- Joined
- Jul 28, 2019
- Messages
- 8
- Purraise
- 4
Hello!
Our kitty's name is Pixel and we've had him for three and a half years - since he was 6 weeks old. Since that time, we've been through hell and back with him, and I'm pleased to report that he's doing better... but we'd really love to help him be fully what we see for a few hours of the day.
Pixel is sweet and loving for about two hours out of the day. He loves to cuddle, headbutt, snuggle - this cat loves getting hugged. Perfect gentleman. Outside of that time, he's generally sleeping or exploring outside. (More on outside in a moment.) If he's not, though, and anything happens to make him agitated... it is "itchy butt." And he can switch on a dime. You can see what he does in the video below, and this is one of his more mild moments (I cut about four minutes of him gnawing at his tail base).
This does not include his absolute hatred of strangers, his random hissing at us if we walk near him, the time he bit through my finger because he was so panicked by the neighbor coming over, his inability to coexist with our older cat (12 years old)*, that we have to crate him at night, that I missed a trip to visit family because I couldn't trust him with a petsitter, growling at thunderstorms, growling at the gate opening... we absolutely had to let him outside because he was a terror before we decided a cat door in the window was a salvation.
[*Our older cat, Autumn, is a talker, not a fighter. Pixel dominated her from the time he was small simply because, a) she never reprimanded him in typical cat fashion - a well placed swat and hiss and, b) he never learned cat manners since we got him so very young. He used to be allowed upstairs, until we found he was pooping in her box and not covering it (they have their own boxes - his downstairs, hers up), he would crowd her out of a space by laying very close and staring her down until she left, and he would grab her in a hold - kicking and biting.
That last bit... I've had a lot of cats in my life and seen a lot of play. I know what that looks like... this, looks like everything fight except it is silent, but he is biting hard and kicking with ferocity. She would yowl and scream and we'd break them up. Eventually, we trained him that upstairs was no-go zone. Baby gates, spray bottles of water, and air cans on motion detectors finally broke him of it, and now the stairs are open and he knows to leave them alone. We have a little bit of peace. Trouble breaks out when Autumn comes downstairs on occasion. He will leave her be if we are in sight of them both - so they absolutely can sit in a space together and not fight or fuss. But if he is behind a chair or around the corner? He stalks her like prey... his face looking like he's on the hunt... and we can't really click him out of it. It literally is like he gets obsessed and cannot help himself. He will also jump on the side of the stairs and swat her if she's laying on the steps.]
After we installed his cat door, the aggression dropped tremendously, as did many of his more "manic" episodes. Letting him have access to the outside seemed to give him something to focus on and anytime he's overwhelmed, he comes back in. Except if he meets up with other cats, when he would fight - since this happened only at night - we curfew him after dinner. Again, I don't think he has a clue about personal space and either gets obsessively irritated or curious when it comes to other cats.
He eats a combined mix of freeze-dried chicken food (Honest Kitchen) along with raw chicken wing and an egg for his meals. (We were on kibble for a while and were trying to upgrade his diet to see if it helped. Didn't really notice a change in behavior, but his coat is beautiful.)
We have him on Cheristin for fleas and have given him flea baths in the hopes of soothing his skin if it was an irritation there. I saw no sign of fleas on him at all during the bath - something I expected to see especially in his white fur. After the bath, he was even more wound up and his "itching" was at an all time high - leaping about, running away, gnawing-gnawing-gnawing. Bad enough that we feel bad giving him a bath.
He does not have any dander that we can see - his skin does appear pretty healthy and his coat is like a double coat - soft and downy hairs below his longer sleeker hairs.
We have not taken him to the vet. We've been a little worried about it, to be honest, because he really doesn't like other people. I know the vet and the techs can handle a cat like that - but I feel awful putting Pixel through that panic. I know ultimately, we need to get him in there, but I wanted to reach out to this community first and see if you all agree with what I'm thinking... that Pixel may have FHS.
