My cat attacked me and I don't know what to do

[poppet31]

For background, my cat is 7 and came to us at about 1 from a rescue centre. She had been found as a stray with a maggot infested wound (probably from a cat fight.) From day 1, she has been difficult with us. Used to bite and was generally quite unimaginable. We put her on feliway and it seemed to help. She has never been particularly affectionate, but calmed down a lot over the years. However she has always hated other cats, to the point where she will throw herself at the glass and howl if she sees a cat out the window. We only have cats in the garden very occasionally and she is a housecat (does go in back garden on lead) so it wasn't too much of an issue.

That was until our next door neighbour got a cat six months ago. This cat will not leave us alone and is in our garden every day. We have tried everything to keep her out but nothing has worked and our cat is getting more and more distressed and aggressive. Tonight, after seeing the cat in the garden, she attacked me. I understand about redirected aggression, but this seemed more than that. She looked me straight in the eye, paused and then went for me. I was about 5 feet away, standing still talking on the phone. She has clawed at my leg and drew blood in three places. I managed to quickly get out the room as she lunged to try and attack me again. My worry is, we have a 3 year old and I don't know if I can trust her around him now. I love her to bits and the last thing I want to do is have her put to sleep, but I'm worried that's what it may come to as she is becoming increasingly aggressive. Has anyone encountered something similar? Going to ring the vet tomorrow to see if perhaps putting her on some sort of sedative might be an option. Apologies for the long post but I am feeling pretty distraught tonight. Any advice welcome.

I adopted a cat not knowing it was previously a stray, I was told it came from a children's home and that it would be ideal for my family, took her home, meowed at the door straight away, gave us a bit of love at the start then gradually became aggressive, I contacted the lady I got her from and then slowly more information came out, the cat was from a pack that were street cats that would go to the children's home to be fed the left over food (not in the UK) so it suddenly became apparent that this cat had never lived in a house let alone a been a house cat. We were assured that we had to keep the cat indoors and that she loved kids. She was very aggressive when food was around, I'd have to shut her in another room at meal times and when I cooked, she constantly bit my legs and went for me, The final straw was when she scratched my sons face. I found her another home after about 6 months. I don't think you can tame strays personally

The poor thing needs to be outside. Has the other one got a catflap to run back through?

I don't think you can tame strays personally

Totally not true, I'm guessing yours was more of a feral cat rather than a stray.

I think as other posters have said she wants to defend her territory. Let her out. they will have a fight and the other cat will be kept out of the garden. Its driving her mad. You are the fll guy. She may have been happy as a house cat before but she isnt now

I have read that a kitten aged 6-10 weeks has a window of opportunity for domestication. If a cat never has that and grows up without that conditioning, they are sometimes not able to be domesticated

Don't let her out to attack someone else's cat on purpose, can't believe people are suggesting that, personally I think if you're going to have a cat they should be kept indoors, so many English birds and rodents are killed off from people letting their small pack of cats outside, also I couldn't live with myself if my cat got hit by a car or stolen by someone

If you did let her out you would likely hear the howling noises before a physical fight took place so you could get out there and intervene.

NekoShiro What would be your advice on how to keep the rats and mice at bay in our stables and outbuildings without the use of cats? I really don't want to use poison or traps.

Don't let her out to attack someone else's cat on purpose, can't believe people are suggesting that

Chances are the other cat will push off once OP's cat is allowed out in her own garden anyway.

I couldn't live with myself if my cat got hit by a car or stolen by someone

Fair enough if you live on a really busy road but otherwise it's like us staying indoors forever because we're scared about having a car crash. You can't live like that and I don't think it's fair on cats to impose that on them either. They love it outside in the fresh air and sunshine 😻

Isn't that exactly how cats started to become domesticated, obviously a working cat on a farm is different to having a cat in a flat or house just because you want a pet, cats on farms is probably one of the only times I'm fine with cats roaming free as they have a job and a purpose, but other than that no I don't believe cats should be outside, we chose to make them into pets instead of letting them be wild so we should have then as pets, you don't let dogs wander around outside or gerbil, snakes, rats, even horses have they're own area to live in, in sure horses would love to run freely through the streets and fields. I'm sure dogs would adore being allowed free roaming outside but that doesn't mean we do it.

NekoShiro These animals, cats, dogs, horses, etc have been domesticated in some way or another and their life is not that of a wild animal. They do not lead a "natural" life. They rely on us for their care. This is the world we have created over many centuries. Our horses have their stables, but also their paddocks and are hacked out and taken out, our dogs and cats live in the house, but have the land around our house to run free and our dogs are walked out, our chickens have their henhouse at night, but are free range in the day, and so on. OP's cat has only her house and never has the joy of lying in the grass in the sun, climbing trees, exploring the world around. We have an enormous responsibility of care when we take on animals and should try to give them the best life possible. Keeping an animal caged, albeit a large cage in the form of a house, seems cruel when it is showing signs of distress, manifesting itself in aggression. OP in your original post you've stated your options as sedating her or having her PTS and you are looking for advice. If you really feel unable to let the cat out (as other posters have suggested) and let her sort out her own territory (cats really do not fight to the death!), please consider rehoming her.

OP, I am sorry you had such a hard time on this thread, you clearly care about your cat and I hope you can find a solution. I saw an episode of Psycho Kitty where they used cardboard to temporarily block the window where the cat would watch for the enemy. Obviously it looked ugly but it broke the cycle of behaviour and allowed the cat to relax a little. They gradually cut the cardboard down and by the time they took it away altogether, the cat was no longer interested. I do wonder if it was successful in the long term but maybe worth a try before you resort to rehoming or pts. Good luck.

@poppet31 there are roller-things you can install to the top of your fence so the cat from the neighbour cannot come over/climb the fence? But not sure this is an option, it depends on how the cat is accessing your garden.