our jake has been a challenge since day 1. he was a feral taken in by a home-based shelter network in central florida. he seems to have been thrown from a car based on his injuries - his right leg is a mess but was already healed when we adopted him. jake came into a home with three cats - an old male about 14 at the time, and two females aged 5 and 6. jake has always been rambunctious - he likes to play and will only cuddle on his terms. he's always been a bit of a fighter and would play fight with the older male and the older female (this was not always play based on her noises).
once the older male had to be put to sleep a little over two years ago, i think jake wanted to be the alpha cat. he started fighting with my older female much more often and would drag in the younger female. we moved to a new apartment and i thought that might be a good opportunity for the cats to reshuffle since there was no existing smells or whatever. jake has continued to bully the other two cats. we thought he would fight with them in the morning before we fed them to wake us up; he started chasing the younger cat under our bed, trapping her, and smacking her around so she makes horrible hissing, growling, yowling noises. jake now does that even after we feed them in the morning. jake and the older female will occasionally play, chasing each other around the house and taking turns being the 'aggressor' - there is no hissing or growling during these 'fights'.
the issue is that jake seems to be getting worse. he bit me two weeks ago and i required pretty serious oral antibiotics. i think he was overstimulated so it was kind of my fault but he's never done more than nibble during rough play with myself or my husband, usually to let us know he's had enough. we have a feliway that's been in for a couple of weeks - no change yet, but i've read that they can take up to 60 days to really work. i have brought up the idea of rehoming but neither my husband nor myself really wants to do that. we have multiple places to scratch, places to sleep, places to hide. we play with jake daily, whether trying to get him to run with the laser pointer or using toys on sticks for him to jump for. i've used homeopathic drops like rescue remedy (and one other one) to try and calm him down. we have used a water bottle to spritz him to deter him from being naughty (he stops what he's doing but it does not stop him from trying again in a minute or two). when jake gets really bad and cannot be deterred, we give him a time out in the bedroom without the other cats. he seems to just lie on the bed; he's not destructive or whatever when we give him a time out. i guess i'm trying to figure out what our next step is after feliway? is prescription medication the next step?
once the older male had to be put to sleep a little over two years ago, i think jake wanted to be the alpha cat. he started fighting with my older female much more often and would drag in the younger female. we moved to a new apartment and i thought that might be a good opportunity for the cats to reshuffle since there was no existing smells or whatever. jake has continued to bully the other two cats. we thought he would fight with them in the morning before we fed them to wake us up; he started chasing the younger cat under our bed, trapping her, and smacking her around so she makes horrible hissing, growling, yowling noises. jake now does that even after we feed them in the morning. jake and the older female will occasionally play, chasing each other around the house and taking turns being the 'aggressor' - there is no hissing or growling during these 'fights'.
the issue is that jake seems to be getting worse. he bit me two weeks ago and i required pretty serious oral antibiotics. i think he was overstimulated so it was kind of my fault but he's never done more than nibble during rough play with myself or my husband, usually to let us know he's had enough. we have a feliway that's been in for a couple of weeks - no change yet, but i've read that they can take up to 60 days to really work. i have brought up the idea of rehoming but neither my husband nor myself really wants to do that. we have multiple places to scratch, places to sleep, places to hide. we play with jake daily, whether trying to get him to run with the laser pointer or using toys on sticks for him to jump for. i've used homeopathic drops like rescue remedy (and one other one) to try and calm him down. we have used a water bottle to spritz him to deter him from being naughty (he stops what he's doing but it does not stop him from trying again in a minute or two). when jake gets really bad and cannot be deterred, we give him a time out in the bedroom without the other cats. he seems to just lie on the bed; he's not destructive or whatever when we give him a time out. i guess i'm trying to figure out what our next step is after feliway? is prescription medication the next step?
