I have a 4 year old female shorthair, part siamese, who literally loses her head when she sees a strange cat in our yard. Her eyes become black saucers, forgets where she is, who she is, and frighteningly enough forgets who her sister is and attacks her. I'm not talking a swat, I'm talking a full-body, claws out pounding at which time I have to somehow intervene without being hurt myself because she doesn't recognize me either.
When I get them separated, she's like Norman Bates in Psycho, awakening from a dream and becoming her old self again as if nothing had happened.
Has anyone else experienced this with their cat?
2007-01-28 10:58:22 · 11 answers · asked by fyrkrakyr 2 in Pets ➔ Cats
It's called redirected aggression.
PROTOCOL FOR REDIRECTED AGGRESSION IN CATS
http://www.kingstownecatclinic.com/Redirected%20Aggression.htm
2007-01-28 11:29:38 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yeah, Cats are like that. She is scared that this strange cat is going to invade her territory. That is why she does that. Yeah she probably is like Norman Bates. Its just a trance she goes into . My Husband brought home a stray the other day and my other cats acted like idiots for 2 or 3 days now they are better. They mainly just stay away from each other.
2007-01-28 19:05:09 · answer #2 · answered by justcurious 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, this is something cats do. At one point we had four cats and they would all freak out at the sight of a strange cat in our yard. They would all growl and then either hide or crawl closer. In fact, after we were married, one of my husband's cats would mercilessly harass one of my cats everytime they were in the same room.
That was until the "Strange Cat In the Backyard Incident". One day an unsuspecting neighbor's cat wandered into our backyard. All the cats growled but then my husband's cat hid behind a chair. My cat let out a scream and launched herself at the screen door, knocking it from its track, scaring the *&&^ out of all of the cats. The upside was that my husband's cat never bothered my female cat again.
So, freaky cat behavior does have an upside! Just stay out of their way when they are in a mood.
2007-01-28 19:14:03 · answer #3 · answered by C C 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My cat Gracie didn't go psycho but she would get really angry when another cat came into her yard. She didn't like cats didn't even know she was a cat as far as I knew. She didn't mind dogs though. LOL cats are really silly I love them.
2007-01-28 19:09:02 · answer #4 · answered by Pamela V 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Cats can be very territorial and will often attack strange cats that enter their territory - that IS normal behavior. The fact that she displaces her aggression and attacks you or a cat that is familiar to her however is very worrisome. Cat aggression is difficult to control. I'd suggest you talk to your vet who may have ideas on how to control this behavior or may even suggest medication to modify her behavior.
2007-01-28 19:09:41 · answer #5 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
lets see do you want cat seeing strange cat psycho or cat with strange dog or cat with strange human. we've had all 3 in 1 cat.
we found a kitten,brought it home,showed it to our little "angel".whoever was holding our cat she'd put one paw on each side of holder's neck,look at newcomer hiss at them and squeeze the humans neck as if to strangle the human for even thinking of bringing in another cat
cat/dog took my mom's border collie to our apt. she took one look at dog,ran to bedroom door, well dog being dog, followed she stopped inside door way, took one hard swat at this big border collie,(mind you cat is declaw) the impact sounded like mike tyson landing a punch, off dog goes yelping.
cat/human she has bitten the maintenance man( he got so we had to put her in cage when he came in),bite a delivery man,insurance man
morals of our story:
1.)she rules her house with iron paw, we just pay the mortgage
2.)no other cats allowed
3.)if dog must be blk /white shih-tzu with 1 blue eye and 1 brown (mom's old dog which she would play with) this moral was evenprescribed by cat's vet!
4.)she is a 2 purrson cat.
5.)if my husband and myself don't like her rules, we have to see the first one again
2007-01-28 20:41:07 · answer #6 · answered by ♥ cat furrever ♥ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, this is totally normal male and female cat behavior. Squirt gun is perfect.
2007-01-28 19:04:30 · answer #7 · answered by Jungleboy 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
well its her teratory would u like someone just hanging out in your back yard and u have no idea who it is?
and some cats just dont like other cats
2007-01-28 19:03:00 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
it sounds like you just described my cat!! serious
2007-01-28 19:14:37 · answer #9 · answered by iloveyou! 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Get out your squirt gun to remind her of her surroundings.
2007-01-28 19:02:17 · answer #10 · answered by Still Alive 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