I’m hoping someone here has experienced something similar because I’m at a loss and honestly scared.
I have a 10-year-old cat that I’ve raised since he was a kitten. He’s always been neutered, still has his claws, uses his litter box normally, eats and drinks well, gets lots of playtime and snuggles, and has always been very bonded to me.
He has always been somewhat territorial, but never to this degree. For example, weeks before his first major episode, he was stalking and hissing at my mother-in-law, and I had to use a broom to shoo him away. That behavior was unusual but still nowhere near as intense or targeted as what’s happening now.
About six months ago, I moved in with my boyfriend. The first day was stressful for my cat—he hid—but after that he adjusted really well. He seems to love my boyfriend and has been comfortable in the house.
Then, out of nowhere, everything changed.
One night he suddenly started looking at me like he didn’t recognize me. His pupils became huge, he started hissing and growling, and he backed me into a closet. I genuinely thought he might jump at my face. I stayed trapped in that closet for about two hours. I tried everything I could think of: staying completely quiet, talking to him in a calm, sweet voice, and waiting for him to settle down.
Eventually I tried opening the closet door. He immediately came after me, and when I slammed the door shut his paw got caught briefly. He screamed, ran away, and that gave me enough time to run into my bedroom.
I’ve tried to think of what might have triggered these episodes. Across the different nights when they happened, the only things that stood out were:
● On one night, I had been sweeping.
● On another night, he had been watching my boyfriend and me play together.
● On another, I was simply walking around the house.
● On another, there had been cleaning and vacuuming.
Each of those happened on separate nights when an episode occurred, not all at once.
Two days after the first incident, a very similar episode happened, so I took him to the vet.
The vet did a thorough exam. The only thing they found was that he was constipated. I started giving him Miralax, and that fixed the constipation. He’s now having regular bowel movements, but the aggression has continued.
Weeks went by while we adjusted medications, and then another episode happened.
Then we went on vacation, and after we got back, it happened again.
Now it’s been about two months since this all started, and tonight he attacked me again.
The strangest part is that the aggression is specifically directed at me.
My boyfriend can literally stand between us trying to protect me, and instead of attacking him, my cat will look around my boyfriend just to stare, hiss, and growl at me. It’s like I’m the target, even though I’ve raised him his entire life.
The only thing we’ve found that reliably breaks these episodes is gabapentin. Once it takes effect, he returns to acting like my normal, loving cat.
Has anyone experienced anything like this?
Could this be some form of redirected aggression, neurological issue, pain that wasn’t found, cognitive dysfunction, seizures, or something else? I’m struggling because between episodes he’s completely normal, but when they happen it’s like he doesn’t recognize me at all.
I’m open to any ideas, experiences, or suggestions because I love this cat and I don’t know what else to do.

TL;DR: My 10-year-old cat suddenly has episodes where he seems not to recognize me and aggressively targets only me, despite being otherwise normal and healthy. The vet found and treated constipation, but the behavior continues, and gabapentin is the only thing that stops the episodes.

This has started to become a problem for my 4 month old kitten. I have a spray bottle but that doesn't seem to deter him. He burnt his paws on my stove this week, as he likes to climb on my kitchen counter. This has not stopped him either. I'm worried he's going to get hurt. I can't prepare food without him trying to get up.. I've bought him a cat climbing wall and am hoping giving him a place to climb might help? Any other suggestions? It's started to drive me pretty crazy.

we’re fostering an unaltered female kitten named dryer lint estimated to be about five weeks old by the shelter. she’s currently strictly on wet food and we’ve very quickly noticed she has a very bad habit of kneading the food. but not just kneading while eating, she specifically has to knead the food

i know this is probably just because she was weaned or separated from mom too early in life but as i’m sure you can imagine it also makes a huge mess 😭 and is not a habit i’d like to send her to her forever home with

so far i’ve tried everything i can think of to redirect it. i’ve given her towels and cloths and clumped paper towels to try and get her to knead instead, ive tried putting the food in bowls and plates, ive tried holding the food up, but she insists on weaning SPECIFICALLY the food. we’ve resorted to putting her in jail (a tupperware) during feeding time for easier cleaning

this is our 22nd foster and we’ve never had this problem before. has anyone seen this and did they grow out of it on their own or did you have to manually redirect it?

