My DH and I adopted Eddy the orange tabby from the shelter in Jan. 08. He was 3 or 4 years old at the time. We got him neutered soon after that. The first few days back from the shelter, he was the picture perfect lap kitty. That changed pretty soon, and has only gotten worse.
We can't just leave food out for him because he will eat it all IMMEDIATELY. We treated him for long-term tapeworms a few weeks ago, but that hasn't changed his eating habits at all. Eddy attacks my feet, face, and hands each morning when he wants fed (automatic feeder has solved that). If DH tries to move him off his desk, Eddy bites. He'll attack DH's hands on the computer keyboard. But even things that are stationary (like my hand in my lap while we're eating dinner; or our feet on the coffee table while we're watching a movie) he'll lunge at and attack.
He plays a lot, so it's not like we ignore his existence. He used to be ok with strangers, but now he bites and scratches everyone who tries to pet him for longer than 5 seconds, including us. He has bitten and scratched my face; once he jumped up onto the couch from the back to play (i mean attack) the ponytail in my hair. And he seems to be more aggressive with me than with DH, though not by a significant amount.
We tried the spray bottle of water, but he thought that was a game. So then we moved on to saying "Eddy, NO!" in a really loud voice, accompanied by a soft spanking
Please, no flames, we are desperate, and I HATE yelling and spanking, and DO NOT want to have to continue this around children when we have them.
But sometimes, he's a real angel. He sleeps at the foot of our bed at night; he watches movies from on top of the china cabinet usually, right now he is snoozing away in the other chair, etc.
We are taking him to the vet tomorrow, but are really at a loss for what to do.
Help!
We can't just leave food out for him because he will eat it all IMMEDIATELY. We treated him for long-term tapeworms a few weeks ago, but that hasn't changed his eating habits at all. Eddy attacks my feet, face, and hands each morning when he wants fed (automatic feeder has solved that). If DH tries to move him off his desk, Eddy bites. He'll attack DH's hands on the computer keyboard. But even things that are stationary (like my hand in my lap while we're eating dinner; or our feet on the coffee table while we're watching a movie) he'll lunge at and attack.
He plays a lot, so it's not like we ignore his existence. He used to be ok with strangers, but now he bites and scratches everyone who tries to pet him for longer than 5 seconds, including us. He has bitten and scratched my face; once he jumped up onto the couch from the back to play (i mean attack) the ponytail in my hair. And he seems to be more aggressive with me than with DH, though not by a significant amount.
We tried the spray bottle of water, but he thought that was a game. So then we moved on to saying "Eddy, NO!" in a really loud voice, accompanied by a soft spanking
Please, no flames, we are desperate, and I HATE yelling and spanking, and DO NOT want to have to continue this around children when we have them.But sometimes, he's a real angel. He sleeps at the foot of our bed at night; he watches movies from on top of the china cabinet usually, right now he is snoozing away in the other chair, etc.
We are taking him to the vet tomorrow, but are really at a loss for what to do.
Help!
We rescued her about 4 years ago from a jiffy store parking lot, and she is mean mean mean. She has her sweet moments, but she has been known to come across a 10 foot space just to bite or scratch you and then run away. When you pet her it's a guessing game as to how long it will be before she bites you.
