Telephones, Biting And Chasing The Postman

Geoffrey

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My daughter, Rosemary, is owned by her blue cat, Polly, who was my Sukie's mother, Sukie passed in August last year. Polly lives with Rosemary in an upstairs flat and is an indoors/outside cat who was left on the vet's receptionist counter heavily pregnant aged about 9 months.

My daughter is retired and no longer goes out to work, but has a few problems with Polly. She is 4 years old and she has had her for 3 years. She is a very clever cat but she is a biter when she doesn't get what she wants, be it food, sitting where Rosemary is sitting or particularly when Rosemary's attention is diverted from Polly. Telephones are a particular problem - when Rosemary is on the phone, Polly will come up without warning and scratch or bite Rosemary's arms or legs until the phone call is finished.

Polly is very territorial, when Rosemary has visitors, Polly dashes around leaping on and off the furniture before leaping up behind them to give them a shock. She has even been known to attack the Postman, allowing him to start to climb the stairs then crouching behind him, ears flattened and hissing and - trapping him between Polly and the closed door.

Rosemary loves her dearly, and Polly can be most affectionate. However Rosemary, who can be quite scared at times, has tried everything she can think of to civilise Polly; putting her out to the landing, putting her in a room away from her for a bit, talking gently.... We would be most grateful for any ideas or stories of similar cats.
With kind regards,
Geoffrey
 

jcat

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Polly sounds somewhat like our last cat. Jamie actually bit our mailman, forcing us to put up a Beware of Cat sign and replace the cat net in a front window with pet screen to prevent people from putting their fingers through to pet the "nice kitty". He would also whack our niece and nephew in the face if they had the temerity to sit too close to me. He was very hyperactive and moody and twice bit me rather badly when he was overexcited about the Christmas tree being put up. He also wouldn't leave the telephone alone (actually anything with a button or switch) and would bite or scratch when you tried to stop him.

Does Polly show any signs of hyperesthesia syndrome? That was Jamie's diagnosis. It never completely disappeared, but improved after a bout of eosinophilic granuloma. We had him tested for food allergies, and after eliminating soy and beet pulp from his diet, the "rippling skin" and manic behavior also lessened quite a bit.

I was advised to distract him when he showed the first signs of aggression by dropping a set of keys on the floor or throwing ping pong balls or a small toy. It worked most of the time, but meant having full pockets all the time.

Nowadays I work at a shelter, and we've had pretty good results giving cats (and dogs) that exhibit fear aggression Zylkene It takes several days (or a few weeks) before you see any effect, but it's something your daughter might try.
 

Rosemary Patricia

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Polly sounds somewhat like our last cat. Jamie actually bit our mailman, forcing us to put up a Beware of Cat sign and replace the cat net in a front window with pet screen to prevent people from putting their fingers through to pet the "nice kitty". He would also whack our niece and nephew in the face if they had the temerity to sit too close to me. He was very hyperactive and moody and twice bit me rather badly when he was overexcited about the Christmas tree being put up. He also wouldn't leave the telephone alone (actually anything with a button or switch) and would bite or scratch when you tried to stop him.

Does Polly show any signs of hyperesthesia syndrome? That was Jamie's diagnosis. It never completely disappeared, but improved after a bout of eosinophilic granuloma. We had him tested for food allergies, and after eliminating soy and beet pulp from his diet, the "rippling skin" and manic behavior also lessened quite a bit.

I was advised to distract him when he showed the first signs of aggression by dropping a set of keys on the floor or throwing ping pong balls or a small toy. It worked most of the time, but meant having full pockets all the time.

Nowadays I work at a shelter, and we've had pretty good results giving cats (and dogs) that exhibit fear aggression Zylkene It takes several days (or a few weeks) before you see any effect, but it's something your daughter might try.
Dear jcat,
Thank you for your valuable reply about Jamie. I am Geoff Miller's daughter and Polly's Mum. I don't think she has hyperaesthesia, but when hungry or bored, or moody she seems to be angry and in attack mode, so I feed her or play. Your advice re little distractions works well. I was speaking to a friend who also had a grey and white cat with similar behaviour, she grew out of it, so I'm hoping.
Regards Rosemary
 
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