Violent, freaking out cat.

[syzygycat]

My mother went in for surgery she'll be in the hospital for a few days but can't take care of her 2 and a half y/o for a week or two. So I brought him to my house.

I've brought in many many new cars into the house over the years. I locked out the other cafs thoroughly cleaned and aired out the bedroom before bringing him over. I brought mom pillows and comforter so he has familiar scents. Plus this cat knows me But....

he's been growling and hissing, in attack position for the past 24 hours he leaps fowafx and violently claws at anything and at nothing Including his food/water. I tried interacting with him at first the just hung out while ignoring him, I left him alone for a few hours I tried sleeping on the floor in the opposite side of the room in the morning without getting near him... He's not calming down. At her house he sits on my lap, plays, responds to his name and responds to "want food"

Be here he's acting more feral than feral cat I've seen. I used calming spray, played cat music.

I haven't gotten in his space or an refrained from showing any startled reaction when his claws brake skin.

I know he heres the other cats in the house but that can't be helped.

Any idea what I can do before the cats gives himself a heart attack?

 

[rubysmama]

It sounds like a really severe case of Re-Directed Aggression In Cats [Insight And Solutions] - TheCatSite

Not an answer to your question, but how far is your mother's place from yours? Would you be able to take him back home, and stop in daily to check on him, as well as your mother once she's home.

Has he eaten anything? Or used the litter box? If not, those will soon be serious concerns.

If keeping him with you is the only option, maybe something in this TCS article might be helpful:
How To Help A New Cat Adjust To Your Home - TheCatSite

 

[Kris107]

I think the eating/drinking thing is the biggest. Do you have a spare bathroom he could stay in? Sometimes a smaller space is better. I don't know that you will make a ton of progress in the one/two weeks you have him. I think making sure he eats/drinks is the best you might be able to do. If your mom lives farther away, could you get a cat sitter to go feed/water/scoop for the cat so he could stay in his own home?

 

[syzygycat]

It sounds like a really severe case of Re-Directed Aggression In Cats [Insight And Solutions] - TheCatSite

Not an answer to your question, but how far is your mother's place from yours? Would you be able to take him back home, and stop in daily to check on him, as well as your mother once she's home.

Has he eaten anything? Or used the litter box? If not, those will soon be serious concerns.

If keeping him with you is the only option, maybe something in this TCS article might be helpful:
How To Help A New Cat Adjust To Your Home - TheCatSite

Mom lives 75min away but she is is going to have a mesh implanted over her intestines she went be able to bend over at all and he can't be allowed to knead her belly and that's kinda "his thing" specially when he wants wet food.

When he cane out of the carrier he was a little growly but ate treats out if my hand, let me brush him. I think he saw one of my cats when I was leaving the room, that's when the aggression started.

I've taken in abused and feral cats before.

Hes eaten a few greenies treats. Not his dry food. This morning I put a big card board box in the room and his favorite fancy feast in there, It looks like he ate 1/4 of a can.
On the pet cam I've seen him get one foot into the litter box (his litter box from mom's) but then hissed at the wall and back to his cardboard box.

 

[Kflowers]

Can you bring him something that your mother has recently touched? Like let her sleep next to a towel. That way he would know her scent and should realize she is still alive. Can she talk to him over the phone? Some cats can see and respond well to seeing their people on the computer. If he's afraid she's disappeared/died that might help.

 

[rubysmama]

Hes eaten a few greenies treats. Not his dry food. This morning I put a big card board box in the room and his favorite fancy feast in there, It looks like he ate 1/4 of a can.

It's good he's eaten some. Hopefully he'll eat more as the day progresses or overnight.

On the pet cam I've seen him get one foot into the litter box (his litter box from mom's) but then hissed at the wall and back to his cardboard box.

Is it the same type of litter used from your Mom's place? Even if it is, perhaps some Cat Attract litter might help.
Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract® Cat Litter - the litter cats love™

 

[syzygycat]

I just left him alone for 11 hours, he came out to the middle of the room but didn't go exploring.

