Upset with the Cat

Don't get me wrong, I do love Siobhan, although she is nothing like Ariel and Chelsea, who were in many ways opposite of each other, but the same in how they treated me. I miss them, and at this moment, I miss them much more.

I was getting ready to get into the shower about a half hour to an hour ago and the kitten jumped off of the edge of the bathtub and suddenly without warning or provocation, she brutally attacked my right foot. She sank her needle-sharp teeth in and wrapped her body around my leg and tried to get all four sets of claws into the action as well. I had to grab her at the nape of her neck to pry her off. She then went for my left foot and after that my right hand/arm and then back to my right foot.

By the time I got her completely disengaged and kicked her out of the bathroom, my legs and feet and right hand and arm were stinging. I examined my extremeties to see how bad the damage was, and other than one long surface scratch on the back of my right ankle snaking up the leg and a couple of new scratches on my right arm, I looked okay. When I got into my nice hot shower I almost yelled from the major stinging of the hot water hitting too many unseen cuts.

I re-examined the damage again after I got out of the shower and gingerly towel-dried my legs and arm. There is one long scratch along my forearm and about seven other nicks and small scratches and a couple of teethmarks on the back of my hand. My left foot and leg appear to have no damage at all. My left hand and arm never entered the fray.

My right foot has myriad scratches and bite marks (the bite marks will fade rapidly from the foot, though), and there are many long gashes and a set of deeper teeth marks on my right ankle, in the back. There is one scratch that is on the deep side (deep in this case is more a matter of how much blood apears on the surface but she never truly puts anything more than a surface scratch on anything. It just is a matter of how much she got out of the scratches), and a couple of lighter, less damaging scratches. But I can feel my pants against the back of my leg, lightly resting against the damaged skin and it doesn't feel good.

Siobhan has been slowly getting less crazy and more affectionate in dealing with me but she is still a playful kitten who loves to get into trouble and stalks us around the house. She does like to attack feet, but is learning to be less ferocious. I usually spray cologne on my ankles and feet and the backs of my hands to keep her from biting, and it works - she hates the taste of any alcohol-type liquid. But this morning I hadn't done it and I had been wearing pants so that even if she did have a playful moment, she would not have injured me.

But this was not her usual playing. This was really a serious attack. I kicked her out of the bathroom and did not open the shower door as I usually do for her to come in and lick the water off my feet or the wall of the shower. She was at the shower door when I came out, but I did not speak to her or dribble water on her or do anything as I normally would when coming out of the shower. Now, she is no where to be seen and that is fine with me.

Ariel and Chelsea were playful as kittens and I loved them, but they never went crazy like this. I know Siobhan is her own cat and is not like my former cats, but I wish she would stop this behaviour.