Cat Suddenly Turned Very Aggressive And Vicious

[lknight96]

Good morning,

As i'm typing this I still feel like i'm going to wake up from a horrible dream. Our Beloved 9 month old indoor cat Finkle, whom we have had from 7 weeks of age, turned really violent and vicious against me on Tuesday, came home from work, he was stood on top of the fridge as usual, we had hugs, played around, he was rubbing his face against me and we were playing for a while as we always do, my partner comes home, he's completely fine, meowing a lot, but fine, he does that sometimes, it did seem a little differently though. After a while I take a step into the back garden, walk back in, open the door and my partner has our Finkle in her arms, he pushes off of her, hisses and spits at me, growls and then proceeds to attack me multiple times, fully puffed up, and vicious like I have never seen it, i'm talking, i'm 6 foot and about 225lb and I could not keep him off me, he was going for me with such ferocity, that i move d out of the way of one of the times he was lunging for my face, he hit a picture frame on the wall that is about my head height high and about 3 feet behind me, smahed it, landed on mantel piece and went straight back for my face, ripped through my clothes, deep slices in my arms, legs, stitches in my nose, he went for my face 5 or 6 times and there was nothing I could do, my partner couldn't do much as she's 7 month pregnant, but we managed to get out of the room, we backed away towards the door, and he came and guarded the door from us, managed to get him out back garden, and he stayed there overnight, charging the door all night whilst he was out there, morning comes, he's opening his mouth wide, meowing and attacking the door, we manage to get him in a box, vets call to move appointment, he did not eat as far as we could tell all night, so we put him in the kitchen with food, fresh litter, fresh water, all his favourite toys, he did not go near his toys, he loves playing with water, he avoided it like it wasn't there, comes to having to go to appointment, walk past him and he leans over to my face, and is fine, lean carefully near him, he hisses, spits and tries to get me again, i get my partner out back and i edge towards the door, he fuzzes up and guards the door. Vets came in full protective gear to collect him, they open the door, go in, he rolls over and starts playing with them.

We are clueless, vets are going to castrate him today, but with my partner being pregnant, We both strongly believe, however heartbreaking it is, and believe me when i say it really is, me and my partner are beyond heartbroken, he was our baby, but the cat that attacked me, it wasn't our finkle...

Is there ANYTHING we can do to save having to rehome him? Regardless of cost, we are desperate to keep him, our finkle must be in there somewhere.

 

[dahli6]

Getting him neutered is a good first step. Animals respond to human hormones and he is probably being protective of your partner and the unborn baby. He is claiming them and you are a rival. He is coming into those grown up male hormones.
It takes a while for the hormones to dissipate.
Maybe just don't touch him when she is in the room. If you have a place to keep him that she never enters it might be even better. Crate him if you have to. If you can't manage this you might want to look into finding him another home because he might be a danger to the infant later.

 

[betsygee]

It sounds like redirected aggression. Is it possible he saw another animal outside? Something that could have scared him?

We had a situation like that with a cat a couple of years ago. Our cat Jake saw another of our cats outside, seemed perfectly calm about it, but when I leaned down to pet him, he freaked out and attacked my leg. I couldn't get him off of me. Then he attacked another cat that was in the same room with him at the time, had her backed into a corner, but I managed to get her out the door before he really hurt her. I was afraid to go into the same room with Jake after the attack, I'd never seen anything like it.

There was no way we could get him into a carrier so we called the vet, described the situation and they prescribed acepromazine. Acepromazine for Cats We mixed it in some tuna/tuna water, fortunately he ate it, and it worked a miracle. He had to be on it for about a week, if I'm remembering correctly. It completely calmed him down from whatever trauma he had been through.

I think we used a 1/4 tab of it with him once in awhile if it seemed he was getting anxious, but we never had a problem with that kind of full-on aggression from him again.

Of course, I didn't try to integrate him with the other cats, either. Jake was older with pre-existing health problems when we got him and he ended up living in a special cat room we set up--another long story -- and it took awhile for me to rebuild trust that he wouldn't attack, but he never did.

If you look it up, you will see pros and cons for using this drug--all I can say is that it worked a miracle with our cat. So you did go through with getting him neutered, right? That should help, too.

 

[maggiedemi]

Did the vet check him for rabies and distemper? If he's fine, then I would see how he does after he is neutered. Once those male hormones are gone, maybe he will calm down. Of course, make sure you are safe just in case, maybe keep him in a room by himself for a week.

 

[txcats]

Wow, that just sounds scary, I am so sorry for everyone involved. I could see re-directed aggression being the issue if he calmed down after a while, but it sounds like he went crazy and violent and stayed that way. Have you had a health exam and blood tests for him? If not, are they going to do that before the neuter surgery?

