help new cat owner

I have two 9 month old indoor boy cats. They are scheduled to be neutered
in 2 weeks. One of the boys is mild, sweet, calm, the other has times when
he is lovable but recently he has been having some very aggressive
behavior. He tries to run out side every chance he gets. He has been
biting his brother like he wants to have sex. Three times he has gotten
outside and attacks us when we try to grab him in. Last night he was
playing with my boyfriends son (age 14), they had a toy, the son after
hours of playing with the cat tried to take it away from the cat. My cat
attacked and scratched the son's head, his leg, and arm. Hopefully after
the cat is neutered he'll calm down some. Is this behavior at all normal?
or is my cat crazy? help, help..my boyfriend wants to kill my sweet
boys...pls advise..

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Message posted via http://www.catkb.com

"Anita Hartley via CatKB.com" wrote in message
...
I have two 9 month old indoor boy cats. They are scheduled to be neutered
in 2 weeks. One of the boys is mild, sweet, calm, the other has times
when
he is lovable but recently he has been having some very aggressive
behavior. He tries to run out side every chance he gets. He has been
biting his brother like he wants to have sex. Three times he has gotten
outside and attacks us when we try to grab him in. Last night he was
playing with my boyfriends son (age 14), they had a toy, the son after
hours of playing with the cat tried to take it away from the cat. My cat
attacked and scratched the son's head, his leg, and arm. Hopefully after
the cat is neutered he'll calm down some. Is this behavior at all normal?
or is my cat crazy? help, help..my boyfriend wants to kill my sweet
boys...pls advise..

--
Message posted via http://www.catkb.com

Yes, the cat will calm down after neutering. It may take several weeks for
all the hormones to work out of his system.
You may want to spend some time educating the boyfriend's son on how to
handle cats. He should not have tried to take away a toy while the cat was
all riled up.

--
-Kelly
kelly at farringtons dot net
"Wake up, and smell the cat food" -TMBG

Thank you for your response, I am at wits end as what to do.

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Message posted via http://www.catkb.com

In article ,
enlightened us with...
I have two 9 month old indoor boy cats. They are scheduled to be neutered
in 2 weeks. One of the boys is mild, sweet, calm, the other has times when
he is lovable but recently he has been having some very aggressive
behavior. He tries to run out side every chance he gets. He has been
biting his brother like he wants to have sex. Three times he has gotten
outside and attacks us when we try to grab him in. Last night he was
playing with my boyfriends son (age 14), they had a toy, the son after
hours of playing with the cat tried to take it away from the cat. My cat
attacked and scratched the son's head, his leg, and arm. Hopefully after
the cat is neutered he'll calm down some. Is this behavior at all normal?
or is my cat crazy? help, help..my boyfriend wants to kill my sweet
boys...pls advise..



He will calm down after getting neutered. It takes a few weeks for the
hormones to dissipate. The running outside is most likely a hormone issue.
Mounting his brother is probably mostly a dominance issue and may not settle
a whole lot. He may always show his dominance that way. It's normal and fine
as long as no cat is coming away bloody.

That said, there are some serious issues here with how to handle and treat
cats. Cats are animals. They are not robots. They are not toys. They get
****ed when handled a certain way. They have emotions and feelings and moods.

Some cats are more tolerant than others. And, after "hours" of playing, the
cat was probably either really tired of being bothered or very worked up.

Generally speaking, if your cat bites when you do something, DON'T DO THAT.
If you know one of them is dominant and gets riled, don't play rough with
him. EVER. How you play with him teaches him how to interact with you.
He is a cat. He has fur and thick skin. When he bites another cat, it won't
hurt the other cat as much as it would hurt you. He doesn't know that. He's
just a cat.

You don't _grab_ a cat when he's riled and expect to not at least get nipped.
Will ALL cats nip? Certainly not. But don't expect that yours won't. Some
cats are mellow. Some aren't.

And keep in mind that if the cat really wanted to hurt (attack) the son, he'd
be in the hospital, badly injured, with stitches. I've seen a cat honestly
attack a human. It wasn't pretty.
The cat was either playing rough or just giving a warning. Teach the son how
to interact with the cat and teach the cat to respect human flesh. Respect is
a two-way street.

--
--
~kaeli~
Kill one man and you are a murderer. Kill millions and you
are a conqueror. Kill everyone and you are God.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

I appreciate the feedback. This is pretty much what I thought but have
never having had cats wasn't sure. Thanks again.

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Message posted via http://www.catkb.com

In article ,
enlightened us with...
I appreciate the feedback. This is pretty much what I thought but have
never having had cats wasn't sure. Thanks again.



No problem.
If you've never had cats before, you may want to pick up a good, general
animal behavior book and one or two cat-specific books. The really general
books can even help with your kids.
Check out:
(amazon.com has all these)

1. The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell. Focused towards dogs,
but really addresses how animals perceive us and how unaware we are of our
own body language. Very useful for getting you to pay attention to yourself.

2. How to Say It to Your Cat: Solving Behavior Problems in Ways Your Cat Will
Understand by Janine Adams. Great for the new cat owner.

3. The Cat Who Cried for Help : Attitudes, Emotions, and the Psychology of
Cats by NICHOLAS DODMAN. This guy is an animal behaviorist. He addresses
specific problems, including aggression.

4. Don't Shoot the Dog! : The New Art of Teaching and Training by KAREN
PRYOR. Again, geared towards dogs, but the principles apply to pretty much
any mammal. I got a lot out of it, myself.
[quote src="amazon.com"]
Review
"This delightful, clear, and utterly helpful book is for anyone who wants to
understand or change the behavior of an animal--whether the animal in
question is a barking dog, a nosy neighbor, a hostile cat, or you and your
own bad habits."
--Carol Tavris, Ph.D., author of Anger
[/quote]


Some cats make it look SO easy to have cats. Others, well, don't. I've had
easy cats and not so easy cats. Easy dogs and difficult dogs. Just like some
children never do anything overly evil and others make you think you gave
birth to Damien. *LOL*

HTH
--
--
~kaeli~
Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

HTH, thanks I will definately check out some of these books. Yes, these
are our first cats. I have enjoyed getting the feedback from people who
are cat owners. Thanks, I'll keep the site updated if I can. I enjoyed
reading what others are saying about all kinds of stuff. Take care, thks
again..ah

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