Need help with nightmare cat

[MrsGradyOldLady]

I've posted before about my cat buy nothing has changed at all.

We adopted him 2 years ago. He was 3/4 years old un nuteured Tom found living rough. A local cat charity took him in and castrated him and then we adopted him.

He has absolutely destroyed a sofa, 2 leather chairs and a carpet with his scratching. He will not use any type of scratching post or pad. He sprays frequently. Sometimes in front of me and even pissed in the toaster.

The main problem though is his agression. He frequently attacks my 15 year old Tom. I keep them mostly seperate but we have kids so it's impossible to keep them totally seperate all the time. He attacks alk the neighbourhood cats too. I've had my next door neighbour round in tears as he's constantly attacking one of her cats. If I try and keep him in he gets aggressive with me and the kids and scratches the door so hard it sounds like he's kicking it in. And then he'll pounce on the other cat. If I'm late feeding him he does the same. Or he'll go up to the chair and start scratching it.

I've tried felliway but it only worked for a day or two. He's been to the vet but he attacked her too. The vet thinks he's just a nasty cat and a killer. She thinks he was castrated too late and lived rough too long to be a family cat.

I do have a friend with a small holding who could take him but that would be a last resort. Two of the three kids do like him despite him also scratching and biting them. My husband strongly feels he should be rehomed but I'd rather try and tame him if at all possible.

I don't think he'll ever have the run of the house. When he did he weed in the toy box in the lounge, the one in my daughters bedroom as well as spraying against walls. His scratching has caused thousands of pounds worth of damage in the kitchen alone. Plus I'd be bloody terrified with him sleeping on our beds!

We can't play with him. We did try that on advice from here but he's not daft - if you hold a dangling object he knows it's your hand causing it to move so he'll go for that rather than the thing at the end of the string. He's got cat toys - balls, squeaky mice etc that he sometimes plays with. He tends to go out hunting though for pretty long periods, so when he comes back for food he'll eat then go to sleep. As long as I feed him IMMEDIATELY all is well. It's if I start faffing that he gets annoyed and he'll start attacking the cat if he's there, or if not he'll claw the chair whilst giving me the hard stare. Or if I have my Birkenstocks on he'll go for my feet

I think I've seen those programs. It was ages ago now though so I'll have another look tonight.

I just thought I'd update for anyone else who's ever in the same position. He's been on Zylkene for just over a week now and I can't believe the change in him.

He's still scratching and I think he possibly peed in the kitchen sink (I got a whiff buy may have been mistaken) but his temperament is sooo much better. He really is like a different cat. He's not beaten the other cat for about 4/5 days now. He asks nicely to be fed by rubbing against me rather than attacking me. He actually wants to be stroked and has even put his front paws on my knee. I thought he was going to sit on my knee but I think that was a step too far from him.

The best thing is though that now he purrs. It's a pretty quiet purr so maybe he has purred before and I've just not heard it. I do feel a bit bad drugging him but feel justified as he's certainly happier. He's found a new box that was laying around from some a dvd player we'd just bought and he loves that so we put his bed in there. He still goes out but it tends to be overnight which is probably better as domestic cats tend to be inside so he's not come home with any fresh injuries for a while.

I just hope it continues like this..

Wow, that's brilliant MrsGrady, so pleased for you and your lad. I don't think you should feel bad about the Zylkene at all, because presumably he has a more pleasant existence as a consequence too. And at least peeing in the kitchen sink is something you can clean easily. He's really socialising with you now. He might never be a lap cat - that's the one thing Archcat won't do either, although he loves snuggling up close.

Now he's more receptive and drugged to the eyeballs, could this be the point to try to get him interested in some sort of play after all? Archcat (also an ex-stray) knows very well when we play with his Flying Frenzy type toy that we're causing it to move, but he loves it nonetheless. At this time of year he's catching very little prey because all the mice and birds are hibernating or died off or whatever, and his behaviour really deteriorates when we don't play with him on any day. Could your boy get interested in little foil balls, or pieces of string, or toilet rolls. I swear, no joke, one of Archcat's favourite playthings is a tiny telescopic umbrella. It's about finding the one thing they can't resist.

That's excellent news. I'm wondering now if having all the possibly drug induced good times, love and relaxation might just possibly cause some new learned behaviour on his part. (Not suggesting you stop the Zylkene at the moment.) Keep us up to date?

Yes I hope so. I'm not planning on keeping him on it forever but probably a few months until he has a new "normal"

That's a good idea about trying again with the toys Arch. I do trust a lot more now ' although i wouldn't want the kids to try just yet.

He peed on the tv today so still not perfect though