My cat is the neighborhood bully

Question
QUESTION: My 10-year-old, neutered 16-lb Henry cat is a very sweet boy when inside. He cuddles in bed and is very friendly with humans. However, he is a monster to other cats and has a history of coming home with chunks of fur under his claws and has had two terribly abscessed fight wounds. Henry was a stray and has always been very difficult to keep inside. While recovering from surgery for a fight wound he regularly escaped quite easily.

We recently moved to a new neighborhood and he has already lost two collars in four months. Tonight a neighbor across the alley came over to bring me his latest lost collar and expressed concern that her smaller female cat was being terrorized by Henry. The neighbor had caught Henry in her home eating her cat's food and when she shooed him out of her kitchen he hissed at her. She is worried that her cat will not go outside for fear of Henry, and asked me to keep him inside.

What do I do? Should I declaw - something I instinctively feel is cruel? I know he would be miserable inside and would do anything he could to get out, but I'm embarrassed to learn that he's causing trouble in the neighborhood, and I'm concerned that he could really hurt another cat.

ANSWER: Hi Kelly,


There is one bully in every neighborhood. It is no fault of yours! It is very responsible and admirable of you to try to help the situation.
Absolutely, do not declaw him as you will end up with a much worse problem. A defenseless cat that could become super aggressive with biting and attacks. He may start directing that towards humans, so this is the wrong approach from every angle.
Some cats that have been mutilated by declawing end up staying sweet but it makes a cat defenseless and many times bite aggressive. It is an amputation behind the first or second joint of the metacarpals. It is not just merely removing the claws or nails.
There is a reason why declawing is illegal in certain places or cities, it is cruel and inhumane. So your instincts are right!

I dont know your home situation but i would suggest you make a cat enclosure for him so he can go outside in the garden but cant terrorize the neighborhood cats by jumping the fence. Some kind of cat proofed fencing might help. Play with him often and give adequate exercise to lower his frustrations. Train him gingerly to walk on a harness and you can take him for supervised walks beyond the property lines. If he does encounter another cat while you walk him, be careful he does not redirect as sometimes this happens, you do not want to be the victim of redirected aggression. If this ever happens this is not the same as aggression toward humans.
If you are feeling badly about your neighbor's cat buy her some Ssscat and that will keep him off her property or a motion detected sprinkler that will lightly spray him when he is within the vicinity..This will teach him to stay out.

Being that he is going there to eat I am wondering what are you feeding him and is he getting adequate nutrition which is lacking from commercial pet foods?? When one's nutritional needs are not met, one will be constantly hungry constantly seeking the missing nutrient. What are you feeding him? There are different factors that make up a bully but sometimes it is survival and hunger.

Best of luck,
Shanti


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Shanti, thanks for your advice. I think providing my neighbor with Ssscat is a great idea, I'll see if she's responsive. I'll also look into a garden enclosure to keep him contained.

Henry gets plenty to eat - he's actually slightly overweight and was put on a diet by his vet two years ago. He has a bowl of dry food available to him all the time and gets 1/3 can of Best Feline Friends wet food once a day. You'd think, however, that he is starving to death all the time because he regularly meows miserably begging for food, scratching at the drawer where he knows I keep his special tuna. I wonder sometimes if he had a hard life before I met him and has not gotten rid of a hunger instinct. Is there anything I can do to make him more secure about his food?

Again, thanks so much for your help!

Answer
Hi Kelly!!

It was my suspicion he was put on a diet! I do believe you give him enough food but all commercial pet food brands are inferior for optimal nutritional needs. BFF is excellent, what is the dry formula you are using?

Dry food is super rich, calorie dense and high on the glycemic index. (high glycemic is responsible for many inflammation diseases as well as constant hunger as there could be a hypoglycemic response). Check the ingredients, are there lots of grains? Grains make the glycemic index even higher.  Good quality organic protein is one thing needed to maintain blood sugar.

Vets often prescribe R/D. Prescription Hills R/D has got to be one of the worst dry foods for cats, it is all corn and grains and filler. It is empty on nutrition and all fiber. However, cats are 100% carnivores and have very specific dietary needs which must have clean protein (among things like taurine etc).

Sometimes allergies are the cause of voracious appetites and the cat is  not getting his nutritional needs met due to an allergic formula. There are often skin and coat signs when there is an allergy as well.
All this dietary stuff isnt classic vet stuff but more from the holistic mindset.

My preference for food is recipes from Dr Pitcairn's Natural Health for Dogs and Cats.

I would give him small meals throughout the day, maybe split what he would eat in 2 meals into three meals throughout the day if you are able?
Some other Brands of wetfood i think are optimal including the BFF you are using (they are not commercial but more concerned with nutrition)are:
Wellness, Instinct, Prairie, Avoderm, Wysong, BFF, Eagle Pack Holistic Select (there are others, too).
If you are unable to cook feline natural recipe's I would lean toward more canned food and less dry as there are less calories and more filling. If you are concerned with tartar from wet, swipe his teeth with a gauze pad 2-3x's weekly.
He is clearly hungry and possibly why he is terrorizing the neighbor's cat as he wants to get to her food.

I once had a bully come to my bedroom window nightly and I could never tell if he was hissing and growling at me through the window or my cats. One night I caught him in the apt and I realized the poor guy was viciously hungry as he voraciously attacked their food. I ended up putting food for him on the other side of the yard as i never knew if he was stray or not.
We don't know Henry's story and he could of been picked on by other littermates or cats when he was a youngster. But now he has a great life with an awesome guardian so he is probably counting his blessings!

Shanti