Cat version of Dr Jekkyl & Mr Hyde

Hello
We adopted a cat from our local humane society for my mother. This cat is approximately 1yrs old and is very affectionate but his other side of behavior is a bit hard to break him out of. He would be very affectionate at times but in the midst of petting he would have the notion to want to bite. Or you may walk past him and he would chase after you and leap at great heights to catch your hand or your leg. His other difficult problem is to get him from trying to dart out when the door opens. A few times as quick as my family has been he has slipped out and almost ran away.

The tactics that I have used on my own cat (I live elsewhere) do not seem to work on the young one at all. Spraying him with water does NOTHING for him. Saying NO sternly does nothing for him except for the odd time it may work.

Does anyone have any helpful advice as to what to do?

Thank you kindly

I am going through the same exact problem right now with my five month old baby. I took Gator to the vet today and while he was adorable and sat on my lap like an angel, once the vet started to check him out he went crazy. It looks like I have the chicken pox my arms are covered with sores from all of his redirected aggression and playtime bites he's given to me over the last month. A stern "no" does not work for him and neither does crying, yelping or loud "ouches". When he gets fired up (mostly by just seeing my other cat) or by me trying to force him to cuddle on the couch or in bed when all he wants to do is play, I put him in time out for about 10 minutes and that calms him down but once he's out of his room, he's right back at it within minutes. I have those expensive "calming" phermone plug in's all over the house and it does nothing. He's immune to the lures of catnip also. I play with him for at least 1 hour before bedtime and constantly whenever I have spare time at home after work. Here's what the vet recommended:

1) Use a whistle and keep it around your neck so when he bites, you could scare him with that noise since a loud "no" or yelp from me does nothing.

2) Put him in time out for 45 minute intervals. I guess 10 minutes isn't enough tough love to teach them that if they want to play and want your affection, they have to earn it.

3) She also gave me a bottle of "Composure" a calming liquid to put in his food twice a day.

At this point, I am willing to try anything - now he's attacking my face and head in the morning around 5am. Love bites or not, I will not let my face turn into the scary mess my arms are! I am going to try the above suggestions and will keep you posted. Also, if anyone else has had an EXTREMELY aggressive, yet EXTREMELY loveable kitten and found something else that works and isn't mentioned above, please let me know!