Change in behavior because of cruelty

[reba]

That kid is seriously, clinically disturbed.  Kudos to you for recognizing this and not sticking your head in the sand.   There's no divided loyalty when it comes to animal abuse.

And you DO have good luck - you're compassionate, insightful, stable and resourceful - you wake up every morning knowing how to negotiate the world and give yourself piece of mind.  As far as who is winning at life, people with those qualities finish first every time.

 

[sena]

Well through past experiences, very little gets passed me now. I have a statement written up already, and a good part of it is about her and her actions. It has to be dealt with now, be for things get a lot worse. I do love my niece, but that is because i see her potential (for the better). But stuff needs to change!!

 

[vbcatparent]

If this motivates the adults in her life to get the help she needs, perhaps something positive can come out of this incident.

 

[jtbo]

Well through past experiences, very little gets passed me now. I have a statement written up already, and a good part of it is about her and her actions. It has to be dealt with now, be for things get a lot worse. I do love my niece, but that is because i see her potential (for the better). But stuff needs to change!!

Hopefully she will get proper treatment for her condition if such is behind her behavior, there is full life ahead of her and early corrections of problems are always the best.

It will be interesting to see what will happen in cat front now when there is much peaceful there, it can be that most issues were from too much happening at once and that might be given stress to them.

Sometimes stress gets purged when you pet the cat, then cat gets kind of overwhelmed by good feeling which might be what happened when purring stopped all of sudden and you got injuries.

In these articles there might be some interesting points:
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/re-directed-aggression-in-cats

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/potential-stressors-in-cats-the-ultimate-checklist

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/six-surefire-strategies-to-reduce-stress-in-cats

For my cats Feliway was actually quite expensive toy, it did not helped much, but I think empty Feliway bottle did help more as they found it to be fun toy to toss around and also allowed me to 'join' in the game, of course your situation is quite different, but it is good to know how it does not work for all cats and situations.


How well can you read cat's body language?

One thing quite different from cats and dogs is that where dog tail is moving it tells dog is alert and interested, even happy, but when cat's tail starts to move sideways when petting cat is getting anxious and it is better stop petting or cat may scratch or bite, or then just jumps off.

Also when tips of ears start to get sideways then cat has had it and can get bit dangerous if not let to be in his/her own royal privacy, after all cats are not pack animals, so their need for space they think is theirs and that they alone can occupy is higher than for example dogs and sometimes petting becomes more than enough of shared time and space.

One thing to be careful about is bending over the cat, that is quite funny thing as I can bend over and pet my cats but few are such that after a while they snap and run to another room. Generally bending over the cat is scary thing for a cat, so it is better better to crouch than bend over. Maybe that has something to do with predatory nature of cats, but that is one easy way to get bit odd reactions from cat and I also forget that at times, maybe they learn one day...

There is one thread that has image with some cat body language, there is lot more to it than that though:
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/277579/reading-your-cats-body-language

Messybeast has quite bit of more information, there are some more pics too:
http://messybeast.com/cat_talk2.htm

But one thing to remember is that tail alone or ears alone does not mean much, it is whole body and also surrounding environment that defines the message cat is sending.

Maybe that information helps you to evaluate reason behind the cat's problematic behavior.

One greatest difference of cat and dog is that cat can't be told to behave, but cat can be coached/bribed/lured to behave, cat is one that always makes the decision, one just have to alter information and possibilities that cat gets so cat will choose wanted option, that way I have got best results with mine which vet said to be "too old to tame, better put to sleep" feral taming.

 

[stewball]

They are gone as of tomorrow. I've never seen an animal therapist here except equine.

Speak to your vet about a cat therapist. They do exist.

 

[crazycatmomx3]

I live in Minnesota and we have something called MN SNAP which is a low-cost mobile neutering clinic for both cats and dogs.  I paid $40 each to neuter my males, plus $10 for each vaccination.  If you haven't already, go online and see if there is anything like that in your state or through your local humane society.  I have a male part Siamese who was a very loving kitten, suddenly turned aggressive toward males (I think due to a couple of intoxicated neighbors trying to get too close to him).  This was before I had him neutered and after, it took a while but he's finally trusting people again and even males can (carefully) approach him....if he lets them!  

Plenty of love, patience, spend lots of time playing with him...and good luck!

 

[sena]

I live in Minnesota and we have something called MN SNAP which is a low-cost mobile neutering clinic for both cats and dogs.  I paid $40 each to neuter my males, plus $10 for each vaccination.  If you haven't already, go online and see if there is anything like that in your state or through your local humane society.  I have a male part Siamese who was a very loving kitten, suddenly turned aggressive toward males (I think due to a couple of intoxicated neighbors trying to get too close to him).  This was before I had him neutered and after, it took a while but he's finally trusting people again and even males can (carefully) approach him....if he lets them!  

Plenty of love, patience, spend lots of time playing with him...and good luck!

We don't have that. The cheapest vet here is 90.00 for males and 190.00 for females. I cannot understand why it is so expensive! Regular vet is 120.00 for a male and 220.00 for a female. So,including vaccines it costs us on average 600.00-1000.00 for cats/dogs. There has been some talk of creating a low cost spay and nueter, we just... don't know where to start.

 

[crazycatmomx3]

That's too bad that it's so expensive.  With the over-population of unwanted animals, you'd think more could be done to help prevent it.  I know how expensive vet bills can be, I have 3 cats and 2 dogs and have seriously considered checking into pet insurance...lol!  

