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- Oct 24, 2003
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Hello, all. I just introduced myself in the New Cats on the Block forum, and now I am here to post about my cat's behavior problems.
To put it simply, he is a BITER! So far, he has never bitten hard enough to break through anyone's skin (although his long, sharp canines have been known to leave some scratches on occasion), but he's so big and strong that he could easily do serious damage if he ever decided he wanted to. His size and strength make his aggression much more stressful to deal with than it would be if he were a kitten. Also, the fact that he was an adult and somewhat set in his ways when we got him complicates things. With a kitten you have the opportunity to start from the ground up, whereas this guy has come to us with some less than charming habits set pretty firmly in place.
As I posted in the New Cats forum, Logan is about two years old. (We adopted him from a shelter, and they didn't know his exact age.) He was neutered when we got him, but I don't how old he was when it was done. We had him checked out by a vet shortly after we got him and found out that he has one health problem: medial patellar luxation. It doesn't seem to slow him down at all...he has no visible problems with walking, running, jumping, climbing, etc. But I keep wondering if perhaps it could be causing him some pain. I think it would probably be fairly obvious if he was in severe pain, but mild or even moderate pain might not be...and even mild pain could affect his personality.
Anyway, as I mentioned, he bites. I have read the long post about handling aggression in cats, and it says to start by determining the type of aggression the cat is engaging in. That makes sense--but this guy's biting is occurring in so many different types of situations that I can't figure out where to start.
The first kind of aggression mentioned in that post is pain or fear induced aggression. As I mentioned, there's a possibility he might be in pain, at least some of the time. But how can we tell for sure?
The second thing mentioned is aggression in response to overstimulation by petting. This is definitely happening, but it doesn't always occur at the same point in the petting. Sometimes he will bite after being petted for a while...but other times, he will try to chomp on your hand as soon as you touch him. (And not just if you touch him in sensitive areas, like his tummy--sometimes just stroking his head is all it takes to set him off.)
I don't even try to pet him anymore unless he is making obvious overtures. This has resulted in fewer "attacks," but there are times when he seems to giving off all kinds of signals of wanting to be petted, yet as soon as you touch him--CHOMP! It's so confusing! I hate to just not pet him at all, because there are times when he really seems to want it and enjoy it. The problem is that you can never tell for sure whether he's going to enjoy it THIS time, or if he's just going to start chomping on your hand as soon as you try. This is frustrating, to say the least!
Next on the list in that post is play aggression. He's got plenty of that going on, too. This is the one area that I feel most comfortable dealing with--if this was the only time he was getting aggressive, I wouldn't be nearly so troubled by his behavior. I was already doing some of the things that post suggests, like distracting him with toys and withdrawing attention when he starts to get bitey. I wasn't aware of the "puff of air" technique, so I will add that now that I know about it. This one is the least of my worries--I'm a lot more concerned about all the other stuff...especially one that's not mentioned in that post at all....
This one last thing I call "retaliatory aggression," because it occurs in response to his not getting his way about something. For example, once when he was up on the kitchen counter, I scooped him up and set him down on the floor (gently but firmly). And he got this really p.o.'d look on his face and then hauled off and nipped me on the ankle, as if to say "I don't care for what you just did AT ALL, and this is what I think about THAT!" Yikes--was that a shock!
He's also been known to nip when refused a share of something someone is eating. He's a terrible beggar, and if you're eating something he wants, he gets downright ticked off if you don't give him some. With cats we've had in the past, we've always ignored any attempts to beg while we were eating, and they learned not to pester us...but this guy will chomp on you if you don't hand over what he is demanding.
I've had a lot of experience with cats, but I've never had to deal with a cat with this many "kinks" in his behavior. I'm feeling rather overwhelmed. Lately, I've come to the realization that I've been getting in the habit of letting him have his way more than I probably should, because I'm literally afraid of what he might do if I don't. He could turn into a real bully if that trend continues, and I sure don't want that to happen. I want to start trying to turn things around, but as I said at the outset, the problem seems to be so complex that I can't figure out where to start with trying to solve it. I just don't know what to do first.
Any suggestions, thoughts, or advice will be very welcome!
