Aggressive Behavior, Biting

[danygirl]

My cat is about 11 years old now and I have had him since he was a kitten.

I posted back in the summer about his illness. He would not eat and then got a URI.

Prior to him getting sick his behavior became extremely aggressive towards me and other people. I am self employed and would take him with me to the office everyday. He was always okay with it. Did not want people bothering him but never acted mean towards me. Well starting in Feb. he started acting aggressive towards me. Knocking at my hand with claws out. Not wanting to get in the carrier to go home. Growling and hissing when I was trying to get him to go into the carrier. He even sprayed a few times which he has never ever done. It finally ended up with him biting me and I got Cat Scratch Fever. I thought it was the stress of so many people coming in the office at that time and me not paying attention to him because I was busy.

Well like I said he had several trips to the Vet. He is better. Eats, drinks, and does bathroom well

But his aggressive behavior has started again. I did not take him to the office for awhile after he was sick. I slowly started taking him again. He is even more scared of people. Has started hissing at them and I thought he was going to jump on one customers face.

He is okay at the office until time to go home. He pitches a fit when I get the carrier to take him home at the office. Most of the time I have to grab him while he is sleeping to put him in the carrier at the office.

I took two weeks off during the holiday season. He started his staring at me with pupils dilated, loud meowing, and rubbing against my legs. This is what happened when he bite me back in the summer. He done this several times and I was able to move out of his way. Unfortunately after brushing him last week, he sat there staring and before I got up he bite me again. I actually had trouble getting him off me. So he bite me twice.

I jumped up and threw the brush on the floor crying in pain because he did hurt soooo bad. He knew what he had done and hide.

He did the staring thing a couple of more times. Each time I reached for a paper and swatted at him to go away.

Then tonight I caught him on the dining room table while he was smelling of a box. I told him to get down and he started growling and hissing.

I really don't know what to do with him. I don't want to give him away because he is my little buddy. But I have now grown scared of him. I can't leave him at home so I will be taking him back to the office with me. But I am worried about customers safety. I also had though of seeing if the local humane society would take him but again I don't want him adopted and hurt someone.

I would really appreciate any help  on this  situation. Would Feliway help him? I just don't  know what to do.

Thank you for reading,

Dany

 

[tinysalmon]

You should watch Animal Planet's My Cat from Hell. Your cat's aggressiveness reminds me of the cats featured on the show. Find somewhere on the internet to download it. Anyway, if you can't find it, from what I remember from the show is that you should find creative ways (through playing) to let him drain off his predatory instincts with something acceptable like a toy rather than you. Do you play with him often? Maybe it's not enough. Give him something he can hunt and kill to drain his aggressive energy. 

 

[Ms. Freya]

Feliway might help, but honestly, I'd be taking him back to the vet. Sudden changes in behavior can often have underlying health issues, as you saw in your first go-around with his biting. He may have a reoccurring health issue, or picked up another URI and this acting out might be his first warning to you that he;s not feeling right.

Since the last time you ha this issue was right before he got sick, I'd rule out any health issues first before looking at it as a behavior problem.

If it turns out there's nothing health-wise, then it sounds like something might be spooking him. As TinySalmon mentioned, play to drain off predatory behavior is a good start, but you can also try confining him to a smaller area of your home, and seeing if the behavior continues, then if not, slowly let him back into more areas until he's either back to everywhere with no problems or you find where the problem occurs - it may not be aggression directed at you so much as  aggression triggered by smells or sounds in a certain area of the home. I would definitely leave him home from work until you get this sorted, though.

Good luck!