Beware the Attack Cat

Cats have been a part of my household for over forty years: no,
not the same cats, but various ones over the years. Many have
been protective of their kittens or litter mates or even of
their human family members to some extent, but none have been
attack cats like Funny Face.

Funny Face choose me; I did not choose him. We had a spayed
female named G.G. when my husband brought two kittens home from
an auction as a favor for a friend. A brother and sister left
from a litter of twelve kittens needed homes. My husband offered
help. Funny Face decided that he had found a home and a person
of his own.

The first time Funny Face showed protective tendencies, my
husband was gone overnight, and the cat, who slept by my feet,
jumped from the bed, growling. He ran to the front door, still
growling. He rushed to the kitchen and followed the path inside
that someone took around the outside of the house, growling
constantly. He stood at the back door listening for a couple of
minutes, and we both heard someone climb over the back fence.
Funny Face ran back to the bed, hopped in his regular spot, and
immediately went to sleep. After that, anytime my husband wasn’t
home, Funny Face became the protector. When my husband was home,
guess the cat decided protection was the man’s job.

One night, we heard Funny Face yowling outside. Thinking he was
hurt, I ran to the door, switching on the light before going out
on the porch. I called Funny Face, and he sped to me, his fur
and tail literally standing on end. He stopped in front of me
and turned to face the blackness beyond the light. My husband
joined me before we saw the dog, a broken chain dangling from
his collar. Robert sat on a bench on the porch and called the
dog to him, hoping to find a phone number or something on the
tag which also hung from the collar. Funny Face pressed against
my legs as I told him everything was okay.

My husband grasped the dog’s collar, trying to read the tag, but
he couldn’t hold dog and tag. He asked me to see if I could read
it. I moved toward the dog, and Funny Face leaped toward the
dog, growling and spitting. I scooped the cat into my arms, but
he didn’t calm down until I moved back into the house. The dog
took off, never to be seen by us again.

One time I was in the back yard, and a dog on the other side of
the solid wood fence started barking. Funny Face took a
defensive stance, once again putting himself between me and the
perceived danger, growling and ready to attack.

Researching has not helped me discover if Funny Face’s behavior
is common. I cannot find any information about a cat acting as
he does. Perhaps no one has told him that he is a cat,
not a dog. Aggression that others write about concerns cat
versus cat or cat aggression toward a person, even its owner,
but no word about a protectiveness toward its person.

Funny Face, though, is my attack cat, and anything or anyone who
might try to harm me would have to go through him. Here, pretty
kitty. That’s a good boy.

“To gain the friendship of a cat is a difficult thing. The cat
is a philosophical, methodical, quiet animal, tenacious of its
own habits, fond of order and cleanliness, and it does not
lightly confer its friendship. If you are worthy of its
affection, a cat will be your friend, but never your slave. He
keeps his free will, though he loves, and he will not do for you
what he thinks is unreasonable. But if he once gives himself to
you it is with absolute confidence and affection!” Theophile
Gautier, 1850