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I'm so sorry. The number one rule when cats are fighting is that you should not reach down and try to seperate them. When my cats are fighting, I try to break them up by making a noise, spraying them, or throwing a pillow at them. It just sounds like you suprised him when he was fighting and he just turned around and attacked. I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt you.
I have never been a cat lover..until now. I recently acquired a kitten totally by accident, sort of. Any way, she is a terror and does really hateful things sometimes. She bites. I think cats are just very different creatures. I have a 13 year old chihuhua that has gotten his ass kicked by her a few times. She finds it amusing, he doesn't. Maybe you should call the vet and ask if this behavior is normal. I have found the tend to be unfazed by anything. Curiosity killed the cat!
I agree with MissAsB, it was probably just a freak heat of the moment thing. My cats never fight that rough but I know when animals are fighting they are completely oblivious to what is going on around them and if someone physically interrupts they can get hurt, no matter the personality of the animal invovled.
If you're concerned just keep an eye on the kitty, if you notice his behaviour is changing then I'd make an appointment to go talk to the vet about it but I wouldn't worry too much about this one-time occurance.
Wow maybe you startled him and yesterday he may have been uber pissed at the other cat and couldn't control himself. Also i would talk to vet just to see what he says he would prob be better able to tell you what that was all about. Good luck every thing will be alright
My cat does this to me sort of. She'll grab my hand and then kick at it with her back paws and also try to bite me. She doesn't do it hard but I can tell that it'd really hurt if she actually chomped down. I have no idea what kind of play this is but it bothers me too when she does it.
My only advice is to not separate animals with your body parts. I don't think your cat is vicious, though. It was just one of his psycho cat moments.
I have two cats! Sometimes they get the "crazy eye" look going and once or twice, i've gone down to pet them and they've gone PSYCHO on my arm. They latch on and get this weird look on their face. This is when I scruff them right away and it stops. BUT, it sounds like your kitty just had a freak out. You got close when he was crabby and he just snapped.
Also...i used to have this cat, Twister. I moved away for a few months and when I came home, she was a different cat. She's now my mom's cat. She lurks on the ground, stalks my feet, and goes psycho bananas on them in a very vicious and weird way. I now joke that she's evil because she literally stalks my feet and attacks. I now wear shoes when I visit my parents.
I'm sorry your cat tore you up real bad though and attacked you. There was something going on in kitty's head and you approached him at the wrong time and he just SNAPPED. You said he seemed tranced--i've seen that look. It's like they go into a weird survival mode. I can actually picture my little cat doing it right now. He does it with his favorite toy and if i try to get in there, he goes nuts on me. It's "his" ya know? How dare I! So i stay away.
Keep an eye on him. Maybe lock him out of the bedroom at night =]
Wow...I am so sorry this happened to you. I suggest taking him to a vet to get checked out. You have indicated that this is not normal behavior. He may be sick. Also, you should go to the doctor to get some antibiotics. Cat scratch fever is a real disease and you could get really sick and possibly lose an arm.
This book is helpful in understanding some of the whys of cat behavior:
http://www.amazon.com/Cat-Vs-Keeping-Peace-When/dp/0142004758
The author talks about how if you try to break up a fight between cats, they are likely to behave aggressively towards you.
I have a very sweet, snuggly cat with tons of personality who often turns and bites for no apparent reason. We're used to it and can mostly avoid it, but it's challenging making sure guests (especially kids) don't get bitten.
I am so sorry. I would check with your vet about this and how often it happens. They can be a wealth of knowledge and may know why this happened. That is my best advice. I hope all will be okay
Has your cat had all his shots? Did you clean out your wounds?
Like noritake22, I'm concerned about your arm. Cat scratches usually hurt even if its not infected... I'd go to the doctor right away & make sure everything is ok with your arm. My friend got scratched in the hand by a cat & it was extremely bad & he had to get serious work done to it because it got infected. Had he not done anything, he might've lost his hand :(. Not trying to scare you! Just cats can get nasty things in their nails. If you have health insurance or can afford it, I'd say go to the dr right now! If you can't afford that.. I'd very closely monitor your arm but maybe go to a low cost clinic.
