# Going to the Farm



## huskerkitty (May 25, 2012)

Hi I am here to learn about the behavior of my cat almost 2 yrs and pregnant. Last Thur she brutally attacked me. Bit and scratched my face and left me with 5 stitches to my left ear lobe. then last night she did the same thing to my left arm bit and scratched me again. I think she smells other cats on me cause I go out to my parents farm and the have cats as well as my sister does too. I take my boys down there almost every week. I can't have her around with my boys they are 1 and 2. She got outside a couple of months ago so that's why she is prego. I had 3 toms hanging around my house lol it was funny come home from work and see them laying around the front door. I think her getting prego from these bad boys may have left bad memories and other cat smells set her off and she tries to eat me lol I had her sitting on my lap while on the computer and I coughed and next thing I know is she is on my face clawing and bitting the crap out of me. I was really bloodied up and she tore up my face pretty good as well as my ear lobe. then last night the same thing after I was out to the farm and came home. So she is going out to the farm to become a farm cat after she has her kittens I am going to get to of them. any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks


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## huskerkitty (May 25, 2012)

Well I guess third time is a charm cause I coughed and she was behind me on my chair and ripped my nose up pretty good and then she came after my other leg, She is going to the farm today, I can't keep patching my self up. I don't want to hurt her cause I know it's not her fault I think being pregnant has turned into a psycho kitty. Any help here?


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

Do you have male cats in the house with her? That could be one reason why she is so aggressive. She could be acting out and being aggressive because she is afraid the male cats are going to hurt her babies. Toms often kill young kittens to bring the queens back into heat.

It is a shame she is going to lose her home. You could just quarrentine her in a room by herself till she has her kittens and you would not get attacked that way.


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## huskerkitty (May 25, 2012)

No other cats in the house. I have two toddlers and can't take the chance of that happening to them. There is nothing like the fear of sitting in your recliner and you cough and next thing you know your cat is clawing and biting you. She is at my parents in huge rabbit hutch till she has her babies. I wasn't the least bit afraid of her.


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

I apologize. Did not realize there were children involved. Really makes me wonder shy she became so aggressive.

It is true all mammals are susceptible to psychological imblance. Heaven knows hormonal imbalance has a big factor in a lot of mental illness. ie: post partum depression, etc.


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

She's not imbalanced. YOU let her get pregnant by not spaying her then letting her escape. YOU startled her by coughing. She's hormonal, not crazy. Taking her to the farm because of your actions is horrible, how far along is she in the pregnancy? Maybe your vet can spay her, then the hormones should largely go away and she should go back to normal. If that's not an option then lock her in a room (child locks) and let her kitten there, she might be protective of her kittens, but if you spay her once they're weaned and adopted (8-12 weeks) she should settle back down.

If you're bound and determined to send her away for mistakes you made PLEASE make sure she is kept confined and then gets spayed after this litter. If you don't then she will be stuck having litter after litter. How would you like to be eternally pregnant? If you aren't aware of it already cats have something called a post-birthing heat, this means she can get pregnant as soon as 24hours after giving birth so she needs to be kept inside away from other cats.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

librarychick said:


> She's not imbalanced. YOU let her get pregnant by not spaying her then letting her escape. YOU startled her by coughing. She's hormonal, not crazy. Taking her to the farm because of your actions is horrible, how far along is she in the pregnancy? Maybe your vet can spay her, then the hormones should largely go away and she should go back to normal. If that's not an option then lock her in a room (child locks) and let her kitten there, she might be protective of her kittens, but if you spay her once they're weaned and adopted (8-12 weeks) she should settle back down.
> 
> If you're bound and determined to send her away for mistakes you made PLEASE make sure she is kept confined and then gets spayed after this litter. If you don't then she will be stuck having litter after litter. How would you like to be eternally pregnant? If you aren't aware of it already cats have something called a post-birthing heat, this means she can get pregnant as soon as 24hours after giving birth so she needs to be kept inside away from other cats.


All of this.


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## Jacq (May 17, 2012)

Husker, do you have any place that isn't a farm (a friend or neighbour) that might be able to take her? It's just that it sounds like you are frustrated and fed up with her, and not emotionally invested in her. If there's someone that could give her a warm and safe home that's preferable to living in a barn.

