Put Violent Kitty Down?!

[sarahp]

I would talk to your vet about Prozac for your kitty as well - a lot of people here have had a lot of luck with putting their kitty on Prozac. Makes it easier to live with the kitty, and seems to make the kitty happier and more calm.

If your vet is suggesting putting your kitty down rather than trying meds like Prozac, then you need to find a better vet!

 

[emmaline]

Please please please don't take this cat to be put down. There will be someone or somewhere that will be able to rehome her. No animal deserves to die. Remember it is only an animal!!

 

[aussie_dog]

Back in the day, Willow was a total nutjob. She was fine with us, never scratched us or attacked us, but strangers were a different issue. Anyone who came through the front door would be stalked by Willow, but Willow would appear friendly and sweet, so the stranger would inevidibly reach to pet her. His hand would meet with claws, not fur. One plumber got cornered in the bathroom by Willow, and one repairwoman had Willow leap off a couch, launch onto her chest, then leap away and run off. When she was spayed, the vet techs had to gas her in her cage because she wouldn't let them anywhere near her, and we had to come around to the back room to bring her home because, again, she wouldn't let the techs near her. And once, Willow had gotten outside and stayed out for 3 days, but when she finally came back, she was NASTY! We didn't know how she'd gotten out, but shortly after eating a meal after coming back inside, I followed her downstairs and up to a window, one with a hole in the screen that we hadn't seen before. When I grabbed Willow away from the hole, put her on the ground, shut the window, and turned around, Willow screamed and chased me into a corner. That was the worst we'd ever seen Willow (though we understood it was because of the high of living in the "wilderness" for 3 days. It took her 3 weeks to return to normal).

But you know what changed? When Willow was 2, we brought in a 2nd kitty, little 4 week old orphaned Buffy. Due to Willow's nature, we were skeptical about how she would take to Buffy, but after just a week, Willow made the first move towards being friends, and from there on out, Willow was Buffy's surrogate mother. She took over all the mother duties and over time, she really started to mellow out. Nowadays, a stranger can walk into the house and she won't even care, though she'll still hiss and scratch at a stranger who tries to pet her. She's calmed down and is much nicer, and seems to like being able to just sit back and relax and watch Buffy (and the more recent addition, Molly) get into trouble. I think most of Willow's problems stemmed from fear and stress (and lack of socialization, since we got her as a 6 week old and she never left the house). She's still skittish, but having a fellow cat-buddy has really calmed her down, given her a sense of security.

 

[siggav]

Having a cat pounce on you with claws out can be really freaky. Nikita has done that a few times on me, although not for a good while now.

Whenever she did it it was just from needing to play. She never attacked me in an agressive sort of way, i.e intending to hurt me. I've once been on the receiving ends of her claws when she was in fight mode rather than play mode (I bent down to pick her up and she hadn't noticed me at all, then when I had lifted her up maybe an inch she completely freaked out and turned into blender!cat, I got very deep scratches on my calves that are scars now).

I solved it by just making sure I play enough with her and "enough play" for her is a huge amount. I enjoy it though so it's all good. She'll still try to attack my feet sometimes but whenever she does I put them under a duvet or a big pillow where she can't get at them and then shortly afterwards bring out the cat toys to play with her. I.e I don't want her to learn that she'll get play by biting my feet but the only way to stop it is just to give her an outlet.

Your cat may be different though. How much interaction and play does she get normally? Is she an indoor only cat? have you got things for her to climb and explore?

Is it petting agression where she'll let you pet her for a bit and then go and attack you? That's a known phenomena in cats. It's basically a conflict of trust, some cats are very well aware of how much bigger we are and feel vulnerable when pet even though they like it. Then they've had enough and feel a bit scared and strike back at the human.

The solution there is to learn the bodylanguage of your cat and watch for any signs that she's had enough (these can be very subtle clues) so that she won't have to attack you to tell you to stop and then of course stop petting her and let her leave when you see her start getting twitchy.

 

[cata_mint]

I used to have a cat like yours. Gucci used to attack people randomly. They'd have their arm on the table and then suddenly she'd have sunk her teeth and front claws into that persons arm, and they'd have to shake it to get her off, and she used to have such a determined look on her face while she did it.
Quite a few people suggested we have her put to sleep.
Once my mum had her arm on the sofa, Gucci went to curl up on the seat below, then about 10mins later, lept up and attacked my mums elbow, it took weeks to heal.
And whenever we took her to the vet, or went on holiday she'd be much meaner for about a week afterwards.
We'd though that she mellowed with age- she got much nicer once she was 9, but it turned out that she had a tumour, so it was probably too uncomfortable for her to attack anyone.
She was an only cat (we didn't realise until we got the two in my sig how bored she must have been), we got her from a friend at about 8 weeks old. We thought it was because my dad played with her quite roughly, when her claws and teeth didn't hurt so much, and presumably taught her it was ok.
I wish we'd tried her on prozac, but the vet never said anything to help.