Oh, one last question: that post on aggression mentions Prozac might help. Is that available in some form other than a pill (like something that can be mixed with food)? The idea of trying to cram a pill down this guy's throat is downright scary!
Sharon
To put it simply, he is a BITER! So far, he has never bitten hard enough to break through anyone's skin (although his long, sharp canines have been known to leave some scratches on occasion), but he's so big and strong that he could easily do serious damage if he ever decided he wanted to. His size and strength make his aggression much more stressful to deal with than it would be if he were a kitten. Also, the fact that he was an adult and somewhat set in his ways when we got him complicates things. With a kitten you have the opportunity to start from the ground up, whereas this guy has come to us with some less than charming habits set pretty firmly in place.
As I posted in the New Cats forum, Logan is about two years old. (We adopted him from a shelter, and they didn't know his exact age.) He was neutered when we got him, but I don't how old he was when it was done. We had him checked out by a vet shortly after we got him and found out that he has one health problem: medial patellar luxation. It doesn't seem to slow him down at all...he has no visible problems with walking, running, jumping, climbing, etc. But I keep wondering if perhaps it could be causing him some pain. I think it would probably be fairly obvious if he was in severe pain, but mild or even moderate pain might not be...and even mild pain could affect his personality.
Anyway, as I mentioned, he bites. I have read the long post about handling aggression in cats, and it says to start by determining the type of aggression the cat is engaging in. That makes sense--but this guy's biting is occurring in so many different types of situations that I can't figure out where to start.
The first kind of aggression mentioned in that post is pain or fear induced aggression. As I mentioned, there's a possibility he might be in pain, at least some of the time. But how can we tell for sure?
The second thing mentioned is aggression in response to overstimulation by petting. This is definitely happening, but it doesn't always occur at the same point in the petting. Sometimes he will bite after being petted for a while...but other times, he will try to chomp on your hand as soon as you touch him. (And not just if you touch him in sensitive areas, like his tummy--sometimes just stroking his head is all it takes to set him off.)
I don't even try to pet him anymore unless he is making obvious overtures. This has resulted in fewer "attacks," but there are times when he seems to giving off all kinds of signals of wanting to be petted, yet as soon as you touch him--CHOMP! It's so confusing! I hate to just not pet him at all, because there are times when he really seems to want it and enjoy it. The problem is that you can never tell for sure whether he's going to enjoy it THIS time, or if he's just going to start chomping on your hand as soon as you try. This is frustrating, to say the least!
Next on the list in that post is play aggression. He's got plenty of that going on, too. This is the one area that I feel most comfortable dealing with--if this was the only time he was getting aggressive, I wouldn't be nearly so troubled by his behavior. I was already doing some of the things that post suggests, like distracting him with toys and withdrawing attention when he starts to get bitey. I wasn't aware of the "puff of air" technique, so I will add that now that I know about it. This one is the least of my worries--I'm a lot more concerned about all the other stuff...especially one that's not mentioned in that post at all....
This one last thing I call "retaliatory aggression," because it occurs in response to his not getting his way about something. For example, once when he was up on the kitchen counter, I scooped him up and set him down on the floor (gently but firmly). And he got this really p.o.'d look on his face and then hauled off and nipped me on the ankle, as if to say "I don't care for what you just did AT ALL, and this is what I think about THAT!" Yikes--was that a shock!
I've had a lot of experience with cats, but I've never had to deal with a cat with this many "kinks" in his behavior. I'm feeling rather overwhelmed. Lately, I've come to the realization that I've been getting in the habit of letting him have his way more than I probably should, because I'm literally afraid of what he might do if I don't. He could turn into a real bully if that trend continues, and I sure don't want that to happen. I want to start trying to turn things around, but as I said at the outset, the problem seems to be so complex that I can't figure out where to start with trying to solve it. I just don't know what to do first.
Any suggestions, thoughts, or advice will be very welcome!
Oh, one last question: that post on aggression mentions Prozac might help. Is that available in some form other than a pill (like something that can be mixed with food)? The idea of trying to cram a pill down this guy's throat is downright scary!
Sharon