Critter! I Need Yer Help!?

[kellygrrrrrl]

Critter, I come to you because I know how much of an animal lover you are. I also know how many pretty kitties you have too!

Well, I am at a loss.

I don't know what to do.

My cat is FREAKING out BIG TIME and I don't know why?

He seems to HATE me. I've never hurt him, other than accidentally stepping on his paws or tripping over him....I have patted his nose in the past while attempting to train him not to do things like get up on the counter, or scratch the furniture....etc....

But yesterday, I let him outside....for his 5 minutes, like I do almost everyday before work. He just likes to sit on the concrete and sniff the air and stuff and then usually will come back in on his own....

I came outside to get the cats back in the house.....Dee-Dee came in just fine.....Lars, well, as I was shooing him in, he turned around, lunged at me and started hissing at me...then proceeded to run inside, and into the kitchen....where he then curled up into a ball in the corner and upon even coming NEAR him, he started GROWLING and HISSING and literally SCREAMING at me. It is terrifying....truley....

I was speaking to him in a calm tone, telling him to calm down....and he then lunged at me again as if he was going to bite me!!!

THIS pissed me off and I then started to scold him. Telling him No, Bad boy...etc....he almost was sassing back at me.....Whatever...I left and went to work....

Come home....

Theres 2 puke piles on the floor, and he's behind the couch growling again....

I clean it up....and leave him behind the couch to stew.

Mike comes home.....he witnesses this (Mike thinks it's me instigating with him) Well, Mike goes to pick him up and calm him down all the while this cat is hissing, growling and sassing...Mike see's how upset it makes me, as he is starting to get upset, and tells the cat, "no you don't, don't you get pissy with me", and then the cat SCREAMS in his face, pisses on his leg, and then Mike throws the cat down and theres Lars growling....

Mike puts him in the bathroom and shuts the door, (This is scaring my poor little sweet Dee-Dee, she just is the sweetest little thing and she is terrified....)

Fast Forward

about 2 hours later after dinner, Mike had let him out of the room, I'm sitting on the couch, Dee-Dee is sleeping in my lap, and all of a sudden here comes Lars....to sit on my lap. I accept him......

He's sitting putting his head down and into my chest like he was ashamed almost.....All of a sudden Mike stands up to get something, and then Lars instantly tensed up and started hissing WHILE on my lap. I sit very still, pick him up, and toss him on the floor where he then lunges at me again while screaming.

We let him be...and go to bed.

This morning, I wake up. My alarm is going off, and Dee-Dee is in the bedroom with me, door is closed?? (I think mike let her in when he said goodbye) I open the door, and there is Lars...sitting at the door, and as soon as I opened the door, He stated with me. I sort of chuckled, cuase it's sort of funny the noises he can muster out of that throat....and lean down to pet him. I'm petting him and loving him and he's taking it, but growling the whole time. I pick him up to pet him and bring him to the kitchen for food, and all of a sudden he turns, looks me right in the eye, and SCREAMSSSSSSS like I've never heard before. I set him in front of his bowl, where Dee-Dee is, and he starts to hiss at her, she hisses back and runs away, he screams at me LOUD. This time, I got pissed and smacked his butt, and say NO Lars...which just makes him get louder.

I call Mike to ask him if he was acting up this morning while he was there. He says "No, him and Dee-Dee were playing and runnign around!".....

hmmm....

That cat HATES me.

So I ignore him. Everytime I walk into his line of sight, he's yelling at me.

So .... here I am.

I don't understand it! Why would he bite the hand that feeds? I've never hurt him! He has done this before.... With no explaination....

The only thing that I can put two and two together with is my NOT smoking.

He has done this on the 3 times I have quit. Perhaps he can sense my inner tension? He can sense my evil? (And believe me, my insides are stirring with evil, angst, anxiety etc.. since I quit....)

I don't know.

Either that or something is wrong with him. Pain? Maybe?

Have ANY of your cats done this?