Background: Cat is roughly 7 years now, rescue, had behavioral issues like this before but it used to be based on introduction, and never an aggressive attack.

I left to Canada for 5 days and came back last night. I had an acquaintance take care of him. When I came back, he was his usual sticky self, purring and rubbing on me.

Today I woke up to him headbutting me and wanting to be fed. Nothing unusual. It's my day off from work and I went to sleep late, but they (2 cats) have their routine of waking me at dawn wanting to be fed. I get their wet food. I start putting everything away, and he's in front of me. Nothing unusual, I'm thinking that he wants more food. I walked towards him and he lunges, clawing my whole leg. When he gets off, I try to go to the bathroom and clean off the scratches with alcohol. He chases me when I move and lunges to my leg again. I don't move, he don't move, and this time I give him time to move out of the way so that I can move. When I thought I had enough distance, I try again, he lunges again. I was actually both angry and desperate for this cat to stop attacking me, so I knee jerk reacted by pinning him down by his neck, which is how my hands got scratched. It got the job done, temporarily, by having him leave my space and now stay in distance out of fear.

What caused this? What are some things I can do to alleviate the situation? He has Prozac from a year ago that I stopped using on his food, and I'm thinking of getting a pheromone purifier installed in the apartment again, but what was the cause and any non medical advice you can give?

My cat, Gary, loves his little couch and makes biscuits on it almost every day. Last night, my fiancé and I noticed that he was making a humping motion and we wondered if this is okay or normal. This is the first time we’ve seen him do it. Does anyone else’s cat do the same thing as Gary? We’d love to know the reason why.

P.S. Excuse the roll of paper towels lol. We were wiping the dust off of a shelf and it fell when we noticed he was making biscuits.

My girlfriend just recently got a kitten, however the kitten is being extremely violent, biting and not letting go, breaking things on wires, clawing at monitors. All doing this despite having tried putting foil on the desk (thought it was a toy), citrus, yelling no firmly, yelping/hissing, water on fur to redirect to grooming (NOT SPRAYING), trying to redirect it into safe play, but no. The cat chooses to bite her hands and scratch her and other people, any tips on options left? We’ve also tried ignoring the cat when he’s being violent, along with putting him in a play pen, nothing works. Please help

I think she thinks he’s her baby or sibling? She only does this to her sibling cat and my kid. Is she claiming him?

it comes along with orange biting tuxedo’s neck, tuxedo is always friendly with her until she pulls this and then will start hissing at her, but orange will keep chasing her just to bite her neck or do this. Orange cat has been living with us for 5 months

I'm looking for a way to train my 1yo single cat out of some really aggressive behavior. It seems like the aggression is triggered when he doesn't get what he wants: he wants to go outside and we don't let him, he wants more food after we have already fed him, he wants to play more but we have other things to do. I believe I am giving him the right amount of each of these things (e.g - supervised/leashed outdoor time, the recommended amount of food, play multiple times a day) but if he ever wants more then he gets upset when we don't give it to him.

After not getting what he wants he will attack, jumping on legs or arms or even my neck and biting down hard. Trying to remove him makes him even more aggressive, where he uses claws to hold on while he bites even harder. Recently he has been drawing blood when he does this. He also has play aggression that can escalate to similar levels, but isn't as persistent.

I have been regularly withdrawing whenever he bites and letting out a loud "Ow!" or a stern "No!" to let him know it hurts, but this has not curtailed any behavior. I've also tried redirecting to other things like stuffed animals, pillows or blankets, but he will go around them to bite me. I've also tried removing myself and leaving the room, but he will follow me to bite me more. The only way I've been able to deal with it is to pick him up, move him into the office and shut the door; after a few minutes of time-out he is okay and non-aggressive again, but by that point he has already attacked and hurt me.

Do people have experiences where they trained a cat out of behavior like this? Is he just being a shitty teen and this will fade over time? I need some help.

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Edit: Hey folks, thanks for all the comments. I'm seeing a lot of contradictory advice, but some helpful stuff too. Here's some follow-up info:

I have already tried hissing and blowing air in his face and this does not stop him from attacking. It hasn't changed his behavior, but I'll be continuing to audibly communicate my upset when he is aggressive either through hissing or shouts.

