22-Pound Housecat Who Trapped Owners After Attacking Baby To Get Therapy

[Gingersnap]

22-Pound Housecat Who Trapped Owners After Attacking Baby To Get Therapy
March 11, 2014 6:31 PM


PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon owners of a 22-pound housecat that trapped them in their bedroom after attacking their baby say they’re not giving up on their pet and are getting it medical attention and therapy.

Two days after police arrived to subdue the 4-year-old part-Himalayan cat, owner Lee Palmer of Portland said he’s taking the feline to a veterinarian. A pet psychologist also is due at the house to see the cat, named Lux.

“We’re not getting rid of him right now,” Palmer said. “He’s been part of our family for a long time.”

Palmer says the animal attacked his 7-month-old child after the baby pulled its tail. The child suffered a few scratches on the forehead.

On the 911 call, Palmer tells the dispatcher he kicked the cat “in the rear” to protect his child. Palmer says the animal then “just went off over the edge” — leading Palmer and his girlfriend to barricade themselves, their baby and the family dog in the bedroom for safety.

The cat can be heard screeching in the background of the call as Palmer says in a panicked voice: “He’s charging us. He’s at our bedroom door.” Palmer also tells the dispatcher the cat has been violent in the past.

Officers used a dog snare to capture the animal, and placed it in a crate.

The cat attack story gained national attention after police put out a news release about it Monday. Palmer says the family has had proposals from people wanting to adopt Lux, but the family is not taking them up on it.

Here's hoping Anger Managment works for Lux.

CBS Seattle

[Gramps]

In '52, our family cat attacked my sister. She had a litter and my sister tried to pet one of them.

After the attack she stalked my sister, then 6 yrs old.

After 3 days of protecting my sister from the cat, my mother took the cat in the yard, gently put a noose around her neck and hung her from the clothes line pole.

Mom didn't put up with 'pets' who attacked.
She was from 'the farm'...

[phillygirl]

We had a cat, Daisy, who attacked. I can still remember the fear when I walked into my mom's room and saw the cat there. Just me and her, and I was wearing shorts. I think I still have the scars. She fell in the pool once, my mom tried to pull her out..she attacked the hell out of her. I went with my grandfather to take her "out to the country". I don't think we drove far enough. I swear she came back and stalked our house. She's probably still there even though it's been at least 30 years.

Geez...I can't believe I have stories from 30 years ago. That sucks.

[Gingersnap]

Some students and a few teachers started to feed a litter of feral cats at one college Mr. Snaps worked in and they eventually captured one kitten. That kitten came to my house. The first night we named her Lizzie Borden because she tried to kill us and then defiantly stole a wrapped cheese burger about her own size and weight. When we tried to take it, she attacked.

We lived with Lizzie for 9 years during which time she relentlessly ignored and attacked us before succumbing to a cat cancer. She had a son and he was worse - amazingly.

For those thinking we should have got Lizzie fixed - so did we. We didn't realize she could get busy at 5 months old.

*shudders*

[Gramps]

We had a cat, Daisy, who attacked. I can still remember the fear when I walked into my mom's room and saw the cat there. Just me and her, and I was wearing shorts. I think I still have the scars. She fell in the pool once, my mom tried to pull her out..she attacked the hell out of her. I went with my grandfather to take her "out to the country". I don't think we drove far enough. I swear she came back and stalked our house. She's probably still there even though it's been at least 30 years.

Geez...I can't believe I have stories from 30 years ago. That sucks.

My attack cat story is 62 years old.

[Gramps]

Some students and a few teachers started to feed a litter of feral cats at one college Mr. Snaps worked in and they eventually captured one kitten. That kitten came to my house. The first night we named her Lizzie Borden because she tried to kill us and then defiantly stole a wrapped cheese burger about her own size and weight. When we tried to take it, she attacked.

We lived with Lizzie for 9 years during which time she relentlessly ignored and attacked us before succumbing to a cat cancer. She had a son and he was worse - amazingly.

For those thinking we should have got Lizzie fixed - so did we. We didn't realize she could get busy at 5 months old.

*shudders*

Do not fuck with feral cats... never...

Some years back, at a place where I worked, on the patio, a feral cat showed up.
A couple of good meaning women started feeding it.
Eventually, after a week or so, they coaxed it pretty close.
I was watching and smoking... warned them.. do not do it... several times..
Eventually, one of them grabbed it... OMFG...

One had shredded arms, the other had scratches down one side of her face...

After first aid, apparently the company decided to deal with it and called animal control.
They set up a trap and caught a raccoon, a possum and then eventually the feral cat.

