Tortoise Shell Starting Wars in My House

[vampkitty33]

Hello, everyone. I'm having major issues with my torite, Onyx. Here's a lil background on Onyx so you have an idea: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/256670/new-cat-owner-please-help. At this point, we've had her about 4 months.

Now, the issue is, Onyx likes NO ONE but me. I live with my best friend and she DOES NOT like her at all. She hisses, growls, scratch, jumps at her. And it just not her, its her fiancee as well, who is going to be moving in with us soon. And even though she's super sweet to me, she has moments when she jumps up and scratches me or tries to bite. I love her to death but she makes it impossible to live sometimes because we never know when she will strike. She'll play and cuddle up with me, take treats from me. But if my friend tries to, she goes into attack mode. Her previous owner NEVER mentioned to us that she was like this but recently confirmed that she was always incredibly possessive of her on merely tolerated other people. She's always acted this way and nothing they did ever broke her out of it.

I'm starting to think my lil furball is best suited for a home with a single person in it. Maybe she's just one of those cats that doesn't deal well with multiple people. I don't know what to do anymore. It would kill me to get rid of her and I don't want to feel like I've given up on her. My friend wants to give it more time but it's very hard when people say they fear coming to my house because I have a "psycho" cat. And it's not like these people antagonize her or anything, she'll just stand by my door and attack, hiss and growl at everyone. Please, if anyone can sugges ANYTHING that can help.. let me know.

 

[tulosai]

Have you tried feliway??

 

[vampkitty33]

Ive heard of.i it. Do u have experien using that?

 

[tulosai]

I do sometimes use it when I have litters of kittens with a jumpy mama cat. Sometimes I see results and sometimes I don't, but it is the only thing I can think of to recommend to you that might give you results quickly.

If you are willing for it to take a long time, consistent training is the way to go.  Whenever she scratches or jumps she has to be picked up and set down away from the scene of the crime.  Try shaking a can of coins loudly when she does it, or hissing, or both.  She hasn't really been with you that long and may yet come around.

I don't buy into cat stereotypes based on color much but I will say in my fostering experience, the 5 roughest cats or kittens I ever had to deal with were all torties :/ They certainly do have attitudes all their own.

 

[vampkitty33]

I will def consider the feliway. We tried picking her up once and she lost it, almost got my friend in the face. She let's us touch her but on her grounds ONLY. We used to us a can of compressed air that mimics hissin instead of the can wit coins but now she doesn't pay it any mind at all. I know we havent had her very long but wat concerned me was her previous owner admitting to us now that she was always that way and she had her for 2 years with no change.

 

[my-boy-jasper]

I suppose it depends on why your cat is acting like that. Sometimes cat's find people less threatening if they are sitting on the floor. Perhaps you could try having your roommate sit down on the floor, let your cat enter the room, and have your friend wave a toy that might entice your cat to approach her. Or have your roomie sitting on the floor, and feed your cat near your friend. Start with the bowl on the other side of the room and move the bowl a little closer to your friend, maybe doing that once each day. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I have read that cats find direct eye contact more threatening, so perhaps have your friend only look briefly at your cat and then look away to show she is not a threat. And make sure your friend doesn't approach your cat quickly as that will be more threatening. As for visitors, if she's being aggressive I think I would put her in a room by herself if possible and then work on those relationships after you find out what works for your roomie.  

 

[msbedelia]

On animal planet's website, there's currently a full episode of My Caf from Hell ("Bea Hates Cece") that is a pretty similar situation. May want to check it out.

As others have said, adjusting your cat and friend to each other (teaching friend to read cat's body language, having her use an interactive toy with the cat, not moving faster than the cat is comfortable with), making the friend as non-threatening a possible for the cat, are all good places to start. Also, having the friend/roommate put out Kitty's meals is a good idea. Feliway is also always a good idea, since it makes cats feel less threatened, and your cat must feel threatened by your roommate in some way to be acting as she is.

Everyone else's advice is good too. I recommend it.

 

[taxido]

Sounds like a territorial issue to me. She is not letting anyone else into her territory. Tortoiseshell cats are not called "naughty torties" for nothing I am afraid.

 

[bigperm20]

Sounds like a classic case of Torti-tude to me. :-)

 

[charlottekat]

My tortoiseshell has MAJOR torti-tude. She is always causing fights with my other cats... -_-