Agressive only when loved on

Question
My 1 year old orange male tabby is aggressive towards me only when I pick him up.  My husband rescued him from an alley when he was 5 weeks old.  When we first had him he displayed signs of that condition which made him wobbly and lift his back legs (tacky) up to high and far out to the side.  He has much improved (no more shakes) and only slight "bowleggedness."  He is sweet, lovable, cuddly and affectionate, expcept when I pick him up.  I have tried holding him like a human baby (he really hates that!)and holding him with his back leggs supported with the front legs resting over my opposing arm. He begins to growl in warning, then smacks me (he's declawed) and if I don't back my face away he will hiss and then bite.  All other times he loves me best I don't understand why he does this.  He does not do this with my husband, or my ma when she visits. The first 4 months I had him he slept on my pillow and he would wake at 2am for me to feed him.  In fac he was so wobbly I would clean his bottom b/c his back legs could not support him to urinate or defecate and he would collapse in the litter pan.  I have 2 older male cats, they have all bonded and play wonderfully together.

Answer
Hi Stacey,

I would say your male tabby is very lucky to be adopted by your family.

However, not all cats like to be carried by anyone. In fact, they are like children. They choose who they would want to be carried by.

Cats are very expressive. They would normally struggle or push you away when they do not want to be carried.However, they can be trained. Slowly, you can see that he won't be so resistant to you carrying him.

Carrisa