I'm betting it was sold to the local Chinese food place at about $0.50/lb

[phillygirl]

A friend of mine has a colony of feral cats at his place. Most of them are related to the now deceased "Tailess". Tailess was a tough old bastard and very umm...virile. Eventually my friend's wife paid someone to trap and fix almost all of them. 27. (Of course she's been feeding them every day and has named almost all of them.) They're now down to about 14. They took in 3 of the kittens. One they gave away. It died within 2 weeks. Another they took to the vet and put it down (was deaf, blind, and had a lung issue). The third one, very sickly, they assumed would die soon as well, so they let it stay in their house so at least he would be warm during his last days. That was 5 years ago. He loves my friend who, as my friend puts it, "has never done a damn thing for him." I always wonder if Pigtail looks at the outside cats and laughs.

[Adam]

Palmer says the animal attacked his 7-month-old child after the baby pulled its tail.

And there's your answer.

In virtually every case of "pet attacks," you will find at the heart of it some child who tormented the animal. "Pet attacks" meaning not just the cat hisses and scratches you up pretty good, but genuine maulings, usually done by larger dogs. Children and parents will usually deny this until the cows come home, but in my years of dealing with this, and believe me I've dealt with and investigated a lot of these cases, every single case save one of someone's dog/cat/gerbil/whatever seriously biting and/or mauling someone (almost always a child) has ultimately traced back to that child (or on rare occasion another nearby child) poking the animal with a stick or throwing rocks at it or whatever. The one single case I ever encountered of a genuine unprovoked attack came from a feral dog roaming the neighborhood who was in the early stages of rabies.

Yes, I know a seven-month-old doesn't know better. Parents are supposed to stop the child before that happens. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but if you're going to bring a baby into your home, you need to think about what that baby can get into and you need to think about any related consequences. That means putting poisonous stuff on high shelves instead of under the sink, and it also means that you consider the compatibility of your cat, dog, turtle, or goldfish with an infant/toddler/young child. You've got nine months to prepare, so there's no excuse for not thinking it through.



Feral cats (and dogs) can be domesticated, but it takes the right person, in the right household, with the right family (if there are others in the household) to do so, and it takes a lot of patience and determination. You WILL get scratched up/beat up/bitten, and usually peed upon and/or shat upon as well. Some of them will die on you; they would have died almost immediately out in the wild. Some of them simply will not be "broken," and there's nothing you can do about that. MOST, though, if you have the right skills and patience, can be domesticated and become loving members of a family. But it's definitely not for everyone. It's no different than breaking a horse: unless you have the proper set-up and a shit-ton of time and patience (and, in the case of horses, money), then it's not worth your trouble. No sane person gets a wild, untamed horse and tries to break it in a quarter-acre back yard. If you don't have the time, patience, equipment, and love to follow through completely with "breaking" a feral critter, then you're doing both yourself and the animal a disservice.

If you do, though, the rewards are worth it. All the feral critters that came into our household when I was still married brought us both a whole lot of joy and love over the years. There were some we bottle-fed literally from the womb (as in literally a little kitty C-section in one case). There were some who were mostly grown (which is a lot tougher to break). There was one who literally just walked in the door one day like she owned the place and we never had to do anything but feed and pet her. Several died. Some we later had to euthanize. Some sooner. It meant a lot of work, a lot of late nights and early mornings, a number of scars, and the occasional tear, but the big payoff was having critters come and curl up with us on the sofa and play with us on pretty days and often entertain us with their antics.

[phillygirl]

My niece was attacked by an Akita. By all accounts of those present she had done absolutely nothing to provoke it (and there were enough other kids around that would have instantly told if she had...primarily her brother). She was bitten in the face and was lucky to get a way with only 2 smallish scars on her face. I disagree that every dog bite or attack is due to provocation.

I was attacked by a German Shepherd. Again, I had done nothing. I was walking to my car at a friend's home. Two dogs were out walking with their owner...one a golden retriever, one a German Shepherd. The dogs approached me. The Shepherd jumped on me and I put my knee up and turned to walk away. He bit hard on my leg and then chased me to my car. He definitely didn't chase as fast as he could have, as I did make it into my car a few feet away before he then became Cujo like at my door.

[Lanie]

They need to get that cat from hell guy onsite.

[Adam]

My niece was attacked by an Akita. By all accounts of those present she had done absolutely nothing to provoke it (and there were enough other kids around that would have instantly told if she had...primarily her brother). She was bitten in the face and was lucky to get a way with only 2 smallish scars on her face. I disagree that every dog bite or attack is due to provocation.

