Bad tempered cat -

Question
I just read the question about a 3 year old neutered cat who bites and it sounded SO like our experience!! Ours is 3 years old, we got him at 8 weeks, and had him neutered at 6 months. He wasn't raised by his mother cat, because she died when he and his 2 siblings were born. The kittens were fostered by our vet's assistant, in her home but she couldn't keep them because she already had several cats and dogs, so they also came to the vet's office which is where we met him. He's nicest to me (they said at the vet's office that that's because he's recognised that I'm "the mom" . About once a day he'll come to me and insist that I pick him up and pet, and at that time he'll be so sweet, but even while he's in my lap and enjoying being petted, if anyone else tries to touch him, or pet, he'll snap at them. No one else can touch him, and even I can't pick him up unless he wants it.
The trouble really is that he attacks people. Especially my husband. Pretty much, the family (husband and two sons) just stays away from him, but then out of the blue, he'll just jump up and bite! Last night he did it tree times to my husband. Usually he doesn't draw blood, but it scratches, and hurts, and he shouldn't have to fear every time he walks through the room that the cat is going to jump on him from under the table!
He's also nasty to anyone who comes to visit. We've taken to putting him upstairs, which he doesn't like, but he refuses to just disappear, the way cats I have in the past have done.
When our married daughter comes to visit with her husband and toddler, we actually send him to the vet for boarding!
My husband has tried to win him over with treats, but this cat doesn't seem to like them much. I don't know what to do.

Answer
Romilie,

In truth, if you saw how little kittens play, they play very, very roughly.  Cat skin is very, very tough, so it is normal for kittens and cats to engage in rough play (lots of biting and scratching).  When we are socializing little kittens, we pick up each kitten, stroke it, and speak softly to it.  Kittens love this.  If the kitten starts the biting/scratching behavior, we scruff it, put it down and walk away.  IT does not take long for the kittens to figure out they should play gently with us soft skinned humans.

I expect your kitty was never socialized to humans and you are looking at rough play as an attack.  Also, cats do not respond well to negative discipline, so you need to find a way to reward your kitty for appropriate behavior around other people, especially family members.

One question I have is when did these inappropriate behaviors start? Has he been doing it all along, or did it just become bad recently? At age 3 it is going to be tough to break him of the habit.  You can try positive reinforcement (working with treats is on the right track), but you have to give him treats when he behaves well and deny them when he behaves poorly.  When he was younger, did family members rough house with him and wrestle and the like.  If so, his untoward behavior was inadvertently encouraged. If this is a fairly recent thing, you might take him to the vet to see if there is a medical issue which could cause some of these behaviors (e.g. thyroid).

There is a behavior modification technique called clicker training (see www.clickertraining.com) which may be helpful. You will have to investigate this and see if it is a possibility.  There has been good success with cats and clicker training for a number of behaviors.

I am afraid, I do not have much more to offer.

Best regards... Norm.