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Old July 17th, 2014, 04:40 PM
Swhite Swhite is offline
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Question Cat purposely scratching toddler

I have a question that I am hoping someone can advise me on. This is my first pair of cats. We adopted a brother/sister pair from a shelter when they were four months old. They've been super easy to train, and our family loves them. The only bad behavior we've seen is what we believe to be typical cat behavior (scratching the furniture, ruining my miniblinds, etc.), but lately I am having a HUGE problem with the male cat (now 11 mos. old) scratching a toddler that I keep every chance he gets. The toddler was here before the cat, just fyi. Whenever we first got the kitten, the toddler "petted/patted" Breaker kitty a little rough, but I've never seen him pull his tail or anything that would hurt the cat. But the cat will sit up on a shelf taller than the child, and if the child walks by he has the evil meow. If the toddler walks by or in the vicinity of the cat, and the catch swats at him. On two occasions in the past month or so, he has scratched the toddler's face near his eye. Today, the cat was sitting near the child's toy box in my living room, and child did NOTHING to provoke the cat, and the cat lunged at him and tried to scratch him in the face again with both paws and meowing. (no hissing). I have tried keeping the cat in another room separate from the kids, but he claws at the door and carpet (ruined my carpet already) and meows until we let him out. I see my options as re-homing the cat or declawing (which I don't want to do to him). Any suggestions? I haven't had a cat before, and am wondering if there is anything else I can try to redirect and stop this behavior. The cat doesn't do this with anyone else in the house. And I typically have five kids in the house every day. The cats have plenty of places to hide. The sister cat stays in my bedroom until most of the kids go home. She is more anti-social, but I don't have any issues whatsoever with her. Oh, and both cats have been spayed/neutered. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!
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Old July 17th, 2014, 06:44 PM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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First I would Vet the cat. There may be a medical condition prompting his behaviour. Hyperthroidism is one but it still remains peculiar he targets just the one child.

In rare, rare, rare times I think declawing is justified. It will be hard to rehome the male because ethically you will have to disclose your reasons. But of course you should try. I think you should rehome. I hope the cat simply sees the toddler as a walking, catchable playmate but the lunging at him may not be and it's dangerous to your child. And in the time you take to try to train the cat out of this behaviour your child could be injured, in his eyes as I am sure is your biggest worry.

I have a cat who lunges at me and scratches me too. She's a former feral and her timing might be days, months or years apart so very unpredictable. But I can read her pretty well and see when she is getting over stimulated and distract her or move away. A child cannot do that.

If there is no underlying medical reason, or even if there is but treatment does not resolve the problem and you cannot rehome I fear your only options for your child's safety are PTS or declaw. I would certainly choose declaw first. Declawed cats sometimes use their teeth more so it may not help much. And it can make them more aggessive as they realize they are impaired and get their licks in first. The best defense is a good offense so to speak.

I really hope someone else comes along with a better idea for you, but that's all I can come up with. A co-worker of mine was engaged to a man who was afraid her two cats would wreck his expensive furniture. No one would take them, she had them PTS. I wish she had tried declawing. It isn't always a fiasco. Good luck.
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Old July 17th, 2014, 09:14 PM
Barkingdog Barkingdog is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Longblades View Post
First I would Vet the cat. There may be a medical condition prompting his behaviour. Hyperthroidism is one but it still remains peculiar he targets just the one child.

In rare, rare, rare times I think declawing is justified. It will be hard to rehome the male because ethically you will have to disclose your reasons. But of course you should try. I think you should rehome. I hope the cat simply sees the toddler as a walking, catchable playmate but the lunging at him may not be and it's dangerous to your child. And in the time you take to try to train the cat out of this behaviour your child could be injured, in his eyes as I am sure is your biggest worry.

I have a cat who lunges at me and scratches me too. She's a former feral and her timing might be days, months or years apart so very unpredictable. But I can read her pretty well and see when she is getting over stimulated and distract her or move away. A child cannot do that.

If there is no underlying medical reason, or even if there is but treatment does not resolve the problem and you cannot rehome I fear your only options for your child's safety are PTS or declaw. I would certainly choose declaw first. Declawed cats sometimes use their teeth more so it may not help much. And it can make them more aggessive as they realize they are impaired and get their licks in first. The best defense is a good offense so to speak.

I really hope someone else comes along with a better idea for you, but that's all I can come up with. A co-worker of mine was engaged to a man who was afraid her two cats would wreck his expensive furniture. No one would take them, she had them PTS. I wish she had tried declawing. It isn't always a fiasco. Good luck.

