Don’t know what to do with my aggressive cat?

[JP003]

I raised a cat from six weeks old who is now four years old. Normally she is very sweet and sleeps next to me on my bed each night but if you touch her the wrong way she will attack. It has gotten to the point where theOther night she climbed on me and startled me and I jumped and she fell off the bed for the next day and a half she stalked me all over the house and viciously went after me and cut me in several places and even went after my face. The vet cannot find anything wrong with her but I am afraid to be in the same house with her. I just know it’s only a matter of time before this happens again and I’m afraid to be in my own house. No shelter will take her and I don’t want to have her put down because I raised this cat and I do love her. I called animal control asking if they could come and get her out of the house one time she was doing this and they said they could not. The person even told me off the record the best thing to do is cage her drive somewhere to an open field and drop her off. That would be the only alternative to not kill her. I know that sounds like a terrible thing to do but what else are my alternatives other than having her put down. Can she survive on her own? I am heartbroken.

[AnnieBrooke]

Is she spayed? If not, don't drop her off somewhere, it would be totally irresponsible. If she is spayed, assume she is at more risk for getting an infection from fights with other cats (if you were to set her loose somewhere), than of dying. Cats are survivors.

It's interesting that the vet can't find anything wrong with the cat ... I would have thought she had a disease or an infection, for her to be behaving like that. Do you have other cats? Is she feeling crowded? Has something big in her life changed?

[AnnieBrooke]

Also, there is something called a "cat condo," which is basically just a big cage. If you are afraid to be in the house with her, if you were cage her, at least you wouldn't have that worry while you figure out how to handle the situation. You could walk from room to room without getting attacked.

[JP003]

Thank you for the comment! She is spayed and she’s the only cat in the house and I live by myself and I have a fairly big house so the room is not a problem. I just got back from two weeks in China and I had my cousin coming every couple days to feed her even though I had plenty of water and dry food out already. The first time it happened she was right under my feet and I didn’t see her and I stepped on her foot and what set her off the other night was she climbed on me in the middle of the night and I got startled and jumped and my hand pushed her off the bed and I guess she thought I was trying to hurt her so for the next day she was going after me all over the house. It was very frightening actually. Today she has been very good and I guess sometimes she feels I’m trying to harm her maybe although I would never do that. Unfortunately in two more weeks I have to go away for four days for business again so I hope she’s OK when I get back. My last choice would be to drop her at the shelter because I do love her. I’m afraid to try to clip her nails so I may take her to the doctor and have them knock her out where they can really examine her and take some blood and see if there may be some kind of a thyroid problem or something that could be causing the aggression. Any comments would be helpful

[AnnieBrooke]

I'd almost be willing to suspect something like a brain tumor, but probably I'm being overly dramatic. Brain issues can cause personality changes.

[AnnieBrooke]

I should also add, I assume you have tried play therapy? There are a lot of posts about it, and about aggression in cats. You might start with Jackson Galaxy, and watch some of his "My Cat From Hell" episodes online where he deals with cats that attack their owners.