Aggresive Cat

by Sarah
(Cumberland, RI)

I found my cat at a campground last summer. She was just a little kitten, probably 12 weeks or so and she came and found me. She was exremely friendly and loveable. I took her home and adopted her. She is now just over a year old and is still cuddly and loving to me. However, she is easily spooked and will freak out on my boyfriend if I'm not around. She also attacks anyone else who comes into our house. We had a friend come by to feed her everyday while we were out of town and he had to be very careful because she would constantly try to attack him. I don't know why she acts this way with strangers and I'm afraid that she will hurt someone some day. She is never provoked, she just attacks as soon as they walk through the door. I don't really want to have her declawed but if that's the only way to keep her from attacking people then that's what I'll have to do I guess. Do you have any advice?

Answer by Kate
Hi
i would say that your cat has a feral nature. My sister found a kitten who was about 7 weeks old and although he was absolutely fine with her , he spent his whole life not trusting other people and you just had to make sure you gave him a wide berth. my sister could cuddle him etc but no one else.

cats like this will always have this tendency i'm afraid and you have to decide whether or not you can live with a cat like that or not. Sometimes they are happier in a countryside environment where they have lots of space to wander without lots of people being around.

Please do not get her declawed, this is a awful practice and is banned in the Uk for that reason. it can be very painful for the cat too and prevents them from leading a normal cat life where they can climb etc.

There are other alternative, you can make sure that her claws are regularly clipped https://www.our-happy-cat.com/claws.html or you can try things like soft claws which cover the claw. However this is not really necessary as long as you tell people not to approach your cat when they come visiting.

i assume she is spayed as well, if not this would help to calm her down too.

She looks like a lovely cat and also being so young i'm sure that she will naturally calm down as she ages too. My sisters cat lived with her and her husband and two children for 17 years and apart from the occasional scratch they all lived happily together. As long as i did not approach the cat he was fine, so please don't make any hasty decisions about your lovely cat.

best wishes Kate

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