FELINE STORY - Cat goes haywire as man showers pet parrot

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July 12, 2001

Cat goes haywire as man showers his pet parrot

Francine DubÈ National Post, with files from The Canadian Press

An 80-year-old man is nursing his wounds today after his cat turned on him in an attack that drew four carloads of police, two ambulances and an animal control officer to the rescue.

GÈrard Daigle said he lost a pint of blood and required stitches after the carnage, which began in the bathroom of his home in Trois-RiviËres-Ouest, Que., while he was giving his pet parrot a shower.

Mr. Daigle inadvertently sprayed the cat with water and it went berserk, attacking him.

He was saved by his common-law wife, Blandine Gagnon, 81, who wrestled the cat away, only to have the cat turn on her.

"The cat wanted to eat her, too," Mr. Daigle said.

To escape the cat, Ms. Gagnon yanked the screen off the first-storey bathroom window and jumped to safety. The couple then chased the cat into the bedroom and shut the door.

Police arrived in force because they thought they were dealing with a domestic dispute.

"There was blood everywhere in the bathroom, on the walls, on the door, on the floor," said Guy ThÈriault, the animal control officer who captured the cat.

Mr. ThÈriault said the animal was put down and the results of testing obtained yesterday revealed it did not have rabies.

Mr. Daigle said he and Ms. Gagnon have owned the cat for about a year. It was a stray given to them by Ms. Gagnon's grand-daughter in Drummondville, Que. They called it Touti, a diminutive that, roughly translated, means Tiny.

The cat had attacked Mr. Daigle once before, when he failed to notice that it was in the shower and turned the water on, drenching the animal. He said he didn't have the cat put down then because he felt the incident was his fault.

"He wasn't really mean."

Mr. ThÈriault said he deals with cat attacks as often as four times a year.

"I've seen people running out of their homes. One man barricaded himself in his bedroom and was calling out the window for help because the cat was clawing at the door," he said.

In most cases, the cat has previously exhibited aggressive behaviour and has not been reined in, he added.

"If you let an animal control you once, it will certainly try again."

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001

Answers

Guess it wasn't saturday night bath time...hey! hehehehehe

really, that is terrible, I love animals, but this is one should be put out of its misery! I think it is short a load of bricks somewhere!

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001


I'm sure what really happened is that the cat took exception to the parrot singing in the shower.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001

I have a feeling the guy knew the cat hated water--I mean really!--and deliberately shot the spray on the cat. Still, the animal kinda overreacted. (VBG)

I read recently that you can't treat a cat like a dog (no spit, Sherlock); that dominance tactics don't work. You have to deal with the cat on a mutual respect basis. Hence, if a cat shows aggression towards you and perhaps slices your arm with its claws, you're supposed to scream like an injured cat and maybe hiss. Yeah, right. Tell you what, it wasn't mutual respect that got the squirrelly cat into its carrier after it bit the crap out of my arm, it was a smack upside the head.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001


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