Expert: Karen Craft - 11/23/2008

Question
I had a stray cat show up at my place about a month ago and took her in. I'm not sure of her age but she is at least a year old. At  first I could do pretty much anything with her but all of a sudden she became very hostile toward me and my family and hisses and growls for no reason. She will roll over and invite me to give her a belly rub and if I try she gets mean. Otherwise she is a nice quiet cat and uses the litter box and is eating. She upsets her water bowl constantly.I'm at the point where I am thinking of taking her to the shelter because I'm afraid she might attack my grandchildren. My granddaughter is already afraid to be around her. I'm wondering if this is something that will pass or if she will always have trust issues. I guess what I'm asking is what would make her turn so nasty after a couple of weeks with us as we have used her really good. We have no other animals so it's not a jealousy thing. Just today I was downstairs cleaning the basement and she was watching me. I wasn't paying any attention to her and all of a sudden she started hissing and growling at me. When I say no to her in a raised voice it just seems to make her worse. Any insight you could give me on this would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Faye,

There are a couple of reasons for this. The first thing I would do is take her to the vet to be checked out to make sure there isn't some underlying medical reason for the change in personality. Cats get that way sometimes when they don't feel good.

Has there been any stray cats around that she might have seen? This could set her off. If there are you need to make sure she doesn't see the stranger. Have you been near any strange cats? If she smells them on you she could get upset from that.

Get something called Feliway Comfort Zone. This stuff acts like a kitty tranquilizer. It should calm her down. Having her checked by the vet is the best thing you can do to see what is going on. Let me know how she is. Good luck.

Ciao, Karen