Expert: Karen Craft - 10/2/2007

Question
Hi, I have a three year old cat, he is great with my girlfriend and I and great with children. However, he really doesn't like other adults, he will attack any other adult in the house. As soon as an adult move to give him attention he will lose his temper. Thankfully our other cat comes to peoples defense and ushers him into a corner where he can not harm anyone. I have put Soft Claws on him to prevent him from scratching people, but the real problem is getting him to be calm around people. He is very affectionate to me and rarely ever scratches me unless we are playing. People are scared to come into the house if he is not locked up in the bedroom. What can I do so that he doesn't attack people? I want to allow him to be social but around adults it's almost like I can predict when he is going to snap. Please let me know if you know of anything which may help him be more social and less temperamental.

Thanks,

Dan

Answer
Hi Dan,

I have a cat that is very similar to yours. He gets along great with me and my partner but if anyone else comes over he will try to swat them. We call him our attack cat. He dislikes everyone. I have tried many things to break him of this but he won't change. So we changed. We warn everyone who enters the house to leave Moosh alone. Do not pet him, go near him or pay any attention to him. We watch him to make sure there aren't any problems with him. And if there are service people coming to the house we lock him up in the bedroom.

I know this isn't the answer you were looking for but this is the only thing that works. It sounds like a fear aggressive response. If it was one person you could do something to try to change him. But you are talking multiple adults. It's too many to do something about. We have put up an attack cat sign on our door. And because mine is a multi cat household, Moosh has a very distinctive collar so everyone knows who he is. I hoped this helped you a little. Good luck.

Ciao, Karen