Help please, Tiki is sarting to get mean, long

[lv4dogs]

As some of you know from following my posts I have a new addition, Tiki. A friend & I rescued him, his 3 brothers & mother a few weeks ago. He's estimated to be about 13 weeks now. I've had him since we caught him. I brought him to the vet right away. He was totally healthy except he had ear mites.

From day one Tiki was a total lover. Never left my side, always wanted to be petted and loved. He was like that for the whole first week. I could clip his nails, clean his ears, whatever & he'd just sit there & let me.

The second week he started to become more distant & braver. He would rarely want to be petted or picked up. He started to hate having the ear mite meds put in (thats understandable) I didn't think too much of it, I just thought that since he was a stray he was just going through a faze, coming out of his shell.

This past week, especially the last few days, he is really starting to get mean. He hides most of the time, hisses when I pick him up, hisses, scratches, bites the whole nine when I put in his ear mite meds. For the past 3 days he has never came up to me asking for pets.

Now since day one Meko (my other cat who is 1.5 years & I've had her since she was 3 weeks) and Tiki have had issues getting along.
Meko has ALWAYS gotten along with other cats, EVERY cat she has ever met she loves. Tiki came into the home & Meko started to hiss at him right away. Since I saw her hiss first I always thought she's the one that had an issue with Tiki.
Well last night I rescued 2 more kittens. Before I had the chance to get them into a seperate room for quarantine both Meko & Tiki came into contact with them. Meko LOVED them right off the bat, Tiki on the other hand wanted to strangle them.
This makes me think that Tiki's the one with the problem, not Meko. It just so happened that the first view I got of the quarrel was Meko having the issue, so I assumed it was her.

I'm still having issues with Meko coming into the house, eating, etc... because she is scared of Tiki. Tikis about a third of Meko's size & Meko runs from him.


Yesterday afternoon (before the kittens were here) my b/f Craig was walking down the hallway, Tiki was in one of the spare bedrooms & when Craig walked by Tiki lunged out at him, grabbing onto his pant leg, biting, scratching. I saw the whole thing & couldn't believe my eyes. Craig said the same thing happened about 2-3 days ago.

Neither Craig nor I have ever hurt, hit, yelled, shooed the cat away, nothing. The ONLY punishment we EVER gave Tiki was we sprayed him 2-3 times with water when he jumped up on the kitchen counter when we were preparing dinner.

First thing this morning I dropped off both kitties at the rescue organization. Since the kittens left (even though they were in a different room) Tiki has been acting crazed, searching ever nook & cranny, hissing & swating at the walls, carpet, doors, everything & nothing.

I've spoke to my friends who have Tikis littermates. 2 of his littermates are still complete love bugs. One is a crazed maniac, he's not mean though, just very hyper.

I called my vet this morning (was kind of thinking rabies or brain disporder, something). She was not worried about rabies. She says it may just be the cats personality or possibly something wrong with his brain or something. He goes back to the vet next week for his second series of shots & she's going to do a more thourough exam. She didn't have much advice for me until then though, and the worker who handles cat behavior is on vacation until Thurs.

I'm not sure what I should do. I was thinking of forcing him to lay on lap while I pet him, showing him that I am not dangerous, but forcing him to stay there may cause him more anxiety causing my plan to backfire. Not to mention I'm sure I'll end up with scratches/bites.
Or should I just let him be? But that can backfire too, allowing him to not get used to me or human touch, causing him to become more feral.

I've delt with MANY feral, mean cats, but they all started out that way and I tamed them. He started out nice as a button & is getting meaner as time goes on. So I am not sure if I should just do what I did to all the other cats or if I am dealing with a totally different behavior problem or even worse yet a medical problem. Although my vet doubts its medical, she did say that IF it was it would probably be a brain disorder or something.

Does anyone have any idea what may be causing this? Or what I can do to help?

[Laura's Babies]

I had a paniced phone call from a friend last night asking if I could come over, something was wrong with her furkid... I went and he was all over me, loving and happy as could be. She was stunned as minutes prior, he was laying on the floor, not moving, didn't respond when she spoke ot touched him. He had her worried to death that she called someone so late at night! I hung around awhile and he was affectionate and normal..... just IGNORING her!! I finally laughed and told her he was just PO'ed at her... the reason?... she has to put ear drops in his ears and has to give him antibotics.

Why not try keeping this little one, shut off in a room without any other kittys in there. They are smarter than we think and once he sees what this kind of behavior brings... it is highly likely he will stop it.

When Chester was a youngster, he started waking me up in the wee hours and on the third night that he did that, I put him out of the bedroom and shut the door... That was the last time he woke me up in the wee hours and the only time I shut him out.. He learned QUICK....

I also had to start giving Samantha time outs when I first got her because she was attacking all the others all day. I would politely scold her, pick her up and put her in a room alone and shut the door.. It only took 3 days and that broke that behavior.

