2 years old cat suddenly angry and spitting
 

Hello,

i am a bit in a despair about our 2 years old male cat, Fantastic.

We adopted him a year ago, he was homeless on the country side. He tested fiv+ but still we kept him, and had him vaccinated and sterilized.

He never went along so well with our 11 years old cat, but they could share the space. We now have a 4 months old kitten and he played with her a lot until this week.

Suddenly, he bitted our 11years old cat, and does not play with the kitten anymore, instead, he is spitting at her and even at me. He eats well, run around, but seems only to be interested in eating, sleeping and fighting with all cats around. And marking is territory in and out the house.

Since he is fiv+, i think he is a danger for the surrounding cats, including ours.. And i really wonder who would like to adopt such a cat... so we are left with the euthanasia option, or to leave him on his own in the forest, as he was when we found him (although it would not be the forest where we found him).

Any advice will be welcomed, my heart is broken at the idea of having to put him to sleep... i am so against this 'solution' but don't know what else to do...

emcee

Welcome

Did you do the introductions slowly or just put all the cats together? Have you ruled out a medical issue?

Please dont dump your cat in the forest? if you have ruled out all options then please euthanize him humanely! he does not deserve to be dropped off somewhere to fend for himself since you have provided him a home already?

Can you segregate him from the rest of your pets and use a baby gate to slowly introduce everyone?

The other thing you could try is to put some baby powder on your hands and rub down each cat so they all smell the same. Some folks also suggest a dab of vanilla under the chin works too!

I think you need to make a trip to the vet and see if there is a medical issue? maybe they can suggest some other options as well!

Hello Winston,

we introduced the cats slowly, over 4 months, but they seemed to never get along so well, fighting often. I did not know if they were fighting of playing, but at some point the vet made it clear that they were fighting.

We often went to the vet with Fanta, since he is fiv he's got to see the vet at any small problem, almost every month (he's got a non healing wound which required surgery, then a cold or something like coriza, some skin allergy also).

Ok we won't let him in the forest, i really thought that maybe this would be better than putting him to sleep.

We could segregate him from other cats, we thought of an electronic signal fence which would restrain him to a territory (maybe 1000 square meters), but we find this sad since he will get hurted every time he will want to cross the fence's borders, plus, he'll be alone most of the time. He is free since he is born, used to walk around as far as he want...

yes we'll go see the vet, but since he is getting in fights with the neighbors cats, i don't think he will change so much.

Thank you so much for your help!

emcee

Emcee could you try keeping him indoors and segregated for a few reasons? Its not helping him especially if he has FIV to be outside fighting with other cats. Secondly if he has a wound and any other ailments that could be why he is hissing and spitting.

Another option would be to ask the vet is there is anything that you could medicate him with to calm him down a bit?

Is he neutered?

Emcee, I honestly would not even consider letting him free in the forest. I'm glad to see you have decided not to. He would not likely survive for long and may suffer a slow death. Euthenasia would be the far more humane choice if that is your option.

I agree with Winston that he should be seen by a vet again. Tell the vet about the issues. I know years back my younger cat got very irritable when she was constipated. Is Fanta going okay?? You really need to rule out any medical issues, and seeing if he could be medicated would be a good option too.

Keeping him segregated indoors is really best if he is indeed infected. It's not really right to let him wander and infect any other cats he fights with. About the electric fence, I don't really understand where you would put him, but animals learn pretty quick to avoid the shock - you apparently can set the jolt either high or low as well.

Good luck to you, and thank you for at least caring enough to have taken Fanta in knowing his health issues, but now you have the obligation to do right by him as well.

[QUOTE=Winston;1027162]Emcee could you try keeping him indoors and segregated for a few reasons? Its not helping him especially if he has FIV to be outside fighting with other cats. Secondly if he has a wound and any other ailments that could be why he is hissing and spitting.

Another option would be to ask the vet is there is anything that you could medicate him with to calm him down a bit?

Is he neutered?[/QUOTE]


Dear Winston,

i cannot keep him in since i have 2 other cats, 11 and 4 months, which i try to keep away from Fanta (i let Fanta in, then let the 2 others go out while F is indoors).

Yes he is neutered, but since i found him and neutered him when he was already an adult (1 year old), he did not changed his behavior and he still really territorial..

I will see the vet to check on him again, i guess there will be blood tests to be done.

Hello DD,

i followed him yesterday to make sure he was not constipated or had diarea, and no, he is fine on that side. What he might have is belly pain, but he eats quite a lot...

We have 3000 sm ground, so we could keep him on an area of 1000 sm with the electric fence. I have read quite a few posts about people using these fences successfully.

It so breaks my heart, i could not leave him 6 months ago when he tested positive, and still can't imagine to put him to sleep. But we have 2 other cats, which i am so afraid could be infected as well. It really turns me upside down...

Maybe the vet will be of some help...

Thank you so much!

[QUOTE=emcee;1027201]
We have 3000 sm ground, so we could keep him on an area of 1000 sm with the electric fence. I have read quite a few posts about people using these fences successfully.[/QUOTE]

When you say "electric fence", do you mean an actual fence with an electrical current running through it? Or do you mean the kind where the pet wears a collar that shocks it when it tries to go over an invisible boundary?

[QUOTE=sugarcatmom;1027222]When you say "electric fence", do you mean an actual fence with an electrical current running through it? Or do you mean the kind where the pet wears a collar that shocks it when it tries to go over an invisible boundary?[/QUOTE]

the kind with the collar that shocks (often used for dogs).

[QUOTE=emcee;1027241]the kind with the collar that shocks (often used for dogs).[/QUOTE]

Really bad idea to use this on cats. Other animals can still enter the area and attack the cat. It's almost as bad as tying a cat outside on a leash, like bait. Not only that, but cats have very sensitive skin and you could cause permanent psychological damage by causing it pain that it doesn't understand. I really hope you can find another way too look after this poor guy.