"-Lost" wrote in message
...
Nope, he's still kicking... or should I say scratching and biting and
going ape bouncing off of walls? *shrugs*

Just wondering, have you tried hissing loudly at Gabby when he gets too
rough? It doesn't do any good to yell and say "NO" because cats don't know
our language, so we have to learn theirs. I've been around cats all my
life, so I've learned to imitate all the sounds they make and I've learned
when to make them in order to communicate what I want the cat to do (or
*not* do).

Regarding another suggestion to give Gabby to someone else before sending
him to the pound... unless it's to someone who really knows how to train
cats and understands what he/she is taking on with Gabby (and someone who
doesn't have children), I wouldn't pass on a potential danger that I am not
willing to face for myself or my family. Only you are there to gauge how
bad the behavior is and how dangerous it makes Gabby, so all I can say is
use your best judgment. I know you're doing the best you can in trying to
socialize Gabby and give him a good, loving home.

I thin that some people underestimate of don't understand just how dangerous
a cat's bite can be (and, of course, we would all do any and everything to
fix a problem rather than harm a cat in any way).

Just to illustrate the danger (and hopefully I'm not scaring you with this):
There was a story on Animal Planet about a woman, a pianist, whose cat fell
from a second story balcony and impaled himself on a wrought iron fence.
The woman rushed outside to try to help her cat, but she couldn't remove him
from the fence. The best she could do was try to hold him still until help
could arrive. The entire time she was holding him, the cat, in pain and
terrified, continually bit her hands. She immediately got medical treatment
at an emergency room, but the bites still got infected (a cat bite, unlike a
scratch or a bite from a dog which has larger teeth, is a tiny hole, but a
deep one, so it's extremely difficult to wash it out well - a lot of the
time the outside of the wound will close, but the bacteria still deep inside
will cause the wound to fester).

The infection she got was very resistant to antibiotics and she ended up in
the hospital again and again so she could be given intravenous medication.
Every time they thought they had the infection under control it would spring
up again. For quite some time the doctors thought they might have to
amputate both her hands in order to stop the infection from becoming
systemic. They were eventually successful in getting the infection under
control without having to amputate, but her hands were permanently disabled
(from the doctors continually cutting into the muscles to lance the wounds
and remove pus). She was unable to play the piano well enough to continue
to make her living doing so. [BTW, the cat lived and completely recovered.]

Anyway, that is why I take cats' biting very seriously (and because I had a
cat who was a biter and had to spend considerable amounts for my own medical
treatments for cat bites).

It's bad enough when an adult gets bitten, but their larger size and better
immune system makes it harder for an infection to become systemic. A child
who is bitten, however, can succumb easily to a rampant infection. Again,
this is why I always strongly suggest that people *do not ever* play with
kittens with their hands - *always* use a toy and divert your cat away from
your hands, because once learned, this is a very hard habit to break (as
you're finding out the hard way). As much as I love cats (and I am a
complete ailurophile), I would still have to place a child's welfare over a
pets'.

I really hope you can find a way to get Gabby to quit his biting, I would be
heart-broken to read that he had to be put down because of this.

Anyway I'll keep thinking about this (so far all that I've read about curing
cats from biting just lists all the things we've already suggested you do).

Hugs,

CatNipped