He wasn't happy to see me but I left his food near him, got clawed for that but he did eat voraciously once I was out of the room for 15min.

I came back in crawling on the floor with a bunch of toys gave him a dozen slow blinks rolled into my back. Rolled a few felt balls passed him. He never blinked or stopped growling but he did sit down. I slowly glided by hand towards him and he didn't attack of go back in his box. So... Progress of a sort.

Can you bring him something that your mother has recently touched? Like let her sleep next to a towel. That way he would know her scent and should realize she is still alive. Can she talk to him over the phone? Some cats can see and respond well to seeing their people on the computer. If he's afraid she's disappeared/died that might help.

Mom can't call yet but I think she'll get more stressed if she knows how poorly he's handling the move. When she calls I'll put her on speaker, might help.
I used a huge cardboard box as a cat house (the boxes lowes uses to ship stacks of 30gallon totes), mom's blanket is the flooring. I brought his cat bed, and I have mom's pillow case strategically placed in the room. (draft comes in from under the door so the scent should waft across the floor).

It's good he's eaten some. Hopefully he'll eat more as the day progresses or overnight.



Is it the same type of litter used from your Mom's place? Even if it is, perhaps some Cat Attract litter might help.
Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract® Cat Litter - the litter cats love™

I brought his litter and litter box from mom's home (I assumed the scent of 5 other cats using on of my boxes would just Stress him more)

 

[Alldara]

He's very frightened! His human left and you snatched him to a strange place.

You're doing amazing. I love the descriptions you gave. Really speaking cat to him!

How about some catnip? There's some cat calming music on YouTube. I found it helped Nobel to get used to new sounds after moving to have some music to listen to. It just made a constant noise that made new sounds less jarring.

Likely he can smell your cats too. And that makes him worried.


** just adding to say as some readers have been confused in the past, the music will not act like calming medication. Just like following a meditation for a human doesn't replace anxiety medication. However, for some cats, it's like they feel the calm of having listened to a meditation.

 

[syzygycat]

TLDR: We've made great progress! Mombis being kept in the hospital (another) extra day. She should be able to video chat tomorrow but now I'm not sure if it's a good idea. If he keeps chilling out at this rate hearing her voice might retrigger him.

I went back in the room this morning, lied on my back motionless with my arms outstretched. And listened to an audiobook for a few hours. He hissed for a while, then growled. Walk around me clawed my ankle, his nails haven't been cut in 3 months so his thumb got stuck in me, I try no to react but yelped when he finally tore his paw out of my skin. I got a couple of rapid swipes for that. I played still again he took a few steps back and stared/growled some more, then randomly leapt forward and slashed one time at my face, then just stood 6 inches away with his paw half up preparing for my reaction. I managed not to jerk or yelp, just said in my my most soothing tone "it's OK Jingly, it's ok" (i didnt pick that name)

BUT for whatever reason he lowered his striking paw walked up to me smelled my hand, pushed his face on my hand, smelled it again , leapt back hissed, clawed at me hand once, then immediately bunted my hand a over and over again till I started scratching his head.
He stood up hissed at my face drew his arm back to hit me again but changed his mind bunted my face, let me kiss the tip of his head. Then he flopped up against me and rolled onto his back with his head on my hand for a 3-5min. He was growling the entire time, and never blinked but did look around the room from time to time not the constant, 1st time he stopped glarng at me in days.

Went back a little later while my wife prepared the cats' lunch. Hes's still very weary of hands and feet. So I tried decided to bunt his face with my face. And he let me!

It's been 3 hours since then. He still hisses when I walk in but rubs against my legs, i can stand up without being mauled and hasn't taken another swipe at me. Even follows me in the room, and tries to follow me out of the room. He constantly looks like he's going to attack but doesn't

I think I earned his trust just had to shed some blood to do it... Like a gang initiation

How about some catnip? There's some cat calming music on YouTube. .

