Rocky Versus Everybody!!!!

I am having problems with my youngest one, six month old Rocky. He came from a cat rescue group here in St. Louis, and I got the impression that he was sent from one foster home to another. He always did have an "in your face" personality, but now that he's gotten bigger it's becoming a problem. My other two cats, Angel and Ruby, are two mature ladies (Angel's a very young six, Ruby's a fat and sassy five year old) and they are both fixed. They seem to like Rocky well enough, but he has become increasingly aggressive towards them. He is scheduled to be fixed in two weeks. In the last three months, he's had relapses of a particularly nasty URI he had as a kitten. My vet would not vaccinate him until his symptoms subsided, otherwise he would have been fixed long before this.

I have bought numerous fishing pole toys and played with Rocky for fifteen minutes twice a day, but he will still mock attack Angel and Ruby. There's a lot of hissing, spitting, and cussing, a the fur does fly, but no blood. Ruby can fight pretty good for a fat little girl; she doesn't let him get away with much, but Angel lets Rocky boss her around. I gotta admit I don't like that, but I try not to interfere. That yowling does get on my nerves, though---it sounds like they are killing each other.

Another thing he does if he sees them laying on the floor he will walk up to them and just fall over on the floor next to them. That was cute when he was little, but now he's tall and leggy, wih big feet. The other cats hiss and start fighting him. If I give him a dirty look he runs for the bathroom and climbs up atop the shower wall. He stays up there until he thinks the coast is clear, and then he creeps back down.

I realize that some of this aggression is due to the fact that he hasn't been fixed yet. I've seen him stare at and approach both females the same way male cats do when they want to mate. Is there anything else I can do to help them get along better, before and after the surgery? I try to show affection equally to everybody. Rocky's a lap cat, Angel is too, up to a certain point, and Ruby will tolerate being touched very lightly. (She was raised in a barn before I got her and wasn't handled by humans very much.)

I hate to admit this, but if the surgery doesn't calm him down somewhat, I am giving serious consideration to turning Rocky back to the cat rescue group. I don't want to do that, but the fighting is getting on my nerves.

He may calm down somewhat after he's neutered. Unneutered males approaching adolescence can get pretty obnoxious sometimes.

My biggest (neutered) boy Mr. Underfoot loves to try & attack the other cats every now & then...Oreo (the other neutered male) will wrestle with him happily, but the female cats hate it.

I bought him a giant toy rat that's almost as big as he is...you can also use a large sock stuffed with cotton & catnip, or any large soft toy that he can rabbit-kick. A big soft 'kitty boxing' toy on a spring mounted to a base might help too. I use the toy to redirect his attention if he starts acting like he's going to jump on the other cats - it usually distracts him, and he can take out his aggression on the toy. If he continues to pester the others, I'll pick him up & put him in a separate room with his toys for a little while until he calms down.

You might also want to try the Feliway Comfort Zone plug-in or spray - it helps to calm cats down. There is also a product called Rescue Remedy that you can buy at most health-food stores that may help - put a few drops in the cats' water.

*also, if they're indoor cats, you might want to trim their nails to minimize the impact of any scratching.

When my kitten Thor matured sexually(Thor is 6 1/2 now)I had the same problem. He became outrageously aggressive. Each cat is different, but as soon as Thor was fixed the problem went away. He was back to his old self. Wait until after the surgery to see what the effect will be. If there is still too much agression, it could be him adapting to his new home. I don't know how long you've had him, but when we first adopted Isis, she was a bully for several months. She had to learn to share and be gentle and get secure with the fact that she had a permanent home. Cats coming from a feral or street environment need time to learn their new rules of life.

Thanks to everybody who responded! "Obnoxious adolescent"---I like that, it fits Rocky perfectly. I'm going to follow your suggestions, with the Feliway, and the giant catnip mouse. Oh God, I can't wait for that surgery!

One of my ferals was a a real mean and vicious cats until he was neutered. He is now the sweetest lover boy you can imagine. I think you will find that neutering will work wonders. I hope he is healthy enough to have the procedure soon.

I swear Rocky knows what's gonna happen in another week, and he has redoubled his efforts to persuade Angel and Ruby to have sex with him. If I clear my throat and give him a dirty look he gets up and runs into the bathroom. He stays there on his own, with the door open, for about fifteen, twenty minutes, then he creeps back out and quietly lays down, but soon after that he's begging again...

Poor little horny boy! He and the girls will be soooo relieved once he no longer has the urge.

I don't BELIEVE this! That upper respiratory infection has come back on Rocky and now his surgery has been postponed for a couple more weeks. The little bugger started up that wheezing and bubbling again. I took him to the vet to get checked out, and my vet suggested that I keep an eye on him, and if he stops eating and drinking to bring him back in. You know they don't like over-prescribing antibiotics, and this poor little guy has already gone thru two rounds of that bubblegum stuff already.

I'm giving him a vitamin C tablet crushed into chicken broth once a day for a week or so. I noticed that Angel and Ruby also have a slight discharge and seem a little wheezy, too, so they're ALL getting the chicken broth. Right now I'm looking for that windw of opportunity...as soon as the wheezing stops, he's going in for surgery! I talked to my vet and he said he'd work with me!

Oh no! Poor guy. Hissy swears by Grape Seed Extract to boost immune functioning. You might write about this problem in the Health and Nutrition forum to see whether the health experts have some helpful advice.

I think I'll do just that sometime today. I don't believe this--I swear this cat is faking this because he knows what's gonna happen. He's got a sly grin on his face sometimes.