Lacie
Member
Osky is my 8-month-old neutered male civvie whom I found as a kitten at seven weeks old, sitting on his butt by the side of a major commuter road watching the cars speed by at 55mph. Of course for years I had kept a strict two-cat limit in my house, and of course I turned around. When I got out of the car, he came bouncing up to me like, "What took you so long?"
Leo and Samantha are adults and pretty laid back. Samantha is tiny, and Leo is front declawed (came to me that way) and missing a canine. From the beginning, Osky has been a little terror who is fast growing up to be a big terror. I can't tell whether it's just kitten play or genuinely aggressive behavior, and with kittens it's hard to tell the difference. He just can't stand to go longer than five minutes without stalking somebody and picking a fight by jumping on them and biting them on the back of the neck. Well, except when he's just too tired to keep it up any longer and falls asleep.
He also has a hard time being petted; wants to bite my hand when I reach down to pet him. But this isn't 100% of the time, probably more like 70%. At feeding time I always pet him, and throughout the day I hand feed him treats while I stroke him. He'll let me pick him up for short periods of time and even likes being held on his back, as long as I keep it under a minute. So I think there's a good chance I can tame him and make get along with the other members of the household. I'm pretty sure he was a barn cat until I found him; he was filthy but well fed and quite socialized, so he wasn't feral, but he spent his first seven weeks in a highly competitive environment. He's also blue eyed and cross eyed; his vision and hearing are normal so far as I know.
Osky sleeps in the big downstairs room from 11 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. He actually seems to like it and is calmer there, but it doesn't have windows, and I worry about the confinement making him worse. Upstairs with the other cats, though, I have to watch him constantly and squirt him whenever he locks in and gets ready to attack another cat. I'm not getting much done around the house lately :cry: Lately I've been confining Samantha (who likes small spaces) while Osky's upstairs, so at least I only have to keep him away from one other cat.
Do you think he's insecure, aggressive, just playing, combination of all? How would you handle it? Would Feliway help? (I've heard it helps with insecurity but not aggression.) I've tried just letting them duke it out, but I was starting to get behavior problems from the other two, and litter box problems weren't far away since he was attacking them during toilet time.
He is a handsome boy, and he smooches when he eats treats from my hand. Just an obnoxious teenager, but the predatory behavior needs to stop.
Leo and Samantha are adults and pretty laid back. Samantha is tiny, and Leo is front declawed (came to me that way) and missing a canine. From the beginning, Osky has been a little terror who is fast growing up to be a big terror. I can't tell whether it's just kitten play or genuinely aggressive behavior, and with kittens it's hard to tell the difference. He just can't stand to go longer than five minutes without stalking somebody and picking a fight by jumping on them and biting them on the back of the neck. Well, except when he's just too tired to keep it up any longer and falls asleep.
He also has a hard time being petted; wants to bite my hand when I reach down to pet him. But this isn't 100% of the time, probably more like 70%. At feeding time I always pet him, and throughout the day I hand feed him treats while I stroke him. He'll let me pick him up for short periods of time and even likes being held on his back, as long as I keep it under a minute. So I think there's a good chance I can tame him and make get along with the other members of the household. I'm pretty sure he was a barn cat until I found him; he was filthy but well fed and quite socialized, so he wasn't feral, but he spent his first seven weeks in a highly competitive environment. He's also blue eyed and cross eyed; his vision and hearing are normal so far as I know.
Osky sleeps in the big downstairs room from 11 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. He actually seems to like it and is calmer there, but it doesn't have windows, and I worry about the confinement making him worse. Upstairs with the other cats, though, I have to watch him constantly and squirt him whenever he locks in and gets ready to attack another cat. I'm not getting much done around the house lately :cry: Lately I've been confining Samantha (who likes small spaces) while Osky's upstairs, so at least I only have to keep him away from one other cat.
Do you think he's insecure, aggressive, just playing, combination of all? How would you handle it? Would Feliway help? (I've heard it helps with insecurity but not aggression.) I've tried just letting them duke it out, but I was starting to get behavior problems from the other two, and litter box problems weren't far away since he was attacking them during toilet time.
He is a handsome boy, and he smooches when he eats treats from my hand. Just an obnoxious teenager, but the predatory behavior needs to stop.
