Do any of you understand polydactyl's???

I have one who is male who has become a real PEST to his sister's, his mama, and his *aunt*. Izzy really isn't his aunt but she's elder kitty and that's how we refer to her.

Charley is the baby of the family, the only male, and is a royal PITA!!! I clip his claws almost weekly to keep them under control, esp the extra dewclaw and that one is hard to get at. But he has taken to going after each of the other cats in the house almost like he hates them...

We have PLENTY of toys, a tree for them to climb. I'm here almost 24/7, and yet I am about ready to wring his scrawy neck when he goes tearing after one of them, hellbent on making their life miserable! And HE just wants to play! They are 3 years old...I have triplets, is there any hope that EVENTUALLY he will calm down???? Or is there something I can do to stop this...like maybe use canned air if I catch him at the right time?

I know they do love each other cause I've seen Izzy wash Charley when he's asleep...but then he'll wake up and paw at her, and she'll growl at him and slap back and off they go!

What happened between them was that before his claws were long enough for me to clip, he tore her back in playing and she hasn't forgotten that.

Any helpful suggestions or am I just gonna have to keep trying to pry them apart

They do sleep together most of the time so they aren't ALWAYS squabbling like children. Liz

Liz, this isn't just a Poly trait, it happens in a lot of feline households. Please don't use canned air or any other form of punishment on Charley. It sounds like the females know how to handle him and don't need your intervention. Remember, they have ways (hissing, growling, batting) of letting Charley know when they've had enough of his antics.

I'm assuming he's neutered. If not, his raging hormones will be definitely contributing to his behaviour and you should get him neutered (and the females spayed) ASAP. If it's worrying you, you could invest in a Feliway plug-in and see if this calms his behaviour. http://www.catsplay.com/feliway.php3 .

Oh yes, he's neutered...he was the first of the children to get spayed/neutered. His mama got spayed before he did and then he was next up. I'm a firm believer in that...Only reason we had the children was that Maggie arrived pregnant.

I wouldn't use canned air directly on him, too dangeous, but in his direction. Just to get his attention.

Maybe he'll outgrow it, if I don't go gray in the process, LOL. Liz

Charlie and the girls will probably work out their own relationship without your help. In fact they'll probably work it out better without your help. Sometimes we humans think we have to fix relationships whereas it would be better to let the cats work out their own pecking order and relationships.

I agree...I always let mine work out their differences between them. The only way i would interfere would be if one was sick and being attacked by the other one if they accidently got together.....but normally if one was sick they`d be seperate anyhow if there was a scuffle between them.
Linda

Polly (6 months) is always pouncing on Prego (5 years) because she wants to play. When Prego gets sick of it, he'll give her a good smack on the head. As long as no one is getting hurt, I would just let them work it out on their own.