Not "every." Most. Just to be clear, there are unprovoked attacks out there by dogs, cats, rabbits, and any other pet (parakeets, parrots, etc.) that are frankly just plain mean. Some breeds are worse than others. Chows will bite damn near anyone, even their owners, out of sheer meanness. Same with akitas, who aren't exactly distant from chows. Poodles bite a lot, but that's a function of numbers more than anything else: there are a lot of poodles out there. In almost all of these cases, there was very poor socialization by the owner, rendering the dog almost feral him/herself. Those are relatively rare cases, though. As a percentage of breedwner, chows and akitas probably have the highest of failed socialization, followed by standard poodles; far, far too many old people think that it's a good idea to get a hypo-allergenic poodle, but they have neither the knowledge nor the physical ability to properly socialize and train the dog. It was for this reason that, at least when my now-ex was in veterinary school (nearly 15 years ago now), the highest number of deaths directly attributable to dog bites came from poodles. Not Rotweilers, not "pit bulls." Poodles. Big, fuzzy poodles. And it was a case of "seven degrees of separation" at that: some 82-year-old in a nursing home in Jupiter, Florida has a poodle, but she's also asthmatic, on oxygen, in a wheelchair due to osteoporosis, has skin like onion-skin paper, is on blood thinner because she's had a stroke, etc., and her poodle bites her, not even hard, but enough to transfer some of the immense amount of nasty in a poodle's mouth to her. She dies three weeks later from a staph infection. Did the poodle maul her to death? No. But the proximate cause of Gramma Mildred's death was nonetheless the bite of a poodle.

I was attacked by a German Shepherd. Again, I had done nothing. I was walking to my car at a friend's home. Two dogs were out walking with their owner...one a golden retriever, one a German Shepherd. The dogs approached me. The Shepherd jumped on me and I put my knee up and turned to walk away. He bit hard on my leg and then chased me to my car. He definitely didn't chase as fast as he could have, as I did make it into my car a few feet away before he then became Cujo like at my door.

That is, frankly, very unusual. Shepherds, like Dobermans, have a natural tendency toward "zone defense," for lack of a better description. They learn very quickly what the property lines are, etc., if their owner teaches them, and they will generally respect those lines throughout their lives. The old Magnum, P.I. portrayal of Dobies was not all that inaccurate in the outstanding obedience of that breed. Shepherds are generally very good at it, too, and don't generally chase a threat more than a few feet away from a property line or an owner if out on the street. The Nazis actually devoted a lot of resources into making "the dogs of war," in that case German shepherds, far more aggressive than they naturally are. As a breed, they are aggressively protective of the owner, such that if you had actually approached the guy walking the dogs, particularly in an aggressive manner, they would react violently, but they will generally back off as soon as you do, absent any training to the contrary.

A lot of people don't know this, but huge, hulking great Danes are naturally hard-wired to protect children, any children, from a perceived threat. I don't know if that was a specific intent in their breeding, but that's how it works nowadays. If you watch some time, even in a friendly encounter, a great Dane will intentionally put him/herself in between a stranger and any children in the vicinity. Just one of many natural tendencies that a dog may have. Border collies are simply natural herders. They'll herd anything that they can find: sheep, cattle, children, leaves blown by the wind, robots, whatever. It's what they do. They are OCD dogs: everything must be grouped accordingly or they get upset. Go to a garden party some time with a bunch of kids there, and if they have a collie, that collie will be busy making sure that the children don't wander too far, and then making sure that the adults don't wander too far. It's what they do. They get upset when things aren't grouped like they're supposed to be.

[phillygirl]

Not "every." Most. Just to be clear, there are unprovoked attacks out there by dogs, cats, rabbits, and any other pet (parakeets, parrots, etc.) that are frankly just plain mean. Some breeds are worse than others. Chows will bite damn near anyone, even their owners, out of sheer meanness. Same with akitas, who aren't exactly distant from chows. Poodles bite a lot, but that's a function of numbers more than anything else: there are a lot of poodles out there. In almost all of these cases, there was very poor socialization by the owner, rendering the dog almost feral him/herself. Those are relatively rare cases, though. As a percentage of breedwner, chows and akitas probably have the highest of failed socialization, followed by standard poodles; far, far too many old people think that it's a good idea to get a hypo-allergenic poodle, but they have neither the knowledge nor the physical ability to properly socialize and train the dog. It was for this reason that, at least when my now-ex was in veterinary school (nearly 15 years ago now), the highest number of deaths directly attributable to dog bites came from poodles. Not Rotweilers, not "pit bulls." Poodles. Big, fuzzy poodles. And it was a case of "seven degrees of separation" at that: some 82-year-old in a nursing home in Jupiter, Florida has a poodle, but she's also asthmatic, on oxygen, in a wheelchair due to osteoporosis, has skin like onion-skin paper, is on blood thinner because she's had a stroke, etc., and her poodle bites her, not even hard, but enough to transfer some of the immense amount of nasty in a poodle's mouth to her. She dies three weeks later from a staph infection. Did the poodle maul her to death? No. But the proximate cause of Gramma Mildred's death was nonetheless the bite of a poodle.

