Help Needed with a very Aggressive Rescue Cat

[totallyfrusted]

I am really desperate to get some advice on how to deal with our very aggressive rescue cat.

We adopted him from the RSPCA at the end of August. At the time we were told he was timid but friendly and had a strong personality. He's 2 years old and has been neutered.

As lovely as he is ever since we have had him he has been aggressive towards me. I initially spoke about my concerns to the RSPCA who told he was just finding his feet and pushing boundaries!!

As my children are besotted by him I have stuck with him but in the past 3 weeks his aggression towards me has got a lot worse.

His attacks are totally unprovoked, most usually are in the morning or evening while I'm in bed (and sometimes asleep) or while I am working at my desk.

He will just launch at me across the bed / desk and grad my arm with his jaw and then scratch my arm with his back legs. He is so quick I don't have time to move and then struggle to get him off. My arms and hands are now covered in scratches and bites.

I really am at a loss as to what to do. The rest of the time he follows me around the house and though he wont sit on our laps he will always be in the same room as us. He has access to the garden and comes in and out during the day and night.

There are other cats around in the garden and I have noticed that he does shy away from them and isn't aggressive to them at all. Likewise he has never gone for the children. My husband has been caught a few times but I am the main target.

Quite often he will come up to me and head butt me and purr but this will always turn into biting. If I move my hands and arms out of the way he will go for my upper arm or where ever he can get.

His vaccinations are due next month so I will get the Vet to check him out there but any advice on what to do will be very gratefully received.

It will break my children's hearts (and mine) to send him back but I'm not sure I can put up with this for much longer.

It’s play behaviour. Mine did it, only on my left arm.

I used to gently disentangle him by scruffing him and unhooking the claws.

Are his pupils very dilated when it happens?.

Hi, I have wondered wether it was his way of playing and yes his eyes are very dilated!

Did you cat calm down eventually? I'm thinking of asking for a pair of gauntlets for Xmas!!!

Not sure whether a Feliway plug-in would help with this?

Do you play with him, with fishing rod toys etc? He is trying to initiate a play session. You could try and prevent it by plenty of play before it happens.

Well a bit when he was 10 but he was a Bengal and weighed 6.5kg so I really knew about it. I let him do it as a kitten but it was cute when he was little.

He needs distracting a toy he can bunny kick the bejesus out of when he jumps up on the bed, rotate them so he doesn’t get bored. It doesn’t have to be anything new, an old kids soft toy sprayed with catnip spray might be enough.

Our cat has always been a little like this, we've had him since 8 weeks and he's almost 13 now. To be honest, I'm afraid that he never really improved, even after we neutered him, we've just learned to manage him. Over time it's become much more obvious when he's about to strike and much easier to avoid him/get out of his way! If he's attacking you in bed then I would certainly lock him out of the bedroom.

We've just accepted that he's never going to be a cuddly/sit on your lap type and while we take care of his every whim he's certainly more like a cat who lives with us than a family pet. (We also have a dog who is the complete opposite and like our third child!)

That being said, we're all very fond of him, he has only the finest food and is incredibly well looked after, we'll be very sorry when he's gone even though he is a grumpy little bugger!

ISTR there's been a few Jackson Galaxy episodes where someone had a similar problem, worth having a binge watch on YouTube maybe? In many cases the cat had been played with using hands rather than toys, so it was a case of retraining them with toys like wands etc. that keeps them away from hands.

Other than the biting/scratching, he sounds lovely. If it IS just play, which it likely is, the fact it's you he goes for means he sees you as his person.

We had a foster, male, also about 2 years old, who was like this. Also with the big black eyes. Distraction was semi-successful, I made him a toy that was big enough for him to grab and kick to his heart’s content and put a lot of high grade catnip in its stuffing. As soon as he looked like he was working up to attacking we shoved the toy at him and often he would give it a good beating and calm down. He also calmed down if we covered him with a blanket. He just seemed to get overexcited and overwhelmed and needed either to get rid of energy or reduce his sensory load.

Forgot to say - where's the pic???

