Help please! Options

[alleycat22]

My partner and i rescued a cat from a concrete factory..apparently the cats are running over the concrete as they dry at night and causing a lot of trouble....the guys there were going to put him down .....i just couldn't let them do it... I found the cat really scared and yet still he rubbed up against the cage and said hello.

I took him to the vets and after waiting 3 days for h\is owners to come forward(no one did)_ then we took him home.
and that's when I started to know what i was in for!

The cat was a bit cranky at the vet and to be honest i think they were happy to get him a home so easily.

the main problem is his aggression...he just attacks....when he wants something...he wants food....bang! attack! full claws mouth and the odd growly hiss.

we've been able to cut down the behaviour by just letting him know it hurts by saying OUCHHH. so he has gone from about 6 attacks on each of us a day to about 1 or two a day...which is pretty good for 2 months i think?

but i need help getting him to stop attacking all together...he thrashes his tale a lot and often has his ears back, but we can usually pat and pick him up now with not too many hassles.

(you can pat him for about 6 seconds before he bites as a rule hehe)

i even tried water spray bottle but he just didn't mind the water at all.

he's been a complete gentleman in every other way...PERFECTLY kitty litter trained from the day we shoed him where to go....and he also comes back to the house when you call out his name( we used a food rewards and he LOVES food)

How can I help him relax ? he is learning to play with us and we usually play with him for 30mins at night to give him excercise so he is calmer the next day.

another issue we are having is he is distroying everything! he has shredded the linoleum on our floor (opps renting) and does this when he wants to go outside....we dont reward his behaviour by gee is he stubborn!

he is also now starting to howl when he wants to go outside..it's fairly often too and drives me nuts as i can't let him out too much because he is starting to wander into other yards.


has anyone got any ideas???? we like him heaps as he is a real dude and we dont mind that he likes his space, but his aggression is scary!


Thanks for any advice you may have...i''m out of ideas!

Allison

p.s i forgot to say he is about 10 years old (or so the vet things)

[fleabag]

Several options ..get some Rescue Remedy and put a few drops in his water bowl and rub a drop or two on his ears ..this will help relax him ..the other thing is get a Feliway Diffuser and plug it in in his main room ..this also relaxes him ..and gives of happy cat vibes .
I suspect he's been given a rough time on the site ..chasing ..yelling, hassling him ..so he doesn't trust us humans too much..
Can you allocate him a room overnight so he doesn't get a chance to do too much damage while you are not able to supervise him..
I applaud you for giving him a chance ..I gotta say I too like a cat with "character" lol