Why is my Sphynx cat attacking people's faces, biting and scratching?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If he is attacking you and not trying to play then he should be confined, you should always keep him up to date on Rabies, and you should discuss behavior modification drugs with your Vet, like prozac. I would get it in a liquid form you can put in his food. I would purchase feliway diffusers for around the house, one should go in his room. You can play with him but as soon as he gets over stimulated you need to stop and walk away. If he starts to get aggressive and is coming towards you squirt him with a water bottle. It is inappropriate behavior for a cat to attack you and injury you that badly. You need to strongly consider if this is the kind of relationship you want from a pet. This may not be an easy thing to break him of. I hope this helps and i wish you the very best!

The first thing I would suggest is to have Cleo checked out by your veterinarian. Certain medical conditions including hyperthyroidism can cause aggression of this nature. If a medical cause is ruled out and this is a behavioral issue, you can try to use a Feliway diffuser or collar to help keep Cleo calm when she is around you. You may also want to consider consulting with a veterinary behaviorist. You can find one in your area on www.dacvb.org

The first thing I would do for now is put Attila in a room by herself with a litter box, food and water bowls, comfortable resting places, etc. and leave her alone for the next few days apart from coming in briefly to refill her food and water and change her litter. When cats become upset and aggressive like this, for whatever reason, it can take up to a week for them to fully calm down and return to normal - until then, it's best to leave her completely alone and give her plenty of space. Some cats can have serious aggression issues that are triggered by a strange or scary noise, an unusual smell, or anything else that startles them. It's possible that Attila may have had a scary dream that frightened her, or she could be painful due to a pinched nerve, arthritis, or some other issue that may have been aggravated by petting. If she calms down over the next few days and things return to normal with no further problems, you may not need to do anything else. If she is still acting aggressive a week from now, or if this becomes a recurring problem for her in the future, I would strongly recommend making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist - he/she can evaluate Attila in person and help you determine what may be triggering these episodes, and will also give you some specific suggestions for managing her when this happens. Prescription medication is helpful for some cats with aggression issues, so this is something that could be discussed also. You can search for a board-certified veterinary behaviorist in your area here: www.dacvb.org

Hi and thanks for using PetCoach! Sorry you are having such problems with Tinker. Unfortunately behavioral problems are not easily solved especially in a forum like this. To solve them, we as professionals need a thorough history of Tinker including past and present, and we often times need to witness these behaviors and learn the triggers that are causing the unwanted behaviors. If she was raised away from her litter or not is very important. Kittens raised like that miss out on all of the socialization skills learned from their mother and other litter mates. They learn how to behave, how to play, etc. So that is very important. I would advise talking to your veterinarian and describe in detail what is going on. Your vet can gather a thorough history, do a physical exam, observe some behavior during the exam, and then offer some solutions or tests to perform to make sure that Tinker is healthy. They may advise some blood tests, etc to assess her overall health and they can direct you on what things need to be done to make sure her preventive health care is done properly. Behavior modification is key with any behavioral problems. Drug therapy is possible but she is still a very young kitten and that is probably not advised. You may need to work with some trainers/behaviorists in your area which are experienced in raising young kittens. I will provide a link here to add to your reading material to see if you can put into practice anything discussed in the paper. https://catfriendly.com/ https://www.catvets.com/guidelines/practice-guidelines/life-stage-guidelines I hope this aids in pointing you into the right direction. Good luck with Tinker.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Ideally, you should contact a cat behaviorist in your area to help you in person with her behavior. However, spaying her would likely help with this behavior. Your veterinarian can consider sedating her so that they are able to proceed with taking the blood samples and the spay to see if that helps. Otherwise, it would be best to have someone help you in person to modify her behavior. Best of luck!

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Snoopy. You only have a few choices here I believe. Neutering him would hopefully lessen his aggressive behavior. Another choice would be taking him to your vet and letting your vet screen him for a medical problem which could lead to abnormal behavior. Your vet can run tests (blood, urine, x-rays) to rule out medical disease. If a medical problem is ruled out, neutering and drug therapy could be used to try to lessen the aggression. Cat bites/scratches are very serious and this is a serious problem. Someone can get injured quite severely especially if they are immune compromised or have diabetes and suffer a cat bite. Another concern is rabies. Rabies causes aggression in animals along with other forms of nervous system diseases. It's important to get him evaluated as soon as possible. Good luck with Snoopy.

I hate to hear this. Since she is an outdoor cat and obviously easily startled I would try not to hold or pet her too much just to keep you safe. Bite and scratch wounds from cats can become very infected. If this is a new behavior then I would try to consider when it started and did anything change when this happened as this might be why she has had a change in behavior. Also if this is a new behavior she could be painful somewhere or not feeling well so I would talk to your vet about doing a work up on her if possible. Your vet will be to see if she is painful somewhere, perform a urinalysis, blood work and possible X-rays if needed. Now, if this is a behavior that isn't new then this could be her personality and it could get worse with anxiety (the new kitten). You could consider giving her a low dose of anti-anxiety medicine and sometimes this will calm her enough so she isn't attacking others but it won't change her personality or subdue her too much where she can't protect herself if needed. You can likely get this compounded into a liquid with tuna flavor that y'all may be able to hide in some food. I hope this helps and I understand the difficulty of this situation. I hope y'all are able to find a solution.