Adopted a Kitten Back in November, This is The Kind Of Behavior She Shows To Us

Hello everyone:

Back in November, we adopted a 3 month old female kitten. However, we are beginning to regret it since it cost us so much money.

We are led to believe she's a feral. She will when we are petting her and even playing with her attack us to the point where she's scratching which causes bleeding, biting hard, and what's worse is that she's attacking my older cat possibly causing scars on him. She is also a huge troublemaker. She climbs on tables, counters, screens, knocks down lamps, beverage glasses, and all kind of other junk.

We are saying she's a feral because we are led to believe that she's a wild cat who lived outside for who knows how long. The Humane Society did not inform us about this. She did however have some sort of infection which caused her to sneeze a lot and as a result of that, my older cat started sneezing a lot too for a while. This has since gone away.

What are your suggestions on what we should do. We are at the point of since she's behaving like this, it might be time for euthanization. And if we take her back to our humane society, they will make us pay even more money which is not right at all.

Has she been fixed? And has this behavior been going on since you adopted her?

Yes she's fixed. I'm going to see about finding her a farm home since she may be a good barn cat.

First off, please, please don't euthanise her. Everything you say about her leads me to two conclusions.

Regarding the attacking - I would say that her turning on you when you're stroking her is simply due to overstimulation. Some cats just don't like to be stroked very much. Watch her body language when stroking her - the second you see her tail start to twitch is the time to stop all touch. She can still be on your lap or beside you, but her tail twitching is the first sign that she's getting over stimulated and needs you to back off. If you continually ignore her warning signs then she'll lash out in desperation.

Attacks during play. First off - are you using your hands or feet to play with her (or did you when she was younger)? Hand/foot play is the quickest way to get attacked - if you make a body part 'prey' then of course you run the risk of getting hurt. Play is very important for her, but choose toys that put your hands a long way from her target - Da Bird is ideal, as are other rod and line toys, laser pointers etc.

The destructive behaviour and attacks on your older cat are most likely due to youthful exuberance, too much energy, and a lack of appropriate ways to expend that energy in a positive way. Regular playtime with toys like those mentioned above are the key to draining her energy on a positive way. Ideally she'll want two or more play sessions a day - each time aiming to fully wear her out. Also, look at providing her with plenty of vertical space - cat trees, cat shelves and walkways to give her space to climb without destroying your home. Vertical space will help your older boy too - go through the whole house looking at it from a cat's perspective. The aim is to remove any places where one cat can get cornered, and block off any places they can trap themselves (such as under the bed or other pieces of furniture).

Feliway diffusers throughout the house may also help with calming both cats down a bit. Composure liquid or treats can also be useful, as can flower essences (such as Jackson Galaxy's spirit essences range).

These articles should help :-

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/playtime-aggression
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/breaking-up-cat-fights
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/cat-aggression-toward-people
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/cat-play-the-rules-of-the-game
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/playing-with-your-cat-ten-things-every-cat-owner-needs-to-know