Everything librarychick said is spot-on. It's going to be easier for you (and your kids) if you spay her before she kittens (can vets do that?). You know what toddlers are going to be like with a litter of kittens around, and I don't think you'd want _more_ cats around after deciding to get rid of only one.


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## huskerkitty (May 25, 2012)

Well first up she is do any day. I have had cats my entire life and have never had any of them do this to me. I just thought it was the smell of other cats that was setting her off but turns out that when I startled her by coughing and her brutally attacked me not once but three times that was it. She is very lucky that I did not KILL her on the spot. I knew it had to be something like her being pregnant that was triggering these attacks. Until you have a cat on your face scratching and biting you, you don't know what I went through. I don't know if I want her back cause of the fear of attacking me again even after I get her spade. I gave her chance after chance and the third time it was out of here. Yes I was emotionally invested in her I cried the third time after it happened trying to figure out what happened to my loving cat. I took her out there and when I was putting away all the cat toys and cleaning her food dishes yes I had tears. I live by my self and have my boys 2 days every week and can't have that fear that she would attack them. Sorry but I can't take that chance until you have been brutally attacked by your own cat then don't tell me it's my fault. Not all cats are the same.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

Under the circumstances, think you should find a no kill shelter that will spay this girl and her kits and find them proper homes.


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## shan841 (Jan 19, 2012)

I took in a stray cat who was pregnant and she bit me and my fiance. I know it is not her fault, she is hormonal and protective. It is YOUR fault that Your cat is pregnant and acting this way. Please take her to a no-kill shelter or rescue.


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

For the record I have been bitten, scratched, hissed at, chased, and have gotten many injuries from my cats. I've always looked at circumstances, what I could have done better, and made changes for the future. I understand what it feels Luke to be scared of your pet.

But the bottom line is that it was you that caused this. The behavior change happened when she got pregnant. Bottom line. If she had been spayed at 6 months this whole thing never would have happened. I understand you wanting to give her up, but for goodness sake don't just dump her outside. Take her to a no-kill shelter where she can have hr kittens, get spayed, and have another chance.

I hope you do the right thing, and that you'll make sure this doesn't happen again. (Just to clarify I mean that in the future if/when you get another pet that you'll have it neutered)

I'd also suggest waiting until your children are older before adding another pet, but that's just from my experience of baby animals and baby people.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

huskerkitty said:


> I gave her chance after chance and the third time it was out of here.


Sounds like she's already gone, you're probably all wasting your breath.



> She is very lucky that I did not KILL her on the spot.


wow


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

I think OP _Huskerkitty _said the cat is now being kept in a rabbit hutch until she has her kitties. Hopefully this person will ensure that she's spayed after her kittens are weaned. Unfortunately, there are "psycho" cats that are mentally unbalanced and cannot be rehabilitated, and this cat may be one of them. So I don't blame this poster for wanting it out of her house; I would too. If this cats proves to be as unstable mentally _after_ being spayed, she may well have to be put down---not every cat can be saved unfortunately.


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## huskerkitty (May 25, 2012)

I am not abandoning her I have her out there until she has her kittens then she will be spayed. I am not afraid of her if she is in my sight. the first attack happened she was sitting on my stomach, the last two happened while she was sitting on the back of my recliner. They all happened so fast the only reaction I had was to get her off of me. I didn't send out the door until after the last attack. I am very lucky she didn't scratch an eye out. She bit me or scratched my eye brow and my eye lid, sliced my nose open and even the nostrils, 5 stitches in my left ear lobe and deep puncture wounds to my face hands and feet. And yes she out at my parents farm.


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## Darkcat (May 27, 2010)

You mentioned she may have been responding (misplaced aggression) to the smell of other cats. Were you washing up after interacting with these other kitties so that she couldn't smell them (and the threat she believes they posed) on you?


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## huskerkitty (May 25, 2012)

Yes I did but the last one that happened 3 days after I was around any cats. I coughed and she was all over me all 3 times I startled her I guess.


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## Jacq (May 17, 2012)

I know you may feel less like you're abaondinging her if you send her out to your parents. You'll tell yourself you can still 'visit' her often, but eventually (if she doesn't die of exposure/desease) she'll no longer be the catyou knew for two years. It's a longer goodbye, but it's still leaving her. Were you planning on letting your parents take the kittens as well for their barn colony? They'll be raised as pretty much feral and probably won't be good companions for humans that way.

