My cat just attacked me and my dog

[Aardvarkitsabloodyaardvark]

Hi folks,
My cat has been sat in the window sill and the neighbours huge cat is outside. Loads of growling, hissing etc.
My cat comes out of the window on to the sofa and my dog dies her normal thing if trotting up to her. Cat went nuts and launched herself at the dog on to her face. I dive on to the floor and remove dog as I didn't want either if them to get hurt. Cat had run off but she then returned and in her attempt to get to dig attached me instead.

This has happened once before but at night when we had the lights off but today was daylight.

Anyway dog is ok but seems traumatized and I'm in shock a little and my hand has some fairly bad scratches which bled a lot and are obviously bruised (they are very painful to be honest) .

So, I'm not sure what to do, do I leave it and hope nothing happens again? What would you do?

Sorry about typos, I have a new phone that doesn't suit my fat fingers.

I'm not a cat expert, but did the cat bite and break skin or was it just scratches? I'm sure someone will be along who knows more about cats, but I'd be concerned about what might even be in their nails, so might you need a tetanus shot?

It sounds like she was terrified, feeling territorial and then was surprised by the dog. She was also probably angry. Just let her calm down, offer her some treats and sympathy in a little while. Keep an eye on the scratches. If they are worse in the morning go to a and e.

This is a recognised "thing" with cats and is called transferred aggression. There's an article about it Here or just google the term

Has your cat been spayed/neutered? Is it indoor only or does it have free acess to outside?

Thanks all, I think we are all in shock.
She is neutered and an indoors cat (her choice).
She is 8 and this has only happened once before. She is such a loving cat normally licks ears, dribbles and also gets along brilliantly with my little 3 yr old dog.

She didn't bite it was all claws.
Thanks again for reading I'm gutted.

Not sure on Tetanus will keep an eye on them though. One in my hand actually feels like a cannula needle.

Definitely redirected aggression. It's quite common - my boy cat is bad for it so I've leaned to give him a wide berth when he's overstimulated or riled up like that.

Thanks for the link allergic. Looks like we did right.

Thanks Cele, scary isn't it!

It's terrifying! The first time it happened he had just had a fight with my other cat and I had foolishly gone in to break it up and he launched himself at me and wrapped himself around my leg, clawing and biting. I shrieked and kicked out as like a reflex action and he flew across the room a bit but I was shaking after! Now I can recognise his body language on the odd occasion he gets like that and I stay away! It hasn't happened in a long time now thankfully!

Yeh I guess, I should have known to remove the dog as cat was growling in the window.
I have definitely learned from this although I'm concerned about what would happen if I'm out though.

My cat does this over a specific cat in the neighbourhood. Gets in to a right old yowling match and then batters the crap out of me when I have to pick him up to take him away!

I have no advice, but a lot of sympathy for you. And Sudacrem. And plasters.

Does sound like the cat had a similar 'fight or flight' reaction as humans have and fought with the first animal present. When our cat had a very frightening experience and I went to rescue her, even though she was desperate to be rescued she attached my arm really badly and I had to hold her so tight to be able to get her into the cat box. Once she had time by herself to recover she was fine. We have got a feliway plug-in for our cats who are a little stressed with the new arrival of a puppy. It might help your cat if she finds things outside stressful.

Unfortunately ddog then you were in her way at the wrong moment. If she is growling etc at something outside the best thing to do is make sure she has a mens of escape from the window without anything in her path. When our indoor cat gets like this she wants to go from window to window to check for threats and ots best to just stay out of her way.

I've had this. And it's bad because you're thinking oy mate, I've just saved you from utter humiliation at the paws of Miss Fluffles next door - why are you ripping my arm off?

Thanks again all. I'm a bit calmer now. Had a 20 minute snooze and woke up to both cat and dog cuddled up on my lap like nothing had happened

Mine sat in the window sill the other day making weird noises at the cat outside. I didn’t realise. Went to stroke him and took a swipe at me.

My otherwise incredibly docile brainless Persians had real fights with each other when a strange cat was sitting outside my back door. The late Fatty took a chunk out of Snorgs ear. As a PP said its's misdirected aggression. For my girls it was incredibly out of character.

My parents' old cat Tigger did this once. There was a strange cat outside and Tiggy was growling at it. My parents' other cat, Salem, came up behind Tiggy. (Salem and Tigger were sisters from the same litter.) Tiggy promptly turned around and started wailing on Salem. Salem took off down the hall with Tigger running after her. Eventually we got the two separated and Salem hid under the bed. She suffered some facial scratches but was otherwise okay. I had to clean up fur and cat pee off the hall floor.

After that, as Dad put it, when Tiggy went postal, Salem went into the witness protection program (i.e. ran off and hid). Tigger still did not like strange cats but I don't think a similar incident ever occurred.