Did both. Calming Cat music on loop, it may not do much to calm but drowns out all the other scary unfamiliar house sounds.
We keep sealed backup catnip and regular toys so he didn't have to smell the other cats on it.
He's not in a playing mood but he did settle so his face is over the new catnip toy. He's also pretty intristed in the laser pointer, doesn't try to get it but stops growling and follows it with his eyes.

Likely he can smell your cats too. And that makes him worried.

Im sure that's 50% of the problem. He saw my eldest male cat through the door right before his demeanor changed.

My youngest kitten, bridget, (adopted the same day/same shelter/same kennel as moms cat) . Is a tiny (7lb) happy idiot. My other cats are on guard, keeping an eye on the door but staying 10 feet back. But the Bridget hasn't noticed anything being different. She bolted in between my legs batted all 4 cat toys in front of mom's cat one rolled out of the room and went chasing after it. The whole thing took 4sec max Bridget Didn't notice the 18lb cat she butted up against. Mom's cat was too shocked to do anything, he eventually stood frozen in fear.

 

[rubysmama]

Still sounds a bit on the scary side to me, but at the same time does sound like you and he are making tiny steps forward. Poor guy, must be so confused. And poor you. Those scratches sound painful.

 

[syzygycat]

The "I'll kill you you if you move" hiss

The moment he decides he's not going to hit me
(the striking paw slowly going down)

growl...

And then groom

And then please don't leave leg rub

Thank you for staying

 

[rubysmama]

Awww... he's really rather adorable, isn't he. If you ignore that first pic.

 

[syzygycat]

Awww... he's really rather adorable, isn't he. If you ignore that first pic.

Adorable but gigantic

 

[Margot Lane]

Awww. This developing tale is very touching indeed…he wants to trust. Has there been any discussion of the weight -no judgement here- or it is what it is?

 

[syzygycat]

Awww. This developing tale is very touching indeed…he wants to trust. Has there been any discussion of the weight -no judgement here- or it is what it is?

Yeah, mom overdid it with the free feeding. We got her an auto feeder in February he's lost just under a pound and a half... Still way too fat But the fact that he stopped gaining weight is a big victory

 

[Kflowers]

He looks as though he'll be a real cuddle bunny when he feels safe and things make sense to him.

In the meantime, if you don't know, an ice pack - gel packs are good - on scratches will take the ouch out of them. At the same time, or maybe alternating, when they turn pink along the length of the scratch, warm compresses help keep the area flexible.

 

[syzygycat]

And today... zero swipes (zero on the humans, he got really mad at a paper bag) spent the day on my lap and/or my desk. Problem solved itself insanely quickly.

 

[Kflowers]

Precious has decided you aren't going to kill him. Maybe he stopped fighting enough to realize you're worried about his mom too. And if you're worried about her, she's still there and you have a common bond.

 

[syzygycat]

Precious has decided you aren't going to kill him. Maybe he stopped fighting enough to realize you're worried about his mom too. And if you're worried about her, she's still there and you have a common bond.

He's acclimating really quickly. No more clawing, no growling, no hissing.
Mom may need a while longer than planned before she can take him back. So we started the early steps on introducing him to the house/other 4 cats.
It's Literally never gone smoother.
I took down the barrier that kept the other cats from getting close to the door. Fed dinner last with him and the other cats on opposite sides of the door. Put the divider up in the hallway so he could leave his room and explore the next room over yesterday. This morning I set up the divider so ig runs through the master bedroom doorway to 6ft kennel in the bedroom.
He at he breakfast while being able to see the other cats down the hall. They got lunch just a few feet away from each other with the wire kennel wall separating them. Ive left his door open for 6 hours. He mostly stays in his room, occasionally, slowly & carefully, venturing out to explore. The other cats were very interested and kept sneaking peaks at him, he didn't hiss or growl. And now none of them even seem intrested in each other.
I use the same process for every new kitten it usually takes 2weeks to get to this point he's gotten where he's at in just a day and a half.

I still haven't tried to cut his claws but once we do I think supervised face to face interactions will come soon after

 

[syzygycat]

He let me cut his nails, and even chew on his ear