This is really freaking me out. I feel like I can't have freedom in my own house cause whenever I walk by there he is being VERY VERY loud. I'm almost afraid that my neighbor will call the police!! I mean it sounds like someone is screaming bloody murder. Ignoring him don't work, being sweet to him wont work, yelling at him certainly doesn't work as it aggrivates the situation....

I'm afraid this will adversely affect my SWEET cat.....she is getting freaked out by him....

Aye aye aye.....what to do....

I don't even know if you can help me. But, I wonder if your kitties have ever done this.

=(

[Steven]

you need to get him tot he vet, something is up, he could have ingested soemthing bad and got toxic from it - he's freaking out because he feels bad and is scared probably, I doubt you have behavioral issue going on Kelly - I think you've got soemthign else going on....the puke and piss are two keys.....

[maeve]

you need to get him tot he vet, something is up, he could have ingested soemthing bad and got toxic from it - he's freaking out because he feels bad and is scared probably, I doubt you have behavioral issue going on Kelly - I think you've got soemthign else going on....the puke and piss are two keys.....

I would surely concur! This sounds like a physical problem and should be attended to by a professional. There are too many possibilities to say without a qualified opinion. Good luck and I hope things are resolved quickly and for the best.

*support hugs to you and kitty*

[kellygrrrrrl]

Thanks guys....

I dunno....

I think maybe he has a hairball obstruction....

he does have that long frizzy fly away hair??

OMG....I am never getting cats again.

They weren't kidding when they said ALL cats are evil.

I though, no, not my little sweet Lars...but yup!!

He really is terrifying when he does this.....

And I should add....I swear he can understand what I say.....

As I was cleaning yesterday, I was sort of mumbling and grumbling to myself,....little fucker, ungreatful little.....

He seriously responds to what I say.....

I have the devil in disguise I swear.

[Fierce Critter]

Kelly, get Lars to a vet pronto.

I do not have personal experience with this sort of situation. However, I'm on a Yahoo group that's all about cat health and behavior. Whenever presented with this sort of scenerio, it almost always means some sort of ailment, and in this case, possibly a bowel impaction causing him serious, serious internal pain.

This can be deadly.

I don't mean to frighten or scare you. But if you haven't witnessed him pooing, this could be the issue.

The only close story I can relate is my Ripley attacks me when I sing. No joke. She's done it a couple times in the house, and once in the car. In the car, she left spit on my glasses, and if I hadn't had them on, she probably would have gotten my eyeball. And no, I don't have a bad voice! Just something about my singing makes her crazy. She's never done this to Jon, who sings well and loudly, too.

I'm going to copy/paste the important parts of your post on the cats group I'm on. They might have some more input. But I really would get him to a vet asap.

[Fierce Critter]

By the way, you really need to stop directly and physically reprimanding and disciplining the cats. Cats will see this behavior as unrelated to their actions and see it as aggression from you. They're not like dogs, who pretty much know when they're being "bad" and will respond like a child to a rap on the nose or slap on the ass, or a yell. Cats will usually not relate their behavior to yours, and only view you as a loud, scary, hurting maniac.

Instead, get yourself a few .99 cent spray bottles and set them to stream, and put them around the house at arms length. I actually have a couple handgun model super soakers I use for this. When you catch a cat doing something like scratching furniture, getting on tables, attacking another cat, etc, spray them and make a loud PSSSST!! noise. Generally, they won't connect the "spray of water that came out of nowhere" with you, and will eventually relate the bad behavior with the discomfort of that shocking water, and stop. The pssst noise is a trick I figured out myself. Eventually, they relate the pssst noise to the water, and soon I don't even have to use the spray gun - I just have to say PSSST! and they quit.

I've posted your post on the Yahoo group. I'll copy/paste any replies here.

[Fierce Critter]

The first response that has come through:

"Hiding and puking are not good things. Send to vet ASAP!! The vet will probably need to do x-rays and barium treatment. It will not be cheap. He may even have to do a full blood workup."

[Onyx]

Thanks guys....

I dunno....

