Safi Attacked His Cat Sitter - Carole Wilbourn
Carole Wilbourn, The Cat Therapist, has been the leading voice in feline therapy for over 5 decades. She has helped thousands of cat moms and dads explore, face, and resolve cat behavioral and health issues. Carole is truly the most trusted Cat Therapist in the United States.
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23 Jan Safi Attacked His Cat Sitter

Posted at 18:19h in Blog by

Frustrated single cat, Safi, attacks his cat sitter

Safi Attacked His Cat Sitter
(Aggressive Cat Syndrome, Attack Cat, Single Cat Syndrome)

An Urgent Email: Safi is affectionate with me and my partner. Not too friendly with other people, but never aggressive. So when he attacked his cat sitter, we freaked!
Especially, with the holidays, and we’re to go away the day after Christmas. We can’t leave him home alone. It’s already Christmas Eve.
Please help,
Rachel Brooklyn, N.Y.

With no time to lose, I scheduled a FaceTime session for Christmas morning.

Safi rocks during his FaceTime session Click Here

“What a looker you are, Safi,” I said as he appeared on the screen.
Rachel told me how they rescued Safi from the streets of Istanbul in 201l. His fur was matted, a few scrapes here, and there. The vet thought Safi was about several months old, treated his wounds and neutered him. Soon after Safi flew home with them to the U.S.
“Safi was so feral when we found him, but now he even sleeps with us and snuggles.”
“A shout-out for Safi and you guys,” I said. “He’s come a long way, but he’s still a “recovering feral” who’s easily threatened.”

PTSD
“You mean his cat sitter threatened him?” said Rachel.
I explained that it wasn’t intentional. Evidently, she may have been too enthusiastic in her interactions with Safi. He became over-stimulated, overwhelmed, relived traumatic episodes from his street days, and he resorted to “fight”. She became the enemy. To Safi, it was survival.
“I see. His feral, Ninja Safi m.o. kicked in. But what can we do now? One of our neighbors offered to visit him while we’re away, but we can’t have another attack.”

“Okay, this is what you arrange with your neighbor, Safi’s surrogate cat sitter:
** Tell her when she comes over she is to concentrate on you and ignore Safi. Show her where the food is, and give her any instructions she needs about his food, litter box and any other vital needs.
** When she cat sits for Safi, she should feed him, take care of his vital creature comfort needs and “do not” try to pet or engage him. If he appears to be agitated — tail twitch, rippled back, flattened ears — toss a toy to him to refocus, distract him.
** She should check to see that his music from this session is streaming — to reinforce relaxation and good feelings.
** If your neighbor has any problems, she can contact me.”

Single Cat Syndrome
Rachel realized that her recent work promotion translated to less time for Safi, and this was a pivotal change for him. I nodded and told her that this really triggered the “Single Cat Syndrome”. Some additional playtime, additional cat posts, and toys would help to ease his angst and abandonment flash-backs. But the right feline companion and introduction could be the ultimate key to solving Safi’s deviant behavior.
(Refer to A Kitten Intro -The Wilbourn Way)

Safi the recovering feral from Istanbul

Safi Is On The Mend
Two weeks later I received a text from Rachel that Safi greeted her neighbor at the door. She talked to him, occasionally tossed him toys but kept her distance. Rachel mentioned how now she made it a priority to spend more play and cuddle time with Safi. A feline companion was on their short list.