Other Behavior Issues

Q.: Our cat has now three times attacked the neighbor's son (10 years), our son (11 years), and my husband. The first time was a year ago, the cat was in the living room, from the children's room there was a loud cheer, suddenly the cat rushed through living room, kitchen and corridor to jump up to the boy's back leaving large, bleeding scratching marks. A month ago our boy was lying on the couch looking under it, and the cat flew into his head, holding on to him while hissing and screaming. Today loud children's yelling was heard while my husband was in the garden weeding near the cat. It then stared right into his eyes and flew directly on to his leg while screaming. The cat is not neutered, but is on oral contraceptives. It was taken from its mother at 8 weeks. Furthermore it needs to be mentioned that it began peeing on our blankets when it was app. four months old. . We took our vacation at home to give it a chance, since we had been told that it had been taken too early from its mother, either we would have to put up with it or it would have to be put down, but after the vacation the problem was gone. But what are we to do now?? Is it possible that neutering will help or will there still be a risk that it will do it again, maybe resulting in greater damages???

A.: If the cat has been on oral contraceptives more or less since it matured sexually, there is a great possibility that the pills are the cause of this behavior, either directly because of its interference with the cat's hormonal system, or because the cat has developed cysts on its ovaries (which is a common side effect of oral contraceptives). Such cyst are not dangerous per se, but they hurt and will thus make the cat irritable. Therefore it is not unthinkable that it may help if the cat is neutered and thereby gets rid of the pills. Any way one should always have a vet examine the cat if it displays sudden and inexplicable behavior changes. This is often due to physical illness.

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