If you can, after her kittens, I urge you to try to find a nice inside home for your cat (what's her name, by the way?). She had two years of love and companionship with people and it will be incredibly hard for her to adjust to farm life.


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## huskerkitty (May 25, 2012)

Her name is Oreo she is black and white. I still want to try but not right now.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

There always comes an occassional cat which acts this way. It sounds like your cat maybe semi feral. 

I think the solution to the problem would be for it to live on a farm. Feed daily and a barn it can sleep and live in. FYI cats cant survive on mousing. You must be committed to having food available to her daily for the rest of her life.

If I were in this situation this is how Id handle it. With TNR we put up 4 x 4 kennels and some time attach two 4x4 to make a 4x8 kennel in the barn or tack room. Zip tie peg board on the top so she cant get out of the kennel. Keep her in there with a shelf and cubes or upside down boxes with a door into them, to hid in. Put litter box by the door of the kennel so you can clean it daily. She can have her kittens in there and begin to raise them. 

At 6 weeks remove the kittens from her. Have her in the kennel for 1 week to let her milk dry up. Since she is so unpreditable I would put a have a heart trap in the kennel baited with food. Have an appointment made at your vet or a low cost spay neuter clinic to have her spayed immediately. Bring her back after the spay and let her recover minimum of 3 days. Then release her into the barn.

When your kitty has kittens be sure and provide her with goats milk or KMR suppliment since she is nursing. Give her as much wet food along with dry high calorie kitten food as she can eat. She will be burning lots of calories to nurse her new born kittens.

I have the opposite problem going on with a cat I rescued. She was 6 months old and pregnant. I pulled her out of a back yard of a couple who had began feeding her but wanted her out of their yard as she was fighting with their cat thru the screened door.. She loved people but was deathly afraid of other cats. 

She wasnt too far along in her pregnancy so I had her spayed. If a cat is too far along most vets wont spay the pregnant cat. When she was recovering in my air conditioned garage she would let out horrible yowls and throw herself at the door to my house when she heard or knew my fosters were at the door interested in who was out there. She was so tramitized by being mounted by all the Tom cats out of doors that she never recovered. 

Fast forward. She is with 4 of my fosters. She is sweet with people but growls and fights with all the males in the house. My own personal cats hate her and attack her. So we sequester her away from the others if were not home to control the interactions in the house. She spends a lot of time on top of the amoire where no cat can get to her. She has food issues when she comes out for her wet food with the other cats and growls and hisses, to this day. This was from being starved as a kitten after she was abandoned out of doors. She cant seem to figure out she will always have food. She just an unbalanced cat which needs to be in a single cat home. This is an exception to the rule. Most cats you can figure out the problem and eventually help them heal. I dont think she will ever trust other cats. very sad but she is a wonderful cat.


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

I understand your fear for the children in your house, but hormonal aggression with or without pregnancy is one reason so many female and pregnant cats are shoved out of their homes to live on the street because they suddenly attack someone in the house. My Rosie and her kittens are one of those stories. We have to understand a cat does not change its stripes overnight from loving to aggressive for no reason. There is always a reason and when you get hormonal influences and different treatment by the owner, cats feel vulnerable and abandoned and will become aggressive every time. Usually quarrentine in their own room until delivery and growth of the kittens is enough to bring them back to pet status. I hope your mom cat feels better after her delivery but may remain aggressive until the kittens are two or three months old. My one queen had to be separated from the pride for three months after delivery but once the kittens were independent and I was able to spay her she returned to her normal loving self.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

The reason we take kittens away from a mom at 6 weeks is to socialize them and get them adopted out after they are spayed or neutered. If the kittens are going to stay with her at the farm there is no need to remove them.


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## huskerkitty (May 25, 2012)

Oreo will be watered and fed every day. My parents use diamond cat food. I do plan on trying after she kittens and yes even spaying her. I still pick her up and give her lovin. Thanks for the support on here.


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

I'm glad you'll be spaying her. Life is too short to live in fear of your cat, but I hope you give her another chance after the kittens and her hormones have settled down; this takes a bit of time after spaying.