That is, frankly, very unusual. Shepherds, like Dobermans, have a natural tendency toward "zone defense," for lack of a better description. They learn very quickly what the property lines are, etc., if their owner teaches them, and they will generally respect those lines throughout their lives. The old Magnum, P.I. portrayal of Dobies was not all that inaccurate in the outstanding obedience of that breed. Shepherds are generally very good at it, too, and don't generally chase a threat more than a few feet away from a property line or an owner if out on the street. The Nazis actually devoted a lot of resources into making "the dogs of war," in that case German shepherds, far more aggressive than they naturally are. As a breed, they are aggressively protective of the owner, such that if you had actually approached the guy walking the dogs, particularly in an aggressive manner, they would react violently, but they will generally back off as soon as you do, absent any training to the contrary.

A lot of people don't know this, but huge, hulking great Danes are naturally hard-wired to protect children, any children, from a perceived threat. I don't know if that was a specific intent in their breeding, but that's how it works nowadays. If you watch some time, even in a friendly encounter, a great Dane will intentionally put him/herself in between a stranger and any children in the vicinity. Just one of many natural tendencies that a dog may have. Border collies are simply natural herders. They'll herd anything that they can find: sheep, cattle, children, leaves blown by the wind, robots, whatever. It's what they do. They are OCD dogs: everything must be grouped accordingly or they get upset. Go to a garden party some time with a bunch of kids there, and if they have a collie, that collie will be busy making sure that the children don't wander too far, and then making sure that the adults don't wander too far. It's what they do. They get upset when things aren't grouped like they're supposed to be.

Prior to the shepherd bite I was never afraid of dogs. I was always wary and watchful of shepherds, simply because I grew up with one in the neighborhood (former prison guard dog) and we were always taught not to go near him without his owners being around and without their specific control of the dog. Honestly, he was an incredibly well trained dog (most well trained of all the dogs in the neighborhood) he didn't leave the property line. But he barked like hell if you came near the property at all and we knew he wasn't as friendly or soft as my golden retriever. After the bite by the strange shepherd I became very fearful of large dogs. My experience with my co-worker's rottweiler eventually changed that.

But really, all dogs are capable of biting. There's just a matter of how dangerous the bite will be. A golden retriever, by its nature, has soft teeth and even if she tries is going to have difficulty doing real damage to someone, but still could do so. The shepherd that bit me took only one bite. I was wearing denim shorts, so no skin was broken, but I had the pressure marks of his mouth on my leg for over nine months. The doc-in-a-box had all kinds of excuses for the dog's behavior, such as the heat of the time (July) the possibility that the dog had been put away during the holidays, etc. Later I discovered that the dog had gone after several other people in the neighborhood (mailmen, etc.). I was a dog lover back then and wasn't looking to have him put down or charges or anything like that. I just wanted the records so I didn't have to go through rabies shots. The owners were initially reluctant to provide even that to me at first.

But I do agree that people are not wary enough about dogs. You need to respect the dog and I never attempt to pet an unknown dog without first asking the owner if it would be okay.

[Gramps]

Not "every." Most. Just to be clear, there are unprovoked attacks out there by dogs, cats, rabbits, and any other pet (parakeets, parrots, etc.) that are frankly just plain mean. Some breeds are worse than others. Chows will bite damn near anyone, even their owners, out of sheer meanness. Same with akitas, who aren't exactly distant from chows. Poodles bite a lot, but that's a function of numbers more than anything else: there are a lot of poodles out there. In almost all of these cases, there was very poor socialization by the owner, rendering the dog almost feral him/herself. Those are relatively rare cases, though. As a percentage of breedwner, chows and akitas probably have the highest of failed socialization, followed by standard poodles; far, far too many old people think that it's a good idea to get a hypo-allergenic poodle, but they have neither the knowledge nor the physical ability to properly socialize and train the dog. It was for this reason that, at least when my now-ex was in veterinary school (nearly 15 years ago now), the highest number of deaths directly attributable to dog bites came from poodles. Not Rotweilers, not "pit bulls." Poodles. Big, fuzzy poodles. And it was a case of "seven degrees of separation" at that: some 82-year-old in a nursing home in Jupiter, Florida has a poodle, but she's also asthmatic, on oxygen, in a wheelchair due to osteoporosis, has skin like onion-skin paper, is on blood thinner because she's had a stroke, etc., and her poodle bites her, not even hard, but enough to transfer some of the immense amount of nasty in a poodle's mouth to her. She dies three weeks later from a staph infection. Did the poodle maul her to death? No. But the proximate cause of Gramma Mildred's death was nonetheless the bite of a poodle.

