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- Apr 21, 2007
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Well, my cat Smokey and I have happily lived with each other for over a half year now without any big incidents, until today.
For the last day or so, Smokey would occasionally jump up to the window, and start pacing back and forth yowling at something outside. Yesterday I mostly ignored it, occasionally trying to talk with him to calm him down from the other side of the room.
This morning he was at it again, pacing at the window sill yowling at something outside and I started to get concerned, so I approached, he immediately looked and started yowling at me. Thinking maybe I should get him down from there and maybe pet him on the couch, (here's where the more knowledgable of you folks will probably mutter "doh!" and smack your foreheads) I picked him up in his highly agitated state.
He...went...freaking... BALLISTIC. I mean full-blown attack-kill mode in my arms, scratching, clawing, and we arent talking about let's pretend play fighting either, he was seeking to do as much damage as possible as quickly as possible to get me to drop him. I obviously let him go quickly, but he was so fast with teeth and claws flying that he really ripped my hand up pretty good. If you just saw a picture of my hand, you'd think the rest of me was probably a horribly tragic victim of violence from a grisly CSI TV show. Heck, it took a few minutes to stop the bleeding with little red spots all over my floors, a lot of those bite and claw wounds went deep.
Well, I was very confused and angry, nothing like this happened before. I yelled at the cat, threw small objects at him (nothing that would hurt, but I was mad and wanted him to know this was unacceptable). I started planning to withdraw food and make him aware that he was in trouble when I thought "you know, now I'm acting like he's a person or a dog, I'd better figure out what the hell happened before I make a huge mistake on how to deal with this."
So, thats how I learned and read up about redirected aggression. From what I've read, I did everything wrong and he apparently wasnt being mean, and it wasnt really all his fault. He must have seen another cat or something outside that he didnt like, got very territorial, frustrated that he couldnt go outside to deal with it, and when I grabbed him, his brain was probably still telling him to "ATTACK NOW!", and I got hit with his redirected aggression. I may have compounded the problem by making him a little afraid of me now, but luckily it was only once that I lashed out, and only an hour ago.
If theres another cat out there, my ability to deal with it is probably limited because I live in a big apartment complex, not a home. The way the window ledges are built, its also not going to be possible for me to physically keep him away from the window without doing something really radical like locking him in a room or gating off certain areas which I'd really prefer not to do.
Any advice?
My hand really hurts, but I think its pretty much my fault. My plan for now is just to chalk up my mangled hand as tuition paid in full to the school of hard knocks, dont stay mad with the cat because he wont understand why I'm upset, try to see whats bothering him outside, and if he is at the window again, just leave him be till he gets over it.
For the last day or so, Smokey would occasionally jump up to the window, and start pacing back and forth yowling at something outside. Yesterday I mostly ignored it, occasionally trying to talk with him to calm him down from the other side of the room.
This morning he was at it again, pacing at the window sill yowling at something outside and I started to get concerned, so I approached, he immediately looked and started yowling at me. Thinking maybe I should get him down from there and maybe pet him on the couch, (here's where the more knowledgable of you folks will probably mutter "doh!" and smack your foreheads) I picked him up in his highly agitated state.
He...went...freaking... BALLISTIC. I mean full-blown attack-kill mode in my arms, scratching, clawing, and we arent talking about let's pretend play fighting either, he was seeking to do as much damage as possible as quickly as possible to get me to drop him. I obviously let him go quickly, but he was so fast with teeth and claws flying that he really ripped my hand up pretty good. If you just saw a picture of my hand, you'd think the rest of me was probably a horribly tragic victim of violence from a grisly CSI TV show. Heck, it took a few minutes to stop the bleeding with little red spots all over my floors, a lot of those bite and claw wounds went deep.
Well, I was very confused and angry, nothing like this happened before. I yelled at the cat, threw small objects at him (nothing that would hurt, but I was mad and wanted him to know this was unacceptable). I started planning to withdraw food and make him aware that he was in trouble when I thought "you know, now I'm acting like he's a person or a dog, I'd better figure out what the hell happened before I make a huge mistake on how to deal with this."
So, thats how I learned and read up about redirected aggression. From what I've read, I did everything wrong and he apparently wasnt being mean, and it wasnt really all his fault. He must have seen another cat or something outside that he didnt like, got very territorial, frustrated that he couldnt go outside to deal with it, and when I grabbed him, his brain was probably still telling him to "ATTACK NOW!", and I got hit with his redirected aggression. I may have compounded the problem by making him a little afraid of me now, but luckily it was only once that I lashed out, and only an hour ago.
If theres another cat out there, my ability to deal with it is probably limited because I live in a big apartment complex, not a home. The way the window ledges are built, its also not going to be possible for me to physically keep him away from the window without doing something really radical like locking him in a room or gating off certain areas which I'd really prefer not to do.
Any advice?
My hand really hurts, but I think its pretty much my fault. My plan for now is just to chalk up my mangled hand as tuition paid in full to the school of hard knocks, dont stay mad with the cat because he wont understand why I'm upset, try to see whats bothering him outside, and if he is at the window again, just leave him be till he gets over it.