This is what declawing a cat it like. The OP needs to keep the child away from the cat , and maybe try using a spray bottle filled with water and spray the cat if it think of going near the child. I use a spray bottle for a cat and after getting sprayed a few times I just had to pick up the bottle and cat would run. It helps to have a smart cat too.






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Old July 17th, 2014, 09:54 PM
Swhite Swhite is offline
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Thanks for the advice. I really do appreciate it. It helps to know this isn't a common thing. I wouldn't have thought about calling the vet to inquire and visit for that. Probably seems like the obvious answer to most, but we have never had a cat, nor would my parents allow cats as pet when I was a child. Totally clueless. I really hate to declaw him, but I cannot allow that behavior to continue. I knew someone would know more than I do! I expected the furniture/carpet issues with the clawing, just not the issue with the baby.
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Old July 18th, 2014, 09:07 AM
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marko marko is offline
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I have to agree (as I usually do ) with LB's logic here.

The choices here seem limited in this case (rehoming/euthanasia or declawing).

I think in this very rare case (and I say rare because most members on this site, myself included are seriously anti-declawing and pro spay neuter) I would consider declawing. (After I saw a vet to rule out a medical issue)

In terms of biting more after declawing, yup I have seen this in 2 cats that I have known over the years.
Both my cats though are declawed (adopted that way) and do not bite more than clawed cats - so you just never know.
Hope that may help - Good luck!
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  #6  
Old July 18th, 2014, 09:37 AM
Barkingdog Barkingdog is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Swhite View Post
Thanks for the advice. I really do appreciate it. It helps to know this isn't a common thing. I wouldn't have thought about calling the vet to inquire and visit for that. Probably seems like the obvious answer to most, but we have never had a cat, nor would my parents allow cats as pet when I was a child. Totally clueless. I really hate to declaw him, but I cannot allow that behavior to continue. I knew someone would know more than I do! I expected the furniture/carpet issues with the clawing, just not the issue with the baby.
Maybe you could call the shelter and try to find out why the kittens where given away . If the male kitten has a history of scratching you should had been told about it. It would be kinder to see if the shelter will take the kitten back and try to find him a more suitable home where there no are kids
instead of getting him declawed . I am not sure where you got the kittens from but I hope it was not a no kill shelter , they would put him to sleep .
I had a male cat that picked my daughter but she was old enough to protect herself. It was strange ,but the cat would wait for her to go downstairs and he would try to scratch her, it was as if he was being a mean brother to his sister. My female cat did not go after my daughter.
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Old July 20th, 2014, 09:10 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Hi Swhite,

What are your kitties name?

Are you able to trim their claws at all? That would be my first recommendation. If you need some instruction on ways to do it, let us know. The vet can also help with regular trimming or can show you how.

How much active play-time do you give your cats? Regular sessions where you give them a good run around the house with fishing-rod style toys (Neko Flies or Da Bird are great for this) can go a long way towards calming unwanted behaviours. Cats "in the wild" would be covering a lot of ground each day hunting for food and are hugely stimulated mentally. When confined indoors, all this pent-up energy has nowhere productive to go and can frequently result in a cat "acting out".

Lastly, try to encourage some positive associations between the cat and child. Which means please do not start using a spray-bottle on him, as that will only reinforce a negative association and could backfire (i.e. make the behaviour worse). Instead, give him a highly desirable treat when he's in the vicinity of the child, and only then. Research clicker-training for cats as well.

Some links for you to check out:

http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com...ips-with-cats/
http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com...t-should-know/
http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com...cat-play-time/

And PLEASE don't declaw. Rehoming would be kinder.
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Old July 21st, 2014, 06:58 AM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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Oh, such good ideas Sugarcat mom, wish I'd thought to put them down.

I just want to really strongly echo the play idea. I have a stray mother cat, she's young, and still have two of her four kittens. These little devils would play for hours if I could manage it. They play by themselves but are so active when I engage with them. I think a lot of people believe cats just sleep all day but cats can take, and some need, highly active running, leaping and jumping with you for 20 minutes at a time a couple of times a day.

Another idea. Give the male cat a big stuffed toy he can wrestle with, dig his claws into and fake kill as if it was prey. You start him on it by playing a bit rough with him, push him around a bit till he comes back at it. You hide the toy so he doesn't get used to it, bring it out once a day, maybe more at first so he can practice his natural urge to take down prey. Might get him to target the toy instead of the toddler.
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