That is, frankly, very unusual. Shepherds, like Dobermans, have a natural tendency toward "zone defense," for lack of a better description. They learn very quickly what the property lines are, etc., if their owner teaches them, and they will generally respect those lines throughout their lives. The old Magnum, P.I. portrayal of Dobies was not all that inaccurate in the outstanding obedience of that breed. Shepherds are generally very good at it, too, and don't generally chase a threat more than a few feet away from a property line or an owner if out on the street. The Nazis actually devoted a lot of resources into making "the dogs of war," in that case German shepherds, far more aggressive than they naturally are. As a breed, they are aggressively protective of the owner, such that if you had actually approached the guy walking the dogs, particularly in an aggressive manner, they would react violently, but they will generally back off as soon as you do, absent any training to the contrary.

A lot of people don't know this, but huge, hulking great Danes are naturally hard-wired to protect children, any children, from a perceived threat. I don't know if that was a specific intent in their breeding, but that's how it works nowadays. If you watch some time, even in a friendly encounter, a great Dane will intentionally put him/herself in between a stranger and any children in the vicinity. Just one of many natural tendencies that a dog may have. Border collies are simply natural herders. They'll herd anything that they can find: sheep, cattle, children, leaves blown by the wind, robots, whatever. It's what they do. They are OCD dogs: everything must be grouped accordingly or they get upset. Go to a garden party some time with a bunch of kids there, and if they have a collie, that collie will be busy making sure that the children don't wander too far, and then making sure that the adults don't wander too far. It's what they do. They get upset when things aren't grouped like they're supposed to be.

I had a St Bernard for some years.
We had a park (about 30 acres) behind the property I owned I would walk with him in the park, because it was truly undeveloped. Just a parcel of land that the city bought and was working into making it into a park.

When it was snowing out, after we got out of sight of the house, the dog would attempt to turn me back to the house area with his body. If we got too far, he would gently take my gloved hand in his mouth and try to lead me home.

What was really great was when the pond froze hard enough to skate on.
He was funny as shit, trying to catch me, I'd turn... he'd try to turn and fall flat and 'sled' across the ice.

[Gingersnap]

Having worked in rescue and having a cousin who is a Vet, I'd say that 95% of bites and maulings happen because the kid (or adult) did something outrageous to the animal.

That thing may not look outrageous to other humans.

Most bites to children happen when the kid is old enough and mobile enough to pick up the animal. The kid sits the animal on his or her lap like a doll and proceeds to "kiss". Maybe the kid is squeezing or pinching the animal during the kiss, maybe the animal has been lighting up like Christmas Tree with "don't do more" signals that the kid has ignored, maybe someone else sees the activity and laughs, squeals, or shouts at the wrong time - BAM. $10,000 bucks in facial fix-up for a mild attack.

Other times, babies just flail, cry, poop, or eat in the wrong way in front of the wrong dog. Babies often have food residue on their faces, hands or shirts and in neglectful homes licking turns to nibbling and then to biting.

Older kids sometimes throw things at dogs or otherwise try to get the dog to react. When it does, the kid runs. At that point, an overstimulated dog will just hang up civilization and chase. Ends badly.

When I was about five I teased my Grandmother's Doxie with the leftover part of a sandwich. I thought it was funny to see the wiener dog jump up. Dog was a better jumper than I knew and opened up my wrist. The bite was superficial, my grandmother was a nurse, and I got exactly zero sympathy from any of the adults in the house.

[scott]

We had a cat, Daisy, who attacked. I can still remember the fear when I walked into my mom's room and saw the cat there. Just me and her, and I was wearing shorts. I think I still have the scars. She fell in the pool once, my mom tried to pull her out..she attacked the hell out of her. I went with my grandfather to take her "out to the country". I don't think we drove far enough. I swear she came back and stalked our house. She's probably still there even though it's been at least 30 years.

Geez...I can't believe I have stories from 30 years ago. That sucks.

....but enough about your college life