Long story but hopefully helpful

I adopted a 2 yr. old Maine Coone/Tabby mix from a shelter that was at
PetsMart about 1 1/2 years ago. She was a shelter kitty all her life. Up
until last month I was going to finally give up and take her back. I
didn't want to admit defeat but Jinx was not working out. She hated me.
If I picked her up she would first growl then hiss then bite and scratch
me. She is 17 pounds so she can put a hurtin on you. I was looking
forward to having a pet not just a furball to feed. She's great with my
70 lb. mutt Stoney. She will actually sleep on him as long as he puts up
with it, but with me, it's was hands off. I ended up looking up behavior
problems on the net. The advice was to ignore your cat for 2-3 weeks
except for basic needs, feeding and grooming and when giving them an
occasional pet, do it just for a second or two then walk away when they
are waiting for the next stroke and ignore them. I shut the bedroom door
and made her sleep outside the bedroom where previously she would
sometimes sleep on the far corner of the bed away from me. I did this
for 1 week and noticed a difference but I kept it up for the 2nd week. I
now have a cat that likes me. She is sleeping beside my leg as I type.
She finally started purring which I thought would never happen and often
jumps up on the easy chair and sleeps between my feet on the foot rest,
which she barely fits on. I still keep her out of the bedroom at night
and when I open it in the morning I am greeted every day with her
running in and meowing to me. She still doesn't like being held much and
will still growl a little if I hold her too long but no more biting and
scratching. I learned to just put her down and walk away. So if you
think you are at wits end with a bad cat maybe try this. It worked for
me and I have a new cat. The funniest part of her is that the shelter
named her Angel. I changed it after about 1 week of owning her. ;-)
I cant remember where I read the advice but I truly thank the writer.