Please give me advice on my cat!?

Question

I adopted two cats that were severely abused by their previous owner. I have had them for several years and was able, through love and tenderness, to get one of them calmed down enough to where she is now a lover. The other cat is a major problem. When it is just me in the house, she is timid at best. She lives to be right next to me but if I touch her or pet her in way that bothers her, she will attack me. When my boyfriend is home, she is so afraid of him that she will hardly ever come out of the corner and if he goes hear her, she will attack him with clwas a teeth. When friends/family come over, I have to lock her up or she will hiss and spit at them and attack them. She then gets so mad that people are over that she will attack her sister viciously sometimes drawing blood. I took her to the vet and the vet gave me anti-anxiety meds for her but they arent helping. The vet told me to consider euthanizing her but I am not sure I could live with that. Any suggestions? Thanks

Answer 1

This one is too much for me; try [e-mail] . The advise is free and "I" can't beat out a whole staff of vets. GOOD luck, its obvious you are a good cat person. My Stimpy can be a handful ,but she's never been abused.

Answer 2

You have a few options, and thank you for not euthanizing. I would try first to find her a home with no other pets.
nextly, do what I do, when guests come over, I quarantine my problematic cat from the get go.
THe BIGGEST thuing: is if you have made a commitment to this cat, and feel attachment to her, please try FELIWAY>
They have sprays, and plug in infusers. This helped my cat very much. They exude facial pheromones: the same ones when kitty rubs her face on your calf, or other pieces of furniture when happy: these pheromones are not detectable by us humans, but tell kitty all is well and make her calm and happy. Second:
Bach Flowers Rescue Remedy. An inexpensiver herbal tincture that absolutely you cannot hurt the cat with, you would just waste it if you used too much.. a few drops in their water bowl with each changing, and rub a few on your hand then behind her ears.
Try both, they helped me a lot. For a while, until my one kitty felt safe, I kept her and my other cat separate, and did a rotations of who was free to roam the house and visit with me.... worked well.
Then slowly allow monitored visits between them Email me if you need more help... I have been there. Your last and final option, is to make her a barn cat at a farm... where once she is fixed and has all her shots is not the worst thing... but please try the other options first. laure

Answer 3

Try giving her cat mint toys to play with. Cat mint has a slightly sedative affect.Put a lavender cushion in her bed.These are relaxing agents,I think keeping her locked in a room when people visit you, could aggravate the situation even more.Try socializing her,instead ,it takes time and patience.If all else fails perhaps she would be better in a quieter household.Do not touch her stomach region most female cats do not like this.You have to trust her to a degree with people.I lost my wildcat today,she didn't even like me sometimes and I had her from day one.she was an anxious nervous cat.She mellowed when she became a mother.Anyway,If you separate your cat from people she will get worse.On the occasions of her attacking everyone in sight plus her own sister,Topaz did that as well.It is a space/threat/ supremacy/territorial /action ,particularly if she is claiming the space as her nest area.Is her nest area in the room where you enclose her away from guests ? Or is her nest area in the same room as your visitors sit ? If so she feels threatened because she cannot go to her nest site ,therefore the situation is rendering her as vulnerable.It makes no difference if she has kittens or not because even if she is spayed ,she still has her mental feminine cycle.

Answer 4

There might not be anything else that you can do. However, if you still want to give it one more try, you could contact an animal psychologist. I have never done this myself but it could give you some insights that you never thought of before.

It may simply be the case that euthanizing is the most humane and loving thing to do. Or, maybe you can both live with putting her away when there are others around and just letting her be who she is as long as she is around and don't expect anything else - just accepting it and going with it and taking precautions when you have guests. I don't know what your spiritual beliefs are but I don't think that death is the end, even for animals.

Answer 5

I know how it is with cats and this cat sounds like it needs love. When people come around just put it in a room by itself so it won't get angry or scared. Maybe if you just keep it away from people its anger issues will go down over time. My cat is always mean and attakcs guys... when I have friends over I tell them all to grab my cats favorite treat before walking in the house so IF my cat comes around they just throw the treat to it and he leaves them alone. If nothing else works you might have to find another home for it. Try a farm...farms always love cats because they get mice. I know its not the best thing but it might work.

Answer 6

You need to desensitize your cat. Just like ridding someone of phobia's. First of all you have to win the cats trust. It sounds like you have done that. Second since your boyfriend is in the picture he needs to earn the cats trust. Food is the best way find a special treat, like hotdog or ham or hamburger first you treat her and slowly increase the contact as you do. start off just setting it in front of her and walk away. when she is comfortable with that try actually handing it to her. when she is comfortable with that give it to her and give her a little stroke gentley. continue untill you can pick her up after you give her a treat. Then have your boyfriend do this. after he has accomplished this you need to do it when you get company. Never move fast around the cat never get mad at the cat and never yell at the cat.

Answer 7

I am faced with a similar situation, one of the cats that I adopted came from a cattery, it has only seen the inside of a cage for 8 mohths of its entire life. I am at a loss at what to do as well, sometimes it might be better to ease the kittys pain by humane measures that to drag out the process of pretending to nutrure it back to reality.

Answer 8

It sounds like you will just have to accept that cat on her own terms. She likes to be near you but doesn't want to be petted, so just let her follow you around. Do her a favor and put her in a cat carrier with some food and toys if friends and family come over. Tell your boyfriend to give that cat her space. You're big-hearted to take all that time and effort to "re-hab" abused cats, but it seems there's only so much you can do with that one.

Answer 9

it sounds like this cat was abused by both a man and children. there are cat shrinks check one of them out and see if he can give you some advice. if that dose not help try to be close to her all the time purr at her speak cat to her let her know you love her give her all the attention she can take and then let her be. I hope I have helped you in some way.

Answer 10

I don't understand! The cat won't let you pet it. It attacks your boyfriend or any other guest. It attacks the cat that will let you love it.
Sounds like a great pet?
Put the animal to sleep, after all, just how happy do you think it is?
Some things just can't be fixed.
Sorry for being so blunt.