Hello, again, all. I'm still fairly new to this forum, and since you guys helped me with my very young stray/orphan kitten, I figured I would bring yet another problem to you, in hopes of getting some answers for my friend.
You see, my friend owns a two year old female (spayed) Siamese cat named Lily. My friend shows Lily almost at least once a month, but we haven't been able to get to a show for the last couple of months. Lily really doesn't much care for the shows, but she's a mere 7 or 8 points away from Grand Premiereship, so my friend wants to show her until she Grands, and perhaps one more show after that.
It seems the only thing standing in Lily's way is her now-apparent frightening tendancy to bite randomly. Now, we have -always- known that Lily doesn't much like to be pet, so we aviod, for the most part, petting her excessively. I learned my lesson the hard way; at a show a few months ago, I reached into her show cage while she was resting and proceeded to pet her, not fully knowing to what extent how much she disliked being petted. She ripped into my hand with not her nicely trimmed claws, but her very SHARP teeth.
My hand came away with a very large slice in the index finger, and a deep-ish puncture wound near the inside base of the same finger. The puncture wound later began the beginning of an abcess, and being a veterinary technician, I was very worried. Thankfully, the abcess never fully formed (I'm not sure what quite happened...), and my hand healed almost perfectly (with the exception of a scar that hurt for a few extra weeks).
We thought then, "oh, I shouldn't have messed with her, duuuuh." But this tendancy to bite is becoming more apparent, and now my friend has let me know (just this very afternoon, in fact) that Lily has attacked the new kitten in their now two -cat house. Just a couple of days ago, I watched Lily and the new kitten (Tanzie, a 10 week old female Siamese) romp around the house, playing. Lily has liked that kitten since the day they met, so why would she attack her now?
And yesterday, Lily was sitting peacefully in my friend's lap, and when my friend went to move Lily's foot, Lily attacked, leaving bloody tears in my friend's arm, which I saw this morning at school.
Some backround: Lily was born in Hawaii; her dam was a female Siamese named Kanani (not sure on spelling, but that's how it sounds), who had to be put down early in life, due to her very dangerous temperment. Lily's father, Prince Kuhio, is also a very dangerous cat, from the stories my friend has told me about him. Nearly eveyone who has had the displeasure of working and/or caring for him is frightened of his, at least to some degree; all except the owner of the breeding facility, whom he works just fine with.
So, my question to you good people is: What can we do to help Lily? My friend desperately wants to get back the sweet kitten she had, or at least a cat who doesn't bite viciously, at random times. She's a wonderful cat, and we really want to help her.
Thanks to any who read and/or can give any advise.
You see, my friend owns a two year old female (spayed) Siamese cat named Lily. My friend shows Lily almost at least once a month, but we haven't been able to get to a show for the last couple of months. Lily really doesn't much care for the shows, but she's a mere 7 or 8 points away from Grand Premiereship, so my friend wants to show her until she Grands, and perhaps one more show after that.
It seems the only thing standing in Lily's way is her now-apparent frightening tendancy to bite randomly. Now, we have -always- known that Lily doesn't much like to be pet, so we aviod, for the most part, petting her excessively. I learned my lesson the hard way; at a show a few months ago, I reached into her show cage while she was resting and proceeded to pet her, not fully knowing to what extent how much she disliked being petted. She ripped into my hand with not her nicely trimmed claws, but her very SHARP teeth.
My hand came away with a very large slice in the index finger, and a deep-ish puncture wound near the inside base of the same finger. The puncture wound later began the beginning of an abcess, and being a veterinary technician, I was very worried. Thankfully, the abcess never fully formed (I'm not sure what quite happened...), and my hand healed almost perfectly (with the exception of a scar that hurt for a few extra weeks).
We thought then, "oh, I shouldn't have messed with her, duuuuh." But this tendancy to bite is becoming more apparent, and now my friend has let me know (just this very afternoon, in fact) that Lily has attacked the new kitten in their now two -cat house. Just a couple of days ago, I watched Lily and the new kitten (Tanzie, a 10 week old female Siamese) romp around the house, playing. Lily has liked that kitten since the day they met, so why would she attack her now?
And yesterday, Lily was sitting peacefully in my friend's lap, and when my friend went to move Lily's foot, Lily attacked, leaving bloody tears in my friend's arm, which I saw this morning at school.
Some backround: Lily was born in Hawaii; her dam was a female Siamese named Kanani (not sure on spelling, but that's how it sounds), who had to be put down early in life, due to her very dangerous temperment. Lily's father, Prince Kuhio, is also a very dangerous cat, from the stories my friend has told me about him. Nearly eveyone who has had the displeasure of working and/or caring for him is frightened of his, at least to some degree; all except the owner of the breeding facility, whom he works just fine with.
So, my question to you good people is: What can we do to help Lily? My friend desperately wants to get back the sweet kitten she had, or at least a cat who doesn't bite viciously, at random times. She's a wonderful cat, and we really want to help her.
Thanks to any who read and/or can give any advise.