Play Aggressive Cat

[CheerfulYank]

I’d never intended on having a cat; I had them growing up and liked them but my husband has mild allergies.

However a little over a year ago, my boss found a tiny poorly kitten curled up under his neighbor’s car, and I took it home “until a proper home could be found”.

Well, we still have him. My daughter (8) and I love him. My husband and older son (14) could take him or leave him (with lots of cleaning he doesn’t aggravate my husband’s allergies anymore so that’s all good). But our youngest boy (6) is TERRIFIED of him.

He wasn’t always, when the cat was a tiny weak kitten it was fine. But now that he’s older and stronger, the cat is very play aggressive with my son. It’s not all the time, but it’s happened enough that my son is scared to walk up or down the stairs alone because the cat has occasionally run up and batted at his feet when he does.

My son constantly wants one of us to shut the cat up in the bathroom (where he sleeps at night) but of course not getting his energy out or being able to play makes it worse.

What can I do?

Is he neutered and does he go outdoors?

@Yarnivore he is neutered. He doesn’t go outdoors because we don’t have a safe way for him to do that right now, but when the snow is gone I’d like to put up a catio thing outside the window so he could go out if he wanted to.

Ok, so do you have lots of enrichment stuff for him, and play with him?

My latest rescue was tricky and one thing that worked was little treat pots and toys dotted around the house for moments when she needed to be distracted or rewarded. So along these lines, your son could put a treat on the stairs every time he goes up/down to distract the cat and change the behaviour pattern, or throw a toy up or down for him to chase.

We do have toys and stuff…I hadn’t thought of having him throw one down the stairs or doing a treat, though. Thank you! I will try that.

I suspect one of the issues is that he's an "only kitten" and sees your DS as a playmate. If the cat was found abandoned it's likely he had little to no socialisation with humans or other cats which also won't be helping.

I would be encouraging lots of play away from the body - so use things like laser pointers or flirt poles, or get an electronic toy where the cat chases a mouse or a light. He needs to get his energy out in a way that doesn't involve humans hands or skin.

Also, don't let anyone in the house rough play with him - human hands must always be kind and gentle.

Fairylights I think so too. I’ve tried using that to suggest to my husband that we get another one, but so far that’s a no. We do have a dog, but she’s not much for playing with him. I’ll look into a laser thing, thanks!