Kitten agression at people

Question
Hello.

We have a 6 month old young female kitten that we've had since she was three weeks old (found alone by the side of the road). She's been very sweet, and is very attached to people... she gets anxious and follows you from room to room until you stay put, and then she'll settle down.

In the last few weeks, she's started lashing out abruptly. We'll pick her up and pet her, and she's fine with it, until she suddenly turns and smacks you in the face with claws, and -then- she starts growling and hissing. If you put her down, she goes after one of our other cats and beats on them, and then settles down a little.

We've had a -lot- of cats over my lifetime, but I've never seen any act like this. She's due to be spayed at the end of the week... could it be hormonal, or it something else? We don't ever smack her, we just put her down and ignore her for a bit, putting her down when she jumps up in our laps or tries to get our attention. I'm at a loss as to how to help her calm down!

Answer
Amanda,

You did not indicate that she was spayed, so my guess is that she may be coming into season. If this is the case, you may want to have her spayed as quickly as possible.

The other possibility is that she has developed a medical problem and is in some discomfort.  You can have her checked out when you take her to get spayed, especially her thyroid levels.

Please let me know what develops.

Best regards... Norm.