I think maybe he has a hairball obstruction....

he does have that long frizzy fly away hair??

OMG....I am never getting cats again.

They weren't kidding when they said ALL cats are evil.

I though, no, not my little sweet Lars...but yup!!

He really is terrifying when he does this.....

And I should add....I swear he can understand what I say.....

As I was cleaning yesterday, I was sort of mumbling and grumbling to myself,....little fucker, ungreatful little.....

He seriously responds to what I say.....

I have the devil in disguise I swear.

It makes me so sad to read this - I love cats sooo much.

I really think you'd be pretty mean too if you were in extreme pain. He is hurting!

I hope you get the cat to the vet as soon as you can. If it's an obstruction he could be dead soon. I had a kitten die from that and it was horrible.

[Shade Everdark]

I'm not the expert that FC is, but I concur; you want to get him to the vet as soon as you can. Don't let it wait.

Personally, not knowing your cat, I'd say he's trying to alert you to something.

[Fierce Critter]

A member of the group gave me these links, they very much sound like Lars:

Redirected Aggression

And another page on the same thing

[Fierce Critter]

Holy cow. Take a look at this one - something I never would have thought of, but a real definite possibility:

If the cat in fact acts in this manner every time she quits smoking, perhaps the cat is addicted to nicotine too. Combine that with the stress of the owner and you may have a reason for the cat acting out. Another reason that a cat could change behavior that drastically would be if they came in contact with a toad. But if the cat has done this same thing on 2 other times she quit smoking, I would be less likely to look at a toad and more likely to focus on the nicotine.

Jen B.

[Nienna]

Holy cow. Take a look at this one - something I never would have thought of, but a real definite possibility:

If the cat in fact acts in this manner every time she quits smoking, perhaps the cat is addicted to nicotine too. Combine that with the stress of the owner and you may have a reason for the cat acting out. Another reason that a cat could change behavior that drastically would be if they came in contact with a toad. But if the cat has done this same thing on 2 other times she quit smoking, I would be less likely to look at a toad and more likely to focus on the nicotine.

Jen B.

This makes alot of sense in a weird, "I never would have thought of that" kind of way...

[pharoh]

Reading FC's Second link she posted, is lars fixed?

[kellygrrrrrl]

Well, lo and behold.....

Last night I came home, and he was his lovey dovey self......

This morning, he was sitting on the back of the couch near the window, where he sits all the time to watch his birds and squirrels, and out of nowhere, he started again.....

I looked outside?

Stray cat sitting RIGHT on the window sill.....taunting my cat....hissing right back.

Go figure.

I think when I let him outside yesterday, that cat might have been lurking......and I came out and got the brunt of it....

As far as the puke thing....

He gets hairballs. Alot.

Thats comes as no suprise to me.

But thank you everyone for your advices!!

I do appreciate it.

Lars says thanks too.....

[Steven]

AHA!!!!!

that makes alot of sense.

we had a stray cat coming in our catdoor and eating Clowneys food and hanging out in the laundryroom - he FLIPPED OUT. and he was acting tripped out for awhile too. You guys may need to catch the stray cat and take him to the shelter....pretty soon your cat might start pissin on stuff, clowney does that and it sux and I have to go around with the anti cat pee spray.....

[creatureofthenyte]

Well, lo and behold.....

Last night I came home, and he was his lovey dovey self......

This morning, he was sitting on the back of the couch near the window, where he sits all the time to watch his birds and squirrels, and out of nowhere, he started again.....

I looked outside?

Stray cat sitting RIGHT on the window sill.....taunting my cat....hissing right back.

Go figure.

I think when I let him outside yesterday, that cat might have been lurking......and I came out and got the brunt of it....

As far as the puke thing....

He gets hairballs. Alot.

Thats comes as no suprise to me.

But thank you everyone for your advices!!

I do appreciate it.

Lars says thanks too.....

Kelly, if you don't already do this, you might want to start brushing Lars on a semi regular basis. It will help decrease the amount of hairballs he gets. Also watch out for patches of matted fur, they are painful to a cat.

