Ethical Dilemma with Pet...

[OgreMkV]

I have several cats and a 13 month old son. One of my cats is becoming... unpredictable. Night before last, she was sleeping on the couch next to me. My son and wife were in the other room, the other cats were all asleep. Tango (the cat in question) suddenly woke up and jumped at. She bounced off my face and took off. She pounced on one of the sleeping cats and beat the crap out of that cat before taking off again and hiding in her box.

I've got a lovely set of scratches on my face, two of which are actually on my eyelid (I wear glasses fortunately).

Tango has been becoming more and more (for lack of a better word) nuts lately. We aren't ignoring her or anything, we spend personal time with all the animals and each other (grooming, treats, playtime, etc).

Tango is almost ten years old. She's a little chunky, but not fat. She does have some medical issues. She's had to have all but four teeth removed because of a persistent gum infection. She doesn't have trouble eating, but a fair amount of food comes back up. Other than that and being bug house nuts, she's fine.

Like I said, she has become more and more aggressive to the other cats. Even I (who literally raised her from birth (she was born in my shoes)) have to approach her slowly and carefully. If she's startled, she tends to run or attack, with attacking becoming more common. This has been the case for at least two or three years now, not just because of Xander.

Now for the dilemma... do we put her to sleep? I do not believe it would be a good idea to place her in another home. The stress of that could send her totally off the deep end and perhaps cause someone else some real pain. The animal shelter is the same problem.

I don't know what I expect from you guys... justification maybe. I love this cat. She was mine. My lap cat. Even now, provided that no one in the house moves and there's no noise, she will come up and sit in my lap. But as soon as anything happen, she freaks out.

I'm becoming afraid of her (in an unpredictable sense).

So what do you guys think?

 

[Squawkbert]

It's her or the toddler.
Where's the dilema? It sucks, but I see no dilema.

 

[kuhliloach]

It's her or the toddler.
Where's the dilema? It sucks, but I see no dilema.

Is it getting enough sleep?


(You're right about no dilemma, the cat should stay instead.(not that I would reccomend putting a toddler to sleep!)

For one thing you could be the only thing that cat has in it's life for support and putting it to sleep because of it's differences doesn't make any sense.

 

[judgemax]

Honestly, this is a secision, you will need to make on your own.

My first advice though, ( cause , i AM FULL OF IT) Would be to discuss this with the vet, and see if maybe there might be a reason ,kitty has gone skitzy, If the vet thinks that this is manageable, and you love the cat, if its an indoor cat, why don't you consider getting it declawed?..That way, it will lesson the chances of the baby getting hurt. yes, i am aware that it can still bite, however, I am also a firm believe in teaching children the right way to deal with animals. so it could be a learning lesson for them to share?

On A side note, how does the cat react to the baby now?..and vise versa?..and, if you are fearful, the best thing you can do, is take him for his eternal rest, IMHO, that way, you have no negative feelings should something go awry, you can enjoy the fact that you gave him a needed home, ..I know its hard, .and your in my thoughts with this heavy decision~ julz

 

[clown-lover]

I agree with Julz on this one.. (I know surprise surprise..) But it almost sounds like your cat is having seizures of some sort. I had a cat that did something similar and thats what our vet came up with anyway. But it was found out that she also had cataracts and glaucoma to top things off and it was just more humane to put her out of her misery. It wasn't easy but I would rather do that then see an animal suffer in pain.

 

[Rbishop]

I don't envy your decision that you are facing. Our recent call to put down our 13 yr old boxer was a tough one. It was more of an issue of illness and pain, but still hard to do.

I would worry about who will get harmed next. Everyone knows how young children like to be with pets and it sounds like your cat doesn't even take well, at times, to you approaching it. I think you know the right call.

 

[Squawkbert]

While I think JM has a point and I agree that a vet needs to be consulted, I would never suggest to anyong that they get their cat declawed. I know it's a pretty common procedure, I know the benefits & risks.

I'm speaking as someone who has assisted in the procedure a few times and had to help cats recover from it. Having been there and done that, I will never do it to any cat I ever own, nor would I recommend it to anyone.

 

[Catpicklesdog]

I agree with JM as well (apart from the declawing bit - it's illegal over here). It does sound like it may be having seizures or perhaps it's losing it's hearing and certain vibrations are making it jump/scared.

I have no children, just my two cats and I know what a difficult choice you're going to have to make. But at the end of the day the question is, what if it was your sons' face that was scratched or worse?

 

[TKOS]

Our sheltie went silly as she aged, mostly due to deafness. She wasn't aggressive though so we dealt with her insane no reason barking. That certainly might explain a servere change in attitude. Obviously something has changed int he cats life that has had a profiund effect. A small stroke could also be the case. A vet visit (assuming you want to) is the only option I see other than the long eternal sleep.

 

[J double R]

if you won't declaw (which ii wouldnt) then i suggest putting it to sleep. there should be absolutely no question, when it comes to the safety of your children. i'd put a hundred cats to sleep if it meant my daughter was safe.