My cat has instances of sudden and excessive aggression

[GeorgeCHR]

I hand raised my cat since the first days of her life. She is a 4 year old female, and very attached to me, as I to her. She is not neutered.
Since a kitten she was fearless.

There are instances that she becomes ultra aggressive, at the levels that feral cats become aggressive when their life is threatened. These cases are 3-5 per year but each year they become more intense.

Each instance has a common beginning - I do something that she is not used to (sneezing, dripping water after a shower, being half naked etc) and she suddenly gets confused. Her eyes get dilated, each single hair on her tail aroused. She watches me in shock, sometimes she cautiously approach to sniff me. End result is the same. She starts by growling and hissing like I am a mortal threat to her, pouncing scratching whatever she can.

I have tried sweetalking, avoiding her gaze, withdrawing, or yelling. Nothing works. I often spent an hour trying to lure her to her room. Only thing that works is luring her to her room, closing her in and after half an hour of isolation she transforms to the loving pet she is.

As I said the cases get worse as the years pass. Day before yesterday I was forced to withdraw to my terrace, so I couldn't escape her sight. She was so stressed at my prolonged sight that I heard some weird noises coming from her mouth. The worse; While hissing at me she pooped on the floor. I was shocked. I don't know if she did that out of her stress or as a punishment to me.

Whats more worse for me is that today I had another incident. First time with 2 incidents in 3 days. I was fixing my chair, took a look at her and she looked at me with the usual pre-berserk look. Whats even worse is that today, after I closed her in her room for a time she came out and kept on it.

Her aggressiveness is incomparable to anything I've seen in videos, or heard from other people. Please believe me. Nothing comes close to that. I think that if this continuous I am an animal attack victim in waiting. It just takes 1 time to not spot the signs and she might leap and tear my face.

I know. She is not neutered, this might be the case, but it seems the cause is she not recognising me. Also the severity of the cases. I fear she is psychotic. What can I do?

[AnnieBrooke]

I would look for a feline behavior specialist and also run don't walk to the vet to get her spayed. Even crazy ferals can be tamed with patience, so your girl should be possible. When she is under, the vet might do an x-ray of her cranium to be sure she doesn't have any tumors, but I would bet she does not. Just too isolated.

[AnnieBrooke]

I'm also thinking you might be able to get her back to some normalcy by giving her some exercise, like, chasing a feather on a stick or following a wad of paper tied to a string. It stands to reason that if the kitty doesn't get enough exercise she is going to turn kind of paranoid, just like people. She might need endorphins and an easy way to get that is by being active and focusing on a toy.

[GeorgeCHR]

I play with her, and use the feather on a stick thing. We have time together. She might be paranoid due to isolation though. I was overly protective during her whole life. Any sudden change in her environment alarms her. Even if this might be so, how can I deal with it?

[AnnieBrooke]

I just can't help but feel that the isolation has made her freakily crazy and afraid. Are you saying you are the only living creature that she has seen for two years? It doesn't sound like she goes outside.

[GeorgeCHR]

I have friends and family regularly come over  but she is within the house premises for all the time., but yes you could say she is isolated. I never let her outside, but I was sure cats are ok spending their whole lives in their domain.

[AnnieBrooke]

Well, she sounds frightened to death, not berserk. I don't know if hormones alone would make her that way.

[GeorgeCHR]

Yes frightened to death is a better expression for the case. Fact is she is fixated to me as being an unknown. An intruder or a mortal danger.

[AnnieBrooke]

I would also have the doctor do an x-ray or MRI of her skull to see that she does not have any kind of a tumor. Does she like other cats? After spaying and some time for her to settle down from the operation, you might consider getting another cat. She might be too isolated and not have enough to do.

[GeorgeCHR]

Last contact with other cats was 2 years before and she was overly aggressive towards them.

[AnnieBrooke]

Well, get her spayed, for one thing. The pooping on the floor is a fear reaction. Her hormones might be too much for her.

[GeorgeCHR]

Cat is isolated in her room for about 6 hours. Throughout this period every half an hour I let her out and she still is in berserk mode. Previous times once I closed her room she would calm and seemingly forget the whole thing. She would come out all purr and love. Now it seems like a switch was turned and it never got back. Each time I let her out she hisses growls and viciously assault. Could this really be a hormonal thing? I am devastated because I think it is mental issue and she must be put down.