Cat went ape $H*T

[DonBattles]

Yesterday evening I was taking a shower and suddenly I heard screams coming from the kitchen and when I entered the Smokey had all his hair on end and had torn my wife up pretty good. She said she was standing at the table as was wrapping a present for one of her co-workers and suddenly the at went nuts. A little while later when Yolanda was cleaning up her cuts I want to clear the table and noticed the gift was a talking dog, I pressed one of the buttons and the cat went nuts again! So it seems he may have been scared by the talking dog. Later that evening he seemed fairly normal but maybe a little on edge.
At about 11:30pm I'm awaken by more screams and run into the living room and found the cat attacking Yolanda again. She said he was sleeping behind the table next to the chair she was sitting on using her laptop. She said that she hear a cat just outside the window and it was it was hissing and screaching. Next thing she knows Smokey was going nuts again and tore Yolanda up and in fact when I entered the living room she was on the floor in the corner and he was on her. I ran over and grabbed him, didn't know what else to do, and he tore me up pretty good as well. So at this point I'm a little angry and of course concerned. I cannot have this happen to my wife and need to determine if something is wrong with the cat or it was all just coincidence?

[chessman]

Does not sound like a coincidence, unfortunately.

[MyPal]

A domestic animal that turns on the family unit can no longer be trusted. Time to take your cat to the vet for an assessment. Your vet may recommend facilitating a peaceful departure.

[-E-]

Once they have something scare them like that - they will always be on edge with anything that resembled that same trigger.

Kitty Xanax? Dunno...

[gtubes]

Sorry you had to go through this experience. It begs the obvious questions, how old is Smokey, any history of this or similar behaviour in the past etc, all standard assessment questions. I agree with Steve's first statement. This goes for most domesticated animals in my opinion. I wasn't really alarmed until Smokey was sitting atop Yolanda, for a second aggressive engagement. This is the bothersome repeated offence part..

First a toy and then a possible feline visitor at the window within hours of each other triggering the same aggression, not a huge deal. But to cause physical harm to both of you and subsequently have everyone involved to be on edge moving forward, not healthy.

Steve's right, assessment at the vet first, and go from there. Never know, let's hope it's an isolated incident.

[jdandy]

Don.......You, nor your wife, will ever trust that cat again, and you would be negligent to even try, but you already know that. Family member or not, it is time for that animal to meet its maker.

[Ian]

Don I love cats and currently have 4 of them. However, in the past, I have had an experience similar to your one. My formerly peaceful and loving cat started one day attacking my guests! When they entered my house the cat would race up to them and climb up their clothing in what seemed to be an attempt to swipe their face. The cat became completely fearless. If there had been a dog present I am sure it would have attacked it also. If you were unlucky enough to be wearing shorts the cat would dig its claws in to the skin of your legs as it was climbing you drawing blood. I am not sure what triggered this radical change in my cat's behavior but I was not about to use my guests as guinea pigs to find out. I found a farmer willing to take the cat. The cat became an out-door farm cat and terrorized and depleted the local mouse and rat population.

[DonBattles]

No real history of this sort of behavior. As for Smokey's background he was a feral kitten and we brought him home when he was about 2-3 weeks old. I bottle fed him and have grown very attached to him, he just shy of one year old. He has been neutered which was about 4 weeks ago. I'm really upset about this for obvious reasons. I'm not really concerned about myself but Yolanda cannot deal with this if it were to continue. I told her this morning if this happens again the cat is gone, she started to cry. Not a good morning!

[joeinid]

I am so sorry to read this Don. I hope you can resolve this.

[gtubes]

Originally Posted by DonBattles

No real history of this sort of behavior. As for Smokey's background he was a feral kitten and we brought him home when he was about 2-3 weeks old. I bottle fed him and have grown very attached to him, he just shy of one year old. He has been neutered which was about 4 weeks ago. I'm really upset about this for obvious reasons. I'm not really concerned about myself but Yolanda cannot deal with this if it were to continue. I told her this morning if this happens again the cat is gone, she started to cry. Not a good morning!

Not a good morning at all. Interesting information about Smokey though. Any pet, dog, cat, horse, salt water exotic fish, is a family member to most. Very hard to manage under these circumstances. Yolanda has been physically harmed twice, and yet she is still upset at the suggestion of ending your relationship with Smokey. Fresh wounds might be talking but it reenforces the need and priority for an assessment, perhaps a cooling off timeout of a day or so to let the emotional storm settle, then decision time.