Expert: Dear Tabbi - 1/27/2009

Question
I have had my cat sense he was a kitten so 2 years. I am concerned because when my friend comes over he starts hissing and the hair on his back stand up and seems very agitated. Just today when she came over he attacked my leg and i had to tear him off me which drew blood. This seems to only happen when she and her family members come over and i am not sure why. The only thing i can think of is she has 6 cats female and male both. Also we have been in our apartment sense august of 08 and before we lived here a person with a ferret resided here and the owner said that they had to replace all the carpets because of the Oder. We have had to take him to the vet because he has had worms and they keep coming back and we can not get ride of them so i am scared that they may be causing some of the problem also. please help me and give me some insight on what i should do and why this is happening.

Thank you
christy  

Answer
Christy,

There is something about your friend and her family's 'smell' that is really upsetting your cat. Are her cat's fixed? I would lock the cat up in your room or somewhere while they are visiting to avoid the aggressive behavior.

Worms are usually caused by ingesting infected fleas. Have you used Advantage or Frontline flea medicine on her? Is she being treated corectly for the kind of worms she has? There are a number of types. Don't buy over the counter worm medicine because the worms are being immuned to it. Only get wormer from your vet...he has the latest products.

I hope this helps.

Tabbi