My rommates cat is being a dick

matt7718

Me and my roommate have a cat, Mr. Meow.

Mr. Meow has been a most excellent animal and pet, doing cute things at all times (read: tucking its paws under its front legs, sprawling/stretching, etc) and I have really liked him up until a month ago.

About a month ago Mr. Meow reached that kitty age where he decided to spray in my room. I kept my door closed so he wouldn't re-spray and a week or two after the incident Mr. Meow had his kitty balls removed. Since then he hasn't sprayed, but his behavior towards me has been TERRIBLE.

The cat constantly attacks me, out of the blue. It is 1:32pm, and as of 9am, he has attacked me with bites and claws at least 4 times. I try to distract it with toys and stuff, but after that, he goes back to attacking me.

He does not do this to my roommate. The only way the cat attacks my roommate is if kitty is already attacking me and he tried to intervene. Most of the time this behavior is unprovoked, I am not petting him or doing anything towards him when he starts his assault.

What can I do? I am starting to really hate the cat, and I am starting to get really really mad when he bites me and I don't want to abuse the poor thing.

misbehavin

That's.... very odd behavior. Does the cat do this when you are petting it, too, or only when you are doing nothing? It may feel ignored if it does not attack when you pet it but does otherwise.

Aldo

You're giving him toys when he attacks you, the cat sees that as a reward for his behaviour and will continue doing that every time he wants to play. If you want him to stop attacking you, punish him, every time he does it. EVERY TIME, be consistent.

I have a dog, I used to punish him by yelling at him and if he was really bad by slapping him on the top of his head, it worked out fine and we get along great now.

matt7718

Aldo wrote: »

You're giving him toys when he attacks you, the cat sees that as a reward for his behavior and will continue doing that every time he wants to play. If you want him to stop attacking you, punish him, every time he does it. EVERY TIME, be consistent.

I have a dog, I used to punish him by yelling at him and if he was really bad by slapping him on the top of his head, it worked out fine and we get along great now.

My goal was to re-direct his aggression towards to towards the toy. But I bet you are right, he probably sees his attacks as a way to get me to play with him.

Another thing is how do I punish the cat? The spray bottle doesn't work, the cat likes water.

Feral

Aldo's got the right idea, only I'd use a squirt bottle for punishment.

You might smell funny to him now for whatever reason, especially since it sounds like you haven't let him into your room for a while. Take some old dirty clothes, like a gym t-shirt or some socks, and throw them in his bed (or anywhere else he spends a lot of time). That way he gets re-acclimated to your scent.

Edit: if the cat doesn't respond to water, try scruffing him. (Firmly grip the loose skin at the back of the neck.) While scruffed, just yell a firm "no!"

DrZiplock

A little squirt gun or spray bottle will certainly help him break the habit. When he's doing something negative...squirtsquirtsquirt.

Soda can with a few coins in it works too, but you have to welcome the loud.


Tis true that some cats have a change in behavior after being fixed. He might just not like you.

misbehavin

matt7718 wrote: »

Aldo wrote: »

You're giving him toys when he attacks you, the cat sees that as a reward for his behavior and will continue doing that every time he wants to play. If you want him to stop attacking you, punish him, every time he does it. EVERY TIME, be consistent.

I have a dog, I used to punish him by yelling at him and if he was really bad by slapping him on the top of his head, it worked out fine and we get along great now.

My goal was to re-direct his aggression towards to towards the toy. But I bet you are right, he probably sees his attacks as a way to get me to play with him.

Another thing is how do I punish the cat? The spray bottle doesn't work, the cat likes water.

A little smack is fine. Nothing abusive, mind you, just something to let the cat know that you are unhappy. A little smack and a firm "NO!" should do the trick.

Aldo

matt7718 wrote: »

My goal was to re-direct his aggression towards to towards the toy. But I bet you are right, he probably sees his attacks as a way to get me to play with him.

Another thing is how do I punish the cat? The spray bottle doesn't work, the cat likes water.

This might be something you have to discuss with your roommate. I tend to either kick cats or throw them across the room. :?

Kerbob97

my first thought was: Mr. Meow blames you for getting his balls removed.

seriously though-
• Teach the appropriate behaviour : One good way to stop a cat from behaving inappropriately is to teach the appropriate behaviour and reaction to any situation. Cats hate to be surprised. Thus, if your cats reacts negatively or badly you should instantly react in a way that will annoy them. The catch is to react instantly (as a reflex) or the damage cannot be prevented.

