Hi,
I adopted my 8-year-old cat, Skimble, a few months back in September. He had some behavior changes right off the bat. The first week I had him he was extremely affectionate and loved to be pet and held. He purred all the time. He loved meeting new people and was super affectionate with everyone who came over. He once had five people petting it at once and was loving it. He had a bit of a nipping habit, but it was never hard or aggressive. He'd nip your hand when he was done being pet and he nipped my face to wake him up in the morning to feed him.
After that first week, he started behaving differently. He was hiding in the bathroom all the time and started behaving more aggressively. He started to not want to be pet for longer than a minute or so and would aggressively bite you when he had enough. This is when the fur pulling started. I took him to see the vet to rule out allergies and things like that. She said his skin looked fine and everything was physically fine with him. She took some blood just to make sure, and that came back pretty normal (besides slightly high kidney levels, which was unrelated). She said it was probably stress, but I'm not sure what he would be stressed about. I had started rehearsals for a play I was in and wasn't around my apartment as much (but my roommates were around more often), so I thought he might be lonely.
Performances for that have ended, so I'm at the apartment with him a lot more and his behavior has improved slightly. I also plugged a Feliway diffuser in my room. He doesn't hide out in the bathroom anymore and he's a little more open to affection. He loves playing with his teaser toys and sparkle balls. The hair pulling is still a problem though. He hasn't improved at all in that. And the aggression is still an issue. He's really only affectionate with me and one of my roommates who cares for him almost as much as I do. When we have friends over, he doesn't really want to be pet by them and will get a little aggressive and start biting when they try. He doesn't try to wake me up in the mornings when he wants to be fed. If he does, he just meows at me versus being more affectionate.
I'm just very upset by this. I love him very much and want him to be happy. I don't know what to do or how to help his stress level since I don't know what's bothering him. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. I'm willing to do just about anything. Thank you in advance!
I adopted my 8-year-old cat, Skimble, a few months back in September. He had some behavior changes right off the bat. The first week I had him he was extremely affectionate and loved to be pet and held. He purred all the time. He loved meeting new people and was super affectionate with everyone who came over. He once had five people petting it at once and was loving it. He had a bit of a nipping habit, but it was never hard or aggressive. He'd nip your hand when he was done being pet and he nipped my face to wake him up in the morning to feed him.
After that first week, he started behaving differently. He was hiding in the bathroom all the time and started behaving more aggressively. He started to not want to be pet for longer than a minute or so and would aggressively bite you when he had enough. This is when the fur pulling started. I took him to see the vet to rule out allergies and things like that. She said his skin looked fine and everything was physically fine with him. She took some blood just to make sure, and that came back pretty normal (besides slightly high kidney levels, which was unrelated). She said it was probably stress, but I'm not sure what he would be stressed about. I had started rehearsals for a play I was in and wasn't around my apartment as much (but my roommates were around more often), so I thought he might be lonely.
Performances for that have ended, so I'm at the apartment with him a lot more and his behavior has improved slightly. I also plugged a Feliway diffuser in my room. He doesn't hide out in the bathroom anymore and he's a little more open to affection. He loves playing with his teaser toys and sparkle balls. The hair pulling is still a problem though. He hasn't improved at all in that. And the aggression is still an issue. He's really only affectionate with me and one of my roommates who cares for him almost as much as I do. When we have friends over, he doesn't really want to be pet by them and will get a little aggressive and start biting when they try. He doesn't try to wake me up in the mornings when he wants to be fed. If he does, he just meows at me versus being more affectionate.
I'm just very upset by this. I love him very much and want him to be happy. I don't know what to do or how to help his stress level since I don't know what's bothering him. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. I'm willing to do just about anything. Thank you in advance!
