Hey Steve,
I've dealt with this type of behavior before by doing what an animal
considers a very natural thing. You have to prove to the cat that you
and your wife are the "Alfa" male and female of the house. You can do
this the next time he attacks you. Yell like a beast and pounce on
him, (without hurting him), and firmly grab him by the scruff of the
neck and squeeze until he quits fighting you. The nerve endings in the
back of the neck will cause this almost immediately. While you have
him off the floor and subdued, gently shake him. After about 30
seconds, you can put him down and yell one more time. I've had this
work for me several times. However, I have had it NOT work once. That
cat did not consider any other being his equal. I just avoided close
contact with him and we got along great. Let me know how it goes for
you.

Tim

Hi, Steve:

There is hope, but it will take a big investment of time and love.

Archie's somewhat like that, though not as extreme (though he probably
would have been had I let him go outdoors when he came to me at 9
months; it's part of the wildness in them, I guess, and the being
outdoors just reinforces it).  Also perhaps there is still
testosterone in there, even with the neutering, and that occasionally
makes even a domesticated cat aggressive.  This latter is good news:
if you can just hold out until he gets older, it will fade away.

Blender's approach is certainly useful.  I use a variant of it, just
being firm with him and whenever possible letting him know he can't
get away with it.  This means, according to the situation, wrapping
him up in a towel and totally enveloping him with my arms and legs if
there is something that needs to be done (medication administered,
etc.) or using a squirt bottle with water in it when he gets
aggressive and there isn't any other reason for it (for instance, at
night sometimes he'll bat me in the face when his dish is empty and
occasionally he forgets to sheath his claws all the way--he used to
get squirted quite a bit for that until I figured it out).  Very
occasionally, the squirt bottle isn't enough and then I use the towel
or some other impenetrable material to separate us until his mood
passes.  I've had to do that maybe four times over 7+ years.  He
quickly gets the message and gives it up, and is usually quite good
after that. I do always follow each of these "testing" situations with
plenty of reassurance, too, knowing that even with the claws and teeth
he is basically just a very little cat in a very big world and needs
to have a sense of control over his life -- that is, a sense of
control gotten by other means than what he uses to get it out in the
wild (claws and teeth).  He can make me do things like give him catnip
and food and loving by being cute and adorable...you know,
substitution of good behavior for the bad behavior, positive feedback
and all that.

But it's a complicated situation.  My main problem with the Archmaster
now is that he does freak out when he has to go to the vet.  He never
used to, but this has grown gradually over the years.  They freely
acknowledge that he's got them "whipped" (g).  There was another vet,
though, who just took him into another room gently but firmly, and
reported to me later that he'd just settled down as soon as he got in
there: he recognized he was overpowered, you see.

But I do have to really think twice about leaving him anywhere.
Partly because of the behavior problem, we're a 24/7 duo, come hell or
high water.  That's not always a pleasant thing, but it's all I can
do.

Such cats are very demanding -- you have to tune in to them constantly
and "psych 'em out" and at times be ready to meet their violence with
containment and, occasionally, intimidation, while always trying to
walk the fine line between repressing their violent instincts versus
triggering more of them by too much intimidation.

At first I felt disappointed -- guess I'd wanted a "pillow cat" that
you just had to pet and feed and didn't demand much in return.  But
there are wonderful rewards for working with such a problem cat -- the
other side of his demanding is that he has so much to give; too,
Archie has a distinct personality and I've grown to know him and love
him very much.  He's a difficult but really unforgettable little guy.

I hope things work out with your cat.  Love him and restrict his
unacceptable behavior as much as you can in ways that don't hurt you
or him. Don't send him to the pound just yet.  Good luck.

Barb

PS:  This may just be an "Archie" thing, but maybe not.  Food was
extremely important to Archie at first -- I think it was the reason he
came in from the wild as winter approached, his first year.  Anyway,
for a long time I couldn't get anywhere near him to pet him and give
him love...until I started doing it very, very carefully while he was
eating.  The food allowed him to ignore his anxiety over that, and
pretty soon we were getting along well and gradually he would let me
pet him when he wasn't eating.  That calmed him down tremendously.  It
is also how I finally got him to accept being brushed, this some six
years after he first came in.  He really still is only comfortable
with it if he's eating while I'm brushing him, but we have our little
routine now and he's even starting to let me brush him a little when
he's not eating.

So maybe if you time some of your attempts to "tame" your bad boy
around times when he's eating....?

Barb

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