I suppose she keeps the cat because it's her responsibility to resolve the issue? If she doesn't keep the cat, what are the alternatives? Putting it to sleep? There's many that put up with that behavior from their dogs, never addressing the problem. The cat may not have been ferociously aggressive it's whole life, therefore the lady would have developed love and an attachment to it. I wonder if she has discussed this with her own vet.

Maybe it is so vicious that she can't catch it to bring it anywhere. I would not put up with an attack cat in my own house though, I hope it is an outdoors cat. Why would you let a vicious cat into your house in the first place?

I would live trap that thing and bring it into the vet to find out what is up, if that fails, euthanasia may be her only option for her own safety. What if she gets sick from the cat scratching her or biting her? Animal bites and scratches are nothing to joke about. I am assuming she never has guests visit, they would run screaming. You couldn't adopt a cat like that out, no shelter would take it.

Some people can't deal with the guilt they will feel when they have to get rid of an animal. They will put up with a lot. Both cat and dog owners. I have heard of people that make excuses when their dogs maul people. Like the person who got mauled brought it on themselves... people can justify anything in their minds.

Why do people keep mean spouses????? Maybe they have this feeling they can CHANGE them. The world is full of people with issues./

My sister in law works with people's dogs that have behavoiral problems. One of the comments I've heard her make is that people frequently wait much too long to deal with the issues.

I wonder, how did the letter make it to the paper? Was she writing to her actual vet or a columnist that happens to be a vet? What do you mean "attack" exactly?

I agree with moonie - perhaps she is trying to understand why the cat is that way so she can address it. That seems like the responsible path to take.

Cats are cats... I am happy my cat Taffy weighs only 8/10 lbs instead of 80 Lbs, because he believes he's a Cougar. I am his "Mom" in all ways; he came to me as a 12 day old bottle baby, barely had his eyes open and never knew his feline mom, so I did the best I could, He was fiece in feeding, bit the nipple off the bottle several times, clamped onto my hand.
He is now almost two years old and he can, at times, be all teeth and claws.
My vet explained this is a frequent occurance with bottle-baby cats - they get away with things their real cat-mom would beat the cr@p out of them for.
He cuddles and he loves me in his cat-way, but often he plays just the way he plays with his companion Sooty.
I have learned to "hiss" at him and to not rise to the challenge, but if I had another bottle-baby to raise - and I hope I do, it's so much fun - I would act more like a cat mama and at least take his food away when he gets abusive.

What makes you say people don't put up with this behavior in dogs? The dog whisperer woulded have a job if that were the case.

I have a cat named "Killer". She and I have a game we've played for years. If I catch her snoozing, I'll quickly rub her belly and move on. If she catches me asleep in my chair, she will make like a Quisinart on my knees and move on.
It's a game we both enjoy. No harm, no foul.

I had a kitty that I got from the Humane Society before my first baby was born, she was such a sweetie, we didn't notice anything amiss until the baby started walking, she started out swatting at his leg every time he would pass by her (almost like she was laying in wait for him) well one day as he walked past her in nothing but a diaper, she reached out grabbed him by the leg with both front feet and sank her teeth into his chubby thigh, I was horrified! she went to my brother and sister in laws that very day, as they had said they never intended on having any children. Every time he would visit them when he was older she would just hiss at him and run and hide. Well they had their first baby last March and are expecting their second this March (busy little beavers) she has to be around 15 now, and I haven't heard anything about her being bad to their baby, sure hope she is too old to get up the energy. Would hate for them to have to do something about her, but I know my brother, I am surprised they haven't already rehomed her to be honest, guess she is on her best behavior!

I got a cat from the local shelter and within the first two months or so I was terrified of him! He would attack me (not playfully) unprovoked. I so wanted to throw him on the street or bring him back to the shelter but I knew he would be put down right away. I went after him, not nearly as physically as him when he came after me. Mostly it be me pinning him and yelling at him to stop and flicking his nose. Probably within six months he came a calm, somewhat gentle cat. Oh yeah, I got a second cat which seemed to also calm things down. He was a stray. As he got older he got even more gentle and affectionate, he really did turn into a sweetie. We managed to have two young children around him and a dog!