Expert: Jessica - 7/17/2009

Question
My children and i have a beautiful cat named Mitzi. She has not been the most affectionate cat apart from when she is in season but she is very quiet. She has been with us since she was 4wks old and has always been a strictly indoor cat. Recently my mother, due to moving had to take her cat to the shelter for rehousing. At the last minute i decided to take her home and try her with Mitzi. As soon as Mitzi saw her she completely lost her mind and started trying to attack everyone and everything... mainly all the children. We decided the other cat couldn't stay and we dropped her off to the shelter. That night Mitzi was still trying to attack my children and the next day i had to travel north to see my sick father... leaving Mitzi alone for a week and only few visits by my mum to check her food and water level. When we got back she was very cuddly and has remained that way for the last 2weeks. Not like her since she is not in season. She has occasionally still tried to attack the children but was more of a warning than anything. Last night and tonight however she has tried to attack my friends children as well as mine and she has had contact with them many times before without issue. I tried to get my friends daughter too feed her a treat to remind her she is not a threat, yet after eating down the food frantically she still turned and tried to attack the lil one. When i tried to take her away however she turned on me, sinking her teeth deep and did some severe damage to my hand and leaving me needing stitches. I am not sure why she has changed so dramatically and am worried she will get worse and cause major injuries on the children. We don't want her put to sleep but am worried it may come to that.

Answer
Hi Renee.  My goodness!  I really think Mitzi is probably a good candidate for a mild sedative right now.  Medications certainly are always a last resort, but I think you are to that point.  She can’t be allowed to go on behaving the way she is, and there is nothing else that may correct her behavior more quickly or effectively than a medication.  You may also want to talk to the vet about some behavior modification techniques to use in addition to the medications to help enhance the results you see, but I really feel that a medication would be necessary to prevent further harm to you and the children for now.

Sometimes short-term sedatives can be used when aggression is caused by a distinct trauma, such as an encounter with an unfamiliar animal.  Several days of diazepam (Valium) may help relax cats enough in these instances that the aggression subsides until the cat recovers from the experience.

But in many cases, something must be used a little longer.  Antidepressants work to prevent aggression by reducing anxiety, which is often the root cause.  There are a number of choices, and those which have a mild sedative effect are usually very successful.  One that has been found to be very helpful in cases of aggression recently is clomipramine (Clomicalm).  I had also had success with Elavil before Clomicalm was widely used in cats.  Although a few cats do need to be on treatment permanently, I’ve had to use antidepressants in a couple of my cats for various reasons, and so have a few of my friends, and none of our cats have needed treatment for more than 6 months.  

You can expect to see some improvement within a couple weeks.  If you don’t notice any appreciable results, you could always try another medication.  But if you decide it isn’t worth it, I don’t feel you are any worse off than you are now, and you will have the knowledge that you have exhausted all options.

I would also really recommend to have Mitzi spayed.  I have seen an amazing difference in aggression levels just by having this done.  Female hormones can cause cats to be extremely irritable and testy!  I find spayed cats are much more even-tempered and affectionate.

Good luck with her!