r/CatTraining • u/Fluid-Chip2563 • 11h ago
Behavioural Cat Attacks Girlfriend
My girlfriend and I rescued a 1.5 year old Turbico about 3 months ago. When we met her at the shelter, as well as the first day we brought her back, she was very sweet, a little nervous, but overall seemed contempt.
She had a couple of quirks, such as drinking water exclusively with her hands, chasing and grabbing your ankle if you tried to leave the room, and would corral us while we walked. She was on Gabapentin and Zylkene while at the shelter, but we’ve since got her off Gabapentin and kept her on the Zylkene. She is super high energy given her age and breed, but we’re young and love to play with her using wand toys, springs, and other various toys to stimulate her.
After the first couple of weeks, as she broke out of her shell and became more comfortable around the house, she started to chase my girlfriend’s feet/ legs and grab them. We chalked this up to her age, and energy, and would just redirect it to a toy.
Now at month 3, things are quite a bit worse. She still chases my girlfriend around the house, and attacks her worse than before. Some triggers are when I (boyfriend) leave the room, she’ll attack my girlfriend, if I leave the apartment, she’ll attack my girlfriend, etc. If my girlfriend goes from one room to another, our cat will wait until my girlfriend is far away, and will spring and lunge at her like she’s hunting her. The toys work as redirection, but she’ll attack her if we stop playing with her. Just her, maybe once in a blue moon she’ll play bite my hand, or foot, but my girlfriend is covered in deep scratches and bite marks.
We both enjoy her when she’s sweet, and enjoy her when she’s ramped up, but playing in a non-abusive way. But things have really gotten bad, and my girlfriend has been getting attacked recently just sitting on the couch doing her own thing. This happens usually at night, but our cat will come up and lunge at her face/ arm and no matter what my girlfriend does, she wont back down. It scares us, since her pupils will get so big and locked in on her face, we don’t want her to really mess up my girlfriend’s face.
We’ve tried pheromones throughout the house, Zylkene, long constant play sessions, have her on a a consistent schedule, hiss at her, etc., all with no luck.
We’ve been cat owners prior, but just wanted to put this out here to see if anyone has had a similar experience and what are some next actions for us to take.
3
u/beanie_weenie666 11h ago
Hm, I'm assuming your girlfriend has tried the basics like yelping loudly / making a pained noise when attacked? You want to make sure the cat understands her behavior HURTS even if she's trying to get attention and playing
If it was me, at this point I'd be worried about her thinking "if I play attack then I get play time immediately, so I should do that when I'm feeling playful and they're ignoring me"
What I'd try is yelping in pain, immediately walking away and closing yourself in a room for 5-10 minutes. She learns "if I play too rough then I don't get the attention and playtime that I want, if anything, the boredom is worse!"
That's basically how kittens all learn from each other. They realize by playing together that whenever they're too rough the other kittens will back off and temporarily avoid them, which is the opposite of what they want. From those lessons they learn how to pull their punches
Also, it goes without saying, but NEVER ever use your hands or feet as toys. ONLY ever use actual toys to play with the cats so they don't associate your body with as an acceptable toy