my aggressive cat pooky

Question
My cat pooky is 18 yrs. old i dont know breed what she is she is spayed. She will attack anything that comes near here but me and my step mom. We have tried to train but she will ignore us. Is there anyway we can get her to pay attention to us while training??

Answer
Liz,

At 18 your cat is approximately 88 years old and I would say that her behavior is age-related. And no, you normally can not train her at that age. Aggression can be a sign of arthritis and/or pain from a number of things that can go out.

She should be seen by a vet that specializes in geriatric cat care and their conditions (not all vets do) and be given an older cat checkup to check the function of her kidneys, her liver, her thyroid, and see if she has arthritis. She can be given pain medication for it if that is what is making her act aggressively.

Cats also get a form of kitty Alzheimer's which can make them act in a bizarre manner.

Being prepared and knowledgable about elderly cats will make things easier for the cat and for you. I am including some very good links about elderly cats:
(Copy and paste, or type, the whole links into your address bar)

http://www.sniksnak.com/resources/geriatric.html

http://www.messybeast.com/towards-end.htm

http://www.2ndchance.info/oldcat.htm

I hope this helps. And don't get angry and frustrated with the cat, she can't help it.

Tabbi