We have four cats. All neutered males.
They are all from the same feral mother.
Three are from the same litter and were taken from their mom at about 8 weeks.
The last one was taken from his mom too early (5-6 weeks) because she got sick and died. We found homes for all the cats in his litter, even for him. However, while the other kitties fit happily in their new home, he got returned to us after three days because he would not stop cuddling with the owners, their dog and cat, and their 2 year old baby. He was constantly underfoot and didn't seem to respond to the other animals' warnings.
The first three (3 years old) are angels. They are sweet, eat during meal times, like to be petted, like to play with each other, like to clean each other/themselves, don't howl, don't scratch or bite.
The last one (2 1/2 years old) is horrible. He howls, whines, will not leave us alone (he even gets in the shower with us), nips us if we aren't petting him (we don't encourage this. he does not get petted when he bites, but he does manage to wake us up if we are asleep which is just as bad and also something he wants), he is mean to the other cats who are generally nice to him, he doesn't clean himself except by taking showers (he howls under the shower head for hours if he wants to take a bath/shower and no one turns on the water), he bites us all night because we aren't petting him (does he ever sleep? no), and worst of all he bites and scratches HARD for no reason, just out of the blue (he also playfights with accidental bites/scratches, but what I am talking about here is a calm, cool, vicious, brutal attack).
The problem is he doesn't seem to respond to behavior modification. The only thing we have got to work is blowing in his face when he bites/scratches but that only worked for about a month before he got used to it and started to purr whenever we did it.
When he bites/attacks (it hurts), we hold him down gently but firmly so he can't move. We have done this since he was a kitten. This makes him purr. It has always made him purr. He thinks it's a quiet, firm hug. He loves it. We tried holding him down longer (up to 10 minutes), he still likes it. We tried hissing when he was mean for about 3 months. No effect. He would just roll over to be petted. We tried the "pick the cat up and put it in the other room and walk away without talking to it" method, but he just ran back ahead of us, purring. He doesn't really mind being locked in rooms except at night because he likes to sleep with us. So time out doesn't really work except at like 2 am. Spray bottles don't work because he loves to be wet. The can of pennies is one thing we haven't tried because one of the three older cats is "off" a little. He is sweet but the vet thinks he is retarded. Among his many quirks is that loud noises make him wet himself. So no pennies.
Help me! Please. I love him, and knew that there would be behavior issues when we took him after his mom died, but I would like to at least get the biting/scratching to stop. Just so you don't think he is a complete horror, here are some nice things about him. He always purrs when you look at him. He is healthy. He likes to roll around and stretch out to be petted. He is very smart and can open all the cupboards/drawers/tupperwear containers/etc. He growls (sounds like a dog) when noisy people pass by our front door but is nice to guests. He does not ever scratch children even if they pull his tail, try to pick him up, play rough around him. (we obviously try to keep our young guests in line, but sometimes a two year old executes an unexpected tail grab). He is super friendly. We don't have dogs, but he likes the ones he meets. He likes meeting new people. He is pretty affectionate. He's a good cat with a horrible streak.
Please help!
They are all from the same feral mother.
Three are from the same litter and were taken from their mom at about 8 weeks.
The last one was taken from his mom too early (5-6 weeks) because she got sick and died. We found homes for all the cats in his litter, even for him. However, while the other kitties fit happily in their new home, he got returned to us after three days because he would not stop cuddling with the owners, their dog and cat, and their 2 year old baby. He was constantly underfoot and didn't seem to respond to the other animals' warnings.
The first three (3 years old) are angels. They are sweet, eat during meal times, like to be petted, like to play with each other, like to clean each other/themselves, don't howl, don't scratch or bite.
The last one (2 1/2 years old) is horrible. He howls, whines, will not leave us alone (he even gets in the shower with us), nips us if we aren't petting him (we don't encourage this. he does not get petted when he bites, but he does manage to wake us up if we are asleep which is just as bad and also something he wants), he is mean to the other cats who are generally nice to him, he doesn't clean himself except by taking showers (he howls under the shower head for hours if he wants to take a bath/shower and no one turns on the water), he bites us all night because we aren't petting him (does he ever sleep? no), and worst of all he bites and scratches HARD for no reason, just out of the blue (he also playfights with accidental bites/scratches, but what I am talking about here is a calm, cool, vicious, brutal attack).
The problem is he doesn't seem to respond to behavior modification. The only thing we have got to work is blowing in his face when he bites/scratches but that only worked for about a month before he got used to it and started to purr whenever we did it.
When he bites/attacks (it hurts), we hold him down gently but firmly so he can't move. We have done this since he was a kitten. This makes him purr. It has always made him purr. He thinks it's a quiet, firm hug. He loves it. We tried holding him down longer (up to 10 minutes), he still likes it. We tried hissing when he was mean for about 3 months. No effect. He would just roll over to be petted. We tried the "pick the cat up and put it in the other room and walk away without talking to it" method, but he just ran back ahead of us, purring. He doesn't really mind being locked in rooms except at night because he likes to sleep with us. So time out doesn't really work except at like 2 am. Spray bottles don't work because he loves to be wet. The can of pennies is one thing we haven't tried because one of the three older cats is "off" a little. He is sweet but the vet thinks he is retarded. Among his many quirks is that loud noises make him wet himself. So no pennies.
Help me! Please. I love him, and knew that there would be behavior issues when we took him after his mom died, but I would like to at least get the biting/scratching to stop. Just so you don't think he is a complete horror, here are some nice things about him. He always purrs when you look at him. He is healthy. He likes to roll around and stretch out to be petted. He is very smart and can open all the cupboards/drawers/tupperwear containers/etc. He growls (sounds like a dog) when noisy people pass by our front door but is nice to guests. He does not ever scratch children even if they pull his tail, try to pick him up, play rough around him. (we obviously try to keep our young guests in line, but sometimes a two year old executes an unexpected tail grab). He is super friendly. We don't have dogs, but he likes the ones he meets. He likes meeting new people. He is pretty affectionate. He's a good cat with a horrible streak.
Please help!
