help with a mean cat

Question
Jessica, I adopted 2 sister kittens at 6 weeks.  My problem/concern is one of the cats(now a year old) is very aggressive. She will hiss, scratch and bite my family members for no apparent reason. I have dogs,these 2 cats and even a rabbit-all of which i rescued and have NEVER had a "mean" animal. Giving her away is not an option as we do love her but we all kind of fear her mood swings- is there anything i can do? Vet says her personality will not change, I'm having a hard time excepting this.     Thank u for ur time and advice- Laura

Answer
Hi Laura,

Have you tried a product called Feliway? This is a synthetic pheromone, a "happy" hormone that cats release through their cheeks and paw pads. Cats can be aggressive when they feel stressed, and this tends to be more common in multi-animal homes because of territory issues. But Feliway can fill the environment with these comforting hormones to reduce stress levels, leading to reduced behavioral problems, including aggression. I would recommend that you try the plug-in diffusers. You'll need several to treat the whole home. They are an investment. I find the initial set-ups to be least expensive on amazon.com, and the refills to be least expensive on entirelypets.com. At first, I didn't think I saw much of a difference, because it takes a couple weeks for the product to work. So I stopped using it. However, when I stopped using it, I noticed the aggression levels skyrocketed! It really does help in many cases. See feliway.com for more information.

If Feliway doesn't work, I would seriously consider placing your cat on an antidepressant. I understand nobody likes to do this, but clearly your kitty is unhappy, and so is the family over this issue. Prozac is very successful for treating aggression, and it almost never has any side effects. Another medication that has gained a lot of praise specifically for aggression cases is Clomicalm. This is labeled for dogs but has been used off-label in cats for years (it is labeled for cats in some countries, but not the US). Clomicalm can have a very mild sedative effect, which is actually welcomed in many cases. The best news is that many cats with aggression problems don't need treatment forever. Most cats can be tapered off and removed from the medication after treatment for six months or so, once the behavior is corrected. This has been my experience with a couple of aggressive cats who needed treatment (one who received Prozac and another who received Elavil).

In the meantime, you might want to consider placing Soft Paws on your cat for protection against her nails. These are rounded vinyl tips that get glued over her natural nails. They fall off approximately every 4-6 weeks as the outer sheath of her nail sheds off and will need to be replaced, if desired. You can learn more at softpaws.com. This won't protect you against bites, though!

Best of luck!

Jessica