Help needed with incredibly vicious cat

[charlie_barbara]

Hi everyone

I used to come on this forum a few years ago and apologise in advance for the long post. I have two cats, Barbara (adopted from RSPCA over 5.5 years ago) and Charlie (found stray just under 2 years ago)

We are having major problems with Charlie. When we got him we were told he was stray and a kitten. He was incredibly vicious and seemed feral. Though he liked home comforts and immediately used the litter tray. Had no desire to be outside.

We took him to the vets and they were unable to examine him without sedation. After two lots of sedation they advised that he had been neutered.

We therefore don't know his history but my guess is that he was a family pet who was abandoned due to his temperament.

Anyway, fast forward 2 years and he seems to be getting worse. We can barely touch him (his head only), can't pick him up, getting him to the vets is a nightmare.

The main problem is now that we can even walk passed him. He goes to attack us all the time and when he does he really lays into us. All four paws and his teeth in our ankles. He still hasn't realised that we are not going to hurt him.

I'm at the end of my tether with him. I can't imagine we'd ever be able to rehome him and the other option is unbearable but may be our only choice. We are currently unable to walk around our own home because of him.

I've tried Feliway in the past and it doesn't do anything. he doesn't even like catnip or anything like that. There's no stresses that we can think of as nothing has changed. He's always got on well with our other cat.

I wonder if he has medical problems as he drinks a lot. He also seems to be arthritic as he can't jump onto things and seems to have odd looking back legs. though getting him examined is a nightmare so we can't even do that. The last vet we took him too just used snake bite gloves to get the injection in him and then shut his box (no examination).

Any help would be much appreciated!

[Grace56]

Hi Charlie-Barbara. That must be a terrible dilemma for you. I don't know what to suggest except a cat behaviourist really. However, I looked on line and found this article which may prove helpful. I hope it does.
Maybe someone with more experience of this will be along to advise soon.

http://m.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Cat-Stop-Attacking-You" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Baggypants]

Hi there, I'm sorry but i can only really suggest a behaviourist too. It sounds miserable for all of you.

Have you tried zylkene? It's a natural supplement that is supposed to help them deal with stressful situations. I used it with success when we moved our 3 overseas but I'm not sure it would be much use in your situation. It might help take the edge off his temper???

I think there are links to a behaviourist on here somewhere - perhaps someone else can point you in the right direction.