Please help...I have no idea what to do...

I have a cat with some serious behavioral problems. Sometimes she is as nice as can be, but sometimes she is aggressive and mean. She bites and hisses, and there is nothing that triggers this behavior as far as I can tell. She is afraid of most people, and either hides from them or bites and scratches them. Sometimes she really likes to be held, and sometimes she won't come near me. She is almost always twitching her tail. I have had her for 5 years, and I thought at first that she just had a weird personality, but after really getting to know her well, I think that she has some emotional problems.

I had a bad feeling that her previous owners, who had her for the first 8 weeks of her life, abused her, because when I first got her she had ear mites, the tip of her tail was broken, and she was clearly malnourished. I know that people say not to adopt a cat that isn't healthy, but I just couldn't leave her with those people.

Has anyone else had experiences like this? What can I do for her?

I would try Bach's rescue remedy. You can get it at the health food store and it is safe for cats. You can put a few drops in some wet food or rub it in her fur.

When a cat acts out like this, it is never for no reason; there is always a reason behind it somewhere. It could be something you will never figure out, as happens often when a cat just attacks once, but it could also be something you can figure out with a little detective work. She (what's her name, by the way?) probably doesn't have "emotional problems" the way a person does, although vets have started prescribing human psychiatric drugs to cats. You may want to look into this. You can try the Feliway comfort plug-ins, I haven't tried them but people here rave about them.

Is there something going on when she freaks out? For instance, Zissou is scared of fans (kitchen or bathroom) but it took me a while to figure out what made her go crazy sometimes until I noticed that. Are you wearing a specific fragrance, did you just get out of the shower, is it a specific time of day, is it after you chnage something around, or clean, or don't clean, or are you wearing the same pair of socks? Try to think of everything you possibly can.

Bless you for taking in the poor abused kitty. I'm sure she requires extra patience and love!