- Joined
- Jul 29, 2015
- Messages
- 1
- Purraise
- 1
This post is a little bit long, sorry. But I have a weirdo cat with a weirdo history, so I want to lay it all out there.
Zoa is six months old or so - I'm not sure exactly. I adopted him about three months ago when I was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in a rural village in Africa. He was a malnourished, feral, wild little baby. Following the advice of my village, I had to domesticate him from scratch (he spent the first few days tied to a rock...their advice, not my idea). But in no time, he began to recognize me as a kind of savior, and we became besties.
There was no question that he'd be coming home with me when I was sent back to the States a couple months ago. We're now living in a small studio apartment in New York.
Zoa is essentially a tiny African Wild Cat. I'm not sure how to explain it except to say that it just seems like his instincts are much much stronger than that of most house cats. His play really looks like a hunt in the savannah, he resents how public his litter box is, and he is very vocal. He also looks pretty strange. Tiny cat with a tiny head and HUGE ears and eyes.
So he's always been intense, but he and I were always like two peas in a pod - very cuddly and lovey all the time.
Well starting about a month ago, he started biting me a lot more. My hands were his prey of choice, no matter what I did to stop it. I know that it's just his way of playing with his little companion, and I think it was also teething-related. But still. It hurt.
He's since been neutered, which you'd think would help. But no, it's gotten a lot worse.
For about a week or so, he's gotten really rough. At 5am every morning, he goes on a rampage running violently through the apartment and bringing all his toys up on my bed to play - using me as a fun obstacle in his hunt. He doesn't try to avoid me - he likes to use my sleeping body to pounce off of, hide under, use as a distraction to his prey... you name it. Because it's 5 o'clock in the morning, I'm not necessarily ready to seriously train him. I just want him to stop. I try throwing his toys off the bed, but he brings them back. I try yelling at him, and he just attacks me. I even try getting up and feeding him so he'll be distracted. Doesn't work. Every day, 5am, the hunt begins. I try clipping his claws about once a week, but recently it just provokes a fight. Again -- never mean, just aggressive.
I'm now scratched beyond belief (he got my face yesterday, and my arms and legs look like Pollock paintings) and its getting painful and embarassing. Not to mention that I'm getting up angry at the crack of dawn every day.
But most of all, it's making me sad! My baby, my little best friend, my only real companion has started turning on me, and I don't know how to stop it. He's still cuddly enough when he's sleeping, but all night and all morning, he's a wild child.
I'm not much of a cat person, so if there's an obvious answer here, I'm sorry to be so ignorant.
But help!
Zoa is six months old or so - I'm not sure exactly. I adopted him about three months ago when I was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in a rural village in Africa. He was a malnourished, feral, wild little baby. Following the advice of my village, I had to domesticate him from scratch (he spent the first few days tied to a rock...their advice, not my idea). But in no time, he began to recognize me as a kind of savior, and we became besties.
There was no question that he'd be coming home with me when I was sent back to the States a couple months ago. We're now living in a small studio apartment in New York.
Zoa is essentially a tiny African Wild Cat. I'm not sure how to explain it except to say that it just seems like his instincts are much much stronger than that of most house cats. His play really looks like a hunt in the savannah, he resents how public his litter box is, and he is very vocal. He also looks pretty strange. Tiny cat with a tiny head and HUGE ears and eyes.
So he's always been intense, but he and I were always like two peas in a pod - very cuddly and lovey all the time.
Well starting about a month ago, he started biting me a lot more. My hands were his prey of choice, no matter what I did to stop it. I know that it's just his way of playing with his little companion, and I think it was also teething-related. But still. It hurt.
He's since been neutered, which you'd think would help. But no, it's gotten a lot worse.
For about a week or so, he's gotten really rough. At 5am every morning, he goes on a rampage running violently through the apartment and bringing all his toys up on my bed to play - using me as a fun obstacle in his hunt. He doesn't try to avoid me - he likes to use my sleeping body to pounce off of, hide under, use as a distraction to his prey... you name it. Because it's 5 o'clock in the morning, I'm not necessarily ready to seriously train him. I just want him to stop. I try throwing his toys off the bed, but he brings them back. I try yelling at him, and he just attacks me. I even try getting up and feeding him so he'll be distracted. Doesn't work. Every day, 5am, the hunt begins. I try clipping his claws about once a week, but recently it just provokes a fight. Again -- never mean, just aggressive.
I'm now scratched beyond belief (he got my face yesterday, and my arms and legs look like Pollock paintings) and its getting painful and embarassing. Not to mention that I'm getting up angry at the crack of dawn every day.
But most of all, it's making me sad! My baby, my little best friend, my only real companion has started turning on me, and I don't know how to stop it. He's still cuddly enough when he's sleeping, but all night and all morning, he's a wild child.
I'm not much of a cat person, so if there's an obvious answer here, I'm sorry to be so ignorant.
But help!