I do understand where you're coming from, especially with children, that's a deal breaker. It's true you should not have allowed her to become pregnant in the first place but it's too late to change that, now you can only move forward with the best course of action available to you. A cat that has attacked a persons face is not going to be adopted - of if it is, may find itself thrown outside/returned fast - so an SPCA trip I would rule out, and if you are unwilling to keep her shut in another part of the house (with small kids I can understand), then a farm at least temporarily is an alternative.

Cats attacking, arms, legs, feet viciously...? Not unheard of - Blaze does from time to time and occasionally tries to go back for a second round. Due to this I always make sure he isn't trailing behind me in a certain predatory way, even if he hasn't attacked me in months (then it'll happen again, sometimes two days in a row)... but faces? That means very serious business, if my cat had ever gone that far we may not have kept him. An unbalanced cat is not fun to live with, they can go off at the drop of a hat. Often the signs of dilated pupils and a fixated stare aren't readily noticeable before they attack, and there doesn't have to be any noticeable consistency in the reason for their attacking.


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

When Apache first came to my house, she would attack my feet from her safe area under the bed. It went on for about two weeks until she realized I always brought food with me when I came into the room. Apache was three months old when Dad rescued her from his backyard. She was one of the toughest ferals I ever tamed. She always stopped the attack when I yowled at her and I learned to wear boots into her quarrentine room. Apache attacked my face once. One of the cats had gotten out of the catroom and I was petting that cat when Apache came into the kitchen and saw me giving lovers to the escaped cat. Apache leaped onto my chest and attacked my face. Again, all I had to do was yowl at her and she broke off the attack immediately and ran and hid. For the first few years in my home she would tolerate no other cat in her territory and often was upset with me after I spent time in the catroom with the other cats. Now she is rather laid back and defends her status as top female cat with stares and verbal intimidation.


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## BroganMc (Feb 28, 2010)

huskerkitty said:


> Oreo will be watered and fed every day. My parents use diamond cat food. I do plan on trying after she kittens and yes even spaying her. I still pick her up and give her lovin. Thanks for the support on here.


I got the impression you were not quite abandoning her. FWIW my uncle had a herd of cats on his farm as well. These barn cats were fed daily and had tons of human interaction. They also had their own shelter in the barn. They thrived quite nicely. Only issues ever encountered was a naive kitten crawling into a dangerous spot, like crawling up into the engine of the tractor. Most of the kittens were adopted by family and friends.

People are a little sensitive here because just a week ago there was one thread started by an owner who planned to abandon her housepet cats to a shelter on her uncle's land in the wild. She was going to leave this mom & daughter kitty on their own for 1 - 2 months with only sporadic visits from humans. That sort of situation spells disaster for the cat.

When I had pregnant kitties, I'd give them a room to call their own. They could protect their territory and their young to their heart's content and didn't have to worry about humans or other animals attacking them. I spay my cats now, but I've been there as far as the unexpected litter. I was a very naive owner as a kid. In fact, the very first litter came when what I thought was a boy cat dropped her litter on my bed. Let's just say feline anatomy was not my forte in those days.  Mama cat and kittens were spayed soon after.

I'm not a fan of mixing animals with very young human children. The human babies do not understand animals are not squishy playthings and animals will defend themselves. A cat can kill a human baby by going for its face/head and human babies can easily hurt a cat. You may want to wait until your kids are school age before you adopt another pet. Either that or else you'll have to constantly be protecting your kids and pets from each other. Too much stress for me. Best thing my niece did as an infant was wail her head off. The noise was so grating my formerly feral kitty hid whenever she was around rather than battle the "creature from hades".


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

I have never heard of a domestic cat attacking a human baby and killing it. Do you know of any actual instances? When young children come into my home, the cats that don't like kids disappear and solve the problem for me and the ones who do like kids have a ball with them.

One of my aunts was distraught when she got pregnant with her first child because her mother told her she would have to get rid of her much loved elderly cat because the cat would kill the baby by suffocating it because it would smell the milk on the baby's breath. Some people still believe these old wives' tales to this day!

But really, if you have info on cats attacking and killing babies and children, I really would like to know.

One of my earliest memories was when I was almost two and I was put down for a nap at one of my mother's aunt's farm. When I woke up from my nap I was surrounded by cats on the bed who were sleeping with me. What woke me was the purring of a ginger cat who was lying up against my back. I think this memory was one reason why I love cats so very much.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

I don't think the OP ever said he was worried about the cat KILLING his baby. He was concerned about it attacking his children. It is a valid fear since the cat attacked him three times when he startled it. The children would be way more likely to make loud noises and sudden movements that would startle an expectant queen.

