Fear Aggression At Home - Help Asap.

[63Jennifer]

Hello - I’m in need of advice, ASAP. I joined this forum for this reason.

7 year old spayed tortie I’ve had for 6 years. She has her claws, she lets me clip them. Indoor only.

The last two years she’s mellowed our more and I started letting her out on my fenced deck. We had one incident last year where I went to pick her up and she defended herself vs her normal purring. Then she shared me. I kept things calm, continued to let her out. She was fine the rest of the year.

This year, she’s been great- except one day following an afternoon nap on my lap. I went to get her new grooming glove (we had used it before) and she attacked me. Total
Fear aggression. She was terrified.

She continued to threaten and attack after I let her in. I did not punish her, raise my voice or scream. I just stayed very quiet and gave her space.

Decided not to let her out anymore. Now yesterday she became afraid of me again. She did not attack as hard, but she was threatening to, and she looked at me like she didn’t know who I was.

I gave her space again, she went back to normal. I think using feliway with the vet a few months ago is part of the problem. I think the smell is still there. She looks around like somethings out there, startles easily.

I’m looking for a scent to help her, if that helps. I’ll look at drugs later if I have to.

This cat has been my lap cat, dog like, super happy sidekick for 6 years.

I’m trying to figure out how to help her - advice please!

Also, live alone, no other pets. Clean litter box daily. She is small and a healthy 7.5 lbs. grain free diet. Vaccinated one round for rabies. Lots of enrichment- tunnels, cat scratching spots, windows and I play fetch with her daily. Domestic short hair, great litter box usage.

Has historically loved all people, sits on strangers laps. Will chase her ball fir everyone.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Kieka]

I'd start with a vet visit. Arthritis could explain it; when touching her you touched a tender spot and now she associates touch with pain. Hyperthyroidism could explain it; I'm balance causing her to react strongly to minor things or lash out randomly.

 

[63Jennifer]

Thank you, yes I’m trying to find the appropriate vet - she does unfortunately display fear aggression at the vet. So I’m trying to figure out how to do this right. Not make it worse.

Also I will add, I don’t think arthritis. She’s pretty nimble and LOVES to jump, flip, run, somersault, etc when playing. She often instigates play with me or she plays by herself. Weight wise she’s a 5.

 

[63Jennifer]

Any recommendations on safe scents to cover leftover feliway? She loves smells like a hound dog.

 

[63Jennifer]

Any additional questions or advice is greatly appreciated. I do have an animal behavior background, in horses and livestock. So am wise to animals, but cats I’ve only owned two. My first cat never experienced anything like this, different personality altogether.

It makes me sad to see her wary in her own home and of course her aggression is dangerous to me.

I suspect changing smells will help. But I want safe smells.

I’ll have a blood panel done - am worried about the vet behavior and post vet behavior.

Please help!

 

[63Jennifer]

 

[63Jennifer]

I’m hoping cute photos will help you all want to help us!

 

[Kieka]

She is a cutie, but I wanted to help before them too.

I am at work right now so I can't respond in detail until later tonight. Don't worry, we have a great community and I am hopeful someone else will have some ideas before then.

 

[Columbine]

Hi, and welcome to TCS You certainly have a gorgeous girl!

What you describe sounds like redirected aggression to me, or maybe non-recognition aggression. Something outside has spooked her, and she's struggling to disconnect from it. Not letting her on the deck is a good first step, but it won't, on its own, solve the problem. I also wonder if you startled her with that grooming glove (say, if she was in a deep sleep), and that is what's causing part of the problem. Non recognition aggression is more commonly seen between cats than with cats and humans, but what you're describing certainly has some similarities.

If she didn't have much of a reaction to the Feliway in the early days, I wouldn't think that it's lingering scent would be part of the problem now. You can get cat-safe valerian sprays (or even plug ins), though, and that might be worth a try. Essential oils can be very tricky to use round cats though (due to high risk of toxicity), so I wouldn't go down that route without veterinary guidance.

I've used food-based calmers for my girl in the past, and they can work very well. The two most easily available are Composure (treats or liquid) and Zylkene (capsules which can be given as a pill or emptied into the food). They're based off amino acids, I believe, and are pretty safe to use. They don't have the doping effect that pharmcological calmers sometimes have, either. As always, double check with your vet before feeding any supplement, just to be safe

Try to just give your girl space to calm down and decompress. It might help to announce your presence verbally when entering the room she's in (especially if you're coming up from behind), just to be extra sure that she isn't startled. I have to do this with my girl when she's stressed out, and it really helps.

