tempromental problems of a kitty!!!!?

Question

my cat who's almost 2 years old can be the sweetest thing ive ever encountered in my life. He'll be in my lap purring and drooling -ew- (why does he drool btw?) and then out of NOWHERE he starts to bite me, and NOT playfully, but like he's trying to hurt me. at times he becomes so mean, that i have to call my fiance to come get him, because it seems like he's enjoying scaring me. I dont know if anyone has dealt with a cat like this but i have no idea where these behavor problems come from. ive had him since he was 6wks old and he's always been this way. im currently pregnant and worried that when the baby comes that he might have an urge to attack him/her. hes especially jealous, whenever im doing something that doesnt pretain to him such as reading or watching tv he crawls into my lap and insisits that i focus all my attention on him. Has anyone ever had a cat like this???? and please help. i dont want to get rid of my cat, i love him in spite of his scitzophrenia.

Answer 1

Generally speaking, cats who behave this way were weaned too soon, were mal-nourished at some point, possibly abused and possibly has some "wires crossed". I need to ask how you pat your cat and what you feed him. Sometimes, when you stroke cats close to their tails, they turn their heads toward their tails. This could be a sign of kidney disease, which is treatable if you catch it in time. Never stroke hair backward or against the grain. Never "pat" close to the tail. Is he neutered? If not, get it done immediately and have the Vet check for kidney problems. If he is neutered and you are merely stroking his fur close to his head and not near his tail, then you've got a kitty with a mental problem. I love cats. Wouldn't be without them. But if you have a baby coming, I'd be concerned about his behavior, too. The baby may have a good affect on him or a very bad one. Unfortunately, cats are too unpredictable in unfamiliar surroundings to try to second-guess what he'll do. If it were me, I'd have his kidneys checked by the Vet (assuming he's been neutered). If kidneys and other things in that general area are okay, I'd talk to the Vet about his bizzare behavior. That is not normal and is unacceptable behavior. (They drool because it feels good and their lower jaw becomes slack...relaxed. He's letting you know he's enjoying it.) The sudden biting is usually caused from pain in a normal cat. What you're describing, without my knowing how you're patting, is NOT good. A friend of mine had a spayed female who was just mean as all get out. Even if you fed her chicken, she was growling the entire time and would bite the living daylights out of you with the last piece. She was nuts!

Answer 2

Well, at 2 years old, your cat should start calming down a bit. But, he's still going to be an attention whore. I read somewhere when my cat was doing the same loving-to-playing too hard thing and it said that the reason is that cats still have wild streaks in them and when they start to get overjoyed they don't really know how to react. The younger, the more crazy, but they will calm down; mine did. Unfortunately, like I said, the jealousy and attention getting things will not.

As far as a baby goes, you're going to have to determine what to do when you see how your cat reacts to the baby. If it seems fine with the baby and not hissing or anything then you should be fine or may have one crazy experience where your child may grab the cats tail or whatever. However, if your cat reacts extremely negatively towards the new child, you may want to look into finding the kitten a new home.

Also, you have a cat, not a kitten. Your babying could be a part of the problem.

Answer 3

In most cases, cats that bite you suddenly when they were purring and enjoying your petting do so becuase what was meant to be a playful affectionate love-nibble becomes something more painful becuase of th cat's excitement. More often than not, kitty does not realize how hard he is biting. When he does this, give a sharp, plantative yowl, like the sound a hurt cat will make. Let you hand go limp if pulling it back will result in kitty digging in. Then turn your back on kitty and ignore him for a few minutes. Better yet, leave the room completely. This will show him that biting will end his good times plenty quick. I used this method with my own cat when he was 2 and it did work. On another cat I had a long time ago, I would yowl, let my hand or arm go limp and with the other hand, grab him firmly by the nape or scruff of his neck and force him down to a laying down position - like what a momma cat will do. Laying down is a submissive position and shows an aggressive cat he isn't boss. But usually, the loud yowl ("Ow!" or "Yay-yay!") will suffice for most kitties.

Answer 4

Some cats seem to get over-stimulated with attention, even though they are the ones who seek the attention. The main technique you want to put into practice is limiting the interaction. YOU decide (don't wait for him to start biting) that petting time is over. You don't even have to pick him up to do this- if you're sitting down, merely stand up and let him fall off your lap. It's a little tricky at first- you have to get used to stopping BEFORE he starts acting up. Does he need more attention, activity, etc? He's a young cat, and active. This site may be useful:http://www.vetinfo.com. They have discussion about a range of behavior topics. Click on "vetinfoforcats".

Answer 5

I had a kitty with a similar habit once, although she came to live with us when she was 4 years. She would insist on cuddling up to my neck and purr like crazy, and then she'd go vampire on me and try to bite me. Not in a sweet way. We spoke to our vet about these problems, and in our cats case, he suggested that we cease physical contact with her for some time and only interact with her a little at meal times. It took some time, but eventually she would just come over and rub against us, but not ever come on our lap. We had to learn to accept her as a very aloof animal, but at least we were not in danger any more.
Has your cat always done this? If it is a new problem I think you'll have better luck that I did.

Answer 6

I bottle fed one of my cats when it was about 3 weeks old. It would purr really loud and be very loving and then other times grab onto my arm and bite. He did this most when I was trying to sleep. If I ignored him (very difficult) he would fall asleep next to me after he was done biting. I think sometimes kittens and cats will see their owner as one of them.....his vet agreed - his health was fine, he just sees me as a cat. He is now almost a year and no longer bites. He uses up a lot of his energy play-fighting with our terrier. I also kept a squirt bottle near me and would spray him if he started to be mean. It took about a week of water for him to learn biting me = water.

Answer 7

Follow these steps...
1. open cage door
2. put cat in cage
3. close cage door
4. pick up cage and shake it (2-4 minutes is normally long enough but use your own disgression)
5. release cat from cage
If problems continue repeat as many times as necessary