 

[jtbo]

We don't have that. The cheapest vet here is 90.00 for males and 190.00 for females. I cannot understand why it is so expensive! Regular vet is 120.00 for a male and 220.00 for a female. So,including vaccines it costs us on average 600.00-1000.00 for cats/dogs. There has been some talk of creating a low cost spay and nueter, we just... don't know where to start.

Here animal welfare organization does yearly campaigns where they negotiate with some clinic lower price and then pay still part of the cost so that pet owner needs to pay only small amount.

It works by bringing lot of customers to vet clinic so they get lot of new customers and can provide close to non profit pricing and by organization using money it has collected from other activities during the year which will then end up into well being of cats which is their mission. Of course pet owners get obvious gains too.

So to start similar model there should first be organization which mission spaying and neutering would support, then fund rising by that organization, negotiations with vet clinic and of course ways to reach lot of pet owners.

Here it does operate only in bigger cities, our country is quite small and our cities are quite small too compared to many other places, in other places with bigger cities there might be lower costs because of competition and volume.

As I don't live near big cities or any cities, it cost me around 200 euros, females were around 250 euros if I remember correctly, but that included also vaccines and discounts from several cat, bringing more than one cat to vet here gives discount.


One thing worth to check is those pet insurances, sometimes they can save a bit in the long run, of course more there is insurances, more general price level tends to rise as 'insurance will pay, who care what it costs', that is why I don't have such, but it surely would of saved me four figures in first two years alone.

 

[sena]

See, if people could afford fixing their pets it would be done. I ended up arguing with someone who said "if you can't afford pets you shouldn't have them". At the time I was struggling because of being the only income. I wasn't going to dump my animals! That's more irresponsible.

I'm thinking that once our business is up and running, we could do a fundraiser (gets our name out and helps out!) That can go towards fixing animals.

 

[Willowy]

We don't have that. The cheapest vet here is 90.00 for males and 190.00 for females. I cannot understand why it is so expensive! Regular vet is 120.00 for a male and 220.00 for a female. So,including vaccines it costs us on average 600.00-1000.00 for cats/dogs. There has been some talk of creating a low cost spay and nueter, we just... don't know where to start.

Where do you live (general area)? Someone might know of something close by.

 

[reba]

Sena I forget where you are - I used "friends of animals" in the US for my low cost spay or neuter.  It was around $100 after I paid for all the extras to a brick and mortar vet, it's $60 or less at our low cost spay neuter clinic here.

 

[sena]

I am in Alberta Canada. I have already asked around, checked around, researched for places that spay and neuter. Low-income spay and neuter clinics aren't going to help as you must make less than their set amount. My living expenses are high,, and with animals wandering into our home (lol...) vets are a need lol. I'm going to see if the vet down the road does a discount on multiple animals to fix. Then the male is done, our female and her kittens are done (she got outside, met some colony cats... ).

 

[deejay0]

I'm so sorry.  This is perhaps a bit obvious and you may already have it covered but the first thing that came to my mind was a Feliway diffuser to plug in where he is sleeping especially to promote a feeling of safety.  Only after your guests have gone of course though as when he gets that feeling of safety from the Feliway he needs to BE safe too

 

[sena]

Tell me about Feliway? I've never heard of it. I may order it in (even just to have it on hand down the road)

 

[Willowy]

Feliway is a synthetic cat pheromone product. It can help cats feel more secure/less stressed and possibly reduce scent marking behaviors such as inappropriate scratching and urine marking. It comes in a spray and a plug-in (like an air freshener).

 

[jtbo]

Tell me about Feliway? I've never heard of it. I may order it in (even just to have it on hand down the road)

It might work or not, it did not worked to my cats, also at least in here it was not the cheapest stuff, but you don't know without trying.

It should make cats feel more like being at home, makes smell similar to their own safe area smell.

Feliway in squirt bottle that is meant for your hands worked better for me, it has different smell, but they stopped selling that in vet where I got mine from, it worked a lot better than one you plug into wall. After 3rd feliway diffuser bottle I gave up, can't remember what it did cost here, but it was more than some people pay from spaying their cats in US, tens of euros for a refill bottle and it really did nothing at all.

Squirt version makes them interested from hands are not afraid of handling, which makes easier to socialize, but if your cat is already cuddle buddy, then I don't know what that would help.

 

[sena]

Ohh ok... we have the issue of him scratching furniture. That was because my brother got him everything BUT a scratching post... and let him scratch furniture (I HATE when people do that!!). What works? All else fails I line my couches with double sided tape...

 

[jtbo]

Ohh ok... we have the issue of him scratching furniture. That was because my brother got him everything BUT a scratching post... and let him scratch furniture (I HATE when people do that!!). What works? All else fails I line my couches with double sided tape...

You need to put more pleasing scratching surface into better location, that is in cat's eyes better location, perhaps several and at least one in similarly central location as where problem furniture is located.

First thing to know is why your cat is scratching, is it stress relief or marking territory as that changes what is better location.

Scratching pad placed to cover furniture leg might work as first aid, then you might be able to move it little by little and eventually cat is happy with new location.

I gave my cats firewood to do their scratching, they like it quite well, also I put board next to door so they stopped scratching door and door frame as rough pine board was more pleasant to scratch.

Scent of lemon if nothing else works, it works as cat repellant, so very tiny amount or you run into more problems.

 

[deejay0]

It's available in USA and Canada too. It will remove stress from cats and promote a feeling of safety for them by artificial feline hormones.  I have used it for my cats, without it the one would now probably be taking seizure meds.   But the vet advised me to keep it here permanently too because the same one has idopathic stress induced cystitis. It keeps her on an even keel.  It is freely available at Amazon and usually also at your vets (at least in the UK amazon tho its at the .com store too.)  http://www.feliway.com/uk/