aggressive male cat attacked human

by Shannon
(Kenmore, Wash.)

My cat goes to 2 homes up the street and repeatedly has tried to fight their cats. He actually goes in the pet door of one of the homes and is aggressive in their house, and steals their cat toys. This week he was going after a man's cat and the cat ran in the house. The man went in the yard and clapped his hands and my cat came out of nowhere and jumped on his arm, scratching him so bad he had to get stitches. This is bizarre behavior to say the least. At home he sleeps with us and is loving. He is fixed, and can be rather mean if he doesn't want to be petted, but attacking someone is absolutely unnacceptable. We were thinking about putting a cat enclosure in the yard, but I'd like to declaw him and get him on mellow-out meds and see if that will work. He is so used to being out, it would be hard to keep him in or trapped. Any thoughts?

Reply
Hi
Please can i ask not for you to conside having him declawed. There can be complications with this horrible operation whereby some cats have pain for the rest of their lives. It is also dangerous for a cat not to have claws if they go outside. they can't defend themselves and they can find climbing difficult.

I must admit this behavior is rather extreme for a fixed cat. Sometimes even fater neutering they can have hormone imbalances which can cause aggression etc. If this si the case the vet can prescribe medication for this.

There are some off the shelf medications you can buy to help aggressive cats calm down. It may be an idea to keep him in for the first few days of giving the medicine but make sure your cats inside wourld is stimulating enough, so new toys and places to climb etc are a good idea.

I have a page about cat aggression which you may find of further interest here

http://www.our-happy-cat.com/aggressive-cat-behavior.html

best wishes Kate