Hello all, I'm new to this site and I've been reading through it for the past few weeks. Well I've ended up with a new cat. Moved into a new place and found a feral scavenging through the trash. So I tried to trap him, which he didn't fall for, he would sit outside of the trap and paw the food out or ignore it. Thus I ended up spending alot of time outside sitting on one side of a pile of cat food, with a growling cat 10ft away on the other side of the pile. 8 months later he decided that I wasn't going to eat him, and discovered that being petted was a good thing. So I scooped him up and to his dismay brought him to the vet. Luckily the only thing really wrong with him is an apparent cronic left ear infection.
So he's been here for almost 4 months now, and he's been going in and out the past month. He's settled in pretty well, gets along with the 3 other cats, and has caused our bully cat to rethink her ways. He spends alot of time napping on his back in my room. Although he hasn't gotten used to any of the people who I rent my house with. Infact he's really agressive towards everyone but me. He shows signs of having been someone's pet at somepoint, and I'm also pretty sure he's been abused. Aside from dozens of fight scars/ear marks, he's got an old pretty well healed broken hip (he limps a bit), and 3 kinks in his tail. He also gets really panicky when people pick up anything larger than a pen near him.
Now the problem lately has been when someone other than me enters the same room as him carrying anything he starts up growling. At this point if you dont leave the room he's in he goes into a yowling biting leg raking attack. We've had a few accidents now with people turning on the tv with a remote, and a few seemingly random attacks. One of these attacks required a few stitches. He only does this if you have something in your hands though, otherwise he just keeps his distance. I also can't get him to interact with anyone other than me. So he's been spending part of his days outside, and the rest locked in my room with me.
I've heard this feliway works wonders, and I've got some in the mail now.
Has anyone had a cat with a problem like this? Anyone here deal with mistreated cats? I really need to break him of this before it becomes a habbit. If anyone has ANY idea's I'd really like to hear them. I dont have the money to pay for a cat behavior expert, as his vet bills and his ear infection have been costly. Wow this is alot longer than I'd meant it to be. Thanks for reading and in advance for any ideas anyone has.
So he's been here for almost 4 months now, and he's been going in and out the past month. He's settled in pretty well, gets along with the 3 other cats, and has caused our bully cat to rethink her ways. He spends alot of time napping on his back in my room. Although he hasn't gotten used to any of the people who I rent my house with. Infact he's really agressive towards everyone but me. He shows signs of having been someone's pet at somepoint, and I'm also pretty sure he's been abused. Aside from dozens of fight scars/ear marks, he's got an old pretty well healed broken hip (he limps a bit), and 3 kinks in his tail. He also gets really panicky when people pick up anything larger than a pen near him.
Now the problem lately has been when someone other than me enters the same room as him carrying anything he starts up growling. At this point if you dont leave the room he's in he goes into a yowling biting leg raking attack. We've had a few accidents now with people turning on the tv with a remote, and a few seemingly random attacks. One of these attacks required a few stitches. He only does this if you have something in your hands though, otherwise he just keeps his distance. I also can't get him to interact with anyone other than me. So he's been spending part of his days outside, and the rest locked in my room with me.
I've heard this feliway works wonders, and I've got some in the mail now.
Has anyone had a cat with a problem like this? Anyone here deal with mistreated cats? I really need to break him of this before it becomes a habbit. If anyone has ANY idea's I'd really like to hear them. I dont have the money to pay for a cat behavior expert, as his vet bills and his ear infection have been costly. Wow this is alot longer than I'd meant it to be. Thanks for reading and in advance for any ideas anyone has.