I seem to have adopted, for want of a better word, a half wild/stray cat. I cant help but like the bugger, he’s massive, terrorises the other cats in the street and when he’s hungry he bangs on the window until I feed him.

As the evenings have gotten colder I’ve started letting him into the house, the problem is he has some behavioral quirks I’m not used to, biting, scratching etc. I’ve grown up with cats but I’ve not known them to be as schizophrenic as this guy. Before I go into an essay about the things he does, does anyone feel like they might be able to help me?

Yes, get rid!
Cats are selfish creatures and less trainable than a dog.
If it like that then it will never be a tame cuddly house kitty.
We have a dog and a cat and cats train you, not the other way round.

this has helped loads for our cat, and you can tell she is much happier and chilled.

http://www.feliway.com/gb

By biting and scratching you he is trying to let you know he’s in charge. Get a handheld plant sprayer and give him a quick squirt everytime he nips or scratches , in the end he’ll get the idea that your the boss (although you’re never actually the boss with a cat)

We adopted a cat today , she’s sat cowering under the kitchen cupboards at the moment.

Have 3 siamese so i have an idea about cat behaviour. What sort of things do you need to know?

sounds like it could be a lack of trust on the cats part, whicho if it been living away from people for a while is fair enough. You both have to work on earnibg the trust of each other.

CHB – Member

Yes, get rid!

It’s not that easy, I think the previous occupant used to feed and shelter him so he kind of lives in my yard. Also, the house next to me is basically gutted so I like having him about to keep pests away, and I just don’t want to kick him out as he’ll probably die.

What sort of things do you need to know?

Well, he’s friendly, but even when sitting on my knee he will turn and try to bite me pretty randomly, and then he’l sit there with his mouth open staring. or when he seems to be acting playfully he seems to really want to claw or grab hold of my hand to bite it.

M6TTF Is he play fighting or really going for you?

I think it’s play, but he’s a bloody big strong cat so he can draw blood very easily.

By biting and scratching you he is trying to let you know he’s in charge. Get a handheld plant sprayer and give him a quick squirt everytime he nips or scratches , in the end he’ll get the idea that your the boss (although you’re never actually the boss with a cat)

this is a really good way of doing business. Nothing says ‘bad’ like a squoosh in the chops!

Depends how long he’s been living ‘feral’ and whether he’s ever been a ‘pet’ or house cat. If cats haven’t been domesticated at a young age you’re very unlikely to change their behaviour a great deal. Is he play fighting or really going for you?

Sounds like he needs a trip or two to the Vet.

*Note: I am not a cat person*

I assume that he’s already had his plums off?

legend – Member
I assume that he’s already had his plums off?

Was my next question – makes a big differenxe

legend

I assume that he’s already had his plums off?

I’ve not looked at his balls…I don’t think he would appreciate it 🙂

Nothing says ‘bad’ like a squoosh in the chops!

Never said squirt it in his face , but there you go .I should have said specifically squirt anywhere but in his face and saved myself being hounded down by the STW police 😉

At the end of the day cats generally don’t like to get wet , if bad behaviour gets them a squirt they soon learn that good/better behaviour means they stay dry.

If he’s that big and attacking for real you’ll know all about it, you just need time to trust each other

how far are you going to go with this ? an agressive tom will get into fights with other cats that use biologiocal warfare by causing nasty infected wounds to each other. Are you prepared for expensive vets bills ?

He’s a proper man-cat by the sounds of it. either befriend him and chop his bollocks off or pay him in kind to keep your yard secure. Either way you lose but that’s felines.

I have an adopted tom cat, complete with balls. He was intermittently very aggressive, very scared and very friendly when I first took him in. I found some of the causes were a mix of these:

– He expected to be attacked by other cats and by humans, so he very easily misinterpreted some gestures and tried to ‘defend’ himself.

– All cats sometimes have bites we can’t see under their fur (I find this with my other cats) and if we brush them unseen, it hurts the cat esp if they are infected (many bites heal on their own, but it takes a few days just as our injuries do). If you brush the damaged area, the cat, unsure if to trust you, may take it as an attack and think you are hurting him rather than the wound causing the problem – so he will defend himself.

– My stray turned out to be quite ill with some kind of bowel condition that caused him to eat masses frantically or very little. He got very bad stomach upsets which caused him a lot of pain and you could hear his stomach rumbling at times. Sometimes he though a gut pain was caused by me touching him and again, we got the defence reaction. We got him checked by the vet and they tested him for various things but in the end it stabilised by giving him low grade cat food and once a day some shredded chicken (you can get it in cans). Be aware your new pet may be ill in some way that is not clear to you yet.

– He was very insecure and would fawn over you if you walked towards the house and bite and scratch your feet if you walked away as he was scared he would be deserted again (he lived wild for over a year, through a very cold snowy winter).

Now his health has improved and he has learned we do not hurt him intentionally, he has turned into the most lovely natured cat, much liked by visitors to the house. He is very affectionate and friendly and now loves to be cuddled. I found it helped to be firm with him when he was trying to herd me back towards the house and to always make it clear who was boss. Being angry when he was ill and responded aggressively though would be pointless at it just re-confirms a belief he is being attacked and will prolong the problem.

He still has his balls as his stomach problem has been a long time sorting as has building up his trust and I don’t want to cause more problems at this point by getting them removed. People say Toms are aggressive but it is not true, he is at the lowest point of the pecking order in the house as the 3 neutered Toms all keep him well in line.

Another useful thing to know is that some cats bite when being affectionate. This usually is gentle and gets toned down to ‘human scale’ so its more gentle mouthing but if you cat is edgy, be aware he may also misjudge this and bit a bit too hard, though intending to be loving, until he learns to scale back a bit.

