Can't cope with this cat - what to do?

[SunglassesSeventy]

A few years ago I took a cat from a rescue centre. She's very difficult, she doesn't like humans and from the start she growled and hissed at my DH, and swipes at him when he walks past her (and she chooses to sit in the middle of the kitchen floor when he's cooking etc).

She refuses to be picked up, she attacks if you try.

She has very long fur, and refuses to be groomed, she attacks if you try. I had a groomer come to my house, and took her to see a pair of groomers - none of them could groom her, she was the most aggressive cat they'd ever encountered.

Each year she gets very matted up, including around her bottom, so she gets poo stuck to her matted bottom fur and starts to smell bad. Each year I take her to the vets to be shaved under sedation.

She does things like jump on to my desk and then attack me for using my mouse and keyboard. It's quite frightening.

I don't feel I can cope with having her, but then it doesn't seem fair to try and rehome her as I would just be passing on the problem to someone else.

Anyone got any suggestions?

This type of situation is always difficult, and you will probably get a range of answers.

I’m assuming she’s had a full health check at the vets and they’re aware of all these problems? If so, have they suggested anything?

Definitely don’t try to pick her up - she’s made her feelings quite clear there! One of my boys (RIP) loved being picked up. His brother hates it, so I respect that and don’t do it.

A friend of mine,, who has had a few cats over the years, had one who sounded quite a lot like your cat. She kind of gave over the spare room to that cat. Food, water, litter tray - plus an igloo bed and access to a cupboard to hide away in. Door was left ajar for cat to exit if it wanted to, it was never shut in there. After a couple of months, cat started to venture out at night, and then occasionally in the day. Said cat now spends a couple of hours snoozing at the other end of the sofa.

Also might be worth checking out some of Jackson Galaxy’s videos - am sure he’d have something covering this situation.

The main thing is to not “force yourself” on your cat.

I feel your pain re the pool and matting, my old boy used to get this, but I was lucky that he was ok with the vets sorting him out (no need for sedation apart from 2 occasions).

My personal view is that he shouldn’t go to a rescue and become either someone else’s problem or stuck in a rescue for ages. Also, how old is she? Has she got years of feeling like this, or is she in her later part of life?

A good friend of mine had a cat with pretty much identical issues - long-haired, vicious, came from a rescue. Various vet interventions to rule out any obvious causes.

Then she moved house and went to a new vet - the vet was obviously a detective at heart and said something's not right - after a full-body x-ray/scan (I can't quite remember which) it was clear that the cat had had an accident in the past and had healed badly and was obviously in pain - once treated for her pain she was far more amenable although never a lap cat

That's interesting Defiantly41, I'll ask the vet whether they think there are any other issues.

Furries she is approximately 11 years old. Sadly I don't think the separate room thing would work, she has run of the house and has her various favourite spots already (including on my desk where she likes to attack me while I work).