Angry Cat

[flyboy367]

long story short i have this cat for a few years now. out of nowhere she supposedly attacks my stepfather in law. he is half blind so i figure he stepped on her since she likes to lay on the stairs. now we moved she hisses and bats at my father in laws boyfriend (another long story) well anyway i let it go for a month or so now she hisses at everyone in my family inluding me. id hate to put her down but also cant risk my 5 yr old or 5 month old to an angry cat.

 

[rebrn]

It sounds like a stress response, most likely due to the move. My cat had a stress reaction to a move she was over grooming and licked herself bald. Out vet gave us amitrypline and in about 6 weeks we were weaning her off the meds and have had no further problems. It might be worth a try rather than putting her down.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

I can relate to this in the sense that I worked away from home for about 4 months when my wife got our Ginger cat.

In the hierarchy of their domain, the cats also include us humans in their ranking orders, which I observed very prominently during my SPCA days when I had 22 stray cats in my house.

In all instances, I was accepted as the dominant figure of this "clan", but with some of them my wife and kids fitted in somewhere down the order. If any of the cats assumed that they were slightly higher in ranking than the other, the "hissing" would start to provoke reaction and if the reaction is not submissive, the fight will ensue to settle the matter for once and all.

Getting back to my ginger, well, he had just settled in comfortably accepting his superior roll in life (his first ) when out of the blue, I came into the picture being back home so in trying to maintain his "throne", a lot of hissing and blowing was the order of the day whenever we crossed paths.

Obviously, there was no submissive reaction from me, so, to this day, we have this love/hate relationship, where he would blow vigorously at me when we stumble accross one another and I would just merely walk up to him and scratch his back (as vigorously)

You seem to have a very dominant cat (who considers himself to be "in charge" around there) which is extremely frustrated by getting no submissive responses.

Fighting with him is not going to help any as it would indicate to him that you are not sure of your position in life (and has to fight to prove your stance).... When he confronts you, just walk up to him directly and talk (long sentences) in a normal tone of voice and (with no hesitation - he'll pick that up), rub his back or scratch behind the ear (if he does not run away during your approach)

I doubt if he will actually hurt anyone. No need to put him down.

 

[shelaghfishface]

maybe hes in pain? get him checked out just incase.. ive had a few cats like this.. adopted a pair of ferrels babies last yr ( tho they had to go as i found out my son had an allergy) but they spat and hissed i was ready to give up.. then i started sitting with them all night, sleeping with them ( on the kitchen floor) hand feeding and they came around.. turned out to be gorgeous kitties but i suggest having them checked out tho, just incase