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Cat issues, or trying to get rid of an extra (hostile?) pet
L Ron Howard
The duckMinnesotaRegistered User regular
The duckMinnesotaRegistered User regular
You guys are all very wise when it comes to animals, especially cats. And I have a cat problem in my family. Sorry if I can't provide too many details, I don't have all the information being somewhere down in the grapevine.
This isn't my pet, but it affects me and I want to have more ideas on what we can do with it.
The story is that my sister got a cat earlier this year. She had to leave the house she was living in and moved to another house across town. She moved in with some friends of hers, and, as the story goes, on the first day there the cat scratched one of her new roommates hard enough in the face that they went to the hospital. They claim they were doing nothing more than reaching down to pet the cat, but we don't honestly know what happened for sure. Whatever the case is, the cat scratched a person in the face. They no longer welcomed the cat in the house.
So my sister talked with the person from whom she bought the cat, and she said she'd take the cat back, but then she was going to move into a new place. So it was best to hold onto the cat for a little while longer. Since my sister cannot have the cat at her place, my parents offered to watch the cat for her.
It seems like every week my sister's friend hits more and more roadbumps, and I honestly doubt they'll ever take the cat back. Every time the friend seems to go for a new place, something happens and she's unable to move.
The main issue here is that we have a cat that's already expressed hostility towards people. When my nephews come over to my parents' place, they lock the cat up. Another friend of my family thought getting a cat would be good, and they have youngins too, but the cat bit the father there, and was taken back in a day.
This is kind of affecting our family pretty badly. The dog that my parents have is not happy with the cat; because the cat's a dick, won't let him take a nap and pounce or claw the dog, pissing him off and all kinds of shenanigans ensue. So he's always on guard and not usually in a very good mood because of it. My dad and I are really allergic. I know my dad is taking more and more medication to live with the cat, but it seems to be a losing battle. I can't go over, regardless of the medication, because I'm that allergic to the cat. It's a good week of recovery for myself after I visit my friends' places that have cats. And my sister moved into the place, so she's not going to be able to move out into another place.
So, what can we do?
This isn't my pet, but it affects me and I want to have more ideas on what we can do with it.
The story is that my sister got a cat earlier this year. She had to leave the house she was living in and moved to another house across town. She moved in with some friends of hers, and, as the story goes, on the first day there the cat scratched one of her new roommates hard enough in the face that they went to the hospital. They claim they were doing nothing more than reaching down to pet the cat, but we don't honestly know what happened for sure. Whatever the case is, the cat scratched a person in the face. They no longer welcomed the cat in the house.
So my sister talked with the person from whom she bought the cat, and she said she'd take the cat back, but then she was going to move into a new place. So it was best to hold onto the cat for a little while longer. Since my sister cannot have the cat at her place, my parents offered to watch the cat for her.
It seems like every week my sister's friend hits more and more roadbumps, and I honestly doubt they'll ever take the cat back. Every time the friend seems to go for a new place, something happens and she's unable to move.
The main issue here is that we have a cat that's already expressed hostility towards people. When my nephews come over to my parents' place, they lock the cat up. Another friend of my family thought getting a cat would be good, and they have youngins too, but the cat bit the father there, and was taken back in a day.
This is kind of affecting our family pretty badly. The dog that my parents have is not happy with the cat; because the cat's a dick, won't let him take a nap and pounce or claw the dog, pissing him off and all kinds of shenanigans ensue. So he's always on guard and not usually in a very good mood because of it. My dad and I are really allergic. I know my dad is taking more and more medication to live with the cat, but it seems to be a losing battle. I can't go over, regardless of the medication, because I'm that allergic to the cat. It's a good week of recovery for myself after I visit my friends' places that have cats. And my sister moved into the place, so she's not going to be able to move out into another place.
So, what can we do?
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I think you need to ask a vet what to do, or turn it over to a shelter. No one you know is equipped to take care of it, and it's bothering everyone plus the dog either through violence or allergies.
Take it to the vet for a check-up (or advise the owner to). A lot of animal behavior problems are related to a medical issue the animal is having (not always, but often).
If there's nothing the vet sees, the cat will need to go to a shelter (it may be put to sleep if it's as violent & out of control as you're suggesting, but that'll be up to the shelter to decide).
Cats in particular have a tendency to be absolute shitfaces.
Keep in mind you'll often spend hundreds of dollars on a cat to find out there's nothing wrong and them shitting and pissing on your bedsheets, or attacking everything that looks at them sideways, is just them expressing themselves. Cats, just like dogs, have personalities and some cannot be saved or fixed.
No. They don't. What cats do have is a tendency to reflect back the attitude they receive as opposed to a dog who will generally just absorb it.
OP:
How old was the cat when your sister bought it? How long was the cat with the person she bought it from?
How long has the cat been with your parents? Have you asked the person your sister bought it from whether the cat acted like this when it was with them?