Try that! What do you have to loose, if that don't work, then kennel him in another room.

[lizbud]

I think Laura's Babies has some very good advice. Separating
him off in another room for awhile. At least till he's taken all the
meds & you get back in his good graces. One thing I would
not do is force him to lay on your lap. I wouldn't force anything
with this little one. (except what force is used to give his meds)

[cruisetime]

Meka I got from animal control (kill shelter) and she was trapped and pregnant and dropped the kittens a day after she got there. The animal control kept her and the kittens - they wanted to kill them all and then kept her even after they weened her kittens off her because the daughter and volunteer said how sweet she was and they wanted a good home for her. Right before they were going to have to kill her I come along and adopt her - sounds great - sweet kitty.... hahahahahah Well she had them fooled good!!! That B.......!!!! She was a terror after about 1 week she stopped being loving and became a holy terror!!! Biting, attacking, scratching and me with NO experience with cats and scared to death!!! Well we tried everything - even a squirt gun and she would stand there and let you soak her down while she tore my blinds down... The only reason we kept trying was because she was only 7 pounds otherwise she wouldn't have made it. She latched onto my hubby's arm one time with nails and teeth and when he got her off - don't ask- he was dripping blood - she has gotten me but not like that or she would have been down to animal control. Well a few things happened. We tried a few new approaches - bathroom did not work to shut her in - she didn't care - like a squirt gun. SO in the carrier she went and still goes when she is bad - for at least an hour depending on the offense. That does calm her down a lot and when consist works great... Also I have hit her nose when she bites and it helps a little but mainly the carrier works the best... I got her a friend and that was not a great idea at first as she hated him. Well finally after 4 months they are starting to get along and really only fight about us. They do prefer each other company when alone as I tried to separate them when we went out of town and that didnt' work well... I can't believe I had to get this kind of cat as my first cat but she has been worth the effort - but I have found that if I don't punish her by putting her in the carrier it gets so much worse... Good luck and patience... LOL Now she has us so wrapped around her paw that we will try everything to keep her... BUT in the carrier she will go have no dought!! Debbie

[lv4dogs]

Thanks everyone. I won't ever give up on him, unless god forbid he gets VERY mean.
Do you know what, he started to go downhill a few days after I let him out of his quarantine room. So I'll be getting that back in order & putting him back in there for a while see how it goes.
He is supposed to be off his ear mite meds in a few days but I'm still seeing them (he litterally had mountains of mites in his ears). I'm going to weigh him & hopefully he's either 5 lbs so I can give him revolution or see if my vet has something different that is less stressful to give him.

I have & still do pet him when he gets fed his wet food, I'd do the same with dry but I leave that out 24/7 so he's a nibbler on the dry so thats almost impossible to pet him.

[QueenScoopalot]

I'm sure once the earmite treatment is over with, he'll calm down again. Try giving him treats and lots of praise and pats when it's time for those drops again. It could also be he needs another kitten to get out the pent up energy with, instead of directing it toward humans. Wear him out with a feather wand, or a Turbo Scratcher. Laser pointers are great fun for kittens as well, but be very careful the light doesn't shine in their eyes. Maybe between the treats, and wearing him out with playtime, he'll be less apt to attack. P.S next time ask your vet for Acaraxx for earmites. Much easier to use, and usually responds well with one treatment.

[Laura's Babies]

***giddy-up! ****giddy up*** giddy up!... QSL to the rescue! She is our "expert" so take her advice.. She has advised me through a lot and always been right on the money!

[catmandu]

THAT IS NEVER EASY,WHEN YOU ARE DOING,WHAT YOU KNOW,IS BEST,FOR YOU CAT,AND THEY NOT ONLY HATE,IT,BUT GET ANGRY,WITH YOU,IN THE MEAN TIME.
WHEN POUNCETTE,GETS TOO AGRESSIVE,THAT IS WHAT,I DO,IS GET HER A LITTLE TIME OUT,IN THE SPARE BEDROOM,UNTIL SHE CALMS DOWN.AND AS LITTLE,AS SHE IS,ONLY MOOSE,AND RAGNAR,DONT RUN
SHE LOVES RAGNAR,AND MOOSE,THE BIG MAINE COONS,YOU SEE.

GOOD LUCK,ON TIKI,AND HOPEFULLY,YOU CAN RESTORE,HIS GOOD SIDE.

[lv4dogs]

Oh my thank you so much for the advice!

I've got him shut off in my bedroom now.

I do play with him a lot, throw balls, laser light, feather things, he loves them all as long as he is not too close to me that is. lol

I've tried a million treats with him, but he must take after Meko. He doesn't like any of them so I've been feeding him Meko's treats, cooked chicken, steak, fish, pork etc... cut up into small pieces.

Wish us luck please!!!