As for your cat, idk what happened. Maybe he was all caught up in the fight in like survival mode or something. I'd just dump water on them fighting to make em stop if that happens in the future. You never want to reach into a fight between animals. Thou, if my dog ever got attacked I probly would instinctivly try to save her.
How's your arm doing? & your cat?
that is very upsetting! when i did have a cat he never attacked me, now being a dog lover i've noticed i was lucky. but i also have a chihuahua who sometimes does that, being overweight and not so agile she isn't as harmful as an agile cat could be. take it as a fluke, like if one of you besties snapped on you and really hurt your feeling, but do the same- fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me... just keep an eye out, a make not that his/her habbits are changing, and perhaps if it becomes a habit, as you would with a bestie, do something about it. wether a vet visit, or a kitty whisper(yes i believe those stupid animal wisperer, but only because they give you a great view from the outside). and good luck, rememer to keep loving cause they know when your mad at them, and like a child, sometimes retaliate just to prove a point
p.s. get some tripple antibiotic and antibacterial soap. make sure to wash your wound regualrly and put antibiotic on it..
I'm not so sure triple antibiotic ointment is really goingto work for this one, it really doesn't do much because people use it for everything. I would see your doctor and find our what they say, cat bites are the worst...cats have lots of bacteria in their mouths. Also, I'm thinking I would just want to make sure that my arm didn't get infected (think litter box, ew.)
Wash with soap and water. Then apply some hydrogen peroxide--it's kinda cool cuz if it bubbles, it's killing bacteria. I definitely think some neosporin is a good idea. It'll help you heal faster. Keep an eye on it and if you start to feel sick at ALL--flu symptoms, if it gets pink and swollen, etc, go see a doctor. Cat scratches can get infected really really easily if you don't clean them like crazy.
Especially their poopy claws, yucko.
my cat is a psycho and she attacks me all the time. i think it because she is an only furbaby. we wash her paws in soap at least once a week though (this might be why she hates me sometimes lol) and we keep her nails clean. i call it Dutchess mani-pedi time. that way when she attacks im not as worried about infection.
I was thinking that it was normal crazy cat behavior but the second incident where he wasn't phazed by the water sounds very strange to me. If you can, you might consider taking him to the vet and seeing if there's something physically wrong. For example, if you have a horse that is normally sweet but all of a sudden starts bucking when your ride checking for pain is the first thing you should do.
And definitely keep those scratches as clean as you can. Cat scratches hurt!
Oh, and as a full disclosure, although I've owned a handful of cats I'm not really a cat person and don't know all that much about them.
Oh you poor thing! that's awful - but I agree that a talk with your vet may be the best idea to prevent this happening again. The cat may have some other issues that they are acting out that you may not be able to prevent with just a pillow or a spray.
I hope you feel better soon, and that your kitty gets back to his normal sweet self!
The same thing happened to me probably close to a year ago now.
My future inlaws were coming over to our house and bringing there cockapoo dog with them. I had just moved in with my fiance and I am a foster mom to my sister's cat (she donated him to me :P) I never grew up with this cat but knew that my sister had fostered both dogs and cats in the past years ago that he was fine with.
So in comes the dog. I am holding the cat so they don't get too close. The dog is small and is yappy and running around the room. The cat starts hissing and making these growling sounds at me. I know the cat is uncomfortable so I walk the cat a couple floors down into the baseement where we will be safe.
WellI guess the cat was just so scared that the dog was still there that he spazzed out at me when I proceeded to put him down. He started clawing at my arms and even my head! It was almost like he was trying to climb up onto my head to get away from the dog. I had a gash on my forehead, gashes on my scalp, and a big cut on my arm!
