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.

He's a lovely cat Do you recall why you were told he is part Bengal, any particular markings etc? I ask because my cat is supposedly part Bengal, he is quite big has a "M" mark on his head and slightly large spots. His purr is like nothing I've ever heard and he plays "fetch" outside with a ball or twig, not that he actually brings it back to me but he tries!

Snow bengals have the Siamese gene bred into them (what kind of person thought ooh I’ll breed this demanding breed with this even more demanding breed? Surely they needed psychiatric care of some sort with thought processes like that) for the blue eyes.

One poked his paw out of its show cage to touch dh years ago, he tried to buy it as it was obviously meant to be but he wasn’t for sale. Not sure how our lad would have taken it either.

I would start by shutting him out of the room while you're sleeping or working. I wouldn't tolerate being attacked (be it play or not) while I was sleeping or trying to work. Just put him in another room.

Why do you keep him in the room with you when you know he behaves like that? My cats are kept downstairs overnight and have been since they were kittens.

One of my cats years ago did this. I too considered gauntlets.
It resolved itself by him discovering toilet rolls. He'd pounce on them, bite them and use his back legs to kick and tear them (like my arms).
Sadly he got knocked down by a car at 18 months so he was quite young when we had this issue.
The toilet rolls made a mess but solved our problem at the time.

Didn't add, he was Siamese.

Oh, I had a male cat that used to do that to me. God forbid I'd leave an arm hanging out from under the covers, or he'd be straight on it.

It wasn't aggression, so much as over excitement and dominance. It was essentially misplaced mating behaviour.

I vaguely remember a behaviourist recommending wrapping something crinkly like plastic bags around my arms as a deterrent, but I think I mostly shrieked and jerked away.

Our female is a bit like this. I agree with the idea of showing who's top cat. Sometimes I use my oven gloves as a wrestling toy with her. She recognises the gloves and gives them a good thrashing. I think she'd identify as a K-9 rottweiler if you asked her.

@MyShrivelledGnarlyFinger

He's a lovely cat Do you recall why you were told he is part Bengal, any particular markings etc? I ask because my cat is supposedly part Bengal, he is quite big has a "M" mark on his head and slightly large spots. His purr is like nothing I've ever heard and he plays "fetch" outside with a ball or twig, not that he actually brings it back to me but he tries!

We were told he was part Bengal as he had spots on his back and sides and his blue eyes (no idea if this is right or wrong)

He is definitely very playful and jumps and runs to catch his toys if you throw them. I’ve never seen a cat jump like it before.

Due to the layout of our house and that both my husband and I are working from home at the moment It’s really hard to keep him shut out of our spaces. The poor thing would be left with hall to play in and that’s not fair on him.

I’ve been encouraging the kids to play with him this evening to keep him entertained and try and wear him out. He’s now curled up in his basket asleep. Hopefully he won’t wake up too early tomorrow.

Due to the layout of our house and that both my husband and I are working from home at the moment It’s really hard to keep him shut out of our spaces. The poor thing would be left with hall to play in and that’s not fair on him.

But surely at night you just close the bedroom door? I'm sorry but there's no way I would tolerate getting woken at 5am by an aggressive cat launching himself at me and scratching and biting. Tolerating that kind of behaviour is just insane to me.

In terms of during the day - mine pretty much sleep all day long and couldn't give one single fuck if you were in the room or not if I was being attacked I would put him outside the room and shut him out there - again I think it's bonkers to just accept being attacked and bitten on a regular basis.

Does the cat go outside to hunt and burn off any energy? If not, is that an option at all?

I think it looks more like play than genuine attack. One of mine can be a little like this - she's a year old and I seem to have a few scratches on my right arm as a permanent feature! She's very loving at other times so I know she doesn't hate me.
Cats can go a bit psycho when they play. Try a Feliway plug in. Avoid games with hands as the target (I am guilty of still doing this so have no excuse really). You do need to anticipate it, intercept it and be firm. Same cat is a bugger for stalking and staring at my older cat. If I catch her doing this I either pick her up, squirt her with water or throw something soft (like a duster) towards her which breaks her concentration.
Also an oriental breed

Some cats need a lot of human company.

My part Bengal is a huge jumper and also very demanding with my time. Often he follows me about miaowing for my attention so brushing fussing and him sucking my clothes seems to pacify him. It's like having a child again.

My kitten does this but it's normal behaviours at that age it sounds like he may not have been socialised properly so doesn't realise he's being so rough. Sounds stupid but I do a bit of a high pitched squeal when he bites on and it startles him then he stops doing it...if they were doing it with litter mates this is how they learn to stop as anything too rough and the playmate will Yelp!

Get him a Kong kicker toy these are really good for bunny kicking and move away from him to another room if you can when he does it so he doesn't associate it with rewarding behaviour

I was also going to suggest a kong kickeroo and maybe some zyklene. Pet remedy is also good if feliway doesn't work.