Other than that, just stick to your regular routine, especially feeding schedule etc. The more familiar and predictable things are, the easier she'll find it to relax
Six Surefire Strategies To Reduce Stress In Cats

Even with all of that said, a vet check should still be a priority, as it's always essential to rule out physical causes before treating something as a purely behavioural issue

 

[StefanZ]

Vanilla is safe. Its often used for concealing smell when introducing new cats. True
Vanilla, no funny substitute. Just a little is enough.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

... 7 year old spayed tortie I’ve had for 6 years. She has her claws, she lets me clip them. Indoor only. ...

... one day following an afternoon nap on my lap. I went to get her new grooming glove (we had used it before) and she attacked me. Total
Fear aggression. She was terrified.

She continued to threaten and attack after I let her in. I did not punish her, raise my voice or scream. I just stayed very quiet and gave her space.

Decided not to let her out anymore. Now yesterday she became afraid of me again. She did not attack as hard, but she was threatening to, and she looked at me like she didn’t know who I was.

I gave her space again, she went back to normal. ...

Hi, ... I also wonder if you startled her with that grooming glove (say, if she was in a deep sleep), and that is what's causing part of the problem. Non recognition aggression is more commonly seen between cats than with cats and humans, but what you're describing certainly has some similarities ...

I'm with Columbine on the grooming glove idea. I think a good first step would be to discontinue using that grooming glove and hopefully after a while things will improve.

Cats can be okay with a thing that you are doing for years, or ignore something for years as well -- only to suddenly notice it and react to it. Maybe some odd pairing of your use of the grooming glove with some other stimulus has suddenly spooked her in regards to the glove, and now she is having tunnel vision when the glove is brought out and getting nervous about it.

She actually sounds like a wonderful, well-adjusted cat, with a great life and great owner! Try removing the grooming glove from the scene, and see if she gets less spooked after a week or two break from it.

It could also be that (if it's the grooming glove sessions that are bugging her), she could have a physical/health issue. Maybe pressure from the grooming is triggering a pain response somewhere on her body.

 

[63Jennifer]

Thank you all!

We are for sure doing the vet. Any recommendations on how to handle that? We are not in a place where we could draw blood without some sort of restraint. Just checking on ideas, my vet listens to me.

Yes, the grooming glove is over. I’m sure that was part of the problem. She initially liked it indoors. But I think the site of it outdoors scared her. She was not sleeping when I used it. She’s always liked to be scratched - I have a sequin decorative pillow (photo above) that stays our year round because “that’s hers.”

I have pure vanilla - I’ll put a tiny bit out.

More questions: she’s a talker and we’ve always “chatted” she initiates it. If I’m on the phone, she will either wait until I’m done or start knocking things on the floor. Is it okay to keep talking like normal? A non internet friend suggested this could be more stressful or perhaps instigate negative behavior.

If she is actively attacking me, which will hopefully never happen again, what is the best approach?

If she is threatening but not acting on it, what is the best approach?

For some more context, she is more assertive in general. When I got a new mirror in my living room, she postured and charged the mirror.

Thanks so much - she’s been such a wonderful sidekick, anything I can do to make things right.

 

[63Jennifer]

Okay, just got the opportunity to do some more reading here. Thanks everyone for your help, more is always appreciated. She hissed at me again today after we got done playing. But she didn’t attack.

I put a little vanilla out. When I used the Feliway, it was the first time I used it.

I’m so sad about this, she’s always been so joyful - literally the best way to describe her. Joyful. I clip her claws and she purrs the whole time.

Also clingy, has to sit on or next to me... has to be in the same room, etc.

 

[Kieka]

You've gotten some really great advice so I am not going to try to repeat any of that. So lets see what your new questions are....

1) Talking - I talk to my cats all the time. Link meows, I respond to what it feels like he is saying to me. Really words don't matter as much as tone to him but I like to think some of it makes it through the human-cat language barrier. As long as your tone isn't stressed or aggressive I don't see any problem with it.

2) Actively attacking - Depends on how bad it is. My boy sometimes loses track of who he is playing with and goes too hard. I give him a sharp loud No. If that doesn't work (which has only been a time or two) I have tapped his nose sharply if I need to get him to let go. If I don't need him to let go, then just ignore him and leave the room. The biggest thing I think you have to do is snap them out of the moment. Something to get their attention and make them pause.

3) Threatening - Space and make sure she has at least two routes out of the area if she wants it. Really all you can do is space and time until she calms down.

 

[63Jennifer]

Thank you!

I did just try some meditation laying on the floor, which may sound silly, but I got my old cat back for a bit there.

Any vet suggestions anyone? I’m concerned I’ll get her home and she’ll attack me. Has never happened before, but seems ripe now.

 

[63Jennifer]

Just an update, things are much improved. I do think the vanilla helped - thank you for helping me through this!

The vet visit is still going to happen. I’ll post when I get the results of the blood panel.

Photo from tonight!