Aggressive kitty. Help me help him?

[espoir]

I had posted about this in another forum, and was directed here.

I currently have 4 cats living with me. Amber who is a female and 3 years old (not fixed), Haze who is a fixed male and 5 years old, and Buttons and Plunk who are also fixed males and are both 13. The issue I'm having is with Haze. He's starting to become extremely aggressive. Sometimes he'll be fine around them, and other times he'll lash out at them. He seems to lash out more at Buttons and Plunk than anything. Amber will go up to see Haze, and he'll lick her and play with her for a bit. But then he'll turn on her randomly and swipe at her, or jump her. She thinks it's playing though, but I feel it's a bit too aggressive and she does meow in pain a few times.

 

Haze has bitten and wounded both Plunk and Buttons on several occasions. Recently, Plunk had to have surgery because Haze bit him on the back of his tail and caused it to abscess. It was so bad that if we didn't get Plunk any surgery, the wound would have grown bigger and attracted flies and maggots. The skin around the wound was completely dead. Plunk had surgery to have the abscess repaired, and he now has a tube in his tail to drain his wound as well as some stitches. But Haze is still attacking him. Haze went for him today, and Plunk's wound started to bleed. When I went to tend to it, I saw 4 more teeth marks above his stitches. I then heard Buttons meow and Haze had attacked him. I went to Haze to pick him up and put him in the bathroom for a time out, and as I went to put him down, he clamped on to my arm really hard and gave me 2 deep bite wounds. It's not the first time he's done this either -- turning on me or anyone else. My Dad was over after to check out Plunk's wound for me, and he went to the bathroom to get something to clean it with, and Haze hissed at him. He had to push him away with a towel bin to make sure Haze didn't attack him.

When Haze goes for Buttons, he usually pins him down by the neck and holds him there. I'm starting to become afraid for Buttons. If Haze can cause Plunk this much damage, what were to happen if Haze clamps down on Buttons neck and hits an artery?

 

I'm afraid for my older cats. They don't roam the house as much anymore. Buttons still does every now and then, but he'll run away as soon as he sees Haze. Plunk will either hide in the bedroom day and night, or stick by me and lay down beside me. But he absolutely will not walk around our place by himself whatsoever.

Haze also behaves differently depending on the cat he's getting ready to attack. When Haze sees Buttons, he jumps him right away. When Haze sees Plunk, he starts to slowly walk towards him while his tail gets bushy and his ears go back, then he tilts his head to the side and licks his lips. If I catch him doing this and try to move him away, he'll hiss at me or attack me. It's like he turns into a completely different cat.

 

My friends and family have been telling me that it's time to surrender Haze. It's a really hard decision for me, because I've had him since the day he was born. We found his mother outside during the winter, so we took her inside and she gave birth to only him. He is a lot like his mother though, since we had to give her up due to her aggressive behavior. She was attacking our other cats, and sometimes she'd be purring with us and then turn around and attack us -- much like Haze is doing.

Haze HAS grown up around Buttons and Plunk. He's been around Buttons his entire life. Plunk was gone for a good 3 years with my mom, and I just took him back a few months ago. Amber was introduced to Haze when she was 6 months old.
 

I'm not sure what to do from here. I love Haze to death, but I love my other cats as well and I can't afford to keep bringing them to the vet every time Haze wounds them. It's also not fair for them to be living in such fear. I've tried separating Haze from them when I'm gone, but I work a 12 hour shift 3 days in a row and it's also not fair to Haze to be locked up for all of that time on a regular basis.

 

Have any of you experienced this before? Is there anything I can do to change his behavior? I want to make sure that I've done absolutely everything I can before giving him up. Another reason I'm so reluctant to give him up is because he's an extremely nervous cat. If anyone new comes around, he'll run and hide behind the couch and shake until the person leaves. If I put him out in the hallway or take him outside, or to the vet, he'll shake and cry non-stop and do his best to escape and run back home.

Is there anything I can do? Anything at all?

 

[johnson-bennett]

The fact that Plunk was gone for a long time and only recently reintroduced back into the family may be contributing to the aggression Haze is showing.

Since this is a very stressful environment for the cats and you certainly don't want to add any stress to your older kitties, I would recommend that you separate Haze and then attempt a reintroduction. If you do a gradual and positive introduction you can control their interaction. The key, just as in a first-time introduction, is to give the cats a reason to like each other. Let Haze see that good things happen to him when he's in the presence of the other cats. Here are a couple of links to helpful articles to get you started:

Reintroduction

Keeping the peace

Pam Johnson-Bennett, CCBC

www.catbehaviorassociates.com

 

[multicatowner]

with multi cats,the easiest way we found very good way was a simple squirt bottle.with four cats,all different ages,this works great.they quickly learn to stop the attitude.now you need to use the energy in different way.toys to exspell energy is good.work alone if needed,then bring together slowly.good luck!

 

[espoir]

Thanks so much!