Before you bring him home maybe the vet can put him on some sort of valium-type medication and then you can taper him off slowly and see if he is back to normal without the med. Hope you will come back with a good update!!

 

[lknight96]

Hi good evening,

I hope everyone who commented can see this message, new user so not sure how it works,


After vets we are now left with more questions than answers,

Vets called us today to tell us how nice and playful he has been before and after neutering, apparently they love him, which is easy to do, our finkle was so very special, but with us, he is long gone, vets released him there to see how he would react to us, he did nothing but stare at me, now he is neutered and at home, he is residing in the spare bedroom with everything he needs, we are terrified to go in.

My heart is broken and my partners even more so, because she was hoping and praying he would be his normal little self, but just the Cold reaction we got, and how his facial features were towards us, his eyes...whatever this cat is, it's not our baby boy that we have had for 9 months. With us atleast. -

It is with great upset that we have had to contact a rehoming charity and will be processed tomorrow.

Going forward we are going to do everything we can for this charity with the hope that something positive comes out of such a horrible and heartbreaking situation.

Still waiting to wake up from this and find out it was all a horrible dream.

 

[maggiedemi]

I'm so sorry that you have to re-home him. I was hoping that after neutering, his hormones would go down and he would return to normal. But I guess it takes a month for all the hormones to leave the body.

 

[dahli6]

I'm so sorry that you have to re-home him. I was hoping that after neutering, his hormones would go down and he would return to normal. But I guess it takes a month for all the hormones to leave the body.

It does take time. We got all 7 of our adult males neutered at the same time and they continued to fight with each other and spray regularly for over a month. 4 months later they mostly act like young adults or kittens and only fight when the blind cat tries to play because he is too rough and can't read their body language to know when enough is enough.

 

[dahli6]

Hi good evening,

I hope everyone who commented can see this message, new user so not sure how it works,


After vets we are now left with more questions than answers,

Vets called us today to tell us how nice and playful he has been before and after neutering, apparently they love him, which is easy to do, our finkle was so very special, but with us, he is long gone, vets released him there to see how he would react to us, he did nothing but stare at me, now he is neutered and at home, he is residing in the spare bedroom with everything he needs, we are terrified to go in.

My heart is broken and my partners even more so, because she was hoping and praying he would be his normal little self, but just the Cold reaction we got, and how his facial features were towards us, his eyes...whatever this cat is, it's not our baby boy that we have had for 9 months. With us atleast. -

It is with great upset that we have had to contact a rehoming charity and will be processed tomorrow.

Going forward we are going to do everything we can for this charity with the hope that something positive comes out of such a horrible and heartbreaking situation.

Still waiting to wake up from this and find out it was all a horrible dream.

I am really sorry it happened this way. I think you did the right thing. Don't suffer too badly over it. You tried the best you could for Finkle and you have someone else to be responsible for soon. Maybe in the future there will be another cat.
For the sake of yourselves and the child maybe the first one could be an altered adult, preferably gentle but still cute and playful.

 

[lknight96]

There may be a semi-happy ending, the lovely vet who saw him yesterday called us today to say she loves him and will foster him, so although he won'y be our little finkle anymore, he will have a good shot at a long and happy life, and it's highly likely we will get regular updates.

Still cannot believe i'm typing this, thank you all for all of your help.

 

[dahli6]

There may be a semi-happy ending, the lovely vet who saw him yesterday called us today to say she loves him and will foster him, so although he won'y be our little finkle anymore, he will have a good shot at a long and happy life, and it's highly likely we will get regular updates.

Still cannot believe i'm typing this, thank you all for all of your help.

That is wonderful news! You should be happy.
This really is best for everyone.

 

[lknight96]

It's so very painful, I'm not what you would call sensitive, but I absolutely loved finkle, i'm devastated, all I can think about is all the wonderful times. When we moved into our new property, sleeping in the spare bedroom, he stayed on the window cill and kept guard over us both all night long, or when I come home, go into the kitchen and he's on top of the fridge to give me kisses, I missed him fighting with my shoe laces this morning.

I guess with time it will get easier, but at this moment, both me and my partner feel like we are mourning Finkle, because whatever he has turned into now, has completely taken over our precious baby.

 

[txcats]

Did the vet give you any idea at all as to what could be going on? It just seems really strange that he is okay with the vet and the clinic staff, but aggressive toward you guys only? Did he act normal toward you at the vet clinic? If so, could there be anything at your house that could be affecting him negatively, some chemicals, a leak of some kind, etc.? It might be enough to affect him because he is small, while not being enough to affect much larger humans? Yes, grasping at straws here, but it's just so odd.