Anything we can do to help our cat be less of a bastard?

[SharingMichelle]

He bites and scratches if anyone goes too near him. All kids have scratches, scars and scabs all down their legs / backs.

He lies in wait and pounces, and draws blood.

He pretends that all that is behind him and comes for a cuddle, and then turns into a razor-wire bear-trap when your guard is down.

He attacks and bullies nice cat constantly and I'm genuinely worried she might leave home.

He provokes unstable dog who then attacks him.

He charges around the house at night, smashing things and savaging toes.

He swipes the back of the cleaner's legs.

He smells.

He has questionable toilet habits and often walks poo around the house.

He wails and howls if you put him outside. If you shut a bedroom door he leans on it and yowls until you open it. He can keep it up for over an hour.

He gets stuck up trees. I have to use oven gloves to get him down because obviously he tries to savage me as I rescue him.

He costs a fortune at the vet because they have to sedate him to do anything.

He refuses to use the balcony to come in and out of the house (I think he might be afraid of heights).

He steals food. If I do fish or chicken we just have to accept that we have to shout over him yowling at the back door throughout the meal. If we let him in he crashes onto the table and makes off with food from our plates.

He refuses to give up his litter tray and go outside like nice cat.

I am horribly allergic to him and sneeze and snot my way through every day, taking antihistamines every day.

He is a weird combination of desperately needy, he refuses to be alone, but then is vile and violent to everyone around him.

But we do love him. We have to, because he is our cat. We can't get rid of him. We're stuck with him. Genuinely looking for serious suggestions as to how to make him slightly less awful to live with.

He's 1 year old. He's been snipped. He's got very dodgy eyesight.

Zylkene is nit medicine per se. its a herbal prep that works for some andnot others.

I would recommend a feliway diffuser - its a pheromone and works really well. You can use it alongside the Zylkene.

I think yourcat sounds brilliant but of course i don't have to live with the fucker. I deal with lots of malevolent cats at work and they are far scarier than dogs! I would say give him his space as much as you can. I assume he is neutured?

He'll get better. I had a similar cat, born into a feral colony, which was trapped, neutered (all adults) and kittens rehomed. He too was about 6 weeks and a hissing spitting bastard of fluff. It took time but by the time he was grown up, he was a proper lap cat.

Currently have a year old female, again been feral. She also spits and scratches but is getting better all the time.

Feliway is a good option - sorry not read if you've tried it. Make sure he has his own quiet space too. Refreshing to see someone committed to their pet and not just 'getting rid'

There's some practical suggestions here which may be worth a try: <a class="break-all" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20070407093936/fabcats.org/behaviour_kitten.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Case study of Morgan

However a key difference between your cat and Morgan is the early abandonment, note from here

"Kittens separated early (~2 weeks of age) from the queen are more likely to become fearful and aggressive as well as respond abnormally to benign objects or situations. Such kittens may show some or all of the following idiosynchrocies:
Display inappropriate play activity, e.g. attack, bite hard, and scratch play objects (such as people or other animals)
Develop heightened predatory activity
Become poor learners... it will be difficult to effect changes via common behavior-modification techniques ".

Does he ever "let you in"? I mean when he's sleepy maybe does he let you stroke him at all or purr? We had. Very grumpy tortoiseshell who never liked people but was a wonderful mother to her kittens and her sister's kittens. We let them keep one each and found homes for the others and then they were both spayed. The reason I ask is she was seriously feisty and seemed to lack the ability to purr. I thought she was missing out so every evening when she was dozing I would gradually insinuate myself closer to her in the chair and gradually she let me touch her. Eventually I was stroking her head every night and after about 6 months I was rewarded with a purring cat😄 She lived to a ripe old age and I have to say I was the only one who could handle her until the end but it did mellow her. Sorry if I missed the answer to this but I assume he's neutered?

I must say if this was a dog thread, with the exact same stuff being described about the dog as in the OP, I can only imagine what the overwhelming advice would have been. Even if it was a dog the exact size of this cat. I wonder is it more socially acceptable for a cat to do all of this versus a dog?

I have 2 cats from a ferrel mother it took a while to get them used to people but now at 4 years old they are amazing. One is crazy and steals food and yells a lot and blood is drawn from games and the other is shy and doesn't like to play with his brother. All cats have different temperaments and characters. He sounds like a rogue! I hate the thought of drugging him.... Give him time and shower him with love we play with our rogue with a ski glove lets him get his rage out. Yesterday he ate our dinner straight from the pan on our cooker and dragged noodles all through the house. I wouldn't change him for anything else. Good luck xx

I watch a lot of Jackson Galaxy shows and he always says the bottle reared kittens are difficult and mad as they haven't learnt skills from their mum.

He always bangs on about high places for cats to go especially if there are other animals in the house, so shelves or high cat trees so they can survey their kingdom in safety from a distance. Really seems to make a difference to stressy cats.