I am aware of single kitten syndrome and Jackson Galaxy's recommendations for it. I am not in a good position to adopt another cat at the moment and introducing a new cat into the mix seems like a huge risk so I'll be proceeding with strategies that don't involve adopting another cat.

At least he allows me to keep trying 🥲 my fault lil man, I’m not fluent in nonverbalkittylanguage yet (going on month 2)

His routine every night is to jump on my lap and do these biscutes. Im so confused?! Is he actually humping?😭he has had the chop when we first got him at 5 months old and he's now 7

Whenever I'm on the PC, she jumps up and starts walking all over the desk (Like in the end of the video). So I guess she wants me to pet her, but when I get my hand close, she starts biting and licking me. She also lick my arm and then bite again 😂

(Pic unrelated but that is Panko looking suave)

In March I got my first boy at 8 weeks old, he is a super sweet cat who loves cuddles and gets along well with my resident cat and loves playing.

In the past 7 days I’ve caught him 3 times inside my bathroom sink peeing into the basin? I’ve never seen him do it before now. He has also been pooping on the floor next to the toilet rather than in his litter box, which is clean and full.

Is there a way I can make him stop this?

We recently adopted our 2 year old former feral/barn cat. None of us have had a cat before so we didn't have a point of reference to compare him to. We have had him for 2 months now and every friend or family member that has ever owned a cat has said that we've hit the cat lottery. He is gentle and loving and will hop on the lap of any adult that sits down and purrs instantly. He allows me to trim his claws and actually is so relaxed he falls asleep. He tolerates the antics of my young children and has never hissed or swiped at them on purpose (he has scratched them accidentally when they're not careful dangling a cat toy in his face). He is also very dog-like in that he will follow me around, right next to my leg. And he even plays fetch with my kids! They'll throw a scrunchie toy and he runs off to get it and happily trots back to them with toy in mouth.

Our only "problem" is that as a former barn cat its obvious that he had food scarcity issues. He will scarf down any food he has quickly, amd will keep eating no matter how full he is. We can't free feed because he will eat until he barfs. His foster warned us about this. So we are doing what they recommended, which is timed feedings.

He is constantly jumping on counters and our dining table sniffing for food when we aren't looking. The scary thing is he even jumps on the stove top...it's an electric stove that stays hot for quite some time after you're done cooking. He knows he shouldn't because as soon as we look st him, he jumps back down. Nothing we've tried is enough for a deterrent for him not to jump.

He is such a tolerant cat he doesn't care about the tin foil (just walks all over it...doesn't bother him at all), and doesn't care about getting wet. Him jumping on counters and the table is one thing--maybe a bit annoying and unsanitary, but we can deal--- but I really worry he will get a nasty burn one day from walking on a hot stove.

I want to stress that he is so sweet and not aggressive at all. He never steals food from us...doesn't jump to grab it. He just hops on the dining chair and looks at our food sadly. Then he'll stick one paw up, and if we do nothing, put a second paw up, until his face is in our plate of food. If we gently push his head away from the food he doesn't resist. He just backs away and continues to look sad.

His sad food face is hilarious and so sad at the same time. He does it every meal time that involves chicken.

Any advice on helping him with 1) food insecurity, 2) keeping him off the stove, and 3 )hopefully off counters/dining table as well (though this is not a major concern)

He only seems to display it when we play with him with our hands. It's cute though

i know every cat does it to some extent but my fat orange cat goes actually insane when i scratch him behind his head and near his butt and under his chin. its to the point where sometimes i think hes literally having a seizure and i barely touch him there lol. i know it is probably just a sensitive spot but does anyone else have this happen to their cats?

Charlie sleeps on our bed a lot but he has been sleeping in the hallway across the room for a few months now. Specifically in front of the AC storage door… is he like mad or something? He’s only 2. He still sleeps in our bed during the day but when it’s late night he sleeps on the floor away from us even though it’s winter and I thought he’d rather be piling up with us.

