i have a soon to be 11 month old cat next month- almost turning a year old soon! i have had him since he was four months.
from the first month i have had him up until now, i noticed he always has nasty and aggressive behaviour to things like grooming, nail cutting and paw care, teeth brushing and of course showering. these are all for the most part essential to his health and care, but he is so difficult it almost brings me to tears because i don’t know what i’m doing wrong. it puts me to fear when i have to do these things for him because he gets so violent and rejects it all so much it is hard to ever grab a hold of him. to this day we are still using a cone on him when we have to cut his nails while simultaneously feeding a treat because he hates it so much and starts to act violent scratching and biting deep into everyone. (he is not a feral). as well, in the past we have had to have two emergency showers for him, both times because he was covered in poop (and one of the times he just finished recovering from his neuter surgery after the vet gave him to me covered in poop, probably the most traumatic experience that i even considered if having a cat was cut out for me. showering is extremely traumatic for him as well as he always runs out of the tub and starts scratching and clinging up the tub to get out, he can’t stay still and soon he will be too big.)
i think most of it stems from before i’ve had him since the previous owner never spent much time with him let alone doing any of these things and now since i’ve had him i need to implement it into his lifestyle.
I am coming to the forum because up until now I believed I could truly just ignore this behaviour and just accept it when it comes times to do these things but it is really discouraging in trying to complete these tasks. He is becoming an adult and I don’t want these horrible habits of his to hinder his health. I don’t know what I could even start doing now to help him shift out of these behaviours but I would appreciate the advice. Anything on the range of completing any of these tasks like showering, nail cutting or adjusting his behaviour.
from the first month i have had him up until now, i noticed he always has nasty and aggressive behaviour to things like grooming, nail cutting and paw care, teeth brushing and of course showering. these are all for the most part essential to his health and care, but he is so difficult it almost brings me to tears because i don’t know what i’m doing wrong. it puts me to fear when i have to do these things for him because he gets so violent and rejects it all so much it is hard to ever grab a hold of him. to this day we are still using a cone on him when we have to cut his nails while simultaneously feeding a treat because he hates it so much and starts to act violent scratching and biting deep into everyone. (he is not a feral). as well, in the past we have had to have two emergency showers for him, both times because he was covered in poop (and one of the times he just finished recovering from his neuter surgery after the vet gave him to me covered in poop, probably the most traumatic experience that i even considered if having a cat was cut out for me. showering is extremely traumatic for him as well as he always runs out of the tub and starts scratching and clinging up the tub to get out, he can’t stay still and soon he will be too big.)
i think most of it stems from before i’ve had him since the previous owner never spent much time with him let alone doing any of these things and now since i’ve had him i need to implement it into his lifestyle.
I am coming to the forum because up until now I believed I could truly just ignore this behaviour and just accept it when it comes times to do these things but it is really discouraging in trying to complete these tasks. He is becoming an adult and I don’t want these horrible habits of his to hinder his health. I don’t know what I could even start doing now to help him shift out of these behaviours but I would appreciate the advice. Anything on the range of completing any of these tasks like showering, nail cutting or adjusting his behaviour.