Response to PawsForThought :

On Nov 9, 1:58 pm, "-Lost" wrote:

book length post snipped

Hey, I issued a warning in the title stating it was LONG.

The only thing I know for certain is that if he does this as an
adult to one of my children again (the total number of SERIOUS
attacks are not at 8) he is going to the pound where he will be
euthanized -- no questions asked. But enough of that negative
thinking -- my boy has been behaving GREAT for almost a week!

That should have been, "are noW at 8..."

Gah! Sounds like your cat is acting like a playful teenager who
perhaps hasn't been properly socialized, and who sounds like he
would definitely benefit from another young cat playmate.

Not going to happen.

I would hope before it comes to the point of you dumping him at a
shelter to be euthanized, that you would rehome him to someone who
truly wants to, and can, spend the necessary time with him. Yes,
I know you've been trying to work with him (and thanks for not
declawing, btw), but what you wrote above worries me.

I'll start by saying this reminds me of one of my spouse's friend's
wife. She is a hateful woman who always starts some trashy, idiotic
statement with, "Now, I don't mean to be rude, but..."

(And this does not mean I think this of you, merely that it reminded
me of that. You said something that could be taken hard, but try to
ease out of it near the end.)

So, "someone WHO TRULY WANTS TO, and CAN, spend the NECESSARY TIME
with him" actually bothered me quite a bit.

I have busted my arse to show Gabby he is loved above and beyond what
the little fur ball deserves sometimes.

I am the one who used their insomnia to good advantage and stayed up
with him the entire first week or so he was here so he didn't have to
be kenneled all night long only to be let out during the day when 5
other people and 6 or more animals would be running about the house
scaring the hell out of him.

I brush him, feed him, teach him, clean up after him, removed
parasites from his nasty little hide, saved him from a thunderstorm
that lasted almost 20 hours, vaccinated him, have kept him safe from
the other animals here that could harm him, protected him even when
HE did something to said animals to make them pounce back, I have
rescued him from his fat head being stuck under the couch, under the
bathroom door when he HAS to be nosy and see what I am doing, I am
the one who did not sleep for nigh on 36 hours because the jerk ate a
peanut M&M to watch for ill effects, and I absolutely KNOW due to my
disability that I am surely missing even more stuff that I have done
to go above and beyond the call of duty for an animal that has done
nothing but be extremely cute, amaze us, and hurt us physically.

Now, believe me, I know EXACTLY where you are coming from and I know
your heart is in the right place, but this fanatical cat worship that
prompts you or anyone else to be concerned about a problematic cat
(he's not really that problematic in my opinion, it's just the
violence, more on that in a minute) and not mention a SINGLE thing
about my young children who live in fear of this little beasties'
crazy hyper-rage spells does NOTHING in the way of making me
remorseful to what MAY have to happen to Gabby one day.

The problematic cat topic. I view Gabby as non-problematic but with
one SERIOUS flaw. It is kind of like, what if the love of your life
was the greatest person on Earth and you would literally die for them
because they are so perfect in every way... the only problem was that
one to three times a week he attacks one of your children beating,
biting, or scratching them to the point that their skin is ripped,
torn, bleeding, whatever. Like an angel with the soul of a demon. I
am not sure if I am explaining that right. Anyway, point is beyond
all the good we cannot handle nor correct (so far) the one serious
flaw and that leaves but one other solution.

I have actually mentioned in other posts several key things that you
may have missed.

1. I tried finding him a home around 2 weeks ago before his recent
good behavior spell. NO ONE wants cats.

2. The refuge is full.

3. The pet store does not take strays, or cats under normal
circumstances during the holiday months October through December, and
being that the owner is a friend of mine I had to tell her the reason
we thought about relocating him. Which made the answer a definitive,
"no." Surely you wouldn't want me to give him to a place that would
euthanize him in a non-humane way once they found out he is mildly
psychotic would you?

4. That ONLY leaves the pound which euthanizes after 5 days.

So I didn't mean to sound as if he had only done one thing and
immediately I opted to extinguish his life. I meant exactly what I
said. We are dealing with the madness now, but if he latches onto
one of my children as a much larger, late adolescent or adult cat and
does what he does now, he is going to hurt one of my children
severely. At that point waiting several days, to weeks, maybe longer
for a home to open up will NOT be an option -- I will remove him from
the home to protect my children effective immediately. They've
already been through enough.

5. He has attacked a total of 8 times now. The last were REALLY
serious. He tore a PLUG out of one of my daughter's hands AND her
wrist and that was compounded by the 20+ deep grooves cut into her
arm as he jockeyed for a better position.

6. This does not include the 1,435,384 other times he has playfully
attacked and by playful I mean, didn't do ANYTHING damaging or even
painful.

7. Not ONCE have I mentioned the laptop cord he chewed through, the
set of earphones he chewed through, the mini-blinds he has chewed
holes in, the exquisite pair of handmade chopsticks my grandfather
gave me that cannot be replaced PERIOD, the stack of dishes he broke
when he wedged himself behind the dish drain and the microwave
sending an entire sink worth of dishes onto the floor, pushing my
Betta fish aquariums off the shelves -- TWICE now, the 3 or maybe 4
pairs of flip flops and sandals he has chewed through, the shoelaces
on my tennis shoes that he chewed through, uprooting a cactus we have
had growing for years, carting off my keys so many times that I had
to first call a locksmith to get into my car and also cost me more
money to buy one of those things that help you locate stuff that had
to be put on my keys, my glasses that he ran off with and we found
chewed to pieces several days later in his KENNEL (I know, it cracked
us up too), and anyway, the list goes on and on.

The physical pain some of us in this household have to endure is the
ONLY problem I have with Gabby when it boils down to it.

On the other side of things I am ALWAYS open to more behavioral
modification techniques or tried and proven methods of making him
cease and desist mid-attack. You have provided great suggestions
before so I'll eagerly listen. The canned air is still doing wonders
too, by the way.

In closing, I hope I didn't offend you, I wasn't angry or anything,
just excited (I am excitable) and I normally come off wacky or
agitated sounding when I am excited.

Not to mention Gabby let me have a Red Bull:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Lost.Gab...?authkey=3fwq-
CIu_pQ

So here's to Gabby living a long life with us assuming we can afford
plate mail if things get out of hand again.

See ya'.

--
-Lost
Remove the extra words to reply by e-mail. Don't e-mail me. I am
kidding. No I am not.