Feeling depressed over my cats behaviour and need help
Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 4:33 am
Hi all,
I'm hoping someone can help and give me some advice regarding my nine month old cat Hugo. Basically I'm a bit lost with what to do with him behaviour wise and I'm getting so close to the point were I just can't cope with it anymore. I feel really ashamed to admit it but I'm close to the point of trying to rehome him and if it wasn't for upsetting my partner a lot I would have already chosen this route.
He's a very healthy cat and has had a check up with the vet who said there wasn't any medical issues with him, he's also been neutered, treated for fleas and worms etc. He has lots of toys, played with a lot, always gets fed properly, gets treats, milk and is generally spoilt by us.
He's very vicious and when he turns it can be sometimes very scary as I panic about how much he could hurt me, silly I know as he is just a little cat but I can't help it. He can approach me looking all loving and jump onto my knee making out that he wants to receive strokes or cuddles but the second I go to do it he latches on to my arm with his claws and teeth making it difficult and painful to remove him. He draws blood on a lot of occasions and I'm left with quite a few scars on my legs and feet. This is because if he attacks my arms I'd put him to the floor, so instead he latches on to my legs instead.
I've tried every punishment I can find online, I've stuck at them and been persistent but nothing has worked. Punishment doesn't seem to bother him and if anything it just makes him worse. You name it, it's been tried.
The worst part is that I haven't slept properly for at least four months now and its starting to affect me a lot. When we first got him he slept in the bedroom with us but he began clawing and biting us in our sleep so we had to put him out of the room. We let him sleep in the lounge but he would just come and attack the bedroom door instead resulting on more noise. We fixed this by applying double sided tape to the door and it kept him away from it. By us doing that he ended up smashing the lounge up during the night, every night causing a lot of problems with my neighbour. He would knock pictures off the walls, smash ornaments, pull things off shelves, bang doors, bang everything and create as much noise as possible. He now sleeps in the bathroom and has done for a while but now he just screams the place down every single night of the week, all through the night and morning so i'm constantly being woken up all the time.
On top of all the behaviour punishments we've tried we bought a feliway plug in to try, it still hasn't really had a calming affect on him and nothing has changed. We tried to allow him to become an outdoor cat so he had more freedom and would allow us to put him outside if things got too much but he doesn't want to go out. We tried baby steps by going out with him for set periods of time which we thought would work but it didn't. If put outside he screams like he's being murdered and attacks the back door until I let him in.
It's getting to the point when I haven't been able to sleep properly for four months, it's affecting me health and general moods meaning I'm just snapping and taking it out on people that I am constantly tired and feeling run down. Some days I have actually just sat and cried because I can't take the endless screaming and vicious attacks from him.
There's a lot more to add but this is far too long a post for my first one as it is. I'm just at my wits end, I need a good nights sleep, to not be attacked and for something to happen to give me one piece of hope that things will change with him, it breaks my heart not being able to make him happy but I can't go on living like i am anymore. Thanks for reading, i hope someone can help. X
I'm hoping someone can help and give me some advice regarding my nine month old cat Hugo. Basically I'm a bit lost with what to do with him behaviour wise and I'm getting so close to the point were I just can't cope with it anymore. I feel really ashamed to admit it but I'm close to the point of trying to rehome him and if it wasn't for upsetting my partner a lot I would have already chosen this route.
He's a very healthy cat and has had a check up with the vet who said there wasn't any medical issues with him, he's also been neutered, treated for fleas and worms etc. He has lots of toys, played with a lot, always gets fed properly, gets treats, milk and is generally spoilt by us.
He's very vicious and when he turns it can be sometimes very scary as I panic about how much he could hurt me, silly I know as he is just a little cat but I can't help it. He can approach me looking all loving and jump onto my knee making out that he wants to receive strokes or cuddles but the second I go to do it he latches on to my arm with his claws and teeth making it difficult and painful to remove him. He draws blood on a lot of occasions and I'm left with quite a few scars on my legs and feet. This is because if he attacks my arms I'd put him to the floor, so instead he latches on to my legs instead.
I've tried every punishment I can find online, I've stuck at them and been persistent but nothing has worked. Punishment doesn't seem to bother him and if anything it just makes him worse. You name it, it's been tried.
The worst part is that I haven't slept properly for at least four months now and its starting to affect me a lot. When we first got him he slept in the bedroom with us but he began clawing and biting us in our sleep so we had to put him out of the room. We let him sleep in the lounge but he would just come and attack the bedroom door instead resulting on more noise. We fixed this by applying double sided tape to the door and it kept him away from it. By us doing that he ended up smashing the lounge up during the night, every night causing a lot of problems with my neighbour. He would knock pictures off the walls, smash ornaments, pull things off shelves, bang doors, bang everything and create as much noise as possible. He now sleeps in the bathroom and has done for a while but now he just screams the place down every single night of the week, all through the night and morning so i'm constantly being woken up all the time.
On top of all the behaviour punishments we've tried we bought a feliway plug in to try, it still hasn't really had a calming affect on him and nothing has changed. We tried to allow him to become an outdoor cat so he had more freedom and would allow us to put him outside if things got too much but he doesn't want to go out. We tried baby steps by going out with him for set periods of time which we thought would work but it didn't. If put outside he screams like he's being murdered and attacks the back door until I let him in.
It's getting to the point when I haven't been able to sleep properly for four months, it's affecting me health and general moods meaning I'm just snapping and taking it out on people that I am constantly tired and feeling run down. Some days I have actually just sat and cried because I can't take the endless screaming and vicious attacks from him.
There's a lot more to add but this is far too long a post for my first one as it is. I'm just at my wits end, I need a good nights sleep, to not be attacked and for something to happen to give me one piece of hope that things will change with him, it breaks my heart not being able to make him happy but I can't go on living like i am anymore. Thanks for reading, i hope someone can help. X