I am hoping someone on here can help me decide what to do about my cat with behavioral problems. My cat, Kathryn, is a 9 year old female cat. I have been her owner for all 9 years. Over the years she has always been a little temperamental, but after the age of 7, she began having some episodes of redirected aggression. On one occasion, I tripped in my room in the dark and she chased after me and clawed me up/bit me. On a separate occasion a few months later, she again clawed and bit me after my dog made a loud noise that startled her. I had to seek medical treatment and take a course of antibiotics after both attacks because the wounds became infected. I got very sick after the first attack. After these two events, I was afraid of Kathryn and she was housed in her own room. My husband spent time with her every day, but sometimes she would get into these moods where she started looking threatened (stalking around the room with back arched, lashing out). It comes out of nowhere. This was not an ideal situation for either the cat or us so we re-homed her with a very kind friend after the birth of our first child. I felt like the cat wasn’t exactly the safest animal to have in the house and maybe she’d be less stressed out in a different environment. It was worth a try. The re-homing did not go well. She spent 4 days meowing, scratching everything in sight, peeing on their bed, and attacking when the friend got too close. The friend returned her to us and she is now living alone in a bedroom again. I’m afraid that if she gets out of her room, she may injure our infant. I’ve called 14 separate foster-based rescues and each one turned down my attempt to re-home Kathryn (aggression and peeing issues are a “no-go”). I called the Animal Humane Society and they said they would take her, but based on my description of her behavior and her general stress in new environments, they would likely humanely euthanize her after a few days. I believe that putting Kathryn in a shelter environment would be cruel as she has a lot of anxiety and would be very stressed. It has been suggested to me that I try medication and behavioral therapy; however, I do not believe that there are any interventions that would ever make me feel comfortable with this cat around my child. On top of this, I am fairly certain that she has Feline Hyperesthesia (episodes where she twitches all along her back and aggressively grooms her back/tail). I’m not sure how much this could be contributing to her issues with re-directed aggression. My vet suggested I bring her in for a medical evaluation and we are going to discuss euthanasia as well.
I guess I’m wondering if anyone has suggestions for how to deal with this situation? It makes me feel sick to my stomach thinking about euthanizing her (she is a sweet cat 75% of the time), but I don’t feel it’s safe for her to live in our house with a small child and I am running out of options.
If you read all of this, thank you.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/ayhswa/cat_with_behavioral_issuesadvice_please/
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