Hello,
I have a 5 year old cat that I adopted as a kitten at a local animal shelter. I got him in a time when I was very down and needed someone just like him. I babied him too much and I (and my room mate at the time) played with him a ton, but in all the ways that I am now being told were bad ways. By this I mean we did the normal rough play because it was adorable when he was small and couldn't really hurt us too much. I hadn't really been told what the outcome of this would be when he got older, and honestly didn't really think about it. As he got older, however, he still thought that was how he was supposed to play and he began to hurt my room mate and I to the point of making us bleed.
As the years went on, he did it still, but only every now and then. I took in another cat, a female who was a couple years older than he in hopes that he would calm down because he now had a playmate. However, he seemed to play pretty rough with her, too, and she would have a lot less fun than he did.
Once I moved out and in with a guy I was dating, I think things got worse for him and for her. My boyfriend had 4 cats and refused to leave any of these cats with his parents. Two of them were sisters and they were VERY hateful and very rough players, moreso than Ryu (my male cat), which was hard to believe. It became very hard for Ryu and Buttons (my female cat) to cope, but I did find that Ryu would defend Butons and fight for her. But, the fights were very, very bad and resulted in fur being ripped out and anyone in their way getting severely hurt. After one such bad fight, I finally got the guy I was with to take the two sister cats back to his parents, but the damage was already mentally done for Ryu.
Eventually, I moved away from this person and his cats and moved into an apartment where it was just my two cats again. However, I noticed that Ryu was now even worse than he was before. He play fought with Buttons so rough that she found hiding places that he couldn't fit and stayed there. She constantly walks around like she's on egg shells so as not to have to deal with Ryu if possible. I feel very, very bad for her, especially when I am not at home to break up the fights if it happens (which I do with a spry bottle).
He still attacks me very badly from time to time. Which usually takes place when I go lie down for a nap or something. He draws blood each and every single time, and each time it happens it seems to get worse. Today, for instance, he attacked me and where I can ususally get him to stop by grabbin the back of his neck (where the mother cat would do so), this has stopped working and he twisted around and grabbed the palm of my hand and bit so deep that it broke the skin and damaged a tendon, as well as scratched/bite up both of my arms to where I was bleeding everywhere. I eventually got him to stop and put him into a room by himself for a time out alone.
I am becoming increasingly afraid of my cat, as well as afraid for Buttons. I do NOT want to re-home Ryu, or have him put to sleep or whatever else most people would suggest.. I raised him from a kitten, he has been there for me through so much, and he means the world to me.. But I am afraid I may never be able to have children around him, or that this will get increasingly worse. I do play with him each day, but nothing I have bought for him seems to interest him.. I have one of those robots that is under a cloth that has feathers and it goes in circles (if that makes any sense), I have various toys on sticks, several toy mice, stuffed animals, laser pointer.. You name it, I probably have it.. But, I am always up for suggestions.. He seems very lazy when I try to play with him, and just lies there.. Cat nip makes him even worse.
Please, help me and give any advice possible.. I want to save my cat and my relationship with him.
I have a 5 year old cat that I adopted as a kitten at a local animal shelter. I got him in a time when I was very down and needed someone just like him. I babied him too much and I (and my room mate at the time) played with him a ton, but in all the ways that I am now being told were bad ways. By this I mean we did the normal rough play because it was adorable when he was small and couldn't really hurt us too much. I hadn't really been told what the outcome of this would be when he got older, and honestly didn't really think about it. As he got older, however, he still thought that was how he was supposed to play and he began to hurt my room mate and I to the point of making us bleed.
As the years went on, he did it still, but only every now and then. I took in another cat, a female who was a couple years older than he in hopes that he would calm down because he now had a playmate. However, he seemed to play pretty rough with her, too, and she would have a lot less fun than he did.
Once I moved out and in with a guy I was dating, I think things got worse for him and for her. My boyfriend had 4 cats and refused to leave any of these cats with his parents. Two of them were sisters and they were VERY hateful and very rough players, moreso than Ryu (my male cat), which was hard to believe. It became very hard for Ryu and Buttons (my female cat) to cope, but I did find that Ryu would defend Butons and fight for her. But, the fights were very, very bad and resulted in fur being ripped out and anyone in their way getting severely hurt. After one such bad fight, I finally got the guy I was with to take the two sister cats back to his parents, but the damage was already mentally done for Ryu.
Eventually, I moved away from this person and his cats and moved into an apartment where it was just my two cats again. However, I noticed that Ryu was now even worse than he was before. He play fought with Buttons so rough that she found hiding places that he couldn't fit and stayed there. She constantly walks around like she's on egg shells so as not to have to deal with Ryu if possible. I feel very, very bad for her, especially when I am not at home to break up the fights if it happens (which I do with a spry bottle).
He still attacks me very badly from time to time. Which usually takes place when I go lie down for a nap or something. He draws blood each and every single time, and each time it happens it seems to get worse. Today, for instance, he attacked me and where I can ususally get him to stop by grabbin the back of his neck (where the mother cat would do so), this has stopped working and he twisted around and grabbed the palm of my hand and bit so deep that it broke the skin and damaged a tendon, as well as scratched/bite up both of my arms to where I was bleeding everywhere. I eventually got him to stop and put him into a room by himself for a time out alone.
I am becoming increasingly afraid of my cat, as well as afraid for Buttons. I do NOT want to re-home Ryu, or have him put to sleep or whatever else most people would suggest.. I raised him from a kitten, he has been there for me through so much, and he means the world to me.. But I am afraid I may never be able to have children around him, or that this will get increasingly worse. I do play with him each day, but nothing I have bought for him seems to interest him.. I have one of those robots that is under a cloth that has feathers and it goes in circles (if that makes any sense), I have various toys on sticks, several toy mice, stuffed animals, laser pointer.. You name it, I probably have it.. But, I am always up for suggestions.. He seems very lazy when I try to play with him, and just lies there.. Cat nip makes him even worse.
Please, help me and give any advice possible.. I want to save my cat and my relationship with him.
