I Need help with my cat

I have had a cat for about 5months (he is 6months old) now and i am unsure on what to do. He bites, he pulls up carpet, he scratches my chair, ive tried water bottles, saying FIRM NO, ive tried ignoring him, ive tried everything. HE DOES NOT LISTEN, he knows it gets me mad because he watches me while doing it and as soon as i move he goes and hides. He wants to be petted when he is lonely because he comes and rubs himself on the legs but as soon as you pet him he turns around and bites as hard as he can on whatever he can. he doesnt care if hes biting hands, armjs, legs, back, whatever he can fit his mouth on.

He likes to go in a corner and pull the complete carpet out and shred it. I have heavy object in every single corner of my carpet in my house so that he cant move them. You prob will say...get a scratching post...i have a 7 foot tall scratching post with stairs and 4 levels, its all carpeted. My dad and I built it for just him the first day i got him. He can destroy it all he wants but he'd rather sleep on the top level then do his claws on it.


If anyone has ideas? I was gonna open the door and just let him go, he clearly doesnt want to be with me. But i'll take any sugjestion, right now all i do is come home from work and discipline him all night long and before i go to work. this morning as i waslked by him he sank 4 claws into my leg... it hurt very much...he ran away as soon as he did it.

 

and one more thing. He purs all the time, he never stops purring..he purs when he bites, he purs when he attcks, hes always purring. is that normal? I've never seen a cat bite soo much and pur at the same time. It's just mind bogeling.

(and the worst is not anticipating him coming behind you and biting the back of your leg...man that hurts something fierce)

 

Honestly, he's a kitten. Kittens tend to do those things. My cats (all adults) sometimes still go at the carpet and chair rather than their scratching post. But, they have learned and grew out of most of their habits.

I don't know if it would help for you to sprinkle catnip on the scratching post. That may attact him to it. To train my cats to use their post, I brought them over to it, put catnip on it, and took their paws and tried to show them that that's where they should scratch. They did catch on. (Another cheap thing to do is buy those cardboard scratchers - they're rectangular pieces of cardboard that you can find in nearly any pet store- and put one or two in other rooms where you don't have your scratching post.) My cats like to scratch in more than one room.

As for the biting and scratching, he's probably just trying to play. If he attacks you, do you have toys you can distract him with? Maybe put a toy on a string in front of him when he thinks your hand is the toy?

All my cats liked to claw at my hands and attack me feet when they were kittens. They all grew out of it. It sounds like you have a lively, little kitten that's ready to play and have some fun. Maybe if you can play with him, he will be too tuckered out to attack you when you're not playing.

I hope other people on this board have some more advice. Please be patient with your kitten... after all, he's just a baby and is still growing and learning.

(I think the purring is normal, he's just happy)

 

sounds like a pica thing (eating fabrics) which is often a result of a kitten being taken away from mom too young. You can do a search on this to find help on getting him to stop.

I adore the sound of a cat purring....and it's what cats do

 

i dont know where i heard this, but i believe that sometimes cats will purr when they are anxious. dont quote me...might just be a myth...but i have heard that somewhere. has anyone else heard that?

you might want to try one of the "kitty tease's". it is a fishing pole with a string, and attached to the end of the string is a piece of denim. my kitten loves it, and it gives you distance when you are playing with him. there are many fishing pole toys out there, but i have found this one is the best. i love it.

maybe scheduling kitty play time would help...kind of a behavioral thing, so he knows there is a play time.

do you have any other cats? maybe getting another kitty for him to play with might help, if he is lonely. i wouldnt just "put him out", although i think what that idea says is that you are just really, really frustrated with him. worse case scenario is that you could find another home for him.

good luck, let us know his progress

 

Sam, please try a sisal post. i have heard great succes with this when people had the carpet posts their cats wouldnt touch, and to help them get started using it rub it with cat nip. you can find them at any pet store and they also have ones that kind of lie at an angle many cats prefer this over a post. sorry cant help with the behavoirla problem.

honeybear

 

Neutering a male cat often reduces their aggressive tendencies. If he's not neutered yet, it's probably a good time. Talk to your vet.

Cats purr when they're nervous or scared as well as happy. My cats purr all through their vet visits and car rides.

 

Sam, here is a great site that nern just posted, that may help and answer some of your questions

honeybear

http://www.animalbehaviorassociates.com ... ticles.htm

 

thanks guys. I am frustratedm but i dont think i would ever ever let him go. I have thought about getting another kitten but will he be able to adapt? I dont want him just chewing up the other cat...should i get a female (he is a male and neutered)? or should i get a male? is that a reasonable thing to do? Will keep trying to play with him. I think he doesnt HOW to play and thats why he bites.

