How to deal with a cat with "issues"?

About a month ago, my boss gave in to temptation and adopted a cat for our office. Mookie is a beautiful black and white male (neutered), about 2 years old and a bruising 18 pounds, who had been left at a shelter when his original family moved away. He had previously been adopted twice from the shelter, and returned twice. (Apparently, the first adopter wanted to make a barn cat of Mookie, but Mookie wanted to be an indoor cat, so no dice. The second adopter returned Mookie, saying that his wife and daughter were too afraid of the cat - something about shutting themselves in the basement to keep the cat away.) The shelter was afraid that we too would have a problem with him, but the first couple of weeks went very well, with Mookie being just adorable and playing with everyone. We figured the other folks just hadn’t been patient enough with a young cat.

Now… as much as we thought the second family sounded a little nuts, we’re beginning to understand the issue better. Mookie is, without a doubt, an attention whore. When he first got here, there were about five people that he could visit through the day to get his attention fix. For various reasons, at the moment it’s frequently just one or two of us in the office, so what might have been an occasional nudge or meow for a petting or some play becomes near-constant badgering. He will sit on the desk right in front of you, or (a favorite) crouch on top of a PC tower or bookshelf like Snoopy doing his vulture impersonation, and he won’t leave until you acknowledge him.

If he were just a lap cat, no big deal - I can function with a cat in my lap a good part of the day (no wisecracks, please). But when he doesn’t get the amount of attention he wants (and boy, does he want a lot), he begins to bite and claw - and not gently, either. For example, from a perch he will swipe at my face with claws fully extended; if I go to pick him up for the purposes of putting him back on the floor, he will twist around to bite me. If he’s on the floor already, he will rear up and dig his claws into my leg, or he will attack my ankles with both claws and teeth. One of the other women has had some luck getting him to back off by grabbing the scruff of his neck, but the only way I can shoo him is by tapping his nose with a manila folder a few times. Even when we do spend time with him, and he seems happy and content, he will suddenly turn into psycho-kitty, ears back and tail lashing, and start biting and clawing. He’s already bitten my boss on the lip that way, and it seems like more of the same is in store unless we find a way to get him out of this behavior.

Does anyone have any suggestions for modifying his behavior? It’s clearly human company he prefers, so another cat to play with won’t help (and might make things worse). My boss is also committed to not returning Mookie to the shelter. At the same time, I don’t think workers’ comp is going to want to pay for feline-related injuries if this keeps up. Help?

You might try keeping a spray bottle of water on your desk for when he gets aggressive, although that might just make him pissier. Other than that, I really don’t know. I’d suggest talking to Mookie’s vet and maybe taking him to a behaviorist.

Believe it or not, you can get things like Prozac for cats. We consulted a behaviorist about our cat, but drugging her was a bit more than we wanted to do. Our odd solution was to get a dog that was used to cats. She seems much more well-adjusted now that she has someone to play with during the day. I don’t, obviously, recommend this tactic to everyone. :slight_smile:

Perhaps explaining to Mookie that you need a new string for your violin and then relating the UL of what they’re made of will solve the problem. :wink:

My cat is an attention whore as well, but thankfully, she just gives me dirty looks when I don’t give her the attention she craves. Have you tried to see if there was a cat toy which Mookie found irresistable but didn’t require a great deal of involvement on your part? That might help occupy some of his time and sap some of his energy.

I think Mookie gets overstimulated by all the activity around him, but doesn’t know how to calm himself. He needs to learn to relax, and time in a small, comfortable, safe place will help. I suggest you get a pet crate, put a fleecy blankie and a catnip mouse (or treats) in it, and when Mookie gets too overwhelming, put him in it. Start with just a minute or two, and gradually increase his “alone time” to longer periods. If you notice he starts to get needy/aggressive at a certain time of day (after lunch, for example) you can anticipate his stress level and pop him in his box for a break before he gets out of control. Don’t make it punishment, and don’t keep him cooped up all day, but I think everyone needs a little time to reflect and relax now and then, cats included.

Try catnip. Seriously. One of our cats is exactly like that. Ultimately, the thing that’s (mostly) cured him is time. He’s five now and quite reasonable (except between 3 and 6 AM).

For almost a year, though, I kept him pretty well tamed with lots and lots of catnip. It didn’t make him go bonkers, like it does our other cat. It made him nicely mellow without being too stoned to be fun. I consider it KittyRitalin. My theory is that, just like ritalin is a stimulant which makes hyper kids chill, catnip has a reverse bonkers effect on some psycho kitties.

Well, I’d definitely want a vet’s opinion too, but I think look@hergo! has a point. I’ve got a male tabby who’s on the insecure side and craves my total focus whenever I’m around. He can get himself so worked up even when I am paying attention to him that he goes a little nuts and has scratched and grabbed at me in the past. He’s not mean or trying to hurt, he just gets frantic and lashes out. I can tell when he’s starting to lose control and I have put him into the spare room, by himself, for a “time-out”. Not for punishment but so he has a chance to calm down, then I let him out a little later and everything’s fine. As he’s gotten older he’s gained more control over himself so this doesn’t happen much anymore. (He still hangs on me like I created the world though. Somedays it’s a nice ego boost. :slight_smile: )

Sounds like you need something that is inexpensive, durable, and disposable with which to occupy your cat. Why not bring in an intern?

You mean besides locking the backdoor?

When I’m at the PC and my cat wants attention she sits on the monitor and faces away from me. Her tail hanging down the center of the monitor front while I’m playing a game gets her plenty of attnetion.
I’d try the catnip or a second cat.

Heh. That idea does have a certain appeal. :smiley:

We have actually tried toys with catnip, as well as straight catnip. The toys are fun for Mookie apparently only so long as a human is tossing them around (he likes to fetch like a dog). Straight catnip, well… he rolls around in it, meows a lot, eats every last bit off the floor, and then tries to get into the can we keep it in. It’s like watching a junkie desperate for a fix.

What look@hergo and dwyr have said about finding a place for him to calm himself sounds like a good idea - maybe a cage so that he can still see us and not feel like he’s being shut out while he simmers down. Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.