Expert: Karen Craft - 8/22/2009

Question
Hi I hope you can help me I have been struggling with this issue for a while now and nothing seems to work great with my 4 month old kitten Calydor. Here is a little bit about him. I had taken him in at 3 weeks old, bottle fed him and nurtured him ever since. His mother had "adopted" my sister and law and is a strictly outdoor cat. She is people friendly, gentle and even tempered. Due to my sister and laws circumstances. She is living gout of a room for rent in the back of this house with her son, had a pitbull puppy at the time and did not have the space to have the kittens roam freely indoors, we had taken him in. We did not want to have to catch him outside because my sister and law was soon going to put them out due to the dog and space issues. Calydors father I imagine is most likely one of the feral tom cats in her neighborhood that we see occasionally. He is good with other pets. As a kitten he used to sleep with the guinea pigs I have. He is affectionate to me and my husband. He has some separation anxiety when we are away and will sometimes cry for us. Now with this being said, my problem is regarding his aggression to strangers. My husbands friend Jared has a female older cat. Calydor is timid and shy but will let Jared pet him, give him treats and be "in the same room as him". Now, my 19 and 20 year old brothers seem to make him very uneasy(this is their first time meeting). He hates my mom as well. He was in my arms last night when they came over and he bit and scratched me. My brothers are here for the weekend. He is constantly annoyed, angry and frustrated. He will eat treats and play with his stringy fishing pole toy. How ever he will make this low growl(sounds like a bobcat or puma just more domestic cat loudness). This is constant. He will occasionally lung towards myself, husband, and brothers. When you walk towards him he will eventually stand back and retreat. Last night when I went to sleep he was fine. He got affectionate this morning within my bedrooms closed doors. Once I opened the bedroom door he started growling and hissing while sitting in the doorway peering into the living room at my sleeping brothers. He is not fixed. I am taking him to get that done in a week. If that does not help what should I do next? Treats and playing with his fish-pole work to an extent. He still growls and hisses but will react to the treats and toy. Ignoring him doesn't work as well. He makes his presence know by lunging and trying to bite my brothers. I know of kitty prozac but he is not depressed. I am at the point that maybe holistic or regular meds may need to be used on him but I highly don't believe in giving animals mind altering meds unless it is healthy for him in all aspects. I never had a pet with such issues of aggression. Please please please help.

Answer
Hi Nichole,

This is very similar to what I have at home here. I too have a bottle fed cat. They seem to develop a very intense connection with their "Moms". My cat does the same. He will be extremely affectionate with me even to the point of letting me bite his ears, (he loves it). But if a stranger comes in he will swat and hiss at them. Basically he is being protective. We call him our watchcat. You are going to have to keep yours separated from the strangers in the house.  Fixing will help but don't expect miracles. You also have to warn visitors not to try to touch him. There isn't anything wrong with him. I wouldn't drug him. You can try something called Feliway Comfort Zone for when people are over. This mimics a cat's happy pheromones and might calm him down. Good luck.

Ciao, Karen