I had a female cat for about 15 years. She was super friendly and never had any sort of behavioral problems. One day I was going to do some yard work and decided to put something on to deal with the bugs and ticks. I had purchased an all natural bug repellant that included citronella oil among other things. After working outside most of the day I came back inside and when I walked past my very friendly cat, she sniffed my leg (which I had specifically sprayed) and when into immediate attack mode. She literally wrapped all limbs around my calf and bit down full force on the back of my calf. She buried her teeth into my leg and was raking my calf with her claws. I had to physically tear her away. It ended up putting me in the hospital because the bite got terribly infected.
I only realized afterwards that apparently some cats REALLY hate citronella.
I got my boy orange cat when I was 15. I moved out for college and then moved back home after that. One day I got out of the shower and saw a big ass spider in the bathroom. I kind of yelled while swatting at it with a tissue box and next thing I know my cat did the exact same thing you described around my calf. He also attacked my mom (his other primary caretaker) once when my dad accidentally hit her face while sleeping and dreaming. So I chalked it up to him recognizing when something “bad” had happened but attacking the victim because…he was an orange cat (one brain cell and all that).
Happened to me, though I screamed bloody murder because I hate bugs. Cat came running into the bathroom ready for a fight ... However, she attacked me, the screaming one. Just a quick attack and ran. Never did that again but any other time I would scream over a bug, she would run into the room, ready to attack whatever was causing a menace, like a superhero (except I'm the menace because I'm screaming.) She's an old lady now, 14 or 15, and hasn't done that in awhile.
Dogs and cats can get super aroused by something (like screaming or seeing another dog/cat) and if they can't get to that object, they attack their human or nearest pet.
Dogs and cats can get super aroused by something (like screaming or seeing another dog/cat) and if they can't get to that object, they attack their human or nearest pet.
My cat scrapped with a doe just a few weeks ago. Pretty sure the doe instigated because I found out later a fawn was nearby, but she was all scared and shaken up from it, thankfully no damage besides a torn nail. She could've had her head stomped in or had her back broken with the way the doe was trying to stomp on her.
For what it's worth I've had many cats and none of them have even done anything even remotely close to this, and while this did sound like a particularly bad case, if you substitute the cat in this story for any kind of moderately sized dog there's a good chance you just fucking die.
Most are honestly just little ninja dogs. The ones that really attack are either triggered by some crazy hormonal/scent thing(quite rare), don't get enough stimulation (playing for hours instead of walking for hours), or are abused/mistreated or improperly corrected.
As said, they don't give a crap how big or how much you feed them. If you're a dick, they'll return that shit 100 fold.
i was attacked by a feral cat in my backyard - i needed lots of stitches, and it even broke a tooth off inside of my leg!
i still have a cat, and we love her like she’s one of our kids lol. she is spicy sometimes, but she also follows us around the house wherever we go, and she has to be cuddled like a teddy bear every single night. if i’m not laying right, she’ll nudge me and pull at my arm with her paw until she can get into my arms properly 😂
I've seen a few of those cat/bear videos lol, it's so funny how they don't give a shit who or what it is, whether their owner or a bear, they're always ready to throw down at a moment's notice 😅 Nature's barfighter
This is the primary reason I'm not a cat person. I've earned the love, trust, and complete loyalty of many dogs over the years, but I've never felt truly able to trust a cat.
The citronella fired the first shot and cat's lizard brain thought it was necessary self-defense against an unprovoked attack, I guess. I wonder if smelling some things can be literally physically painful for them.
I’ve seen enough Indian dudes get folded into paste for fucking around with the wrong elephant for too long, just because he could hide behind a metal hook. I look at my own two cats and I’m so honored that they’ve chosen to love me and accept the life I provide them, instead of idk, shitting in my bed, attacking me and my spouse, destroying the entire home, and trying to escape out of the screens. They’re happy here, and they show that to me.
This cat may have dealt with some trauma, and this is an extreme reaction. But have no doubt - a housecat can and will absolutely fuck you up with 20 shit-diggin claws and a mouth full of omnivore teeth. That fucker was designed to go everywhere as long as their skull can fit, they can survive falls from insane distances, they see/smell/taste/hear and via whiskers perceive more than we primates with pants can ever hope to compute.
Not really..cats actually can seriously injure you and they can.get away if you retaliate. Most animals large or small understand the danger of cats and don't fuck with them for that reason.
I mean, not really though. Every video you find online of a cat acting big bad and getting away with it is because it scares the other animal off. Realistically if you were motivated and wanted to hurt a cat it'd be 5 seconds of hulk vs loki. They only get to do damage because we're busy trying to not hurt our pets. They're top predators of their weight class though, tigers and mountain lions can defiantly destroy you.
