My cat gets aggressive toward everything when he hears other cats outside.
Written by save_my_cat
My normally sweet cat has been acting up, just starting recently. This is going to sound funny, but he is on anti-depressants, b/c I recently moved out of the house that he lives in. Beside that, 2 new neighbor cats are harassing my indoor cats. Baxter, is becoming skiddish and aggressive. When the outdoor cats come around, he gets aggressive toward my other cat, and both my parents. Today he bit my 5 year old neice for no reason, which is NOT like him. I just arrived home today and heard talk of the pound where he'll be put to sleep.... THAT CANNOT HAPPEN.
PLEASE HELP!!!!
Home | About | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Advertise | Press | Resources | Contact | © Copyright PetDocTM 2008. All rights reserved.
What a tough situation for you and Baxter. The first thing I would look at is are there any side effects of the drugs your cat is on? If you determine the medication is making the aggression worse, there is an herbal remedy you could try called Rescue Remedy. The next thing to do is try and do something about the new neighborhood cats. Redirected aggression (the bite he gave your niece) is very common in this situation. Your cat is probably very stressed and anxious right now.
Making it so the cats cannot see out the windows will help temporarily while you deter the outdoor cats from coming in your yard. A couple of ideas are talking to the owner if you know who it is and ask them to keep thier cats in or at least let them know you need to deter the cats from coming in your parent's yard. Cats usually don't like to get wet so a super soaker water gun aimed in thier direction may help, a motion sensored sprinkler or a citrus spray (cats don't like the smell) that you use all around the outside of the house where there are windows can help keep cats away. It may take a bit of work but the cats outside will get the message (safely) and will give up.
Something else you may find helpful is to add a Feliway Diffuser to the room the cats spend the most amount of time in. What this is, is a pheromone therapy for cats that sends out a message that everything is ok. I have added some articles on aggression (in blue) for you to check out. Good luck and let me know if you need more information.
PetDoc.com