Rescue just attacked my face...blood everywhere :-(

[CatGirl123]

Hi xx
Rescued a cat three weeks ago. We got her with some history of aggression. She had a kitten and became very possessive over it and aggressive to anyone that went near it. Sadly this kitten died and the cat was neutered. She then went back to her old, loving self but was put up for adoption. Vet said it was hormonal aggression. Whilst in the adoption centre, there were no issues.

The cat is three years old. She has taken to my boyfriend and adores him. I feed her and clean her tray, play with her and give her love...but she is really stuck on my boyfriend (which is quite funny...boyfriend only got her for me and he’s a big, tough builder sort of character, now with this little shadow following him everywhere). When he goes to bed (we sleep separately) she will follow him. She sleeps at the bottom of his bed. If he goes to the bathroom, she’ll wait outside. She will sit on him or near him. Always very flirty with him. I’ve thought this was cute and nothing more.

Tonight - me and my boyfriend were snuggled up watching something scary. We were just having some smoochy time and a giggle, winding each other up at the film. At a particular scary bit, my boyfriend grabbed me for the laugh, I grabbed him, we both laugh/screamed, the guy on the film also screamed and I ended up accidentally hitting my boyfriend in the face in all the drama. The cat saw this and flew out of her cat bed and attacked me....short story is my face is a mess :( I have a long cut down the side of my nose. Two puncture wounds on my forehead and two large scratches down the side of my face. I have cuts on my scalp, shoulders and neck....and it was so bad boyfriend had to get her claws out of my hair afterwards. Everything bled everywhere....all over me, the couch, carpet - boyfriend alarmed and ran and got tissue and then went and got more...never been cut on the face....it was so scary :( x x and it bloody hurts as well!
As I was stood up in a bit of shock the cat was stalking me...when I went to the bathroom, she walked fast behind me as if to be trying to intimidate me.
She was quiet for the rest of the night. I have tried to give her some strokes but she is very tense.
I have been saying to boyfriend....she was just scared....she’s still settling in....she was just defending you. Boyfriend understands but is annoyed I was attacked. His first words were - she has got to go, I will not have this. But now...she’s tucked up beside him in his bed.
After taking a calm and rational approach to this....now I’m feeling angry. I am actually fuming. I woke boyfriend up as wanted to be honest about this....boyfriend says....sleep on it and we’ll see how things are in the morning.
Is it wrong of me to think....tomorrow, I am going to ignore her for punishment?? One thing is for sure - I don’t want to give up on her. I don’t want her going back into adoption (she might not be able to be rehomed after this and so they might then put her down :()
Just ranting really. And a bit disturbed that I’m now angry at her and thinking that I might just ignore her tomorrow for punishment xx
Boo :( x x

I am a vet nurse - we take cat bites/scratches really seriously as they often become infected. We can't take ourselves off to minor injuries for every scratch but sometimes cat bites need medical attention/ antibiotics.

My advice to the OP is to clean the areas thoroughly and to get medical advice should they start to look infected - you'll know if they are!

Oh and rehome the cat!

Morning All
Goodness....I really didn’t mean to cause any fallouts here 😬
Sadly I don’t have time to address all the comments! The cat has been out of his bedroom and in to mine several times during the night (not like her!) to give me a snoochy and some licks.
She’s loving and clingy and so I will interpret this as an apology........although I will speak to the rescue for advice today.
The scratches look awful - but I’m not angry any more. I haven’t ignored her and won’t...I was just upset and angry when I said that!
To the lady who suggested me and my partner sleep separately and so aren’t healthy....for us, sleeping separately means we are healthy (he’s a bed bully and snorer! Also....despite being so close, we like our own space...sleep time is our ‘me’ time which we both value....I love to read, he has tinnitus permant (industrial) and so needs noise in the background. Some couples do sleep separately - his Mum and Dad always did (40+ year marriage) and I love having my own bedroom). We start off together and then I sneak out and enjoy my own space and leave him to his 😀
Thank you so much again for the constructive comments and for allowing me a moment to rant. They’re are some lovely people to turn to here xx (and....some.....not so! 😬😀) xxx but those who have been kind....I appreciate it xxxx

That’s.....victim blaming 😀 xx

@CatGirl123 Perhaps you can ask to get this moved to the Litter Tray for some professional advice, I can only empathise because this is so similar to my experience! My boy was a rescue, a teeny 6 week old feral kitten who immediately bonded with MrCat and barely tolerates me - and I'm the cat person! Husband and I also have separate bedrooms and cat sleeps with him. I've been bitten numerous times and had to have antibiotics for one particularly bad one. I never retaliate, just cry with shock and upset that he hates me while I love the bastard!

I also ignore him and he does the same as your girl, apologises! Normally, I hardly get any acknowledgement however, the day after an incident he seeks me out and jumps on my lap, looks me in the eye, chirps a bit and bumps my head. He does understand cause and effect.

His aggression towards me has waned but I'm always wary; I recognise the signs when he's in attack mode and distract him.

Feliaway plug in its a pheromone that is released into the air. We used to have a violent cat (he was a real CF sure he enjoyed it) and the plug in did calm him down.

There was one on TV this afternoon OP!

He cured a dcat of its hatred of the DH! The guy had been sleeping on the sofa,and not much, the dcat would also attack the other dcat, so he was there to supervise, all night every night, so it can be done.

I hope you don't get infections on those face cuts, the claw slashes are more likely to heal without incident than bites.

Glad you're ok, do watch out for signs of infection obv, and very glad cat isn't being evicted or ignored. Miss Matilda was always apologetic too. I did ignore her but immediately afterwards and for 2 minutes.