Sporadic Attacking Cat

[Catty1]

Any advice? I am posting this for a friend, and will forward information to her. Thanks!
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OK folks, I'm pretty much at my wits end. I am either going to have
to take 1 of my cats into the SPCA, or have her put down at the
Vet's. Here's the deal:

2 cats, both fixed females, one is 7, the other 5. Both from Humane
Society. Cuddles (7 yr old) is very gentle, has been an outside cat
in the past, was an inside cat for the past 3 years when I lived in
my condo, but loves to go outside so I started letting her out a bit
just for her to get relief from the other cat. The other cat, Spazz,
5 yrs old, is hyper-aggressive and most of the time stalks Cuddles.
Often I see Cuddles slinking around because she's sure she's going to
be attacked.

Both cats demonstrate inappropriate marking, so are obviously
guarding their territory. I've tried Feliway (both spray and the
room 'deodorizer' things), have had them both on Prozac, and now have
Spazz on Clomicalm (a stronger Valium-like drug) to try to stop her
from both marking territory and to calm her down. I took Cuddles off
Clomical because she's already a calm cat and am crossing my fingers
that the marking won't start again.

I moved in with my fiance last weekend, so hoped that the Clomicalm
would assist in the transition of places. Cuddles is now
investigating things and appears to feel at ease, and is being her
own calm self. Spazz started investigating pretty much right away,
and exhibited a lot of curiosity in the new place, not fear. However,
she is so extremely unpredictable she has now physically attacked my
fiance (luckily he was wearing jeans), and lunges at him. He'll just
stand there when this happens, and she backs off. The weird thing is
that she'll be sleeping at the top of the steps, and he'll go up and
down the stairs numerous times with no response from her, and just
ignoring her (he has his business at home so is there all the time)
and then suddenly she decides that this isn't right, and she'll take
to hissing and growling at him. He tries to ignore her outbursts, but
sometimes will have to clap his hands or stomp on the floor to get
her to move so he can get past. This is the same cat who will curl up
under blankets with me and go to sleep on my chest, purring like you
wouldn't believe.

I know that moving is a stressful situation and that both cats are in
unfamiliar territory and I wish I could say that Spazz's
aggressiveness, hissing and growling started with just this move - it
hasn't. She's hissed at other people before, but it seems to be
getting worse.

I realize how tense I have been for the past 3 years of living in the
condo where the quarters were closer than when I had my house, and
where both cats were indoors all the time. I really feel like I've
tried everything - I've had both of them to the vets to make sure the
marking wasn't a physical problem, both checked out OK; drugs;
feliway; and I've posted ads to try to give one of them away but with
no response. I have had Spazz in the car with me at the Humane
Society ready to take her in to have her put to sleep, but just
couldn't do it. I think, though, that that's what will have to
happen, for my sanity, my other cat's health, and the health of my
fiance's legs!

Has anybody else experienced this sort of thing? if so, I really need
your advice on what you did. I don't want to put her down because she
is so so so sweet and it makes me cry just thinking about saying good-
bye to her, but it's got me baffled as to how she can be so up
and down and frankly sometimes I'm scared that she is going to
absolutely lose it and really attack. help?!

[Lizzie]

My only suggestion is to do what I do and have them live in separate areas of the house. Since stairs are mentioned, I'm assuming the house has two levels. That's plenty for two cats, one on each floor. My experience with this kind of behavior, both with the aggresive cat and the defensive one, is that it won't change. They will both be happier in separate spaces.

[areias]

No personal experience that would be helpful, but here is some reading:

http://www.2ndchance.info/aggressivecat.htm

http://www.heartofminnesota.org/pdf/aggress.pdf

http://www.thecattherapist.com/behavior_problems/aggressive_cat.htm

Check out redirected/displaced aggression. Maybe the other cat or something else in his life is causing the cat to act out, through frustration. Or maybe he just thinks its fun.

I hope that you don't have to put him to sleep. :( I'll be keeping him in my thoughts.

If all else fails I'd recommend a decent animal behaviorist. You can call your vet and see who they recommend.

[catmandu]

With stray Cats, you dont know what they have gone through.
I know Scrappy 2 was a hungry Porch Cat, which is why she will sneak the others food, although she share a lot more now.
Pouncierge can be territorial at times which is how Precious got her Ouchie Ear.
We hope you can calm this Cat down, and that he will soon realize that he doesnt have to fight.
That hes in a Furr Ever Home, and everythings fine now.

[Freedom]

I was going to suggest separating them, at least for a time.

But also, treat them the same. You say you are now letting Cuddles out of the house now and then for a "breather." But you don't mention letting Spazz out. And unless the back yard is fenced, and you or boyfriend is out there watching them, I wouldn't encourage you to let either of them out.

Keep them indoors and separated. Cuddles could even have the entire house except one bedroom and Spazz could have one bedroom. It may be that Spazz just needs a smaller area to contend with and she is constantly on high alert with such a large space. I know, the condo was small. Define "large space" in spazz's terms, not in our terms. And Spazz isn't sharing HER definition, so it is a mystery to work on. Yeah, in one bedroom it means she isn't going to see you as much. But start by thinking of this as a temporary measure.

Also, after Spazz has been separated for a few days and especially if she is showing signs of calming down, then let her out in the rest of the house only when you are home, and the minute she acts up, back in the bedroom she goes, like a "time out," but for the evening. It doesn't sound like she has had much negative reinforcement of her acting out (although that could just be that you didn't write it up, which I understand. It is hard to write it all.)

I hate to see her put to sleep, and you sound like you want to find something that works. Maybe others will also have suggestions. Best of luck~!

[Catty1]

Thanks everyone! I copied and pasted the responses here and sent them to my friend. She misses Spazz snuggling in her bed at night, but has done the separating thing, and it is working a lot better.

Even now, Spazz might jump on Cuddles, but not as badly. She is thinking the move really set Spazz off, although she was like this before.

So...another kitty life saved - which my friend would have done only as a very very very last resort.....and even then....

thank you all so much! :)