Russian Blue Purebred Cat Goes Berserk and Attacks Owner

Latest Cat Craze: Call 911 and Say Your Cat Has Gone Berserk

This appears to be a copycat story/situation because it is very similar to the story of Lux the Himalayan cat who has become infamous because he was deemed to be vicious and highly aggressive. Lux's behaviour even baffled the well-known cat behaviourist Jackson Galaxy.

Well I am baffled by this latest copycat version because it is pretty much an identical situation except for the type of cat involved which is a purebred pedigree Russian Blue 4 years of age we are told.  The picture indicates that this cat is a Russian Blue but you never can be sure from pictures. The Russian Blue is a very popular pedigree cat in America.

The cat's name is Kush.  The owners are Mr and Mrs Gregory who live in Deland, Florida, USA.  Mrs Gregory says that her cat is crazy. On the day of the cat attack she inadvertently stepped on Kush's tail. That in itself is not necessarily a major incident and I don't think it would cause a domestic cat to become crazy and highly aggressive. But it might if set against a hostile environment. It mirrors the tail pulling of Lux by a child. Bizarre. There is something odd going on.

Earlier on, but as I understand it not on the same day, the cat had been taken to the veterinarian for some sort of treatment and the veterinarian had been unable to treat the cat because of the cat's aggression.  That is what we are told but we have to be careful about what we are told.

Then for some inexplicable reason Kush went berserk we are told and left Mr and Mrs Gregory bleeding (see photo). They said they had to lock themselves in the bedroom for their safety whereupon they called the police for assistance.

This resulted in the cat being taken to a shelter to be checked out for rabies which means a 10 day quarantine because the cat is not vaccinated.  The outcome for this cat is poor on that basis in my opinion.  This cat can now be re-homed, euthanised or reclaimed by Mr and Mrs Gregory.

We don't know what happened really if we are honest but one thing is sure and that is if a person gets scratched like that it means that person is wrestling with their cat and the cat is struggling and becoming agitated and more aggressive.  That situation should never happen. All Mr and Mrs Gregory had to do was to leave the cat alone and create some calm in the house.  So, I conclude, that the scratches are not due to deliberate and targeted aggression without provocation by the cat but as a result of an unnecessary mishandling of the cat.  However, I stand to be corrected if I were incorrect in that assessment.

The next question is whether Jackson Galaxy will be involved again to try and diagnose what appeared to be a bizarre behavioural feline problem.  I don't believe it is an entirely feline problem. It never is when it comes to cat behaviour. The most likely causes are a combination of either medical reasons causing discomfort in the cat and inappropriate behaviour in one way or the other by the cat's owners.  We will wait and see but let's hope that Kush at least survives because stuck in a shelter being assessed for rabies after an attack on people is not a good situation to be in for a cat.