He has lots of toys and I do make an effort to play with him but its a bit tricky at 5.30 in the morning when I'm asleep to know he wants to play!!

I will keep a supply of toys near me while I'm working so if he jumps on the desk I can distract him.

Is there anyway you can teach them not to bite? As I said I am covered in scratches and some have left scars and this is only after 3 months!!

If it is true aggression you would probably get more warning, ears back, vocalising or hissing, thumping the ground (had this with a foster too though most aggression is actually fear). Fighting is risky, so they do try and avoid it. It sounds much more like play going wrong. Watch kittens playing and you’ll see them treat their siblings as you are being treated. Probably some poor socialisation in the mix as well.

Not really no. You can try saying ow loudly or hissing at him but he’ll fall back looking hurt and you end up consoling them that it’s ok really and mommy isn’t cross 🤦🏻‍♀️

Here he is. He's very beautiful. We were told he had some Bengal in him so that could explain his behaviour.

Another thing the RSPCA told me was that he was hand reared. Do you think he missed out on playing with other kittens so hasn't learned to not bite.

I have no useful advice, i just wanted to say he is stunning with such striking eyes!

Our cat is a bit like this. He is the most loving, sweet, lap cat, MOST of the time, until he isn't and becomes a complete bastard cat.

It could be a dominance thing. Arthur will not dream of going for DH, he used to go for me, until I played dominant back. What I do is firmly and quietly "No", repeatedly, and then stand up over him, still saying no. After a while he started to roll over, tummy up, submitting. Scruffing just seemed to enrage him, and he bit harder. So I cured him of that by just being top "dog".

He does still sometimes for the girls, as he obviously sees them as inferior, or playthings. Fortunately they are older, and just call him the bastard cat, and can forgive him, as usually he will lie on one or the other, get them to throw balls (and return them!), and generally be a great cat.

See if you can do the dominance thing. It has saved my ankles and wrists.

We were told he had some Bengal in him

Just seen this..... Arthur is 1/4 Bengal too.

I've had my latest rescue (ex-stray/semi-feral) for a month now and she is bitey/swipey, but I knew that when I chose her. What's helping is lots of enrichment stuff to keep her busy, lots of toys to bite and chase and play with plus a kicker toy that she absolutely adores*, and lots of distraction with treats when I spot 'that look'. I'm being consistent with my responses, and always say a stern 'no biting' and slowly and carefully remove my arm/hand, so it's not a game for her. She's quite food motivated so we have identical pots of the same treats dotted around the house so they're always to hand to distract or reward her. I suspect she will always have a low trigger point but I see it as my job to work out what triggers it and avoid those things.

• www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/natural-100%25-catnip-kicker-cat-toy

I had the exact same problem with a rescue cat I had a few years ago. So much so that I had an hour long very tearful phone call with the rescue centre begging them for help before we might have had to send her back.
We found a Feliway plug-in was a massive help. We put one in the kitchen (where she slept overnight) and one in the living room (where she slept during the day lol). We also invested in a few fishing-rod toys for her, and a couple of catnip toys. It took time but she eventually calmed down a lot and while she did give an occasional nip every now and then, it was rare.
Persevere, I know it's hard but fingers crossed you'll get less injuries soon

Thanks all for your responses. I've ordered some kicker toys for him to see if they help and shall keep one on my desk and one by the bed!!

I grew up with a feisty cat so am used to the odd nip and scratch but have never encountered anything like this.

His eyes look a bit blue and snow bengals have blue eyes.

Fishing rod toys make mine worse!

She either just watches your hand moving and goes for that or tries to run away with the toy (not good if it's on elastic).

@Fluffycloudland77

His eyes look a bit blue and snow bengals have blue eyes.

He has blue eyes. I've not heard of a snow bengal. I shall go and look them up.

@Yarnivore

Fishing rod toys make mine worse!

She either just watches your hand moving and goes for that or tries to run away with the toy (not good if it's on elastic).

We've got the fishing rod toys but he's never been interested in them.

His favourite toys are hairbands! Its amazing how many he's found.

Ah, he’s been hand reared. This is very common in cats that haven’t learnt bite restraint from their mums.