Aggessive sometimes unintellegent cat

Question
We have a female cat who is about 3 years old, she has been fixed and we have had her since she was a kitten. Sometimes we really believe that she is just a little off...we have another cat who seems to be very intelligent but she seems to do things that we have no explanation for. For example a couple of days ago she jumped from her cat tower on to my friends head who was sleeping on the recliner and scratched him from about a half inch from his eye ball to the top of his head, about a 4 inch strach in all. I know it was an accident but I know my more intelligent cat would know that it is not ok to jump on someone head with your claws out. Occasionally she becomes sweet all of the sudden and wants to hang out with you and be pet. Then all of the sudden when she doesn't want to be pet anymore she bites you are scratches you. I have read your previous answers and you said that this may be because she is injured but she has been doing this her whole life and when she is in a good mood she doesn't try to bite you right away. She isn't mean about 90 of the time she just doesn't know when to play a little nicer. We have thought about declawing her but after reading what you have said about it we won't do that. I do not think we will be able to get those claw caps on her nails. I am wondering what we can do, especially since she has stared hissing...both at us and at the other cat. We love her to death and will not get rid of us but when we have kids we don't want to have to worry about her scratching them making them bleed.
Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hi Ricky,

Good for you for deciding not to declaw your cat. Cats declawed due to aggression are likely to become even more aggressive, biting - which is more serious than scratching. And of course it is very inhumane. The claw caps can be a challenge to put on, but many vets and groomers will do it for you, they confine the cat by wrapping in a towel (kitty burrito!) and applying the claw caps. Sometimes it helps to have a stranger do it, so your cat doesn't associate the unpleasant experience with you.

It sounds like the jump onto your friends' head was probably just a mistake - as athletic as cats are they can sometimes miss their jump!

Honestly some cats are just like this, they are independent creatures and only want attention on their terms. When a cat doesn't want attention and you try to pet them, it's not unusual for them to scratch or bite. I guess if you think about having a room-mate who was 10 times your size and would randomly come up to you and start stroking you when you didn't feel like it, wouldn't you want to punch him from time to time? The best way to avoid being scratched or bitten is to be aware of her body language, and watch for signs of her having had enough petting, then leave her alone.

If she seems to be going out of her way to be aggressive, she may benefit from adding 50mg/day of L-tryptophan to her food. Tryptophan is an amino acid, it's also a precursor to serotonin in the brain. It has a calming mellowing effect on mammals and can help reduce anxiety and aggression, but since it is a nutritional supplement it's very safe and easy to use. It has no taste and can easily be mixed into canned food or raw meat. You can buy it in capsules at health food stores or vitaminshoppe.com etc. Pull the capsules open and put some of the powder into her food (for example if you get 100mg capsules you put 1/2 capsule in her food each day).

A Feliway plug-in diffuser can also help reduce aggression and anxiety. You can buy it at pet stores and online, Feliway mimics calming pheromones cats give off when they rub their cheeks on things.