- Joined
- Mar 29, 2016
- Messages
- 11
- Purraise
- 1
This is my first post, but I’ve visited this site and the forums many times for answers. Yesterday was a horrible, horrible day and my heart is broken.
I apologize if this post is a little long…
First, I have 3 cats: 2 males, 1 female, all neutered/spayed with front declaw. They are indoor kitties only. The oldest male, Chaz, is 9 yrs. and a rescue that we got 6 years ago; he is a sweetheart. The female, Lucy, is 6 yrs. and a rescue we got as a kitten 6 years ago; she is very smart and alpha. The other male, Leo, is still a kitten at 10 months and a cutie-patootie.
Yesterday, as I came back from my afternoon walk, my neighbor’s dog was following me. We live in a rural area and most dogs around here are not leashed. The neighbor’s dog is friendly, and I usually don’t mind. The dog followed me all the way up to the front door of the house and I was concerned about opening the door and the dog possibly seeing a cat…then chaos.
Well, what happened was I carefully opened the door and before I could even blink, Chaz ran out the door and onto the front porch! He saw the dog and froze. The dog didn’t do a thing, so I left the door open and tried to persuade Chaz to go inside; it didn’t work. I then tried to pick him up and he freaked out. I immediately took him inside and as soon as he set foot on the floor, my female, Lucy was in full-on attack mode.
Both of them were then at each other in a 10-alarm, vicious cat fight, going from room-to-room. Blood and cat pee everywhere. I tried to break them up a few times and got bit in several places. They were both truly set on killing each other! The fight continued for what it seemed 10 minutes and proceeded down to the basement, where I was able to grab one of the cat carriers and put Chaz in it.
By this time, I was bleeding very heavily and in shock. I called my husband to come home, we segregated all 3 kitties (Leo was hiding the whole time terrified), and then went to the emergency room. I had to get several shots, I’m now on oral antibiotics, painkillers, and if one particular bite wound on my hand doesn’t improve in 48 hours, I will be hospitalized and put on IV antibiotics. If I am hospitalized, Chaz and Lucy will be quarantined, as the doctor has to report it to animal control, even though they are indoor, healthy cats.
I know perfectly well what happened and it was a true case of redirected aggression. This has never happened before. I know that a very slow introduction process is in store; however, I am very strongly leaning towards rehoming the female, Lucy, as she has always had low-key aggression/alpha issues with the other two. We've had to reintroduce her before when Chaz went to the vet to get his teeth cleaned, and that took a month of therapy because she saw him as a strange cat after the vet. She has always tried to initiate things with the other two cats if they are playing and she interprets it as aggression. She is even a little strange with me or my husband if one of us is reading something out loud or talking loud on the phone, she will come over and try to bite us. However, she is extremely smart and can do tricks like sit-up-and-beg, high-five, and hand-shakes. She is definitely Alpha.
I know that a process of reintroduction after a redirected aggression episode is very, very difficult and not guaranteed, and I’m terrified this will happen again. With her "enforcer" alpha personality, I would be walking on eggshells.
I guess I am not really asking for advice, but really just wanted to talk about it with a group of people who would understand. Thank you so much for listening and being a shoulder to cry on.
I apologize if this post is a little long…
First, I have 3 cats: 2 males, 1 female, all neutered/spayed with front declaw. They are indoor kitties only. The oldest male, Chaz, is 9 yrs. and a rescue that we got 6 years ago; he is a sweetheart. The female, Lucy, is 6 yrs. and a rescue we got as a kitten 6 years ago; she is very smart and alpha. The other male, Leo, is still a kitten at 10 months and a cutie-patootie.
Yesterday, as I came back from my afternoon walk, my neighbor’s dog was following me. We live in a rural area and most dogs around here are not leashed. The neighbor’s dog is friendly, and I usually don’t mind. The dog followed me all the way up to the front door of the house and I was concerned about opening the door and the dog possibly seeing a cat…then chaos.
Well, what happened was I carefully opened the door and before I could even blink, Chaz ran out the door and onto the front porch! He saw the dog and froze. The dog didn’t do a thing, so I left the door open and tried to persuade Chaz to go inside; it didn’t work. I then tried to pick him up and he freaked out. I immediately took him inside and as soon as he set foot on the floor, my female, Lucy was in full-on attack mode.
Both of them were then at each other in a 10-alarm, vicious cat fight, going from room-to-room. Blood and cat pee everywhere. I tried to break them up a few times and got bit in several places. They were both truly set on killing each other! The fight continued for what it seemed 10 minutes and proceeded down to the basement, where I was able to grab one of the cat carriers and put Chaz in it.
By this time, I was bleeding very heavily and in shock. I called my husband to come home, we segregated all 3 kitties (Leo was hiding the whole time terrified), and then went to the emergency room. I had to get several shots, I’m now on oral antibiotics, painkillers, and if one particular bite wound on my hand doesn’t improve in 48 hours, I will be hospitalized and put on IV antibiotics. If I am hospitalized, Chaz and Lucy will be quarantined, as the doctor has to report it to animal control, even though they are indoor, healthy cats.
I know perfectly well what happened and it was a true case of redirected aggression. This has never happened before. I know that a very slow introduction process is in store; however, I am very strongly leaning towards rehoming the female, Lucy, as she has always had low-key aggression/alpha issues with the other two. We've had to reintroduce her before when Chaz went to the vet to get his teeth cleaned, and that took a month of therapy because she saw him as a strange cat after the vet. She has always tried to initiate things with the other two cats if they are playing and she interprets it as aggression. She is even a little strange with me or my husband if one of us is reading something out loud or talking loud on the phone, she will come over and try to bite us. However, she is extremely smart and can do tricks like sit-up-and-beg, high-five, and hand-shakes. She is definitely Alpha.
I know that a process of reintroduction after a redirected aggression episode is very, very difficult and not guaranteed, and I’m terrified this will happen again. With her "enforcer" alpha personality, I would be walking on eggshells.
I guess I am not really asking for advice, but really just wanted to talk about it with a group of people who would understand. Thank you so much for listening and being a shoulder to cry on.