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My spooky cat is Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde

972 views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  Straysmommy 
#1 ·
I adopted Prince from the street a month ago, he seems a former house cat because he's so friendly, considerate, well-mannered and sweet. He's the softest, tamest thing in the world.

However, this last week he's been behaving very strange. At about 5 am each morning when dawn cracks, he suddenly wakes me by attacking my legs over the duvet and trying to bite them too. He looks possessed, the very opposite of his normal personality - aggressive, doesn't care if he hurts me, disobedient. When I finally react aggressively, he looks at me like in shock and suddenly runs off scared. Then about half an hour later, he comes into the bedroom again and there's a repeat of the whole scene.

After dawn, he becomes his usual sweet self and comes to bed and curls up with me to sleep blissfully or just lies next to my head looking out the window.

He's also more active at dusk than the rest of the day, but never aggressive at dusk, just more alert and playful.
 
#2 ·
Is he truly being aggressive or playing? Like is he trying to latch on and break skin, or is he being rough and wrestling with your legs? I know when I have been truly attacked by cats they were not so willing to let go and scamper off. His reaction to your anger makes me wonder if it is an inappropriate form of play. I know we don't know his past, perhaps he had a previous owner who taught him to rough house with hands and feet. He might not fully comprehend that it is your legs under there. Autumn LOVES to attack feet under blankets, so does Cloud. But if my feet are out and about they don't think twice about them. They just see movement under the blankie and think 'Quick, pounce!' I would think that if it was aggression you would see snippets of it at other moments.
 
#3 ·
Nicole, I show him it's my legs, but as soon as I cover them again, he again thinks it's prey! And he bit the duvet around my leg once and made to bite my hand outside the duvet.

The spooky thing is that he hates rough play and he is never like that the rest of the day... Why is he so different at dawn? Then again, you reminded me that I once played with my hand under the duvet and I realized I can't play that game with him anymore because he gets too seriously into it.

Maybe I should take him downstairs at that hour instead of mid-morning as I always do? Maybe that's his favorite hour to be active and he craves action...
 
#4 ·
I would try taking him down during that time and see what happens. My cats are most active from 9:00pm to 11:00pm and from 5:00am until around 7:30am. I learned the lesson the hard way about Cloud and Autumn's obsession with feet under blankets...not a fun way to wake up :) And I never played with them by hiding limbs under blankies. Just something about the movement unleashes the hunter in them lol. So I just shut them out of the room at around 4:30. My husband gets up at that time anyway to head for work. Then they run around and exhaust themselves and everyone is happy.
 
#5 ·
This morning at 5 am the same scene happened, and when I was thinking "now I'll get up and take him downstairs", I suddenly woke up and it was 9 am LOL But I'll try again tomorrow!
 
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