Hi Pam. Thank you so much for taking the time to help us here at TCS. We greatly appreciate it. My issue is with my 8 month old red color point shorthair named Leonidas. I adopted him at 5 months from a friend of mine who was going off to college. That being said he was rehomed to me and I was thrilled as I always really liked him. He is neutered btw and my 11 month old female is spayed. He has been checked out by the vet a couple of times since I got him. His only health issue is FHV that has flared up a couple of times via URI's. He was given antibiotics via a shot and orally.
Leo is currently about 8 mo's and is having issues. I could tell you every single one, but to sum it up he basically knows right from wrong... He's very smart... Yet anytime he doesn't get his way or he gets upset about something random he acts out. He will do exactly what he's been taught not to do.
It doesn't matter if it's scratching the furniture when I've spent almost $100 on scratchers of all shapes and sizes, or breaking into the kitchen cabinets. (I installed child locks on these when he was younger. He's figured out how to open them if he keeps fiddling with it-- I TOLD YOU HE'S SMART)
Now this isn't a constant thing. He can be very sweet... albeit somewhat randomly. I love him to death though, and both my other kitten Oksana who's 11 mo's & I just want some peace. He is constantly wrestling with her. She wrestles back sometimes but most of the time she just wants to be left qlnoe. I'm sure this may be dominance issues. There is never any blood but occasionally Oksana hisses at him.
Also, he tends to want to bite hands whenever they come near him.
He's not as bad as when I 1st got him, but he still wants to bite hands and scratch. I assume no one taught him that hands were not toys as a kitten. I'vetried redirecting him to toys & stuffed animals. I've tried yelling Ow! And turning my back to him... He will run around me and chew on my hands again
So in short: why is he so defiant? How do I train him to stop biting? Thoughts on dominance wrestling with my girl cat?
Leo is currently about 8 mo's and is having issues. I could tell you every single one, but to sum it up he basically knows right from wrong... He's very smart... Yet anytime he doesn't get his way or he gets upset about something random he acts out. He will do exactly what he's been taught not to do.
It doesn't matter if it's scratching the furniture when I've spent almost $100 on scratchers of all shapes and sizes, or breaking into the kitchen cabinets. (I installed child locks on these when he was younger. He's figured out how to open them if he keeps fiddling with it-- I TOLD YOU HE'S SMART)
Now this isn't a constant thing. He can be very sweet... albeit somewhat randomly. I love him to death though, and both my other kitten Oksana who's 11 mo's & I just want some peace. He is constantly wrestling with her. She wrestles back sometimes but most of the time she just wants to be left qlnoe. I'm sure this may be dominance issues. There is never any blood but occasionally Oksana hisses at him.
Also, he tends to want to bite hands whenever they come near him.
He's not as bad as when I 1st got him, but he still wants to bite hands and scratch. I assume no one taught him that hands were not toys as a kitten. I'vetried redirecting him to toys & stuffed animals. I've tried yelling Ow! And turning my back to him... He will run around me and chew on my hands again
So in short: why is he so defiant? How do I train him to stop biting? Thoughts on dominance wrestling with my girl cat?