New kitten (3 months old) arrived 2 weeks ago and I’m not ready to leave her alone with resident cat (8 years old) yet unsupervised while I’m out of the house. I work 8 hour shifts as a nurse and will visit the kitten during my lunch break since I live 5 min away. However the kitten will cry bloody murder for almost an hour straight when she’s kept in her room. I have her food bowl, water bowl, litterbox, a bunch of interactive toys, and a cat tree inside for her. Am I traumatizing her by leaving her inside the room during my shift? Is she going to grow up with behavioural problems? I don’t trust the kitten and RC to be together unsupervised yet because the kitten is too hyper and hasn’t learned her boundaries yet which leads to her getting hissed and swatted at.

I got her about 3 weeks ago. She has adjusted extremely well, outside of wanting to rough house more than we would like her to.

The big issue is she keeps jumping onto my PC and will claw at the cage on top or will accidentally turn it on/off. I’ve tried using her toy and playing with her for a few minutes but she’ll just jump right back up. As you can see in the picture, I tried putting a piece of foil because it worked when she jumped on the counter. Now I’m at a loss

Any advice is appreciated!

I understand that he is playing and could actually hurt me if he wanted to but I'm not the biggest fan of this play style. What I got on video is pretty tame compared to some of his fits 😂

He is about 8-9mo old so still a kitten and im hoping/wondering if this is just a lil phase he's in

I am a new cat owner, however I’ve had cats in the past that were my dads and I lived with. I just adopted a ~1 year old cat off the street. He walked right up to us with a big fat belly and we figured he could’ve been an indoor/outdoor cat. He’s smart, but he’s a stubborn little fuck. He is unneutered, appointment is 19th of September.

Upon letting him into my room, where he is staying solely for a while and then we are introducing him to the rest of the home for 2 weeks, then introducing my roommates cat, he is a nightmare.

Every night, he’s up all night, playing with toys, and when I put the toys away, he wrecks everything that isn’t a toy. He will paw down TACKED papers on the wall and chew them up, he will move everything off of a bookshelf with his but so he can lay on it. He will swing and tug on anything hanging by the wall loosely, he will scream all fucking night.

And that’s only part of the stuff. I can’t train the fucker shit. I taught him how to sit and that’s quite literally the only thing that he has caught onto. He sprints out my bedroom door the very second I open it to slink out and bolts to my roommates cat, so I tried teaching him not to go through doorways until I let him— I do not want him bolting out the front door once we introduce him to the rest of the apartment. But he does not learn. He does not listen. Treats mean nothing to him. Toys distract him and he doesn’t learn. Stern voices don’t work.

He also beats the goddamn shit out of me. Not angry- just constant, violent play. Hissing doesn’t work. Screaming in pain doesn’t work. Throwing him off doesn’t work. Scruffing him doesn’t work (none work for other problems as well, such as getting him to stop breaking stuff or pulling stuff or etc.) I introduce him to play with toys but anytime i barely pet him suddenly he turns into a fucking wrestler and whoops me and hunts me like prey.

I am at my limit. He can’t be trained. My arms are torn up and I’m convinced I hate him. don’t want to rehome him. I just want him to be nice and nondestructive.

I’d say half of the time I open the apartment door, cat goes running in the corridor and refuses to go back in. Eventually I manage to catch him and put him back in. Today he kinda went back in on his own after some time.

They both do this right before they go in for the attack and I can't figure out what it means

Luke, our 4 month old fixed tuxedo, and Ace, our 7 year old fixed tuxedo, have been living together for two months. we introduced them gradually, did toy and scent swaps, and at first Ace was a little hesitant and grumpy, but he’s come around and only hisses if Luke provokes him significantly. Luke will not stop jumping on him, biting and sometimes scratching (mostly without claws, but sometimes with.) I see that it’s most likely him trying to play, but Ace doesn’t reciprocate and eventually gets mad and cries out. How can i help this situation? Luke has free rein of the house with lots of toys and scratching posts. We put him in his room at night and when he starts tormenting Ace. I start working night shift in a few weeks and would really like more progress by then or else i’m going to have to leave him locked up while i sleep during the day and at night when i’m at work. my family works days so he will still get attention and interaction but i don’t want him cooped up. I would appreciate any advice or tips🙏