Hates Everyone But Us

[secar]

Our oldest baby Bellamy hates everyone but us. We rescued her from a person we know who hadn’t taken time to litter train her, had young kids and a dog that we think would pester her. She was taken from her mother too soon by another person that we don’t know and given to said person that we know before we took her in. When we got her she unfortuantly was a little less than 8 weeks old. She was still the sweetest kitten always snuggly and friendly to us and others that she met. As she got older though she started to act aggressively to anyone that isn’t my husband or myself. Even when our friends or family are around she hisses, swats and won’t let anyone touch her including my husband and myself. Once the visitors leave she is back to her normal loving and cuddly self. (No one believes us that she is the biggest cuddlier and sweet) We can’t figure out what to do to make her less agressive towards others or why she even acts out as we tried to socialize her as much as possible as a kitten. Thoughts?

 

[Furballsmom]

It almost sounds as though you are part of her territory and she feels she needs to protect what's hers. You might consider trying a product prior to visits that I came across and am going to for my guy, called compose by vetri science, it's to calm cats without some of the harsh ingredients other products have. Good luck!

 

[jayjhis]

In my experience some cats are extremely loyal to specific people and get really stressed out around everyone else. When a cat is stressed they'll often be sort of aggressive to everyone, even people they know. I would just make sure she has a safe place to crawl into when people are around and just leave her be until she wants to come back out.

 

[secar]

Furballsmom you may be right, it could be that she sees us as her territory and she feels that having anyone but us around is infringing on it. It’s just strange to me that she wasn’t like that as a baby. Have you tried the compose by vetri science? If so what did you think? My biggest thing is the side effects or harsh ingredients. The fact that is doesn’t have the chemicals is nice.

 

[secar]

jayjhis She definitely has the option to go back upstairs or sit on the stairs out of sight etc. The odd thing is that when we have others over she comes downstairs to investigate and may lay down on the floor to watch or sometimes get close to others as in walking by or jumping up to smell etc. Problems arise for example: if she is laying on the floor and someone walks by normally completely ignoring her so she won’t lash out, she will still hiss at them or swipe in their direction. Also if she jumps up on the couch and smells them, realizes they aren’t us, she will hiss or make a growl type sound or motion and than run away.

 

[Furballsmom]

Unfortunately for your purposes I haven't tried it, we don't have a trip to the vet for a little bit yet but I'm really hoping it helps calm him. Do you have a cat tree or could you set one up so she can watch people from a height?

 

[secar]

Furballsmom yes we do have a cat tree that’s tall which she and our other cat love. We have recently been thinking of getting a set up that attaches to our wall that has a few shelves and canopy for our cats, but that would
be more in our bedroom so it probably won’t help unfortunately. Hmm maybe I’ll see if they have smaller tester amounts we can try for her.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

Our oldest baby Bellamy hates everyone but us.

secar - How many others cats are in your household, and given that they're later arrivals, what's Bellamy's interaction with them like on a day-to-day basis?
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[secar]

1CatOverTheLine We have one other cat Arya. She is a few months younger
than Bellamy but they get along fine. They play, snuggle and groom each other as normal so no known issues.

 

[secar]

Bellamy is gray Arya is black.

 

[secar]

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

.
secar - Then I'd have to agree with the prevailing logic here. She's 'protecting' you by treating any outsider as an interloper invading your home. As to the reason, I'd expect that she's repaying a debt of gratitude. Your impressions of her past Life are doubtless correct, and she's probably so grateful that she's being treated with kindness and affection rather than being mistreated, that she'd stand up to any invader to protect her current Life.

I have eleven cats - three former strays and eight former ferals, and not a single one of them will stand for anyone "invading" their home. They tolerate my veterinarian because he sees them professionally as well as socially, and they've come to trust him in both capacities, but he's the sole exception.
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