The way you've written your post, It doesn't sound like you actually live with the cat, and how they act to visitors is very different from how they act with family, what do your parents think of the cat? You've only mentioned your dads allergies, but do they think the cat is as bad as you do? Do they think they need to get rid of it?
It sounds like it could be from the cat being jerked around to new homes and new families extremely often, which they adjust to a lot slower than people and dogs.
Agree with Ceres to have your parents ask your sister if they can take it to a vet, see if there's a physical issue going on, but it sounds like it could be caused by treating the cat like a piece of furniture which can be moved between homes and families without any consideration.
And I agree with Psykoma, cats have a much different adjustment period and it sounds like the cat was upset at a move, scratched a person because it was upset, and has been shuffled around ever since. Like the consistent thing here seems to be first day cat is somewhere new > cat is upset and bites or scratches someone > cat is sent somewhere else. And I'm not saying that isn't a valid reason to get rid of a cat, just that it is a thing for your family to keep in mind if they own any cats in the future.
Then you've never lived with a cat that shits and pisses on the floor and pillows for no reason.
It's not no reason, it's a common cat stress behaviour. They are marking a spot that smells like you. It's a hard problem to fix though, as cats aren't very trainable.
As for the cat in the OP, sounds like poor kitty has to go. You can take it to a shelter, or you can put it down. My parents put down a scratching cat when I was born because it wasn't safe, and they are huge cat lovers. Sometimes you need to accept that an animal is not safe. And since few people want to take a scratchy cat it might end up put down anyway, or in a cage for the rest of its life. At least it wouldn't suffer this way. Check it out with the original owner first, as with a death sentence they might "suddenly" find they can take it back after all.
A solution might be to have someone with a large property and a rodent problem to take it. I know American cat lovers think that letting a cat be an outdoor cat is worse than boiling it, but cats were bred over thousands of years to live in barns and slay rats. As long as they have catfood and a warm place for sleeping in cold weather, it makes them happy.
That's practically the only reason to have an indoor cat. It's also why cats use litter boxes. They're still 'outdoor tuned.'
My sister got the cat when it was a kitten, at 8 weeks or whatever the standard is. It's like 8 or so months old now.
The cat is up-to-date with shots and everything. I believe they were just at the vet two or three weeks ago. This was after my parents got it after it was kicked out of my sister's new place. The one where it bit the other potential owner was like last week or so.
My parents want to get the cat declawed, regardless of what happens, as it doesn't really seem to have any idea about claws and that clawing people is not OK. It will also maybe stop harassing the dog.
I personally suspect that people are just getting all up in the cat's face when he's just arrived, so he's had no time to adjust. He's not a complete dick, and has been really lovable to myself and my parents. But there's still the fear that it will do something to my nephews; the oldest one is 3 the other is an infant. He mostly just antagonizes the dog, because he's a cat, and cats are dicks. I also suspect that my sister has no idea how to help a cat adjust to a new place, and the people to whom she's giving the cat also have never had a cat before. I've gained a ton of info from reading the other cat threads on this board to know they're extremely sensitive towards new settings, and need time to adjust and all that.
I believe my dad was saying it took a good week for the cat to settle down with them. But he also did nothing aggressive like bit or claw them. Just the dog, but that's because where my sister was at before she moved, they had a puppy and the two would play really roughly like that. My dog doesn't do that, so he just thinks the cat's being a dick to him.
With dogs, generally when they bite I know they're put down. But I have no ideas about cats. Especially one that's been a repeat offender. And I don't know if anyone will take in a cat that's harmed people twice, even if they've been informed about it.
That's an issue for a beloved family pet - this is a cat no-one wants.
Anyway yes a shelter will still take a cat who has scratched or bit before, and many people who are familiar with cats will also take it in, they just need to be told. I mean from what you're saying it's not like the cat just randomly walks up to people and claws them open or bites, it just scratches or bites in stressful situations and that is totally normal! A shelter is going to understand that. Also from your last post that's three new places in what, a month? That's a lot for a cat! Hell, that's a lot for a person too.
It did have a reason; you just don't know what it was. It was most likely a urinary infection that you were ignoring since we're just throwing around accusations again.
And dogs do that too.
I'm guessing this is going to have to be an agree to disagree. I've had cats before that get a full work up at the vet, have been in the same place forever, no outside changes, and they just start peeing on the floors because they feel like it. I mean it just happens sometimes.
As for the OP, I'm guessing you don't know but what was happening when the violent behavior occurred? I mean I've known several pets that say don't like to be picked up, or don't like to be petted when they are active, or are not getting enough attention. Attacking out of the blue is probably an indication of something, but freaking out when getting picked up, in a new place, by a new person, is probably just something that happens.
