Hi everyone, I'm new here and I desperately need some help.
My husband I adopted a cat from a shelter about two months ago. She'd been very recently spayed and all her shots were up to date. We were told she was a year a half old, transported by the shelter in MA from a kill shelter in TN where she had been surrendered. We took her to a vet for a wellness exam and distemper vaccine. Our vet said she was in great health, all adult teeth had come in, but he was dubious about her age, he said she was eight or nine months old, at best. Also, she had had her rabies shot here in MA, so she couldn't have been transported from TN as they wouldn't have allowed it if she hadn't had the rabies vaccine. We were okay with her being younger than we though and she was in good health so, what could go wrong?
For about two weeks she was a delight. She has a crazy hoarse hungry meow, she doesn't mind being petted, and slept at the end of our bed. THEN, the biting started. She doesn't bite us. But, she bites everything else in our small apartment. I discovered deep puncture holes in ALL my furniture. Armchair. Sofa. New faux leather desk chair. So, I started putting towels on chair arms and a moving blanket went over the desk chair. Over the past month and half she has put deep puncture holes all over a sports bra (ruined), backs of sneakers, leather bench, back of the sofa, basically anything that isn't something she should be biting on.
I took to the internet and forums like this. I've read dozens upon dozens of articles about this behavior. She has more chew toys than I can count, two corrugated cardboard scratchers (that she bites A LOT), two cat trees, a window perch, and a new cat condo. We've tried playing with her for half an hour at a time with some breaks. She loves it, but it hasn't deterred her. In fact, it seems to wind her up even more before go to bed. I have two different kinds of bitter spray, which seems to have helped a little. I thought maybe she was stressed and tried Rescue Remedy Pet, but that has zero effect on her. I'm at the point now where we have to cover our sofa with heavy plastic floor runner after I discovered holes all over them. It's absurd and I hate that it has come to this. This morning I found she had bitten hard into a towel that is currently covering the top/back of the sofa. I know we're lucky in that she stays away from cords or hard things, but week after week of destruction is wearing on me.
Other than this behavior she is a perfectly sweet cat. She snoozes with us, is very playful, and a very enthusiastic eater. I have no idea if she was weaned too early or if this is a new behavior (I suspect it is not). My husband and I are both out of the apartment for up to nine hours a day for work. A lot of this damage happens when we can't see her. Either we're not at home or we're asleep. But I'm at the point where I'm considering returning her to the shelter, which I know is not ideal, but I can't keep waiting for her to ruin the next thing. I've been agonizing over this for a few weeks now and we're fighting a lot about this issue.
Has anyone successfully stopped destructive biting? Thanks for reading this short novel.
My husband I adopted a cat from a shelter about two months ago. She'd been very recently spayed and all her shots were up to date. We were told she was a year a half old, transported by the shelter in MA from a kill shelter in TN where she had been surrendered. We took her to a vet for a wellness exam and distemper vaccine. Our vet said she was in great health, all adult teeth had come in, but he was dubious about her age, he said she was eight or nine months old, at best. Also, she had had her rabies shot here in MA, so she couldn't have been transported from TN as they wouldn't have allowed it if she hadn't had the rabies vaccine. We were okay with her being younger than we though and she was in good health so, what could go wrong?
For about two weeks she was a delight. She has a crazy hoarse hungry meow, she doesn't mind being petted, and slept at the end of our bed. THEN, the biting started. She doesn't bite us. But, she bites everything else in our small apartment. I discovered deep puncture holes in ALL my furniture. Armchair. Sofa. New faux leather desk chair. So, I started putting towels on chair arms and a moving blanket went over the desk chair. Over the past month and half she has put deep puncture holes all over a sports bra (ruined), backs of sneakers, leather bench, back of the sofa, basically anything that isn't something she should be biting on.
I took to the internet and forums like this. I've read dozens upon dozens of articles about this behavior. She has more chew toys than I can count, two corrugated cardboard scratchers (that she bites A LOT), two cat trees, a window perch, and a new cat condo. We've tried playing with her for half an hour at a time with some breaks. She loves it, but it hasn't deterred her. In fact, it seems to wind her up even more before go to bed. I have two different kinds of bitter spray, which seems to have helped a little. I thought maybe she was stressed and tried Rescue Remedy Pet, but that has zero effect on her. I'm at the point now where we have to cover our sofa with heavy plastic floor runner after I discovered holes all over them. It's absurd and I hate that it has come to this. This morning I found she had bitten hard into a towel that is currently covering the top/back of the sofa. I know we're lucky in that she stays away from cords or hard things, but week after week of destruction is wearing on me.
Other than this behavior she is a perfectly sweet cat. She snoozes with us, is very playful, and a very enthusiastic eater. I have no idea if she was weaned too early or if this is a new behavior (I suspect it is not). My husband and I are both out of the apartment for up to nine hours a day for work. A lot of this damage happens when we can't see her. Either we're not at home or we're asleep. But I'm at the point where I'm considering returning her to the shelter, which I know is not ideal, but I can't keep waiting for her to ruin the next thing. I've been agonizing over this for a few weeks now and we're fighting a lot about this issue.
Has anyone successfully stopped destructive biting? Thanks for reading this short novel.