My cat is attacking me. Help.

[JacksLostRevenge]

Here's some background:

I have an orange tom that's approximately over a year old. I found him as a young kitten (still needed milk, but weened relatively quickly) abandoned in a barn. I also found what appeared to be his mother in the surrounding area. It seemed she was attacked by another animal and died from said attack. Here he is systematically cleaning himself:

<img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1100/133 ... 6b.jpg?v=0">

I had no trouble adapting him to an apartment setting. He's extremely curious about everything and very very friendly. However, he is also extremely needy and clingy. I thought that that behavior might subside as he got older, but that does not appear to be the case. He follows me around all over the apartment. If I'm doing anything, he has to be involved (insists on getting in the shower with me, sitting directly next to the sink when i do dishes and/or cook, etc.)

I don't even necessarily mind the constant need for attention that he exhibits (much like a dog), but it's to the extreme that he will get physically violent when he knows I am about to leave. Sometimes, he'll just knock over the bag I'm packing, or he will lunge at my hands as I walk by him getting my stuff together so I can leave. These behaviors I can handle. I can even handle the occasional sneak attacks where he will hide under the bed while I'm getting dressed and randomly pounce on my feet (he usually just puts them in a death grip with his front paws, gives a quick nip, and then bolts). However, I can not deal with the full-on malicious attack.

Here's what actually happened:

This morning, as I got ready to go to work, he threw himself on the floor in the middle of the room (as he often does) to make it difficult for me to get where I need to go. As I had my back turned, he decides to stealthily creep up behind me and then viciously attack me. He lunged at my leg and wrapped with his front paws (he's declawed in the front, thankfully). While chomping down on my ankle, he brought his back legs around and swiped them across the top part of my leg. He only let go when I screamed and then bolted underneath the bed. I'll let you see for yourself what he did exactly:

<img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1054/133 ... e6.jpg?v=0">

He's pulled the sneak attack on me before, but he's never hurt me quite so badly. My concern is that his anger in response to my approaching absence seems to be steadily increasing as he gets older.

How do I deal with this? I scolded him, as per usual, but that has proved completely ineffective. I've read about cats having separation anxiety, but isn't this a bit extreme? What should I do?

[Tina B and crew]

It could be just behavioral as you suggested, but when was the last time you had him to the vet for a full check up? Often cats behavior will change when there is something going on physically. I'd recommend taking him to the vet just to make sure he isn't in pain or anything like that.

If that isn't an issue my next question would be have you ever played rough with him...play fighting etc? If you have this could have elicited his attack behavior. If not, then it is just his way of playing. Have you ever tried to stop his attack play by telling him no (firmly but not yelling) when he does it? You might want to try this. And of course if it's about seperation anxiety you need to be sure that you give him plenty of time when you are at home...let him get his fill before you leave the house and then pursue the play when you return. That is what I with my Willow...otherwise she gives me the cold shoulder at times.

Good luck...don't give up because with patience you can likely modify this behavior

[Traci]

How many hours are you gone each day? Are you gone for longer than a day?

How do you "scold" him?

[JacksLostRevenge]

Tina B -

His behavior isn't really anything new, I think I'm just noticing it more since he's gotten bigger and, therefore, stronger.

Unfortunately, my boyfriend does like to wrestle around and rough-house with him, which probably isn't helping the situation.

Traci -

I'm a full time undergraduate student, but my hours are extremely varied. He's really sort of spoiled in the fact that I'm home sporadically all day. He's only alone for a few hours at a time. However, I did notice that he acted out alot more when I worked full time during the summer. I countered this behavior by giving him my full attention when I arrived home. This alleviated most of the destructive behavior he was exhibiting at that time.

I generally scold him by pointing my finger at him and saying very sternly "Gambit, NO!" or "Gambit, stop it!" He knows he's not suppose to to be doing whatever it is that is getting him in trouble--whenever I scold him, he always gives me that defiant meow. Unfortunately, when he gets really violent and I scold him, he has a tendency to want to attack me even more (he's gotten my pointing hand a couple of times. he's quick )


Thank you both for your advice! I am by no means at the point where I need to take any kind of drastic steps (find a new home for him, etc.) or anything like that (so rest at ease), I was just wondering if there was maybe some kind of training technique out there to tame ninja kitties.

<img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1217/134 ... e226_m.jpg">

[Traci]

Any way you can post a slightly larger pic of him? Is he a specific breed or partial breed? (hard to tell by the pic, but is he part abbysinian or?)

Is he neutered?

I agree with Tina, since you said your BF does play rough with him, it would help if he learned to play more gently.

Get a water bottle to have on hand, and squirt him once accompanied by your usual "command" when he exhibits this behavior. Then immediately ignore him, or, divert his attention immediately to something else, like a favorite toy or playtime activity. He has to associate the water bottle and the command to the behavior, and then his attention should be diverted to something more positive. Have your BF do the same thing so that the squirt bottle/command is consistent between you. Don't do this all the time, but only when he displays the "attack" behavior.

He may be a cat who expends alot of energy moreso than some cats. Ensure that his environment is interesting and stimulating, and of course, both the BF and you should spend quality time with him. Do remind the BF that rough-housing will in fact, encourage this type of behavior, and because it is a learned behavior, it may take some time for kitty to learn better behavior, that's where you and BF come in......play gently.

[Tina B and crew]

Yep...re-train the BF's way of playing and I'm sure it will help the situation. Men seem to want to play rough and I've seen a few cats get aggressive with that sort of play. We do gentle play with our cats...it's a rule in our house. We haven't ever had much problem with over-aggression. We have had a cat who had over stimulation aggression, but that was easily solved by stopping any petting when the cat got aggressive.

[JacksLostRevenge]

Gambit sleeping:

<img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1262/134 ... 30ac_m.jpg">

Gambit sleeping some more:

<img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1326/134 ... e75c_m.jpg">

I have no idea what breed he might be (I found him in a barn), but he is neutered and declawed in the front.

I have decided to take the advice of this thread and institute new play rules. No more rough-housing! I also liked the idea of diverting his attention with a toy whenever he gets in attack mode.

Thanks everybody!

[Tambrey]

he is a gorgeous cat....
I have usually 3-4 water bottles throughout the house...I get them from WalMart and I use ones with BLUE[color] nozzles so I know they are ONLY for WATER...
the cats have pretty much learned that when I say NO and whoever's name it is, they had better stop or they get a squirt!!

We have 10 cats and all are (fairly) well behaved and all trained with a water bottle, a firm no and lots of diversion and playtime...they LOVE chasing the laser light....some play fetch...and some think the dogs wagging tails are the best batting toy around!!

[JacksLostRevenge]

I forgot to mention that he likes water. I've tried the water bottle method in the past and he seems to actually enjoy it (I don't have air conditioning). He also likes to jump in the shower with me alot and he insists on drinking water from the faucet as opposed to out of his bowl (which I change everyday).

He's a finicky beast.

[Traci]

He is definately an orange tabby, but with an attitude (could be part breed-something, not sure)

He sounds just like my Cody, attitude included. And he loves water too, squirt bottle, shower, faucet, buckets of water, playing in his water dish, he loves it all