Aggressive Male Cat

[Finnsmum]

Hi, looking for some advice or suggestions here. My son’s girlfriend has a 3 year old male. About 6 months ago he started attacking them both for no reason so they took him to the vet who thought he may have been in pain and was warning them not to touch him.
He was fine for some time then about 6 weeks ago my son left the flat to go to the shop, when he returned, the cat started viciously attacking them both quite violently and they had to leave him there and stay somewhere else for the night.
Same thing has happened this evening and he has made holes in my son’s leather trainers.
My son doesn’t live there but stays a couple of times a week. We have a cat of our own so my son knows how to treat him and behave around him.
Has anyone else experienced this? Wondering if he’s jealous or if it’s territorial? Thanks

[papa cat]

Does the cat attack the girlfriend when your son isn’t there?
I ask because I suspect the clue might be that your son doesn’t live there all the time. The cat sees him as an intruder and is doing his darnedest to repel him!

[Mollycat]

What did the vet do, check for etc? Did he try putting the cat on pain meds to see if it helps? Any tests been run? Brain scans maybe?

[Finnsmum]

Thanks for the responses.
The vet checked him over but couldn’t find anything of concern. Suggested that maybe he had hurt himself and to see how he was after a few days. He was fine for sometime after that so assumed it was a one off. He’s a house cat and usually fine when my son is there, he pets him and plays with him but starting to think that he associates my son’s arrival with his ‘mum’ going out and leaving him? Her parents called round later on to check on him but he went for them as well! The question is, what to do about it? Sprays? Plug-ins?

[Mollycat]

No, sprays and plug-ins don't address the root cause and might calm things a little for a while but without changing the cause or triggers there isn't a long-term durable solution. My opinion only but I think of chemical calmants as akin to smoking a cigarette or something stronger - doesn't solve anything at all on its own.

There is another member with a recently adopted cat that attacks whenever he thinks he's about to be left alone. It is possible, I had a cat who used to ladder my stockings as I was on my way out, without ever scratching me. She didn't like the boyfriend because he always took me away, but when I moved out and the boyfriend brought me to her, then she started to love him. But attacking is quite a lot more serious and they obviously can't cure the problem the way I did.

[Finnsmum]

Thanks so much for that. Very interesting.
My son just said that the cat ‘ambushed’ his girlfriend on one occasion when she was alone at home and had come back into the room. She’s had him from a kitten so it’s not from previous ill treatment.
I think she needs to contact someone who specialises in behaviour?