Hi. I adopted a 3.5 y/o cat two months ago. I’ve been dealing with an issue of her where she scratches me. Usually, it’s when she wants to play. She will sit in front of me, pupils completely dilated where you can’t even see the green in her eyes, and she starts fidgeting one arm. Eventually that arm will go up and she will swat at me, claws out. Blood is always drawn. Sometimes she will stare at me from one side of the room, try to maintain eye contact with those dilated pupils, and I know she’s going to run and attack me like I’m prey.
It’s hard to snap her out of this faze. Usually, if someone is around I will ask them to drop something to distract her. Other times if I have something nearby, I’ll throw it — but even that is risking it since a movement will trigger to attack.
Sometimes it will happen unprovoked — like when she’s feeling loving, she will rub her head against my leg and then attack. Those aren’t as dangerous.
Right now, I was just walking around getting ready for bed and she was geared up for attack. I saw and immediately (but slowly) went under the covers so she wouldn’t have anywhere to scratch. She jumped on the bed and looked around confused trying to find something to scratch. So, she jumped and went for my face. Luckily, I blocked her with the comforter!!!
She doesn’t bite a lot, but even then she needs to do it on skin rather than through my clothes.
I’ve tried everything — playing longer twice a day, playing shorter and more frequently, leaving the room and ignoring her. The play mimics hunting.
But I don’t think this is a normal play aggression situation, I think she has a compulsive need to attack. After the attack, she will walk away and go back to normal. Pupils retract, stalking stops, sometimes she’ll even go to her bed and sleep.
Her previous owners surrendered her for this exact reason, which I found out after contacting the shelter’s feline behaviorist who did not really help much.
I haven’t tried Feliway or CBD or any of those things because they seem to target anxious cats, whereas she is just a very playful cat. She loves to play. If she hears her favorite toy jingle or hear me say the word “play,” she will come running. Is there anyway to calm her down?
This happens almost every day for a short period of time. Sometimes it happens twice a day. But when she’s not like this, she’s very calm. Just likes to sleep, sit, and watch me, but she is up to play 24/7.
And please do not recommend another kitty! I live in a one-bedroom apartment in NYC, haha.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/jzzg8b/cat_seems_to_have_an_impulsive_need_to_scratch_my/
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