Expert: Norman Auspitz - 8/23/2009

Question
Hello,
About 8 years ago we brought home my cat Angel who was stray kitten, and have had him since. Hes been to the vet countless times, received all of his shots and has always been completely healthy. As a kitten he was very sweet and cuddly. He would fall asleep in your arms and rarely caused trouble, and was very playful. You could say that we spoiled him rotten. After we got him netured and declawed his personality didn't change at all. Once he started to get older we noticed that he was becoming very dominant, almost as if he had to be in charge. He started becoming very temperamental and aggressive. He'll attack our legs for absolutely no reason at all, and sometimes he will follow you and just bite you. Its as if hes hunting, its very unsettling. He actually attacked one of my sister's leg so bad that she had "cat-scratch" and was on medication. He still has his days where he is nice, but this is where I get confused; I know where he likes to be pet and where he doesn't so naturally I avoid his sensitive areas. He purrs as soon as you pet him, and loves to be pet most of the time, but sometimes while Iam petting him he will just turn around and attack my hand. He'll be purring enjoying the attention and then boom, he turns around and bites me. It makes no sense to me. Also, lately he has been urinating all over the house in the worst spots too (such as the kitchen counter, and the bathroom vent!). The only person who he knows he is not superior to is my father, and we've tried giving him a little spray with water, or being firm when we say NO, but nothing works with him. We brought him to the vet explaining all of our problems with him. They ran all of their tests on him and concluded it was just a behavior problem and put him on medication which was to be stuck in his food. Well, Angel is not a stupid cat. He was able to spot the pill in his food and not eat it. I don't think we got him to take more than 2 pills, and when he did take them, he just moped around all day it was sad to see him like that. We tried putting it in his mouth as well but hes to aggressive to be held.
We have also been taking care of a stray cat but she stays outside and never comes in, so maybe his bad behavior could be a case of jealousy? Anyway, the vet also gave us the option of putting him down, which is crazy. He is apart of our family and we all love him very much. We are just really concerned as to why he has changed so drastically. Do you have any advice?

Answer
Laura,

I have been pondering this for several days now!!!!! First off, cats do not react well to negative discipline (like spray bottles or NO!!!).  Also, I am wondering if this cat is neutered? Has this cat been socialized to people.

If the cat is not neutered, he needs to be.  If he was not socialized to people, his biting/scratching behavior is, unfortunately, too normal.  At age 8, it will be hard to cure him of this.  You might be able to have your vet give you something to take the edge off.  

A drastic aggressive turn of behavior may also be a medical issue.  I would have his thyroid levels checked.

As to pilling a cat, some cast are just not very pillable.  We give our cats strained meat baby food as a treat.  Often a liquid or a pill crushed into powder is easier to give in a treat that way!!!!!

If he has not been neutered, urinating all over the house is normal.  If he has been neutered, it is often the sign of a urinary tract infection.

Please let me know what you think may be going on with him form the above options and we can follow this up.

Best regards... Norm.