I'm starting this thread on the advice of
C
calicosrspecial
but welcome advice from all parties. This may be long but I will try to summarize as best I can.
Luciano moved in with me Dec 2016. From April-Dec he mostly lived upstairs at my neighbor's apartment, but he was too aggressive with her other cats & she thought he needed to be an only cat. Most of the time he was up there, he was kept in a large cage. Once he got out and terrorized her other, older cats & made his mark on her as well. He was put on prozac and xanax up there and I continued that at my place.
The vet determined he was between 1-2 years old in April 2016 when he was brought in for the first time. He was physically healthy, but we don't know anything about his early life. The vet said he was terrified, more so than a cat at a run of the mill vet appointment. He's a large cat, tall & long, but not heavy. He was 15 pounds, now he's down to 14 and a bit because he's been sick for a week or so. He had something wrong with his stomach, was vomiting and not eating Sat-Tue. He's on the mend now, still not eating very much but not vomiting either. He is drinking. The reason I know he's feeling better? He started purring again, and he started biting again.
When the initial prozac prescription ran out, it seemed to me that he was getting along well in the apartment. He had free reign, although back then I was trying to keep him off the table and kitchen counter. I've since given up on that. The vet agreed and said if he seemed more relaxed and calmer it was ok to taper him off xanax as well.
The first biting incident involving me was during what I call an affection session. He used to rub his face on the back of my head, especially when I came home from work. I'm told he was marking me as his and it was a good sign. However, that often escalated into him biting or chewing my hair, holding the sides of my head with his claws, sometimes digging them in and biting my head, one time the side of my face. I've learned now to get up quickly after a couple of face rubs to the back of my head, as endearing as it is. My theory is that he gets too stimulated, don't know if that has any basis in fact.
He leaps up and bites my thigh and scratches with his front paws as well. Sometimes there is blood, but usually it's just a red mark left behind from the bite, but it's a strong enough bite that it turns into a bruise. He does it to my shins as well, but he doesn't have to jump up to do that. Sometimes I can figure out why he's doing it; he sees me getting ready to leave, I'm trying to get him to go back into the apartment from the hallway because I have to leave, etc. Sometimes it comes out of the blue. I walk out of the bathroom and get it, he's sitting next to me on the couch & I'm scritching under his chin and he's purring and bites me while purring. My boyfriend exercises with a yoga mat on the floor and gets bitten. Either I have to play with him the entire time my boyfriend is exercising, or we have to put him in the bedroom. Sometimes when he's taking the mat out of the closet, Luciano walks into the closet to explore, where he doesn't get to be too often and seems to enjoy. If that happens we simply close the door. He doesn't seem to mind, in fact sometimes when we open the door again he stays in there a for longer.
I've tried saying no sternly, I've tried walking away from the situation. Neither thing works, he keeps coming. In fact, if he jumps up and tries to bite and I'm quick enough to move out of the way, he will keep coming until he gets flesh, just getting clothing isn't enough. Sometimes I can thwart an attack by putting a throw pillow between us, but he tries for quite a while to get around it.
He's back on prozac now, although since he hasn't been eating for a few days, he hasn't been getting his dose. And up until this evening he hadn't bitten either of us this week because he was under the weather and not doing much of anything.
o
Luciano moved in with me Dec 2016. From April-Dec he mostly lived upstairs at my neighbor's apartment, but he was too aggressive with her other cats & she thought he needed to be an only cat. Most of the time he was up there, he was kept in a large cage. Once he got out and terrorized her other, older cats & made his mark on her as well. He was put on prozac and xanax up there and I continued that at my place.
The vet determined he was between 1-2 years old in April 2016 when he was brought in for the first time. He was physically healthy, but we don't know anything about his early life. The vet said he was terrified, more so than a cat at a run of the mill vet appointment. He's a large cat, tall & long, but not heavy. He was 15 pounds, now he's down to 14 and a bit because he's been sick for a week or so. He had something wrong with his stomach, was vomiting and not eating Sat-Tue. He's on the mend now, still not eating very much but not vomiting either. He is drinking. The reason I know he's feeling better? He started purring again, and he started biting again.
When the initial prozac prescription ran out, it seemed to me that he was getting along well in the apartment. He had free reign, although back then I was trying to keep him off the table and kitchen counter. I've since given up on that. The vet agreed and said if he seemed more relaxed and calmer it was ok to taper him off xanax as well.
The first biting incident involving me was during what I call an affection session. He used to rub his face on the back of my head, especially when I came home from work. I'm told he was marking me as his and it was a good sign. However, that often escalated into him biting or chewing my hair, holding the sides of my head with his claws, sometimes digging them in and biting my head, one time the side of my face. I've learned now to get up quickly after a couple of face rubs to the back of my head, as endearing as it is. My theory is that he gets too stimulated, don't know if that has any basis in fact.
He leaps up and bites my thigh and scratches with his front paws as well. Sometimes there is blood, but usually it's just a red mark left behind from the bite, but it's a strong enough bite that it turns into a bruise. He does it to my shins as well, but he doesn't have to jump up to do that. Sometimes I can figure out why he's doing it; he sees me getting ready to leave, I'm trying to get him to go back into the apartment from the hallway because I have to leave, etc. Sometimes it comes out of the blue. I walk out of the bathroom and get it, he's sitting next to me on the couch & I'm scritching under his chin and he's purring and bites me while purring. My boyfriend exercises with a yoga mat on the floor and gets bitten. Either I have to play with him the entire time my boyfriend is exercising, or we have to put him in the bedroom. Sometimes when he's taking the mat out of the closet, Luciano walks into the closet to explore, where he doesn't get to be too often and seems to enjoy. If that happens we simply close the door. He doesn't seem to mind, in fact sometimes when we open the door again he stays in there a for longer.
I've tried saying no sternly, I've tried walking away from the situation. Neither thing works, he keeps coming. In fact, if he jumps up and tries to bite and I'm quick enough to move out of the way, he will keep coming until he gets flesh, just getting clothing isn't enough. Sometimes I can thwart an attack by putting a throw pillow between us, but he tries for quite a while to get around it.
He's back on prozac now, although since he hasn't been eating for a few days, he hasn't been getting his dose. And up until this evening he hadn't bitten either of us this week because he was under the weather and not doing much of anything.
o