Expert: Dear Tabbi - 12/29/2008

Question
I adopted a kitten last year around may and brought her home, so now she's about a year and half old. Her name is Sophie and she is what I believe to be a purebred Bombay. She is black from head to toe, short-haired and fits the typical breed criteria, all except for her eyes, which are a cross between green and gold.
I have read up her breed and apparently she is supposed to be loving and affectionate, always welcoming to strangers, and loves to be held. A total lap-lover, right?
Oh no, not my Sophie. She doesn't want any of that.
She doesn't typically like anyone, sometimes not even me!
She doesn't always do well with my other cats, Scout (who is an American shorthair kitten of 6 months), Tao (A Siamese ragdoll mix, 8 years old) and Dinah (a Russian blue, 9 and a half years old).
All of these cats are friendly and love company except my Sophie... I just can't understand why.
Of course she can't really do anyone too much harm, she is declawed like all of our cats except our kitten.
She is also fixed and has had all her shots. All of our cats are indoor cats.
She just growls all the time if you try to pick her up or hold her for too long. If she's around the kitten she hisses at everything. She swats and tries to bite every now and again and she's always ALWAYS fighting with the kitten.
Don't get me wrong, she's good sometimes. Usually in the morning, but that lasts only a half hour.

Where did I go wrong and what can I do, if anything?
I'm desperate to have my kitty love me. :(


Answer
Julia,

Only 3% of all cats are purebred. The rest have something else mixed in. Sophie's behavior sounds as if she had a feral parent. Her behavior is typical of a feral kitten. They do not like to be held or restrained. They can be very loving, follow you around, etc. but they do not like to be petted for any length of time. They give warning signs when they have had enough: they will meow and/or twitch their tails, or their ear may go back. Stop touching them when they do that or you probably will get bit or scratched.

It is inherited and inbred in them to distrust humans. They usually only bond to one person. Even though they are reasonably tame, they still will be skittish with new people or noises.

That is the way they are and you should accept that and not try to be cuddly with her. They are not like domesticated house cats and will not behave like one.

Hissing, growling, and slaps are normal kitty communication. Sophie is probably telling other cats to leave her alone. Some cats are loners and prefer it that way. As long as there isn't any major fur flying or blood being shed then I wouldn't worry too much. The other cats understand what Sophie means when she hisses.

Also de-clawing is very bad to do to a cat. You should just trim their claws. A cat can have lifelong problems from declawing including exposed nerves that you can't see that makes it painful to use to litterbox. Pain can make a cat act declaring also. Sophie may still have pain from the declawing. To declaw they cut off the 'fingers' up to the first knuckle so the claw doesn't grow back. It is very painful for a cat. To use a litterbox it is like digging in gravel with nubs for fingers. And if a cat does accidently escape from the house it cannot defend itself.

I would give some consideration to the facts of declawing before I declaw the kitten. Here are a couple articles to read:
(copy and paste, or type, the whole link into your address bar)

http://www.declawing.com/
http://www.hdw-inc.com/declaw.htm
http://cats.about.com/cs/declawing/a/declawing.htm

I hope this helps answer your question about Sophie's behavior. And please re-think about future declawing. It's only fair to the cat for you to be fully informed before you make that important decision so take time to read the links. Thank you!

Tabbi