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- Mar 15, 2016
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I adopted a stray who we've named Tony the Tiger. He's about a year old. We brought him into the house a few weeks ago, and are keeping him as an indoor cat. We took him to the vet last week, and it was sort of a nightmare. He acted very calm in the exam room, but when they brought him to the back for blood tests and such I just heard screeching. Then the vet rushed in and asked if they could sedate him. Yikes. That said, he was given his vaccines, examined, and neutered all in that appointment so it was still generally positive. He has a clean bill of health, no parasites or disease. We have three cats including him. Cocoa is a neutered male, they mostly stare meanly at each other, but sometimes Cocoa does try to fight Tony. And a 14 year old girl cat who basically wants nothing to do with either of them. We originally had Tony's safe room be my bedroom, and he seems comfortable with that as his territory where he feels safe.
I guess the the issues I'm having are with trying to handle him and with his scratching. He only tolerates a short amount of petting before he snaps his head toward my hand in a threatening way (but he usually doesn't do anything but warn). He hates being picked up and handled. Sometimes when I'm just standing or walking, he will grab onto my arms and especially legs with him claws. He doesn't break skin when he bites (it's hard enough to hurt though), and the vet cut his nails so at the moment he isn't painfully scratching us (but before that he was leaving scratches). It's obviously behavior that we need to nip in the bud. He's very energetic and motivated by play; he LOVES fishing rod type toys. I try to play with him for a couple/few 15-20 minute sessions each day, and I can easily get him to jump and run around the house. Playing with him works well to lessen his aggressive behavior, so I think a lot of it might be him trying to initiate play. He's affectionate and sociable in some ways, I don't think he's completely wild or distrustful of us. He sleeps on my bed with me, and sometimes snuggles with my feet. I woke up one day to him sleeping right in front on my face. He lays near me while I'm working on stuff. He follows me around and likes to climb up and look at what I'm doing. He rolls over and shows me his belly. He likes short bursts of petting on his head and cheeks, and he gets super excited when I play with him.
What we've been trying so far is whenever he bites or scratches, we say "no" and completely ignore him for a bit. If he seems really wired I'll leave and shut the door where he can't get to me for like 20 minutes. I try to anticipate his high-energy points and play with him before he starts jumping out at us and biting/scratching. If he bites or scratches me when we're playing (which has only happened once), I immediately stop and walk away. We're all petting him for short times throughout the day when he's being calm to try to get him more use to being pet. It seems to be helping with his behavior, there are fewer scratching and biting incidents than when we first got him. But there are at least a couple grabbing and biting incidents on most days. All of the other cats I've had have been little people-pleasing lap cats, so having a cat who has trouble being handled and pet is a new experience for me. I could use any tips.
I guess the the issues I'm having are with trying to handle him and with his scratching. He only tolerates a short amount of petting before he snaps his head toward my hand in a threatening way (but he usually doesn't do anything but warn). He hates being picked up and handled. Sometimes when I'm just standing or walking, he will grab onto my arms and especially legs with him claws. He doesn't break skin when he bites (it's hard enough to hurt though), and the vet cut his nails so at the moment he isn't painfully scratching us (but before that he was leaving scratches). It's obviously behavior that we need to nip in the bud. He's very energetic and motivated by play; he LOVES fishing rod type toys. I try to play with him for a couple/few 15-20 minute sessions each day, and I can easily get him to jump and run around the house. Playing with him works well to lessen his aggressive behavior, so I think a lot of it might be him trying to initiate play. He's affectionate and sociable in some ways, I don't think he's completely wild or distrustful of us. He sleeps on my bed with me, and sometimes snuggles with my feet. I woke up one day to him sleeping right in front on my face. He lays near me while I'm working on stuff. He follows me around and likes to climb up and look at what I'm doing. He rolls over and shows me his belly. He likes short bursts of petting on his head and cheeks, and he gets super excited when I play with him.
What we've been trying so far is whenever he bites or scratches, we say "no" and completely ignore him for a bit. If he seems really wired I'll leave and shut the door where he can't get to me for like 20 minutes. I try to anticipate his high-energy points and play with him before he starts jumping out at us and biting/scratching. If he bites or scratches me when we're playing (which has only happened once), I immediately stop and walk away. We're all petting him for short times throughout the day when he's being calm to try to get him more use to being pet. It seems to be helping with his behavior, there are fewer scratching and biting incidents than when we first got him. But there are at least a couple grabbing and biting incidents on most days. All of the other cats I've had have been little people-pleasing lap cats, so having a cat who has trouble being handled and pet is a new experience for me. I could use any tips.