• Means to stop unfavourable reactions: Some means to stop unfavourable reactions in a cat include spraying them with a bottle, clapping, hissing, or other such sudden noises such as snapping, "No!".

Muriden

DrZiplock wrote: »

Tis true that some cats have a change in behavior after being fixed. He might just not like you.

I know I'd be more than a little spiteful if I thought someone was the reason I had my balls chopped off.

At any rate. I have a dog that was real bitch before we had her spayed (no pun intended), biting and growling at nothing was common. My parents went to our vet and bought a bottle of this solution that was like a very strong cinnamon, kinda like pepper spray but not nearly to the same extent. She hated the stuff, it got the point across very quickly that what she was doing would bring on the spray. So I'd go to a petsmart or your vet and see if you can find something like that since the water isn't working. One thing you'll have to figure out though is how to do this without confusing the hell out of the cat. If you've mistakenly trained him to attack you as a sign of it wanting to play spraying it when it wanted to play won't be a good outcome.

lunchbox12682

Well part of the problem could be the cat just has a lot of energy and you and your roommate are not playing with it enough.
We have that every know and then when the cat goes crazy and parts lunging at our ankles or hands.
While, this is also bad behavior and we work to correct her, it never happens if she's been played with a decent amount.

Bliss 101

My cat did the same to some of my friends. They act nervously around the cat and therefore pay a lot of attention to him, and this seemed to piss him off: he'd follow them around and randomly attack their hands and ankles. If they managed to forget about him, he'd sit next to them staring at them belligerently until they started getting nervous again - and then he'd attack them. He never attacked a person unless he already had his victim thoroughly freaked out.

I never figured out what the root cause for this behavior was - this is a cat that gets along well with most people and is never afraid of people - but I trained him out of it using the scariest device known to cats: a black umbrella! Like Kerbob said, cats hate surprises, and the sudden opening of a black umbrella towards the cat is pretty surprising. I'd give the umbrella to people who were intimidated by the cat, and all they had to do was open it once to establish their authority. He'd never bother them again. The weird part is that he never got used to the umbrella. Instead, he learned to avoid it so that eventually people didn't even need to open it; all he needed was to see the closed umbrella in someone's hand and he'd be on his best behavior. These days he never behaves aggressively towards people unless they make the terrible mistake of picking him up when he doesn't feel like cuddling.

I also used the umbrella to train him to stay off the kitchen table and to stop scratching furniture.

Al_wat

My buddies cat was the same way, I had to live with it for a few months. I would just grab it by the back of the neck, and hold it down to the ground. Not hurting it, but kinda giving him a "time out". He would growl or meow, but I would just tell him to fuck off.

jclast

Cats don't like bitter. Put some water in a squirt bottle and add some vinegar to it. Carry it around and squirt him whenever he attacks you.

ElectricTurtle

I was in a pet store yesterday and I saw a product that claimed it would decrease this sort of behavior. It was like one of those plugin air freshners except that it contained some kind of pheremone or whatever that was supposed to calm/de-stress the cat and stop it from spraying and otherwise being a dick. I don't remember what they were called (let alone how effective they might be), but you might look for one.

Tiemler

matt7718 wrote: »

My rommates cat is being a dick

Then for the love of god, don't pet him!

matt7718

i found a system that works.

Mr. Meow apparently hates getting hit by pillows! So i can just gently hit him with it and he runs for cover, so this way i am not hurting him and he gets a little discipline. Hopefully this system works, and if not, i shall try out the stuff you guys have said.

Thanks!

3lwap0

Some of this is instinctive for cats. Aggressive behavior (scratching, biting and hissing), can be a result of natural instinct; improper socialization; fear; irritation - even an illness or injury. My mom had a cat, and scruffing fixed many of it's' bad habits. "Scruffing," a method borrowed from mother cats works well for quickly squelching aggressive behavior. Firmly grasp the scruff of the neck and push the cat downwards to the floor while saying "no!" (Never pick a cat up by the scruff of the neck.) Eventually they learn to associate what's proper behavior and not. Also, yelling "Ouch!" and walking away from a cat helps as well. Remember to enforce the behavior you want only when it misbehaves, otherwise, you'll have a crazy ass cat.