My Cat Gone Mad

[bigmove]

hi everyone,

just last week a cat from the neighbor went inside my place and attack my cat. I have 2 cat one persian (female) 9 years old and one short hair (male) almost 1 year old. My male cat since he was protecting his teritorry fought with the cat from the neighbor leaving my cat wounded all over the body. This happened when me and my husband was out one saturday evening. We usually open the sliding door so my cats can just sit around not thinking that other cat will come in.

so now my cat is on medication for 7 days because his leg was really swollen and really limping. I thought the problem ended but last night my male cat starting to get angry with my other cat and when i tried to separate them my male cat started to get angry at me. Howling and hissin at me and my husband. It is really scary. I don't know what triggers this behavior as after the incident he seems normal and playful but last night he was up till 4am and when we woke up we thought that he is ok but still hissing and meowing. He seems not know us anymore. My persian cat I brought to my friend already to avoid any conflicts. when I left this morning he seems ok, as he is already sleeping ang act normal. I'm afraid the behavior will come back soon. I live in a condo and with this happening very often, i will soon received complains from neighnbor.

Does anyone have the same problem with their cats? What did you do? Will neutering helps?:jap:

thanks in advance.

BM

[bina]

my first thought was actualy disease oriented: after bites from other animals, especially unkown animals, and then behavior changes for the worse, i would think 'rabies'... so if u know the other, neighbor's cat (the attacker), and that cat is ok, not dead, or acting wierd, u can rule rabies out. if the other cat has disappeared, or is dead, or acting strange, my reaction is to put your cat in a quarantine for about ten days and if u have had any scratches or bites from this cat, then get a rabies set of prevantative shots... cats get rabies less, and im not a fear monger but in this case, that is one part of my advice.

speak to a good vet that has cat experience. not all vets are good cat vets, while most vets are pretty good with dogs.

the second piece: if the other original cat is still around, and acting normal, then the behavior from your male is probably hormonal and also possibly a trauma reaction. wounded animals having survived being attacked can become very aggressive, especially if they are still wounded. they perceive danger and so attack before being attacked. also, some types of bites on the baack and hind quarters seems to trigger a fear/aggression (fright and fight) reaction in many carnivores which is what a cat is: (at least in many dogs that ive been around that have been attacked and bitten on the back, including my own small dog. he still ahs that fear reaction everytime i shave him down , when his still furry tail touches his back, he feels he is being attacked and reacts with some fear biting. been two years and its slowly changing. )

also, many animals when in pain will lash out at anything...

if your other persian cat is not spayed, and she is in heat and maybe even if she is spayed, then your young male is possibly reacting hormonally... and the neutering will tone that down but not prevent it all since he has reached sexual maturity already...

i think that , first, some pain meds specifically for cats may be needed. second, a quiet area for your male to rest and recuperate may help, with minimal stimulation. slowly reintroduce the female once the male is an the mend. pay attention to the male's peeing/feces, self cleaning, eating habits, see if he is acting normal with these basic activities.

cats are a bit out of my personal experience except for basic vet care, but most of what i wrote applies to most animals that have been injured especially if they were injured in fights with other animals, since the fight causes hormones to be secreted... carnivores for the most part have a fright or fight reaction, grass eaters have a fright or flight (run away) reaction... and these reactions translate to psychological behaviors in the animals when wounded causing stress. i gues s similar to post traumatic stress sydrome in humans, only the animal cant verbalize.

maybe some cat people can help ...

bina

israel

p.s. dont get hysterical about the rabies thing, just double checkabout the neighbors cat. and any way, its already been 7 days so check with your vet and also family doc if u have questions...

[NanLaew]

Sound advice from Bina. The cat that 'kicked your cat's butt' behaved out of the norm in that it went into a strange area and beat up on another cat where one would have thought that on encountering 2 'resident' cats, it would have high-tailed it out of there.

Then I was thinking stress since your cat never had a stranger come in and beat the crap out of it. Anyone know a good cat whisperer?

Since the gangstah cat was of indeterminate gender, it could have sprayed it's territorial 'essence' in a few places during the rumble and your already traumatized cat gets this. So maybe consider getting the place cleaned pretty thoroughly... or invest in a few bottles of Febreze... if you can get it.

[bigmove]

thanks for all the reply.

after his 1 week medication my cat acted normally. We went back to the vet for his usual vaccination. I saw the neighbor cat the other day and seem normal also. So I figure it is not rabies. My cats has rabies vaccine also and when my husband was bitten and scratched he had his shots also at the hospital per our vet's advice. so 2 weeks had past my cats seemed fine but some days he still gets aggressive but after 2-5 min he will become normal. What we do is not to disturb him in the place he chooses to hide and in an instant he sneaks back inside the house as if nothing happens and act as the normal sweet cat we love. But this behavior seems to be happening quite often now and I don't want my cat to get used to this kind of aggressive behavior. He likes cat nip but when he's like this he don't.My Persian cat is staying over with my friends house just to minimize the cause of this aggression. I love my cat so much and hurts me more when i see him like this and can't do anything. My husband also is loosing his patience as he can't stand the sound he is making when he meows furiously.

[sbk]

Your one year old male cat needs to be neutered. Sooner rather than later.