I was pretty freaked out and shocked for days. I even went on Youtube to see if people had any videos on this. I found one where a cat spazzes out on a news anchor and it was almost exactly what happened to me! I was pretty mad at the cat and cried but I am over it now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-QI1aZ3P5M check it out! Mine was like 7 times worse though! It makes me cringe just watching it :S
My fiance and I have since gotten a dog and we made sure to introduce them SLOWLY. They were fine. I think the cat was just freaked out. Hasn't happened since.
Aww...I'm so sorry! I agree with the others that you shouldn't be breaking up their fights with your body! I certainly wouldn't break up two dogs with my hands, so I would have the same caution for two cats. Any animal can just get in the heat of the moment enough to attack whatever is in it's way, and this time it just happened to be your arm.
Just make sure you're cleaning it well, and if it starts to look funny, or you don't feel well, make sure you see a doctor. My aunt got cat scratch fever about 2 years ago from her cat play-attacking her in bed. It was a tiny little scratch, but made her really sick.
Like the other posters said, I am concerned about your wounds and hope you cleaned it out immediately with antibacterial soap, alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. Deeper cat wounds are no laughing matter to set aside. They have nasty bacteria in their claws and mouths and while that same bacteria keeps them healthy, its very dangerous to us humans. Cover your wounds with neosporin and bandaids and change and wash the gauze often.
I second the recommendation of getting a cat behavior book. My two cats fight often and I only interfere when one really starts crying too much. I interfere by throwing a pillow or something light to surprise them both, I never try to put any of my body parts near them, they are too wrapped up in their fight and will probably attack anything in their way.
About a year ago, I was holding my older cat on my shoulder when my mother came over. My mother, who is used to her yippy and excited dog, is very loud and excitable herself. My cat is very jittery and easily gets scared by loud noise. I think she exclaimed or made some other noise and he freaked out and bit and scratched her. We were all very surprised because he's never done anything like that before. But she had a four inch gash and a bite that I had to take care of immediately. However, she didn't use enough neosporin and cocoa butter to take care of the scar and she still has it today.
Let us know how you and your cat are doing?
I agree about spray bottles to spray them when they're fighting. Breaking up a fight with any animals can be hard!!!
I think it's mostly stress related for your kitty, but it's something I might bring up with the vet next time you're there. Frequent behavioral problems can be a sign of other issues, so it's important to notice this one and keep track of any others. They might also have ideas to help you or reassure you.
I don't think this was because the cat hates you or anything! I think stress played a huge part. One of my rescue dogs will snap at me for REALS if I try to take away a certain type of chew that he really likes - we don't even buy it anymore since it's scary!!! We have to remember sometimes that they're wild animals and their instincts come out now and again :)
sounds like the cat redirected onto you. That's normal behaviour. You probably caught it by suprise and it was already aroused (attention not sexually) When they're already highly aroused sometimes you can catch them by suprise and they will attack. I would only be concerned if the attack came out of nowhere, like if you were sitting on the couch and the cat attively sought you out and attacked you.
Never put your hand in the middle of them playing, especially if they play fight intensely. You might want to take the cat to a vet or get something like feliway which you can get as a diffuser that plugs into the all and calms them down, especially if they're stressed.
To be honest though, that's a really normal cat reaction.
I'm sorry this happened to you. Just try to remind yourself that although he is a family member, he is still a cat and doesn't understand the situation like we humans do. But at the same time, maybe he was just jealous? From what you explained, he's the one calling for help when your other cat doesn't know when to stop playing. Could it be possible that he has been jealous this whole time?
I talked with my mom who has worked in a vets office for quite some time and she said to talk to a vet it could be that your kitty is sick and that is why you were attacked. Sometimes they do that.
I had a similar occurance but with my 2 dogs who were barking fervently at another dog. I got in the middle of the lunging/barking act (trying to gain control over my dog that I was walking) and he lunged at the other dog (20 ft away) and my calf got the nipped.
