I've read the Do's and Don'ts and realize my approach has been wrong, so that leaves me with my mental pockets hanging out. I'm out of ideas. I'm hoping some of the cat ladies and cat men here will have some suggestions. I sat down and wrote out a little essay to help you understand the problem even before I created an account, so here goes. I even left what I did wrong in. Don't yell at me, I get the message:
I'm a 68 year old man living in a 1-bedroom apt in Portland, OR. My only roommate is my cat.
I have a cat I named Squeaky who has presented a behavior problem from the start which seems to be getting worse by the day. I got her at 4 or 5 months from an animal shelter and I'm the only human she knows, really, in terms of being exposed on a regular basis. I think she was well accustomed to humans and isn't even semi-feral. In fact, the reason I chose her is that of all the kittens in the shelter's cat room, she was the one who took notice of me and reached out in the universal "Please pick me up and hold me gesture."
I've lived with several cats in my life and have never experienced or witnessed a cat who wants attention and comfort so much that she will attack a human when they end the comfort or attention, seemingly as a kind of revenge.
Here's a typical scenario with Squeaky. She will come up while I'm on the couch trying to work on my computer (it's not on my lap, it's on a computer stand). She crawls up my chest with her forepaws which signals me to bend my left arm so that she can sit on it, cradled like a baby. I typically pet her with my right hand. She'd be happy to stay there for a long time, but I wouldn't get much done.
I will do that for a few minutes, but then I need to get back to what I'm doing. Well, sometimes she will turn and scratch or bite me right then. Sometimes I can get her to rest on my lap or curl up next to me. Sometimes she accepts that or sometimes she seems to be waiting for the right moment to attack. She will scratch and often bite as well and then attempt to dart away.
How I handle an attack has a lot to do with what's possible. Much of the time I can grab her before she runs away. I will hold her down and yell at her. Sometimes I will thump her on the nose with my index and middle finger. Not hard enough to cause pain, but as a way to say "You can't do that to me!" Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to get the message and, if anything, things are escalating with her attacks becoming harsher and more brazen with her returning after running away to attack some more. I also sometimes squirt water if I can't grab her in time. I'm stopping that because it doesn't seem to be a deterrent at all and, if anything, initiates some fight play with her coming back and sitting below me waiting for a chance to jump up and attack one of my arms. My left arm could be mistaken for a meth addict's (they will often create sores on their skin by scratching at imaginary insect bites). I'm hardly exaggerating about my arm: during a recent doctor visit, she asked me what was going on in my life to cause so many scabs on my arm!
While I do play with her several times a day, part of the problem may be that until a few months ago I lived in an apartment with a balcony where I put seed out to attract birds, so she had a very exciting life in that regard. I'm afraid that the play I provide pales by comparison, and short of letting live mice out in the apartment I don't know what more I can do to make her life exciting enough to satisfy her. Perhaps an aquarium?
I'm at wit's end and, unfortunately, I'm seriously wondering if we both would be better off if she were rehomed in a home where there are older, more dominant and well-behaved cats who might temper her behavior. Having more than one cat, for me, is out of the question because of apartment rules. Besides, I don't think that two cats, especially when one is introduced into the other's territory, are necessarily really happy about that. Cats are loners in nature, are they not?
Don't get me wrong: our relationship isn't sick from top to bottom. Most of the time, she's just a normal cat, sleeping much of the time. She loves contact, perhaps too much, because she does spend a good deal of time curled up next to me on the couch sleeping, often just minutes after scratching or biting me. If I go to take an afternoon nap (a luxury we retired people have), she will cuddle up into my lower belly and go to sleep along with me. So, she's not fearful of me in any way and really wants to be with me.
I just have this one behavior to straighten out, but I really need to straighten it out. It will break my heart if I have to give her up. I really love her. Can you help?
I'm a 68 year old man living in a 1-bedroom apt in Portland, OR. My only roommate is my cat.
I have a cat I named Squeaky who has presented a behavior problem from the start which seems to be getting worse by the day. I got her at 4 or 5 months from an animal shelter and I'm the only human she knows, really, in terms of being exposed on a regular basis. I think she was well accustomed to humans and isn't even semi-feral. In fact, the reason I chose her is that of all the kittens in the shelter's cat room, she was the one who took notice of me and reached out in the universal "Please pick me up and hold me gesture."
I've lived with several cats in my life and have never experienced or witnessed a cat who wants attention and comfort so much that she will attack a human when they end the comfort or attention, seemingly as a kind of revenge.
Here's a typical scenario with Squeaky. She will come up while I'm on the couch trying to work on my computer (it's not on my lap, it's on a computer stand). She crawls up my chest with her forepaws which signals me to bend my left arm so that she can sit on it, cradled like a baby. I typically pet her with my right hand. She'd be happy to stay there for a long time, but I wouldn't get much done.
I will do that for a few minutes, but then I need to get back to what I'm doing. Well, sometimes she will turn and scratch or bite me right then. Sometimes I can get her to rest on my lap or curl up next to me. Sometimes she accepts that or sometimes she seems to be waiting for the right moment to attack. She will scratch and often bite as well and then attempt to dart away.
How I handle an attack has a lot to do with what's possible. Much of the time I can grab her before she runs away. I will hold her down and yell at her. Sometimes I will thump her on the nose with my index and middle finger. Not hard enough to cause pain, but as a way to say "You can't do that to me!" Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to get the message and, if anything, things are escalating with her attacks becoming harsher and more brazen with her returning after running away to attack some more. I also sometimes squirt water if I can't grab her in time. I'm stopping that because it doesn't seem to be a deterrent at all and, if anything, initiates some fight play with her coming back and sitting below me waiting for a chance to jump up and attack one of my arms. My left arm could be mistaken for a meth addict's (they will often create sores on their skin by scratching at imaginary insect bites). I'm hardly exaggerating about my arm: during a recent doctor visit, she asked me what was going on in my life to cause so many scabs on my arm!
While I do play with her several times a day, part of the problem may be that until a few months ago I lived in an apartment with a balcony where I put seed out to attract birds, so she had a very exciting life in that regard. I'm afraid that the play I provide pales by comparison, and short of letting live mice out in the apartment I don't know what more I can do to make her life exciting enough to satisfy her. Perhaps an aquarium?
I'm at wit's end and, unfortunately, I'm seriously wondering if we both would be better off if she were rehomed in a home where there are older, more dominant and well-behaved cats who might temper her behavior. Having more than one cat, for me, is out of the question because of apartment rules. Besides, I don't think that two cats, especially when one is introduced into the other's territory, are necessarily really happy about that. Cats are loners in nature, are they not?
Don't get me wrong: our relationship isn't sick from top to bottom. Most of the time, she's just a normal cat, sleeping much of the time. She loves contact, perhaps too much, because she does spend a good deal of time curled up next to me on the couch sleeping, often just minutes after scratching or biting me. If I go to take an afternoon nap (a luxury we retired people have), she will cuddle up into my lower belly and go to sleep along with me. So, she's not fearful of me in any way and really wants to be with me.
I just have this one behavior to straighten out, but I really need to straighten it out. It will break my heart if I have to give her up. I really love her. Can you help?