It would have been up to him to keep the queen somewhere that the kids couldn't be harmed by her and she would feel safe from them. I would be wary too of a cat possibly scarring (physically and in creating a lifelong fear of cats) in a small child.

Valid concern. 

A rabbit hutch probably isn't ideal, but i imagine it will do in a pinch. As long as you plan on spaying/neutering mom and kits and trying to bring her home again then kudos to you. You're doing a great job trying to rectify a terrible situation.


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## BroganMc (Feb 28, 2010)

Yes I have heard of infants being killed by pets. Usually it is the family dog who kills, but cats can be just as vicious. They scratch and bite drawing blood and leaving bacteria behind. A cat who has a history of going for an adult human owner's face should NOT be trusted around small children. (Remember OP reported this cat latched on and attacked her face three separate times. That's not a simple defense and run attack. That's a hunt mode attack. I am not talking about the Old Wives Tale about a cat smothering a baby while cuddling. There is no affection from this particular cat. It is defending itself from perceived threats... humans.) 

Granted toddlers are not as destructible as infants, but they can easily get a nasty scratch to the eye. You wouldn't want to risk the family pet blinding your child, would you?

When we love our pets we can easily start to humanize them to the point we forget they are still animals. I've grown up in the country where you learn to respect and care for animals but never forget there is a difference. Animals are victims of instinct and lack human reasoning. There is always a point where an animal's instincts kick in and overrules every learned behavior humans have taught it.

I find it odd that OP's cat even attacked her human in the first place. Especially a face attack. All the pregnant cats I've ever experienced (house pet and feral) would at most growl/hiss then back off to a safe area. The only time one would even come close to attacking a human (i.e. their feet or hands) was when the litter was born and they had live kittens to shield. Something is not right with Oreo going nuts and just being pregnant. At this rate she won't let any human come near her kittens, which means they won't get the socialization they need.

Let's hope when she has her litter and is fixed her hormones calm down enough that she can become a good pet again. I'd be taking her to the vet to find out if there is something else going on as well. Her startle reflex is just too pronounced for my liking, IMHO.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Huskerkitty are you planning on adopting out the kittens or letting them be barn kitties?


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## huskerkitty (May 25, 2012)

adopting out the kitties on condition they get spade.


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

Yes, allowing very young children to interact with very pregnant cats is not a wise move and I do concede a cat can do great harm to an infant for a young toddler. But out right killing is a stretch in my book; not impossible, but a stretch.

I do not know how many times as a toddler and very young child I approached strange cats and got bit, scratched and attacked because they did not want a child touching them. And yes, I do have some permanent scars on my face and my scalp from a particularly defensive tom cat that caused me to have to get stitches. But never was my life in danger, or did I ever feel it could be. I was one of those kids who was always told to "leave the cat alone, he does not like kids" and didn't listen and got clawed every time. I did not care. I loved cats and always sought them out. My parents were frustrated with me and the last thing Mom always said to me when we got out of the car to visit relatives was "Don't get bit by anything, OK?"

I agree Oreo is having some kind of psychological problem right now and needs to be separated from the children in the household. And like I said before, I do have experience with a hypervigilant mom cat who had to be confined. I did eventually tame the kittens once the mom stopped being psychotic about her babies.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

huskerkitty said:


> adopting out the kitties on condition they get spade.


If you can spend time with the kittens, handling them while they are growing up with their mom, it really helps. Even sitting by the food while they eat gets them use to humans. Its important you handle the kittens to socialize them. 


FYI. If your adopting out the kittens with a promise from the new families they will spay or neuter the kittens, then make sure you follow up with phone calls to check whether it was really done. Dont just let them say Yes, it done. Say Oh which clinic did you take the kittens too? You could send a list of the low cost s/n clinics in your area with the kittens when adopted, too.


I know with my first cat, the neuter was paid for. I just had to make the appt and take him in. I didnt understand how important it was to s/n. I was new to the cat world. I dragged my feet about doing it. I had no idea of the huge issue of 4 million cats and dogs being euthanized yearly because they are unwanted and no homes available.


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