friendship with new kitty

we recently brought a new kitty in our home approx. 3 weeks ago. we rescued him from a bad home. he turned out to be the sweetest cat, loved to be pet and held. but that was while i had him separate in a different room. but within a few days of letting hm out to explore the new home and new cat-mates. he adapted really quickly. but after about a week of settling in, he started being violent to us. we'd be petting him like usual then he would stratch my hand or even my face. ouch!

this cat is really interesting. all of our ball oranments on our christmas tree are interesting, i found a broken one this morning. ive tried shouting NO! every time he jumps up on the table where the tree is. but hes sneaky! when hes hungry, he will flip over his food dish or drag it to the other side of the room. hahaha... he is NOT afraid of the vaccuum. i was shocked by this. both my other cats has always run and hide from it but this new kitty will stay right where he is and nap while i vaccuum the house. his sleeping spot is on the end of the couch on the top. he likes it there because from where he sleeps he can see through the mirror reflection to the kitchen where i am usually cooking or doing the dishes. my husband says he watches me a lot.

anyway, i am sad because... he is so violent. i had to give him medication for his ring worm and its a BATTLE everyday. i try wrapping him in a towel tightly and stick the pill in his mouth. he hides it under his tongue and spits it out later! I SAW HIM DOING IT!

Recently, i was petting him while he was on his couch (his spot) and he stratched my face out of the blue. i was so mad, i slapped his hand. he ran and hid. i went after him and i locked him away in another bedroom for about 10 minutes. i went back in there and he was napping on a chair, i went in and i sat down on the floor. he came and purrring and got in my lap and i spent about 5minutes being friendly with him then i let him out and now i am sitting on the couch typing this and he is sleeping on the couch very close to me (NOT His spot) and he has his arms stretched out to touch my shoulders and his face is rested near my shoulder, now he is being sweet.

he is a hyper energized kitten (6 months old) i wonder if this will grow out with age?? my two 3 year old cats arent that way anymore. maybe its just normal as a kitten to attack (play) or be so crazy and will grow out of it with age?

He sounds like he is being a kitten, but you are giving him mixed signals so he doesn't know where he is with you. Never never slap or hit him, he will not associate it with being bad, just with you hurting him. When he is hyper, as you have discovered, give him down time - put him in another room for awhile. This is not punishment - he can never see it like that, just a chance for him to cool off and calm down. Maybe without realising it, you are being 'aggressive' in his terms - staring at him, 'fighting' him and he is just defending himself as he sees it. But many kittens and young cats work off a lot of energy in playfights and exploring and he may just be doing that.

What a stinker lol. One of my kitties has this 'multiple personality' thing going on too. She'll want to be held and loved on one minute and the next minute will bite and jump all over the place. When he's being bad try doing this, either buy a cheap squirt bottle (you can find them in the cosmetic section for hair in most stores) or try clapping loudly. Mine react really well to the clapping.

I also have an adult cat that was abused as a kitten and she would react very violently if you tried to touch her and she wasn't expecting it. It took a while to break her of the habit and for her to learn to trust us. Now she lets me do just about anything to her, pick her nose and eye goobies, cut her nails, and give her medicine. Your kitty can be 'tamed' and he'll probably grow out of it a little. One of the best things for my adult kitty was getting her our 2 youngest to play with. You may not be able to do this seeing that you already have 3 total but it's just a suggestion.

As for trying to get the pill down here's another techinue you can try. "Sit" on the kitty, and by this I mean to sit on your knees and put him inbetween your legs, then hook your feet together behind you so that he can't scoot out the back. You can also try giving him a syringe with water in it after giving him the pill to force him to swallow it. Don't give to much or else he could get it into his lungs. If he still won't take the pill see if they can give you a liquid form of the medicine. You can also try to crush it up and put it in wet food for him to eat. Hope this helps

I think he is being a normal little kitty. The fact that he watches you in another room is to me a sign that he has bonded with you. The scratching is kitty stuff. I think he will grow out of it. Please dont hit you're little kitten, that never works, and makes them fearful of humans in general. On the meds, I try to get liquid meds, much easier to get the cat to eat. Pills are a pain with a cat, but what I have done them when I had no choice but a pill, was to get his little mouth open, and put it near the back of his tongue until he swallows it. Hope this helps you. Good luck with your new kitty.

Mitts did this almost non stop for ages. He's now 10 months old and has calmed down so much. Thank god!

One way with the meds that I've learned in Taiwan. Use a Mortar and Pestle and grind them down to powder. Mix the powder with baby food that is meat flavored. Mitts has taken all his meds this way and he actually looks forward to it. He's sad when the meds are finished as he then gets no more "Gerber baby food - veal flavored"