Our kitty's name is Pixel and we've had him for three and a half years - since he was 6 weeks old. Since that time, we've been through hell and back with him, and I'm pleased to report that he's doing better... but we'd really love to help him be fully what we see for a few hours of the day.
Pixel is sweet and loving for about two hours out of the day. He loves to cuddle, headbutt, snuggle - this cat loves getting hugged. Perfect gentleman. Outside of that time, he's generally sleeping or exploring outside. (More on outside in a moment.) If he's not, though, and anything happens to make him agitated... it is "itchy butt." And he can switch on a dime. You can see what he does in the video below, and this is one of his more mild moments (I cut about four minutes of him gnawing at his tail base).
This does not include his absolute hatred of strangers, his random hissing at us if we walk near him, the time he bit through my finger because he was so panicked by the neighbor coming over, his inability to coexist with our older cat (12 years old)*, that we have to crate him at night, that I missed a trip to visit family because I couldn't trust him with a petsitter, growling at thunderstorms, growling at the gate opening... we absolutely had to let him outside because he was a terror before we decided a cat door in the window was a salvation.
[*Our older cat, Autumn, is a talker, not a fighter. Pixel dominated her from the time he was small simply because, a) she never reprimanded him in typical cat fashion - a well placed swat and hiss and, b) he never learned cat manners since we got him so very young. He used to be allowed upstairs, until we found he was pooping in her box and not covering it (they have their own boxes - his downstairs, hers up), he would crowd her out of a space by laying very close and staring her down until she left, and he would grab her in a hold - kicking and biting.
That last bit... I've had a lot of cats in my life and seen a lot of play. I know what that looks like... this, looks like everything fight except it is silent, but he is biting hard and kicking with ferocity. She would yowl and scream and we'd break them up. Eventually, we trained him that upstairs was no-go zone. Baby gates, spray bottles of water, and air cans on motion detectors finally broke him of it, and now the stairs are open and he knows to leave them alone. We have a little bit of peace. Trouble breaks out when Autumn comes downstairs on occasion. He will leave her be if we are in sight of them both - so they absolutely can sit in a space together and not fight or fuss. But if he is behind a chair or around the corner? He stalks her like prey... his face looking like he's on the hunt... and we can't really click him out of it. It literally is like he gets obsessed and cannot help himself. He will also jump on the side of the stairs and swat her if she's laying on the steps.]
After we installed his cat door, the aggression dropped tremendously, as did many of his more "manic" episodes. Letting him have access to the outside seemed to give him something to focus on and anytime he's overwhelmed, he comes back in. Except if he meets up with other cats, when he would fight - since this happened only at night - we curfew him after dinner. Again, I don't think he has a clue about personal space and either gets obsessively irritated or curious when it comes to other cats.
He eats a combined mix of freeze-dried chicken food (Honest Kitchen) along with raw chicken wing and an egg for his meals. (We were on kibble for a while and were trying to upgrade his diet to see if it helped. Didn't really notice a change in behavior, but his coat is beautiful.)
We have him on Cheristin for fleas and have given him flea baths in the hopes of soothing his skin if it was an irritation there. I saw no sign of fleas on him at all during the bath - something I expected to see especially in his white fur. After the bath, he was even more wound up and his "itching" was at an all time high - leaping about, running away, gnawing-gnawing-gnawing. Bad enough that we feel bad giving him a bath.
He does not have any dander that we can see - his skin does appear pretty healthy and his coat is like a double coat - soft and downy hairs below his longer sleeker hairs.
We have not taken him to the vet. We've been a little worried about it, to be honest, because he really doesn't like other people. I know the vet and the techs can handle a cat like that - but I feel awful putting Pixel through that panic. I know ultimately, we need to get him in there, but I wanted to reach out to this community first and see if you all agree with what I'm thinking... that Pixel may have FHS.