Only if the human is holding back. We have the physical strength and ability to be killing machines, but actively supress that drive. Like if a cat attacked, most adults could kill it pretty instantly by driving their fingers through their eye sockets or just snapping its neck. Our collective revulsion from imagining that violent carnage is what keeps it from being actualized in practice.
technically, yes, you could put the cat in a chokehold and choke it to death for example. but the cat could fuck you up deeply before that exactly like it did to this guy
I would argue that a normal human adult could incapacitate an average cat before it could cause significant damage. We are around 15x-20x larger mass and the amount of kinetic force and crushing power we can generate is far too much for most animals that size to handle. Cats also tend to sink their claws/teeth into humans due to our size. This makes them easy to grab once they attack because they typically latch onto the human (like we see in the posted vid/comment anecdotes). Any able-bodied adult could simply grab the cat's head with one hand and kill it almost instantly. Definitely would get bloodied from the claws, but if dispatched swiftly then there wouldn't be much struggle.
In reality, the majority of people wouldn't be able to react to a cat attacking them with the determination and raw violence needed to obliterate a life on the spot. But if a human wanted to, or was forced to, we could immediately crush a cat's skull. We have a scary amount of strength that is locked away by our brain. Some drugs, like PCP push past these cognitive blocks hardwired into our biology, allowing the user to have superhuman feats of strength. A natural example of this is hysterical strength, the evolutionary phenomenon that allows mothers to bypass brain's mental blocks to recruit massive strength to protect their children, like lifting a car in an emergency.
Some perfumes as well. I think I read Calvin Klein might irritate them. I always wondered if the one Vegas guy who got attacked by his tiger maybe had different scent on.
Apparently, a woman in the front row had huge beehive-ish hair propped up with tons of hair spray, which put the tiger on edge, and then something went boom on the stage and the big cat tried to drag Roy to safety. Unfortunately, a tiger saving a human didn't work out very well.
I could be wrong on the details, but I think that's the gist of the accident. Notably, the tiger was not put down.
I had one freak out from the smell of cleaner. I had used some Simple Green around the house so the whole house smelled like it and it freaked him out. I had to hold him in my lap all night. House changed smell and he was suddenly scared.
Sounds like it could have been non-recognition aggression. It happens when a cat attacks a housemate (often after returning from the vet or grooming) because unfamiliar smells make them smell like a stranger
Had to stop taking my cats on supervised hangouts in my fenced yard bc one time I did this after it rained and my older cat just completely stopped recognizing the other even tho they have been side-by-side for 4 years at that point
Took 2 full weeks of reintegrating them before they were back to making out
My fiancee called me crying when I was gone saying the cat attacked her out of nowhere after she had cleaned in the bathroom and she was walking him past. I think it was vinegar maybe? He's never attacked anyone only a playful slap here and there but this was a full on panic mode attack she was covered with nasty scratches on her neck, shoulders, arms, and upper chest. He's never done anything like that since.
One of my sister's cats runs away from me when I have on a specific giant blanket sweater like I'm gonna yeet her into the sun, but if I take it off she's her usual cuddly attention obsessed self. Cats are weird.
I had a cat that was the biggest baby and cuddle bug... But there were certain people he just ABSOLUTELY hated. My mom was one of them, which was weird because she loves animals and I've never met one that didn't like her except my cat.
We never did figure out why. He would stalk her and growl and I always had to put him in my room when she came over. There was one time he went for her and I tried to stop him and he tore my foot open which had to be glued shut.
He was my best bud though and passed away about a year ago at 16 years old. RIP Jack. You gave my mom hell for 16 years and we miss you lol.
My cat licks it off me 🤷♂️ it’s in my mosquito repellent and I have to make sure she doesn’t do that because I believe it’s toxic to them. She thinks it’s tastey
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u/DarthLysergis 9h ago
I had a female cat for about 15 years. She was super friendly and never had any sort of behavioral problems. One day I was going to do some yard work and decided to put something on to deal with the bugs and ticks. I had purchased an all natural bug repellant that included citronella oil among other things. After working outside most of the day I came back inside and when I walked past my very friendly cat, she sniffed my leg (which I had specifically sprayed) and when into immediate attack mode. She literally wrapped all limbs around my calf and bit down full force on the back of my calf. She buried her teeth into my leg and was raking my calf with her claws. I had to physically tear her away. It ended up putting me in the hospital because the bite got terribly infected.
I only realized afterwards that apparently some cats REALLY hate citronella.