Feliway is good ime and I've heard good things about the other capsules that have been mentioned.

He often suggests anti anxiety meds for cats so that's worth investigating.

He also says cats that behave like this are stressed or in pain/ ill , rarely are they just like that due to personality.

Wrt food- can you give him some raw food, sounds like he wants some?

Do you play with him using a Da bird type toy? There was a programme recently where a cat behaved as you described , wanting to play but then scratching and the owners just had to take it very slowly using different toys. Cat nip is good too.

Good luck

Scottishgirl- it's not "drugging him". You wouldn't say that about a mum with pnd or someone with bipolar, would you? You'd say to accept the medication.

Like I said mine had a short course that turned him around. I'd tried everything else, feliway etc, so it was a last resort. It worked brilliantly and changed everything, we went from having to wear thick trousers in case we got pounced on to having a fab pet that my kids miss every day (he died of old age). I would have given another course or kept him on it long term if it had been necessary.

Funnily enough o/p mine had sight issues too, which i think contributed to his stress.

Imo the cat needs to be in a home where he is the only cat with no kids. He's sounds stressed and being in a busy noisy environment isn't helping him and it's not fair on the pets you already have. The U.K. Rehoming centres are full of cats that need adopting but can only go to quiet homes as an only pet because of similar behaviour. Sorry but I don't think your home life is suited to the cat. I know you love him and have good intentions but I would think about rehoming him to a different sort of home. Imo

Sorry - I read questionable toilet habits and assumed he was doing his business everywhere.

My grandma had a cat very similar when I was young child. I HATED that cat and was properly terrified of it. I was never comfortable in the same room and was so happy when it passed on. I guess this informs my responses. I don't think it's pearl clutching to feel sorry for your kids in this situation.

I simply don't love animals enough to see my children attacked and unhappy in their own home.

I hope you find a solution that suits everyone.

Yes I did say your children were fodder OP, they have the battle scars to prove it.

You can't provide an environment that suits your children, your other pets and this cat so something has to give. This cat has free rein throughout the house so no-one can avoid it, your children and other pets run the gauntlet of being attacked by merely entering a room it is in. I could never subject my children or other pets to a litany of unprovoked attacks that cause injury, as this cat gets bigger and stronger the injuries will become worse.

You've tried to do something good by rescuing this cat but do you really want to put this cat above your childrens right to not be wary when they go into a room in their own home, or your other pets right to feel unthreatened in their own territory?

What would you think of someone who told you they had something in their house that constantly injured their children?

I don't believe that a vet wouldn't put this cat to sleep if you explained fully the circumstances, the behaviour of this cat is extreme.

Just a word on stress in cats - what we think of as stress symptoms (hiding, cowering, being introverted) are not always present in stressed cats. Often bolshy behaviour like fighting, claiming territory, 'talking' and otherwise being a big personality are actually signs of a stressed animal.

I agree with emotion. If this was a dog there would be no question on what to do.

There's so much minimising on this thread, it's mental!

He provokes unstable dog who then attacks him

The cat himself is in danger too. It would be awful for the children if these cat/dog fights went too far. Very stressful for all, including you of course.

I do hope you manage to get him to settle on that medication you are going to try.

Also, if we were talking about a giraffe there'd be no question; I'd rehome that tall, leaf munching bastard to the nearest zoo before you could say "logical fallacy". Lucky it's a cat, eh.

It's not a dog though, it's a cat and there's lots you can do to address certain behaviours. I think it's daft to compare the two.

He does have plenty of 'up high' places. Interesting idea.

I've ordered the zyclene stuff.

He was out hunting all night last night. He's usually in for the night. He's slept all day and seemed calmer today, which has been great. Maybe he has excess energy? Which he doesn't use because he was raised by humans and doesn't instinctively know how to cat?

Although he did wake up and go and swipe dog across the face (no damage) so dog reasonably went mad and chased him around the kitchen. She didn't hurt him though. It was all noise.

Google Jackson Galaxy

He does wonders with "gangster cats" one show I watched the cat was a million times worse than you described (he would attack all four paws out ninja style into anybody legs who got near him) sure he must have a website with tips

Felliaway works wonders in multicat homes

good luck with him

Lots on you tube about Jackson Galaxy .

Do all the cats have their own litter boxes or do they go outside?

I love him!!

Yep - we have 4 paws out, ninja style attacks. It's quite something!

Have emailed local vets to see if anyone stocks Feliway.

Will Youtube JG. DH away all next week so I'll have plenty of time to watch Youtube stuff.

Re litter boxes; Cat 1 had one inside and also went outside. She always preferred outside but we kept one inside in case it was needed. Bastard Cat arrived and we noticed that Cat 1 no longer used the litter tray (we only realised when she pooed on my bed in desperation, poor thing). We then (a) made sure that she always had access to outside, and (b) put another litter tray in so they had one each. Bastard Cat soon claimed that one too so now she goes outside and he has two. I think we've got rid of one actually.