My mother and I adopted Madi from a shelter about 3 months ago. He’d been on the streets long enough to get very matted, loose a lot of weight, and injure his leg, which has since healed fine (we had it checked by a vet). They estimated his age at about a year. When we first got him he was very sweet and calm, yet confident and not remotely aggressive. We knew some of his calmness was likely due to being underwight and having a limp, but we didn’t realize how much.
A couple weeks after we got him, he became a huge pain. He jumps up on counters in the kitchen when we’re cooking, and will jump right back up the moment we put him on the floor. This has improved a little over the last couple of months, in that he’s less likely to do it while we’re both in the kitchen and he knows he’ll be caught, but he still does it, especially when we’re not looking. And he loves getting into the sink to drink dirty water out of dishes and lick up any food scraps he can find.
We’re feeding him the recommended amount of food for his weight according to the bag (a rounded half cup) divided up into three meals per day, plus a few snacks like little pieces of fish or cream (which we give to him in his bowl, not in the kitchen). 2-3 hours before every meal he’ll sit by his bowl and stare at us, waiting for food, and if he sees us go into the kitchen he’ll follow us and start vocally begging. The first couple of weeks we were feeding him more to get him back up to a healthy weight, and I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not but a lot of his bad behaviors started when we decreased his food. He’s maintaining a good weight now though, so he definitely doesn’t need more food.
Whenever he doesn’t like something, his immediate reaction is to bite. Somewhat gently at first, but if we don’t get away fast enough it becomes a very hard bite. He’s scratched me with his teeth a couple of times and buried an entire tooth in my mom’s arm once. This has only improved in that we’ve gotten better at seeing when he’s about to bite and getting out of his reach, but it’s still his first reaction.
He attack us when he’s playful. If he’s already worked up and sees our feet or hands move he’ll immediately go into attack mode. Sometimes he’ll just pounce on us out of nowhere. I can’t let him into my room when he’s playful because he’ll hide under the bed and attack my feet over and over until I leave the room or get him out of it.
We can’t let him be an outdoor cat because he’s too good of a hunter and there’s a semi-busy street out front, but we take him outside 1-2 times a day on a leash. Sometimes we take him for walks (though he doesn’t walk with us very well yet), but usually we let him wander around the fenced backyard under supervision, making sure he doesn’t run off or climb the 6+ foot fence (which he can if we let him). And we play with him in the house a few times a day, for quite a while. With all of this we don’t usually manage to tire him out.
When he’re bored in the early morning when neither of us is up yet he’ll look for anything to play with that’s new, jumping all over furniture, tearing up paper or plastic, biting at sheets. He has several toys and will play with them on his own sometimes, but sometimes he’ll want to play but not be interested in any of them, which is usually when he gets aggressive toward us.
Neither one of us was looking for a super energetic cat. We knew he’d be somewhat energetic because of his young age, but neither of us have ever had a cat like this before, and we have no idea what to do with him. We’ve tried only positive reinforcement, hissing at him when he’s doing something we don’t want, moving his food out of the kitchen, exercise, spraying smells he doesn’t like (mostly citrus) in the kitchen, locking him in a bedroom while we cook & eat. All of it has helped a little, but not much.
We love him and don’t want to take him back to the shelter, but we have to dedicate so much physical and mental energy as well as time to minimizing his bad behaviors that we’re both just exhausted. He’s still very sweet and wonderful when he’s calm, but that usually only lasts a few hours per day. And his bad behavirors still persist no matter what we do.
A couple weeks after we got him, he became a huge pain. He jumps up on counters in the kitchen when we’re cooking, and will jump right back up the moment we put him on the floor. This has improved a little over the last couple of months, in that he’s less likely to do it while we’re both in the kitchen and he knows he’ll be caught, but he still does it, especially when we’re not looking. And he loves getting into the sink to drink dirty water out of dishes and lick up any food scraps he can find.
We’re feeding him the recommended amount of food for his weight according to the bag (a rounded half cup) divided up into three meals per day, plus a few snacks like little pieces of fish or cream (which we give to him in his bowl, not in the kitchen). 2-3 hours before every meal he’ll sit by his bowl and stare at us, waiting for food, and if he sees us go into the kitchen he’ll follow us and start vocally begging. The first couple of weeks we were feeding him more to get him back up to a healthy weight, and I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not but a lot of his bad behaviors started when we decreased his food. He’s maintaining a good weight now though, so he definitely doesn’t need more food.
Whenever he doesn’t like something, his immediate reaction is to bite. Somewhat gently at first, but if we don’t get away fast enough it becomes a very hard bite. He’s scratched me with his teeth a couple of times and buried an entire tooth in my mom’s arm once. This has only improved in that we’ve gotten better at seeing when he’s about to bite and getting out of his reach, but it’s still his first reaction.
He attack us when he’s playful. If he’s already worked up and sees our feet or hands move he’ll immediately go into attack mode. Sometimes he’ll just pounce on us out of nowhere. I can’t let him into my room when he’s playful because he’ll hide under the bed and attack my feet over and over until I leave the room or get him out of it.
We can’t let him be an outdoor cat because he’s too good of a hunter and there’s a semi-busy street out front, but we take him outside 1-2 times a day on a leash. Sometimes we take him for walks (though he doesn’t walk with us very well yet), but usually we let him wander around the fenced backyard under supervision, making sure he doesn’t run off or climb the 6+ foot fence (which he can if we let him). And we play with him in the house a few times a day, for quite a while. With all of this we don’t usually manage to tire him out.
When he’re bored in the early morning when neither of us is up yet he’ll look for anything to play with that’s new, jumping all over furniture, tearing up paper or plastic, biting at sheets. He has several toys and will play with them on his own sometimes, but sometimes he’ll want to play but not be interested in any of them, which is usually when he gets aggressive toward us.
Neither one of us was looking for a super energetic cat. We knew he’d be somewhat energetic because of his young age, but neither of us have ever had a cat like this before, and we have no idea what to do with him. We’ve tried only positive reinforcement, hissing at him when he’s doing something we don’t want, moving his food out of the kitchen, exercise, spraying smells he doesn’t like (mostly citrus) in the kitchen, locking him in a bedroom while we cook & eat. All of it has helped a little, but not much.
We love him and don’t want to take him back to the shelter, but we have to dedicate so much physical and mental energy as well as time to minimizing his bad behaviors that we’re both just exhausted. He’s still very sweet and wonderful when he’s calm, but that usually only lasts a few hours per day. And his bad behavirors still persist no matter what we do.