Cat aggression towards one person

[mieszany]

My ~7 year old female (neutered) cat, Meringue, started biting my mother around a year ago. We took her 3 years ago from a neglectful, but probably not an abusive family.

For the first two years she was a very unproblematic kitty. No aggression, no destructive behaviour, very curious and affectionate (mostly with me). The aggression started when two things happened simultaneously: the pandemics (and my working from home instead of being away for 9/10 hours a day) and worsening of my mom's health. She used to interact and play with our kitty a lot, but now, due to her condition, she can't do more than a few minutes of playing with a wand once a day. I play with her daily, mostly in the mornings (neglecting my job ) and evenings, between 6-11 PM, when she has my attention at most times, even when I'm cooking, cleaning, watching TV etc.

The attacks happen almost daily. Meringue will sit next to my mom's bed and wave her tail, stare with dilated pupils at whatever part of the body she wants to launch at (hands or legs), and then jump to bite. Othertimes she attacks when my mom's walking around the house. The bites are never strong enough to cause serious injury other than bite marks. They range from a single nibble to a few stronger bites, one after another. There was a bit of blood once. Sometimes she'll move her head side to side as if she wanted to bite off a piece of meat, which looks terrifying.
It happens at random times of the day, during a nap, when we play, at night (luckily never when my mom's asleep). When it starts, it's impossible to distract her with food, toys, or sounds she associates with feeding or playing. I usually take her to another room for five minutes to cool down - this works sometimes, but there are days when she'll resume the attack attempts as soon as the door is open.

She never attacks me or any visitors other than during playtime.

What my mom might have done wrong in the past: she used to play with our cat using her hands and pet her no-go zones. I used to do both too, though.

I feel really helpless and will appreciate any advice, but the important thing is that whatever I do, I can't really expect much action from my mother. I can't move out with Meringue either, as I'm my mother's caretaker.

[fjm]

It rather sounds as if it could be hunting behaviour, rather than aggression. I would try to get a video, and involve a qualified cat behaviourist if you possibly can. If it started when your mother became too unwell to play with Meringue it may well be the cat’s way of trying to initiate the happy games they used to play - unwanted and inappropriate, but not outright aggression. Are there other arm’s length games your mother could manage more easily? Perhaps a push button ball launcher that shoots ping pong balls across the room, or even something voice operated? Even pulling a toy behind her when she walks, so Meringue pounces on that rather than your mother’s ankles?

I would think of it as misdirected play behaviour and consider ways of redirecting it more appropriately, ideally that still involve your mother if she is happy to play with Meringue.