A lot of people with cats will make the mistake of using their hands as toys when they play with cats. As in moving your hand around to attract the cats attention or playfully batting the cat around with their hands. Then it's somehow a huge shock when the cat randomly attacks their hand. Also, like most animals, cats need a lot of attention. They need play time where you are engaging their hunting instincts like every day. If I ignore my cat for a few days he will start to act out attacking the blinds or my legs.
There's ALWAYS a reason. They just don't do it because they feel like it. It's really really hard to find out that reason and fix it sometimes but it's there. It can be something as simple as being startled while peeing or they had a single pain while peeing and they associate it with peeing in that box and just never do it again.
I don't know the specifics. I was told that it was out of the blue, though I have my doubts, as I doubt a person will say "yeah, I cornered the cat and was generally pissing it off".
I know nothing about playing with cats, but I didn't know that you're not supposed to play with them with your hands like that.
Clean bill of health. Cat is an asshole. That cat is also an asshole.
You put those kinds of cats down, because you quite literally cannot live in a house that is covered in cat piss and shit. Negative health effects and all that.
See this is the problem with quotes out of context (when someone takes the one quote without the rest of the post) with my advice.
Cat was taken to the vet and had no infections, nothing.
Multiple cat households also present their own problems, too.
And so I don't get an infraction, here you go:
Cats are dumb beasts. They cannot be assholes. They are not trying to annoy you. Don't anthropomorphize them.
A cat that fouls everywhere may be under stress, may be aged and incontinent, or have some other medical issue. If not, it is merely a badly trained cat. This sucks, because cats are hard to train. But it's still the owner's fault, not the cat's. I know "the mean cat" is a cartoon archetype, but real cats are not the same as cartoon cats. As much as we like to say "Look at that snooty little cat!" we are just playing a game - cats cannot actually be "mean."
You're a terrible pet owner. Don't ever get one.
I didn't take it out of context. You literally accused him of something you have no information on which you've been doing a lot lately so I did the same. See how dumb that is?
This is what I was talking about when I said cats reflect attitudes.
I have met many people who claimed their cats were assholes for no reason.
I have yet to meet one where it's actually true.
All of them just never realize how bad (either actively bad or just neglectful) they are to their pets, expecting "physically healthy" to equal "happy".
Those people should never be allowed pets.
There's more to every conscious animal than being physically healthy.
You can't infract me! Right?
In this instance, the cat needs to get out that energy! And though it may be a pain, the cat probably just needs to be played with. Wand toys in particular are something cats tend to enjoy. A play session a day, with the cat jumping about and getting tired out, should do the trick.
Declawing is not the worst thing ever, but it's important to know the drawbacks; I think those have already been discussed. It really can help in some situations, but it others it just creates new problems.
Ultimately, you'll just have to make a judgement call. Is the animal acting erratically or is it acting predictably (and therefore it's negative behavior can be modified accordingly)? Do you trust it around the toddler and infant? If not, are you comfortable with it living in a separate area of the home?
The only people with enough information to answer those questions are the people that have been living with the cat.
haha any cat who is ok with a dog laying on his head is probably not a very mean cat in the end... he probably really is just overly energetic and trying to play, or stressed out from environment changes. If you guys really want to get rid of him I don't think you'll have any trouble with that at all. A wand toy or even a laser pointer would probably be a good idea to help get some of the energy out. It sucks having cat allergies, everybody in my family has them to some degree but we persist in having cats (I guess the definition of insanity). As far as nephews go, I would just keep them away from the cat... an infant obviously can't be told but a three year old is old enough to get the "don't touch kitty, he might scratch" talk and that should be fine AS LONG AS everybody makes sure the cat has somewhere to go and get away from your nephew if he comes at the cat, like, don't have your nephew and the cat in a room at the same time with the door shut as that is asking for scratches or bites when the cat feels it cannot run away.
He's a very pretty kitty, if we hadn't already promised to take a kitten from our friend I'd ask where you guys live and offer to take him :P
Could also be the cat trying to be the alpha of the house. Not that it's ok, but if the dog isn't setting its boundaries, a new cat can behave badly.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
This. This and variations of it are why everyone hates these threads, me most of all, and why a ton of infractions go out in each one.
This kind of statement is entirely inappropriate in every way, and the sentiment itself expressed unnecessarily.
It's really simple. If you can't keep your head out of your ass when you post, don't do it.
Running up shrieking trying to hug it = NO!
Wave this cat toy around and have him chase it = Yes!
Also set up some high perch spots, on top of a tall book shelf or something, where the cat can get out of reach if he doesn't want interact with the kids. Plus being able to down gaze at things from above tends to calm cats down a lot and boost their confidence, which helps with the pissing and shitting in weird places problem.
Honestly, I think it's too early to say that you have a problem cat, rather than one that just had a really shitty month with all the moving from place to place. Cats HATE relocating. They are just as attached to their "territory" as they are to their living companions. Possibly even more attached.