 

:? hmmmm....dont know about gender if you get another kitty. probably someone will have some helpful feedback. can see why youre frustrated. it is a bit of a dilemma. keep us updated though.

 

I know with female cats you should get a male companion cat to avoid territorial issues. I would presume this to be the same with male cats, but I don't know for sure (I've never had a male cat).

 

Also. I liev in a 2 bedroom apartment. He DOES NOT go outside, i fear if he does he will always awant to go outside...does he need the outdoors?


2)If i do get a second cat, will they fight over the scratching post (temleh, current cat, loves to sleep at the top, enough room for just him) will they fight over food? over different stuff?

 

I've heard to get a second cat of the opposite sex and younger. Since your cat is still pretty young, I wouldn't think you'd have many problems getting a second cat... even if it was another male.

If you do it, I would read up on how to properly introduce a new cat to the one you already have. It can make the process go a lot smoother.

A second cat could be a great way to have your current cat happy, active, and entertained.

 

Your kitten is not really bad, he just needs an outlet for all of his excess energy....this can be acheived by playing with him with various types of toys. If your going to get another kitten I would try to find one that is very active like your current kitten. Best wishes.

On going outside...no, he does not need the outdoors. If you want him to be strictly an indoor cat your better off not introducing him to the outdoors at all.

 

you might want to get your cat a stuffed animal for him to wrestle with. Find one that is about the same size or a bit smaller than then cat. Make sure you get one that is made for toddlers, so the eyes and things will be extra secure.

For a while my cat was very aggressive and bit all the time. I started putting the toy between me and him and taunting him with it. He'll rip it out of my hands and "kill" it. He loves that thing, carries it around with him, sleeps with it, and most of all wrestles with it. I think it allows him to fight with somethign, which is what he really wants to do.

It takes a while for him to catch on. I think it was several months before Footsie started going strait for the toy and not attacking me first.

As for the carpet, have you seen those cardboard things that lie on the floor. They're good for floor scratchers.

 

claws

the thought of declawing a cat or kitten is abhorant to me but have you tried trimming the claws? If it is too difficult maybe you can have it done at the vets. That is what I do and it really cuts down on the scratching. As for the biting I had a problem with that with raymond and when he would do it I would hold his mouth and tell him no very sternly and stop playing with him for awhile. As soon as I resumed playing if he did it again I would repeat the same procedure, cats are so smart and sensitive it didn't take him long at all to get the message that that is unacceptable. I hope everythig works out for you and your little friend as I'm sure it will.

 

HAHA i found something very interesting. I went to PETSMART and spent many of dollars last night. I have mentioned i have this 7 foot tall scratching post that temleh loves to climb and sleep on during the day but not much scratching done there (built it with my dad, all carpeted, its nice). Well temleh loves my chairs and the carpet corners. I bought 5 of the box scratches that come with catnip. I got 2 in my bedroom 2 in the computer room and 1 at the kitchen chairs. I've been showing them to him so hopefully he will scratch them before going for chairs (and btw i just bought a 2000 dolllar couch set and thank god he does NOT like to scratch it). I also bought toys with sticks so that my hand is never close to his mouth. (he likes those) and the mother of them alll. the toy that bought my biting freedom.... A LASER POINTER, OH MY GOD, for the first time yesterday i saw my cat lay down out of fatigue. I make him do about 10-12 laps around the living room and to the bedroom (i really can sit on the couch and do all that) and he lays down to catch his breath and to relax. I tried petting him yesterday and he DID not bite me, i think he was too exhausted to do it. Hopefully it will keep on saving me. I hope my luck turns and we get along better, i think i can deal with his energy...

 

Hip, hip hooray! Your kitty just wanted to play. Glad you were able to find ways to tucker him out. Laser pointer, what a great invention! My cats use the old fashioned flashlights. My Pooky used to climb, scratch me, destroy curtains, bed sheets etc. Had I known about this excellent site with great advice and suggestions, I never would've declawed him. Back then I was just a poor student with no means to the internet. Our 4 kitties now are not declawed and they leave our couch and tables and chairs alone. We have a cat tree too and a wooden bookshelf that they can tear apart whenever they want. No biting? That's a great accomplishment!

 

so good to hear!

gald you are having good success! Good for you and for kitty

 

Congrats on your success! Laser pointers are wonderful things for settling down a hyper kitty before bed!