Why does my cat attack my girlfriend's legs at night? How to stop it?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 2 years and 7 months old | 8 lbs
Cat keeps attacking girlfriend for no reason. She trying to kill her momma!! She almost always attacks the backs of her legs, seemingly for no reason. Mostly at night while my girlfriend is getting ready for bed, and after she’s already eaten dinner/gotten cuddles. She never attacks me the same way. Why so she doing this and how can we stop the behavior?
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on October 29th, 2019
Sometimes this behavior can be related to boredom, anxiety or a desire to play roughly. There are a few things you can do which may help. Try enriching her environment. Here is a great article about cat's instinctual needs: https://www.petcoach.co/article/why-every-cat-needs-a-place-to-climb/ Use a Feliway diffuser, set aside 30 minutes a day for vigorous play and/or switch the food to Royal Canin Calm. During the play time, if she seems like she wants to play rough, try to encourage her to wrestle with a stuffed animal. You may also try feeding her from a food puzzle and/or hiding food around the house for him to find. Most cats response best to combination therapy. The veterinarian can also prescribe medications which can help with behavior. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on October 2nd, 2019
Training cats is complicated. You can certainly look into books about cat behavior or even about cat training but they are not wired like dogs. Regarding the rough play behavior, sometimes this behavior can be related to boredom, anxiety or a desire to play roughly. There are a few things you can do which may help. Try enriching his environment. Here is a great article about cat's instinctual needs: https://www.petcoach.co/article/why-every-cat-needs-a-place-to-climb/ Use a Feliway diffuser, set aside 30 minutes a day for vigorous play and really make sure to get Andromeda running. During the play time, if she seems like he wants to play rough, try to encourage her to wrestle with a stuffed animal. You may also try feeding her from a food puzzle and/or hiding food around the house for him to find. Most cats response best to combination therapy. The veterinarian can also prescribe medications which can help with behavior. The climbing behavior will generally stop and when she does this, put her down and then walk away and ignore her for a few minutes. Make sure to positively reward her when she exhibits good behavior. Lastly, regarding the food, have a squirt bottle of water ready and when she begins to stalk your food. Give her an oral correction first (stern "no") but if she continues, the squirt her with water. You may also just place her in another room with the door closed at meal time. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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