I love my cat, but I’m starting to get really sad and frustrated with his behavior. Most of the day, he’s fine. A playful, funny cat who sleeps most of the day and likes to get into everyone’s business. However, he attacks me about 1x a week and draws blood. This started when he was a year old, and he’s now almost 2.
His attacks can be really aggressive — he will lunge at me and he sinks his teeth in like he truly wants to harm me. I don’t know how to control him or protect myself when I see him getting ready to lunge at me.
Some people have said to use a spray bottle when cats attack, but I don’t understand how to do this! Do you constantly carry around a spray bottle in your pocket, waiting for an attack? Sometimes I’m surprised by his attacks and don’t have time to react.
I also read about hissing at cats after they attack, and that doesn’t seem to work. Sometimes he’ll get scared of me and go into submissive mode with his ears down and showing his belly, other times it makes him even more mad and he’ll attack again.
I know play time is important for aggressive cats so I try to play with him ~30 mins a day. To be honest I don’t know always how to interest him in play! He jumps around and goes crazy and has a lot of energy when we do play. I also have tons of cat toys, Da Bird, mice, etc.
This brings me to my question: Should I get him a playmate, or is that a terrible idea and maybe I’ll have two cats who bully me and twice the scars? I’ve read getting a second cat can be very helpful for aggressive cats who love to play. He has spent time with another cat who was pretty submissive and he seemed to enjoy it. When he was with a more dominant cat, he wasn’t happy and kept running away.
I don’t want to rehome my cat but I also don’t feel like it’s normal to be so afraid of your cat. Please help!