Its taken us a year to get to where we are with our stray but its well worth the effort. Gradually his attacks became much lower key and it became clear they were becoming a ‘warning’ rather than an attack and he often looked guilty if he got cross with us. It occurred to me that as he had a dodgy background, maybe he did not know a less assertive way of saying ‘I dont want you to do that’ and so that has added to the problem. He is now at the point where he will push your hand away gently with his paw if he does not want to be stroked as he has learned we respect this.

Ours has been well worth the time effort and occasional fits of seeming hostility from the cat. He is lovely now.

It helps to think of how a very young child unable to speak and that was abused in some way might react, as many animals that have had hard times are more or less in that position and much of the psychology is very similar – fear, need for affection, not knowing how to get the result or love that it wants, over reaction etc.

Lovely post Midnighthour – good to see someone has the patience to deal with a troubled cat.

=1 for midnight’s post.

Definately get him neutered. Not only will it chill him out but it will stop him impregnating other cats in the area. There is no need for him to make more wee strays.

If youre flush just go to the vet. If youre watching the pennies, the local cat rescue or RSPCA will get it done for you. They just call the vet prior to you going in and you can make a donation. When we picked up a stray we done this and left £25. They were over the moon with that.

As far as the biting goes, it is probably just play. If he’s hurting, the next time he bites you hold his mouth shut and firmly say NO! A week nof this and you’ll notice a big difference. And for scratching a water gun is your friend. Also say a firm NO!. They learn pretty quick!

Good on you for taking him on though!

I would wait until he is really settle in before getting him neutered. Its not unheard of for a new cat in a new place to move out if he feels he has been attacked. Give him a while to settle. Find out if he has any health problems first too, as I said that has a big bearing on their behaviour. Teeth can cause them issues.

Mines still a Tom, I have been trying to find someone to give him the snip/sterilise him rather than castrate him as he is a loving affectionate and laid back cat and I don’t want to risk a personality change I might not get on with (due to hormone loss) but its annoyingly hard to find a vet willing to make the extra effort of doing this. Plus I have been waiting for his illness to stabilise as he bleeds from his rear end during an attack and gets quite ill, although the attacks are decreasing and we are narrowing down what food triggers it. I dont want to add to that problem at the moment with an op. I wish the vets were more open to alternative ops, its not like I would not pay more.

We can echo pretty much of what Mh has written so well, We were adopted by an un neutered Tom three years ago. He camped out in the garden for a week and the neighbours kids were really upset as they thought he was going to die.

We were able to befriend him slowly, took him to the vets to get checked for cat – aids and to be neutered. After we did this, we wondered if he would come back but he did.

We gave him shelter, got him chipped. The scabby coat improved and he has turned out to be our best friend.. It just takes time and patience…

Orangina will be along tomorrow with some more info for you but we probably cant add to what is written above… If you like cats its a rewarding thing to try.

I have an adopted tom cat,

You got that in at the eleventh hour, but that might be post of the year. Good job.

We have a feral cat up our workshop, she has lived there for over 10 years, we feed her every day and she in turn is the most ferocious killer I’ve ever known!

It took us 6 years to get her to come up to us, and we used to do this by having her food on a plate on the floor when we were having our coffee breaks and she would eventually come over and start nervously eating snatching some and we’d just ignore her, she got used to us having coffee and her getting fed and now even to this day we put the kettle on she magically appears!

When she did start letting us stroke her she was very similar to your cat, and we had to be very careful for our hands! We bought a cat brush and used that to keep our hands away from the dangerous bits and she still cuddles up to and strokes herself on it. she has now settled down and crazily her favourite thing to pester is my dog, she loves him and he being used to cats doesn’t mind her, mind you if she lies down you know it’ll only be a couple of minutes before her claws come out!

For feeding her tablets and de flea-ing her, we wrap her in a thick old towel, it takes 2!

She is a lovely brindle coloured moggy with a huge personality and we exist up the workshops together, it’s all good.

As for the water thing we haven’t done anything, she settled down of er own accord and by using the brush we were able to stroke her without getting hurt ourselves so didn’t need to attack her back…

Nice story PePPeR. Midnighthour too.

Another big vote for http://www.feliway.com/gb ….truly amazing stuff – in my experience. But not cheap !

We adopted a Tom: He was frisky and nippy, only interested in fighting.
Got his ‘nads removed, now very cuddly and only interested in eating.An un-neutered male will constantly get into fights and you’ll pay a fortune in vet bills.
As others have said, they do need to know who’s the alpha male: Stick his head under the tap if he bites, don’t biff him as you could hurt him badly quite easily. The other family members don’t dicipline him if he’s nippy so he still tries it on with them.

An un-neutered male will constantly get into fights

And very much risks catching feline aids, which is transmitted by simple blood to blood contact, not sex. Neutering a male cat is a very short, simple, and straightforward, op, I can’t see why he would need to be in tiptop health for that.

Don’t stick his head under the tap if he bites.

Don’t dismiss him if he had FIV either, we took in a stray that turned out to have it. Everyone said we should have him out down but he was perfectly fine, and our existing cat tolerated him. He diedc from a heart condition at about 7 (vets guess) quite young, but unrelated to his condition. He was a brilliant cat, so affectionate, loved him to bits

Should add he was kept in so as not to infect any other locals – the wife used to take him out on a lead!

Thanks for all the posts guys, it’s appreciated. I think I’ll stick it out with him, as it seems like he’s adopted us anyway. Not feeling too flush at the minute but he might get a trip to the vet sometime in the new year.

If he is more than 2 or 3 years old and you do decide to get him neutered then keeo a close eye on him afterwards as older cats can get fatal urinary infections after neutering.

They might neuter him for free if you tell them he’s a stray and ask nicely. Intact toms are a bit of an ecological menace.