Just like you, at first I was shocked because this particular dog is my baby. I'm talking, my snuggle bunny, follow me everywhere, baby. And I couldn't believe it. Then I got upset, then pissed. But once the emotions ran through, I did realize that I should not have stepped in the middle like I did. I know he wasn't nipping me but at the other dog and I got in the way. Regardless, he's in training with me and doing great. I don't want this to happen again.
I just think you were in the wrong spot at the wrong time. Next time spray them with water or slam to pots/pans together.
Hope you're doing okay.
Hi there,
I gave this a lot of thought and I had to say something- first of all, I hope you are all right. That is very scary and upsetting. But, I have to say- your pet should never attack you- not ever- and if it does- IMO, it needs to be reprimanded. It is not ok for that to happen to you. I know you love them, and in no way is what happened your fault, but it is never ok for you cat to do that. It was probably just aroused, but it needs to know that agression toward a human is absolutely never ok. I have worked with many animals, and sometimes owners would make exceptions for their animals who attacked- "Oh, you must have stepped on his foot," or "He was resting." I understand you thought it was best to stay calm, but IMO, it would be better for you if you took calm assertive control, and stopped the attack. I am very sorry for what happened to you, and I hope my words are not upsetting, I really wish the best for you!
Hi all - I forgot about this thread until I just saw in on my profile. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who reached out to me.
I'm happy to report that all is well with me and my cats. I learned my lesson and won't try to break up a fight like that again. In fact, I started using the spray bottle when they scuffle at all, and I think it has actually cut down on the play fighting almost completely.
Thanks again for your caring comments. I really enjoy being part of this community.
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This post is hard for me to write. Emotionally, and well, physically. I love love love love LOVE my two feline furbabies. I've had one for 10 years and the other for 8. They are my children.
I know some people are biased against cats, but I think they are wonderful animals. If you're not a cat lover, please don't comment here. I'm not up for a debate about the merits of cats. I am just looking for some advice and some consolation.
Long story short, sometimes my two cats chase each other around and fight. Most of the time it is very playful. But sometimes, the one cat dominates the other and I can hear from the sounds that he doesn't want to play anymore. I can't listen to it so sometimes I will try to do something to distract them. Usually, it is my older cat who has had enough. The younger one who is attacking I refer to as the lovecat. He has no idea that the other cat has had enough, he is just playing. So if I can get to him, as soon as I am near he starts purring and wanting affection.
So last night I heard the scene unfold. My older cat wasn't enjoying the play time and was making some pretty distressing sounds. So I approached them. Usually, the older one will run away while I get to the lovecat. Well, last night it took an upsetting turn.
I started to bend down to the younger cat and the older cat lurched at my arm, dug in his teeth and proceeded to ferverently scratch me with all four paws. (Fortunately I clip their nails regularly.) My immediate reaction was to stay calm and not try to pull him off. I thought that he would quickly realize that I am not the other cat. Well, it felt like an eternity but roughly 20 seconds later he was still attacking me and wouldn't stop. I cried out for my guy and when he approached the cat let go.
My shirt was torn with big holes but I am thankful I was wearing it. By arm is completely torn up from wrist to elbow. I was bleeding, bruised, and completely shaken up.
I have no idea what the hell happened. Sometimes he will play stalk me, and he has scratched before, but never anything like this. Usually he'll do whatever and then run away, presumable hoping I will chase him and continue the game.
Afterwards I was trying to calm down and he was lurking around acting bizarre. Ordinarily I would just bring out the spray bottle and he would retreat at the site of it. But ge looked like he was about to attack me again so I grabbed a glass of water and wound frantically up dumping the entire contents on his head. He barely reacted - which is very strange. He didn't run away, didn't try to clean himself. It was as though he was in a trance.
He was back to his normal self this morning, meowing at the bedroom door wanting affection as soon as he heard that we were awake. But I just couldn't deal with him. I hate to hold a grudge but I am wrapped in gauze and I am in pain.
Has anyone had anything like this happen before? He is a sweet cat in general but now I am concerned that this will happen again. Again, I ask that you please be kind in your responses. I love my pets and I know they are animals. I just don't know what to do.