is about 8 years old, declawed and spayed. We've had her since she was a kitten, got her in an animal shelter. She is a calico. Last night she turned completely feral and attacked my son (age 19). Within the last 3-4 years, she has displayed this behavior before, about 3 times. The last time I took her to the vet and was given some tranquilizers for her. That didn't last very long, she reverted back to her usual self and you know how "easy" it is to give a cat a pill. It seems her aggression is always directed towards my son. He wasn't teasing her, he hadn't been around any other cats, he was just standing in front of her and she started meowing loudly, which evolved into hissing and spitting and finally a full attack. He had to run into a room and close the door to get away from her. She was completely out of control. I tried to throw a blanket over her to grab her so I could confine her to another room. I'm sure this made her more frightened, but it was the only way I could get control of her. Anyway, she ended up downstairs, under a couch. I left her there for a while, came back a few minutes later and she was still hissing and growling. She went into a bedroom and I closed the door and left her there for about 3 hours. My daughter let her out and she seemed calmed down, but jumpy. She ended up sleeping with her and this morning, she's still a little agitated and jumpy, but did let my son pet her. Her usual demeaner is a bit on the skiddish or paranoid side, but she doesn't display any type of aggression towards us. Any ideas on how to deal with this? It's very un-nerving and scary when she does this. I just can't figure out why she does this so out of the blue. Thanks for any input.

Sadly, some cats, not all, that have had to undergo the trauma of declawing will start to exhibit behavior problems as they grow older. It could be that your son is pressing a trigger that is deep inside this cat and she is reacting to it in this volatile manner.

I would get her to a vet and ask them to evaluate the site of the declaw first of all to find out if there is any problem going on. The aggression can also be a sign that the cat is in pain, and the declaw site is the first place to look.

I have a declawed kitty (declawed by her previous owner)named Odd who has residual trauma from the declaw. Luckily for us she is not aggressive, but she does display other behavioral issues common to declawed kitties - excessive fearfulness & inappropriate urination. I second Hissy's suggestion to have a vet evaluate the declaw site & also want to mention we have had some sucess in modifying Odd's behavior using a Bach Flower combination called Declaw Remedy. If you're interested, more information can be found at www.spiritessence.com.

Amanda