An aggressive cat may strike at animals or people seemingly without warning. The whiskers, ears, tail and eyes are your clues to an impending attack. If the cat is new to you, you may not know all the clues at first and suffer several attacks. There may be several causes, and we will explore each.
Medical: Your cat may be ill or be injured and in pain. Always rule this out by a visit to the vet. If your cat has previously always been cuddly and sweet, this is even more important. Your cat may have developed diabetes or a tumor and need treatment. Once the medical reasons for the behavior have healed, the sweet temperament you remember will return.
Fear: As in the above examples, this must be addressed for each cat. If you have ruled out medical causes, and your usually sweet puss becomes a terror, your best bet will be more aggresive play with your cat. Always push in should your cat bite you, so that the cat learns this is not acceptable. Your cat has the same fight-or-flight mechanisms that we do, so your cat has decided to fight instead of hide. That will mean that your cat is fighting for its life in some way. You MUST identify what is causing this behavior. It may be an odor on your person that is causing it - so go take a shower and see if that helps. If not, see a doctor. If you constantly challenge your cat, stop. If your cat has gotten into a plant, remove the plant from the cat's reach. Some plants cause hallucinations in cats or can poison cats. With time, this behavior should stop.
Dominance: Your cat may be trying to get to the top of the cat-pecking-order. Even if there is only one cat, the cat wants to be on top. This is most common with other animals and a new cat.
The cat wants to be top-cat in the household. It will try to dominate the dogs, too. Eventually, this behavior will sort itself out as the new cat finds its place in the pecking order. If your cat was feral and is now tame, the behaviors will be more common. However, even the most loving cat can behave this way.
Extreme Behaviors: In extreme cases, isolate your cat from the general household population and get a large cage with levels for different activities. A play-pen for cats. Put in a covered cat bed, litter box and place the food and water bowls on one of the shelves. Put something hard on the top to prevent aggression and fear, as other cats in your family will want to jump on the top. Place this cage in a place where you can control access by the other animals and allow them into the area one at a time. Try to identify your cats triggers by watching her while the other animals are in the room.
As your cat becomes comfortable with the worst of the triggers, you can let it out with the other animals for short periods while attended. Eventually, you will be able to do away with the cage as confinement and let the cat use it as a safe-haven.