[Homicidalheathen]

Cats = nuts. Heehee.

The nicotine thing.....wow, I never thought of that but it makes sense, they are so small and everything.

[kellygrrrrrl]

I try to brush Lars......I do.

BUT, he attacks me when I brush him.

It's a duel effort.

He'll sit there and roll around like he likes it, and then BOOM....

He's lunging at my hand and growling and hissing.

Usually Mike has to hold him and talk to him and pet his head and create a diversion while I brush him....QUICKLY.....Mike has better control over him than I do when it comes to his groomings....

No problem cutting his nails though....weird.

I give him this weird paste stuff for hairballs.....it's seems since I've been giving him that, he has less issues....

I've topped it off with treats that control hairballs.

JUST an update.

Lars is fine. He's back to beign his sweet lover boy self.

Like nothing ever happened.

Fricken stray....I really thought he turned on me....haven't seen stray kitty since.

LARS

[LuluVox]

Another reason that a cat could change behavior that drastically would be if they came in contact with a toad.

A toad?

[Dubh Aingeal]

Nature provides all life with some means of protection. With certain toads it is the saliva, which is thought to contain a potent toxin. The poison contained in a toad's saliva is so strong that once it comes in contact with the mouth or eyes of the cat, it causes severe symptoms within minutes.

Toad poisoning affects the heart and nervous system to such a degree that death can occur within 30 minutes if the cat is not treated. Some warning signs that indicate your cat has experienced toad poisoning include excessive drooling, a shaking head, trembling and shaking body, lack of coordination, difficulty breathing, convulsions, and coma. Signs may develop around the mouth or eyes of the cat immediately after contact with the toad.

[pomba gira]

I try to brush Lars......I do.

BUT, he attacks me when I brush him.

It's a duel effort.

He'll sit there and roll around like he likes it, and then BOOM....

He's lunging at my hand and growling and hissing.

Usually Mike has to hold him and talk to him and pet his head and create a diversion while I brush him....QUICKLY.....Mike has better control over him than I do when it comes to his groomings....

No problem cutting his nails though....weird.

I give him this weird paste stuff for hairballs.....it's seems since I've been giving him that, he has less issues....

I've topped it off with treats that control hairballs.

Kelly,

Make sure Lars is relaxed and into you petting him before you start grooming. Get a few brushes & keep them in strategic locations so you're always ready to turn a petting session into a grooming session. My Kitsune gets really bad mats on her belly that have to be cut off. She will not let me just grab her & start snipping, but she likes to sleep on my lap while I'm at the computer, so I keep the scissors here & wait till she drifts off. As long as I'm careful not to pull or pinch she's fine... in fact lately she will turn over to give me access to a spot that's bothering her. You might also try Feliway... it's a synthetic version of kitty "calm" pheromones that soothes cats and prevents behavior like spraying and aggression. It's a bit pricey... from $20-30 for a small bottle... but it works. You can get a regular bottle to spray on surfaces, or a plug-in diffuser to spread the scent through a room.

He also may not like the type of brush you're using... I've noticed that Kitsu & Lynx (the two that need most grooming) have definite preferences on brush type. Those wire "slicker" brushes are great for getting mats out but are to prickly for some cats' skin.

Also, a lot of toms try to bite while being petted or groomed... it has to do with the role of aggression in feline sexuality. My Lynx does it but with him it's more a gentle love-bite... some toms get quite aggressive tho.

BTW those "hairball control" treats are pretty much useless... stick with the Petromalt or whatever brand of hairball goop you're using.

Finally, I'm going to reinforce FC's advice about not physically reprimanding or yelling at your kitty. Dogs respond to that kind of thing because they're hardwired to appease an alpha dog who expresses anger at them. Cats, not being pack animals, don't have that behavioral imperative. They just see your angry words & actions as a random display of aggression, and a cat's instinctive response to aggression is (a) run away or if that's not possible (b) defend themself. The water pistol strategy really does work... I've used it to train kitties for years.