weird cat behavior

by Preston
(Milwaukee, Wi)

General info on our cat shmoopy (pronounced like the song "hang on sloopy", but with an -sh): 4 years old, spayed female. We live in a nice neighborhood in milwaukee, wi near the parkway. The cat is NEVER outside the house. She is in good health, and she is a very happy cat. I bought her as a kitten for my girlfriend, just a couple of months old.

Last night our cat was playing excitedly in our bedroom. She tends to get excited when we open our screened-in bedroom window where she can sit and look/smell outside. Soon after playing our bedroom, we heard a weird crying/growling sound from our cat in the hall. When we went to check it out, we found that the cat had peed on the floor. In addition, the cat became very fearful of my girlfriend and me, and would hiss and almost look as if she wanted to attack or bite us!

Our cat continued to display this odd scared/aggressive behavior as we cleaned. After we were done, I gave the cat a treat to calm her down. This seemed to work, and eventually she calmed down and was normal. Our cat is never aggressive and never pees outside of her litterbox. Also, we are always kind and never hurt our cat in any way, yet she seemed so scared of us. We thought she may have been over-excited and peed on accident. However, my girlfriend is pregnant and was scared of the cat's behavior.

The cat calmed down and slept with us like usual. Should we be concerned?

Answer by Kate
Firstly I wouldn't worry your self too much. Often when a cat has been frightened by something they react with aggression to anything that is near by. So the fact that she looked aggressive towards you is only natural. When an animal is afraid of cornered etc it is never a good idea to approach, as they will attack anything that comes near at that time. So the aggression was not necessarily directed at you or your girlfriend.

All I can assume is that she saw something outside that may have worried or concerned her. She may have seen another cat a dog even a bird may have suddenly moved and given her a fright.
Peeing and growling and both signs of an up set cat.

I really wouldn't worry too much, I’m sure it may have only been a one off situation. If it does continue then the first point of action is to make sure that the cat is physically well. After that you have to examine the situation that brings on the behaviour.

Lets hope kitty is over her fright and returns to her normal self. :)

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