Hi everyone. I apologize for the length of this post, but it's a complex and difficult situation...
Our 11 year old cat has, within the last 6 months, picked up a very troubling and frustrating new behavior, and I'm wondering if any of you have advice on how we can address this. He's been checked out by our vet, including blood work, and no medical problems were found. We have had him since he was a small kitten, so we know almost all of his history, and he has had a very comfortable and low-stress life for the most part. He's indoor-only, and an only cat in our house with two adults and no children.
Over the summer, one of us fell down the stairs while he was near by. The human was scared, yelled, and went to the doctor to be checked, but ultimately was fine other than some bruises. We are 99% sure that the cat was not actually involved in the fall (did not get stepped on, tripped over, landed on, etc.). He definitely showed (and continues to show) zero signs of physical injury. However, immediately when the fall happened, he became EXTREMELY aggressive toward me (the person who didn't fall, and was in a different part of the house when it happened). Hissing, growling, scratching, biting, ears back. And it wasn't a "keep my distance" thing -- he would chase me and continue attacking if I tried to give him space. It gradually got better, but probably took 3-4 days before I could freely walk around the house without risk of being attacked. Mostly he would go after me if I came near the stairs, and especially if I went up or down the stairs. At the same time, if I was sitting, he would be very loving to me, purr, etc. He never exhibited any of this behavior with the person who did fall down the stairs.
Within a couple of weeks after the initial incident, things seemed pretty much back to normal. But we've now learned that he has a real hair-trigger response and will get back into attack mode (again, attacking only me) over very minor things. Yesterday's example was that I was in the kitchen (around the corner from the stairs), and dropped my earphone case on the floor. A small item, not very loud. He was upstairs, and came downstairs and started hissing at me. Similarly, a while back I stubbed my toe in the area near the stairs, said "ow!" (but didn't loudly yell or anything), and he attacked me and didn't calm down for a day or so.
When these incidents aren't in progress, he is one of the sweetest, most loving cats I have ever had. He sleeps on me in bed, is very affectionate and cuddly during the day, and never shows any signs of aggression towards us outside of the kinds of incidents described. Prior to this whole thing starting, I think I saw him hiss maybe three times in the 11 years we have had him, and it was always minor. He's never been an aggressive cat at all.
The only thing we can think of is that he has something similar to PTSD, or a traumatic memory from the stairs fall, and anything that reminds him of that is putting him back into defensive mode. But we have no idea how to help him get through it. We can't go on with me getting attacked any time I stub my toe or drop something. And it makes me so sad to think that he is this traumatized.
I'm curious if any of you have suggestions or ideas about this. Should we be looking for a cat behaviorist to consult with? Should we try to get the vet to prescribe him something (certainly not my first choice, but I am open to it)? Other ideas? We did add some Feliway diffusers and I don't know if they made any difference or not. He is our baby, we love him no matter what, and we will do anything for him.
Our 11 year old cat has, within the last 6 months, picked up a very troubling and frustrating new behavior, and I'm wondering if any of you have advice on how we can address this. He's been checked out by our vet, including blood work, and no medical problems were found. We have had him since he was a small kitten, so we know almost all of his history, and he has had a very comfortable and low-stress life for the most part. He's indoor-only, and an only cat in our house with two adults and no children.
Over the summer, one of us fell down the stairs while he was near by. The human was scared, yelled, and went to the doctor to be checked, but ultimately was fine other than some bruises. We are 99% sure that the cat was not actually involved in the fall (did not get stepped on, tripped over, landed on, etc.). He definitely showed (and continues to show) zero signs of physical injury. However, immediately when the fall happened, he became EXTREMELY aggressive toward me (the person who didn't fall, and was in a different part of the house when it happened). Hissing, growling, scratching, biting, ears back. And it wasn't a "keep my distance" thing -- he would chase me and continue attacking if I tried to give him space. It gradually got better, but probably took 3-4 days before I could freely walk around the house without risk of being attacked. Mostly he would go after me if I came near the stairs, and especially if I went up or down the stairs. At the same time, if I was sitting, he would be very loving to me, purr, etc. He never exhibited any of this behavior with the person who did fall down the stairs.
Within a couple of weeks after the initial incident, things seemed pretty much back to normal. But we've now learned that he has a real hair-trigger response and will get back into attack mode (again, attacking only me) over very minor things. Yesterday's example was that I was in the kitchen (around the corner from the stairs), and dropped my earphone case on the floor. A small item, not very loud. He was upstairs, and came downstairs and started hissing at me. Similarly, a while back I stubbed my toe in the area near the stairs, said "ow!" (but didn't loudly yell or anything), and he attacked me and didn't calm down for a day or so.
When these incidents aren't in progress, he is one of the sweetest, most loving cats I have ever had. He sleeps on me in bed, is very affectionate and cuddly during the day, and never shows any signs of aggression towards us outside of the kinds of incidents described. Prior to this whole thing starting, I think I saw him hiss maybe three times in the 11 years we have had him, and it was always minor. He's never been an aggressive cat at all.
The only thing we can think of is that he has something similar to PTSD, or a traumatic memory from the stairs fall, and anything that reminds him of that is putting him back into defensive mode. But we have no idea how to help him get through it. We can't go on with me getting attacked any time I stub my toe or drop something. And it makes me so sad to think that he is this traumatized.
I'm curious if any of you have suggestions or ideas about this. Should we be looking for a cat behaviorist to consult with? Should we try to get the vet to prescribe him something (certainly not my first choice, but I am open to it)? Other ideas? We did add some Feliway diffusers and I don't know if they made any difference or not. He is our baby, we love him no matter what, and we will do anything for him.