aggressive cat attacks

[JessK]

Can anyone please give me suggestions on my wild little 7-month-old neutered male cat--he is normally very sweet and we're good buddies, but occasionally he goes into frenzies where he seems to want to kill me. It might be provoked by my moving my hand, or sometimes when I just walk by--he'll pounce on my arm or leg, clamp on and bite and scratch. It might start out as playing, but when I sternly shout NO and clap my hands loud, it seems to provoke him, and he'll lay his ears down and attack harder. He really does appear to become enraged. Last night he even hissed at me as I detached him from my leg! (Hurt my feelings. )

He seems to be under a spell, with his ears lying flat and his pupils fully dilated, and I don't know how to break through and get him to calm down. If I ignore him, he attacks; if I push him away, he attacks again. If I try to divert his attack to a toy, he ignores it and goes from my hand. Sometimes I lock him in a room briefly--is that the best thing to do? I also sometimes squirt him with water when he attacks, but he seems to know when I don't have it and attacks at will. Once the spell is broken he'll go back to being my purring little sweetie. Very Jekyll and Hyde.

What can I do to prevent his attacking spells, or at least end them when they do occur?? I'm actually afraid he'll continue to get bolder and go for my face some time... THANKS for any help.

[Swub]

May I suggest that you consider buying 'Cat Behaviour Explained' by Peter Neville. It's an excellent book and gives good coverage of agression, the possible reasons for it and steps to take to change your cats behaviour.

I would also suggest that you get your cat checked by a vet to make sure there are no underlying physical issues causing the problem.