# Help! My cat just attacked me!



## Aerohip (Aug 30, 2009)

Okay, I'm a liitle shocked right now. I have a Ginger Tabby named Marty who's one. He's a great cat.Affectionate. Playful. Loving. He's neutered and has all his shots and has never been outdoors. I was sitting on my couch and he walked up to me and I leaned forward and let out a growl/hissing sound. The next thing I knew he was lunging for my head, howling. He clawed me in two places and I was bleeding. It took me a couple of minutes to calm him down as he had his hair up and looked like he was going to pounce again. I'm stunned by this. I have two young daughters and I do not want this to happen to them. What caused this? My growl? Help!


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Yes. Don't do that again. 

Okay, I'm just guessing....but I really wouldn't do that again. 8O

Was that the first time you've tried that?


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## Aerohip (Aug 30, 2009)

I've played many times with him where I crouch down and meow/hiss at him. He's never attacked me. It's just so strange...I almost am afraid to play with him. (As he lays on my lap rubbing my face with his as I write this!)


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Maybe you just caught him off-guard.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Not sure why you'd want to growl and hiss at your cat for no reason, at best he'll start to avoid you, at worst...well...what happened tonight. 

If you're going to use his 'language' then it needs to be used appropriately. I've hissed at my cats, but in a disciplinary situation, not to tease or get a rise out of them or playfully.


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

He probably didn't even realize he hurt you; I also learned the hard way that play fighting with your cat is not a good idea!! Make sure you do not make those threatening noises again and always use a "barrier" when playing with your cat (toys, wand, blanket, etc...)


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## Aerohip (Aug 30, 2009)

doodlebug said:


> Not sure why you'd want to growl and hiss at your cat for no reason, at best he'll start to avoid you, at worst...well...what happened tonight.
> 
> If you're going to use his 'language' then it needs to be used appropriately. I've hissed at my cats, but in a disciplinary situation, not to tease or get a rise out of them or playfully.


It was never meant to be menacing it was just playful banter. I won't be doing it again.


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## sephi (May 9, 2010)

he was probably threaten by your act.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Aerohip said:


> It was never meant to be menacing it was just playful banter. I won't be doing it again.


But cats don't understand hissing used in that context. When they hiss, they mean business. There's different levels of intensity depending on how threatened they feel, but they never hiss in jest. When they're feeling playful they chirp, trill and maybe purr.


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## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

My first cat ever was a female calico her name was patches. I picked her out when I was 4 and we grew up together. She was the sweetest cat and my best friend. She was very smart she would play fetch and I could hide her toy and she would wait in a room and then go find it and bring it to me. She could even open screen doors all by herself so we had to watch her when our wooden doors were open revealing the screen doors cause she would jump up and let herself out lol. When she turned about 6 or 7 years old one day my mom was walking up the hallway patches popped another cat we had at that time upside the head and my mom scolded her for it. I saw the scene and was joking with mom saying she is going to get you for getting on her and the next thing I knew patches went leaping through the air and attacked my mom. She was like a little wild cat her fur was standing up and it was like she went into attack mode she would jump up attack jump down jump up attack jump down repeat. My older sister and I managed to get her in a cat carrier and waited for her to settle down. About a month later my younger cousin was over spending the night and she was on her hands and knees and she hissed playfully at patches and that set her off again. We had to get towels over her to get her down to the floor and got her in the bathroom. She calmed down and was fine. Awhile after that I was just sitting on the floor and she was walking in my direction and she stopped and looked at me I didn't do anything. I didn't make a sound or anything and she ran and jumped on my head gave me a bad cut under my eye. We took her to the vet and expalined she was making people bleed and what could be causing it. She was an indoor only cat and we didn't have any male cats at that time so mom never got around to getting her fixed and they said she was going through the change and was acting out because of it. I always believed that since that is what the vet said but your cat is fixed and is a male so I don't know what to believe now.

After those 3 times she stopped doing it just as quickly as she started attacking people so I hope all goes well with your cat and that he doesn't do that anymore. I have seen that situation and as sweet and gentle as cats can be if you ever experience that you know that as sweet and innocent as they look they can really do some damage to you if they so choose.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Aerohip and April, do a Google-search and read up on "Feline Redirected Aggression" and its' behavior and triggers.

Here is a good article at LittleBigCat: Little Big Cat


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

I've found that orange/red tabbies can have "trigger tempers". No all are like that of course. I dunno, maybe that red-hair thing.


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## ~Siameseifuplz~ (May 6, 2007)

Did he even see that you were there? It's possible you startled him and because you startled him with what is usually a threat he decided to act first, think later. Since he had no idea what was hissing/growling at him until after he had already attacked he didn't have time to realize "oh that's my owner, she always does this, I know it doesn't mean anything from her", he just decided to err on the side of caution and defend himself without knowing whether or not it was really necessary. 

So yes, in the future, refrain from hissing, growling. Try chirping or trilling instead.


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## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

Heidi- Thank you I read that article and it was very interesting. I am now thinking that is what was going on with my cat.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

I'm glad you found it helpful. Redirected Aggression is a very funny thing, it can have so many different triggers and so many different forms of expression that vary from cat-to-cat and from situation-to-situation.

When I try to describe it, I try to help people visualize a cat who *knows* about its' world; everything just so and behaving in predictable ways. Then something happens that is scary, but the cat doesn't know exactly *what* scared them; loud noise, strange smell, trapped in a toy or thing ... and because they have these immediate, highly charged, emotionally intense feelings of fear ... they attack the first thing they see because *they* aren't feeling normal so *nothing* in their world (_right at that moment_) is normal and it is almost as if they are trying to scare the scary-thing away to bring their normal back but it generally winds up having the complete opposite effect because it is *not* rational thought and only adds to the strange and fearful trigger. _Sort of self-fulfilling and circular, you know?_


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## Janis (Aug 26, 2010)

Yup. Our favorite, Midnight, indoor-outdoor, formerly a kitten-stray, who was loving with us and would normally not harm his litter-box-mate, would become a wild & scary thing if another cat came up on the porch, and would attack anything that moved. His litter-box-mate would literally melt away hoping to make it before being noticed, (Slate hated violence, and never got used to having dead mice-presents, etc deposited on our porch) and I would go & put boots on till he calmed down so he wouldn't attack my (moving) feet. 

Once, (and only once) outside, I made the mistake of approaching him from behind to pick him up (he normally loved being held), when he had just had a fight, was coming home, but suddenly turned to go back toward the direction of the fight. (The other cat was up a tree). I have a couple of scars to this day on the back of my hand where he lashed out, still in attack mode. As I said, he was a loving cat except when aggressive toward another cat, at which time he became monster cat. Glad to know this is somewhat normal.


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