cat aggression

I'm new to this board, and confess I know more about dog behavior than cat, so I'm hoping someone might have an idea on this. I have an apprx. 9 year old indoor spayed cat that I rescued when she was about a 1.5 old. She's never been the most affection cat. She'll let you pet her but only when she wants it. When she's done she'll do a quick nip(never breaking skin) then run off. About 4 years ago she was laying by our front screen door (in the house), and our neighbors uneutered male tried to attack her through the screen door, he ran off but she completely flipped out, attacking anything/one who came near with teeth and claws. (I ended up with some really bad bite and claw marks on my foot). I got her by tossing a towel over her and putting her in my room alone to calm down. When I checked on her she looked a little confused and stunned as if she had no idea what happened. This same type of thing happened one other time when the cat tried to get her again, she had the same reaction. We got a scat mat for the front door and didn't have any other issues for the past few years. Last night I walked into my room to put my laundry basket down and she attacked me out of no where for absolutely no reason, (very similiar to the previous attacks but without the original trigger). I locked her in my bathroom to calm down and when she came out she looked confused and was fine the rest of the night even with my dogs running around. Absolutely nothing has changed so I can't figure out why she did this or if this is something that will keep occuring. Has anyone ever heard of something like this. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks, Tricia

I'm not sure what to tell you in this instance as I have not had that experience. But recently we had a similar experience with Shadow our Akita( RB March 7, 2005), and when he snapped out of it he was completely confused and then was ok. Considering the size of this guy and the damage he could do to someone if he was to really get hold of someone we needed to find out what may have happened. We took him to the vet and they ran a battery of test it turned out he had a brain tumor and the pressre it was putting on his brain used to make his kind of go off into another world and he didn't know where he was or who anyone was.

I know this is a worse case sinario but I think your best bet would be to take him to the vet and get some tests done. If it is something serious then maybe you can catch it quickly enough to help him. Let's hope it isn't and that something just spooked him and that's what caused his reaction.

I hadn't really considered taking her to vet since I was thinking behavioral problem, but it's a good idea take her and have them take a look.

Thanks!!

You are quite welcome let's hope it isn't anything serious and it is just something that spooked the sweetie. Good Luck

i must agree....when ever in doubt, vet's the best bet!!!...please keep us posted on cats progress.....(name???...any pics of cat???)...goodluck!!!