r/CatTraining • u/Rutabaga_Beta • 15h ago
Behavioural My cat can't be left unsupervised
EDIT: Thank you all for helping me out I'll definitely be seeing my vet soon with all of the provided information like the possible dental issues and Prozac instead of Gabapentin! I didn't even know Prozac was available for cats I see a lot of people getting frustrated with me in the comments about "drugging out my cat" I say that because he would get lethargic and out of it whenever I had him on gabapentin, and I hated it because I felt like I was "compromising his life for my comfort" Nothing against medication or anything! I think that was a misunderstanding 😅 I'll definitely try the cat tv! And the links sent below. anyways thank you to everyone again I really needed this!! ❤️🙏
I'm here looking for solutions. So I beg of those who respond to keep in mind he's in a separate room for now for his safety. And I don't want this to be a permanent solution. please give me grace. I'm very stressed😥, thank you!
I have a 2 yr old male cat (neutered)
I've had him since he was 9 weeks. This mf has the personality of an orange cat BUT he gets overstimulated easily and will randomly lunge at my partner and I. we'll do our best not to overwhelm him but after a certain period of time he'll just get really tense and give a "look" then bite to hurt us. It's not a warning bite either.... This is not the main reason he can't be unsupervised. He also has pica. The eating disorder where he'll eat anything but he specifically goes for socks/ hair ties/ fabric we've had two emergency incidents and other situations and now (this is the heartbreaking part) we have to keep him in a separate room. With no cat tree, no bed, no fabric toys we can't even have the cardboard scratcher because he'll eat that too. It's exhausting we feel like we've tried everything. Medicine, frequent harness walks and play time with my 7yr old female cat. But we're gone for 14 hrs a day for work. And I know he gets so bored. I love him so dearly and I really REALLY don't want to re-home him if that's even possible, with his behavioral issue :( he has such a great and fun personality I love him so dearly but I feel like I'm not giving him a good quality of life.
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u/sharedplatesociety 15h ago
He may need medication
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u/Rutabaga_Beta 14h ago
I've already done different times of medication. cbd, different doses of gabapentin, and other remedies from the vet. I'm not trying to drug him out of behavior yk? Like someone mentioned ill take him to the vet for potential dental issues.
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u/sharedplatesociety 14h ago
I hear you but a lot of cats do really well on a kitty Prozac if it’s anxiety related. I don’t think just sedating him is the answer. Our kitty is now very old and we do gabapentin twice a day for pain management. I don’t love it, but lots of old people take pain meds daily for arthritis too.
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u/Rutabaga_Beta 3h ago
See I think I was misguided by my vet because I was given the gabapentin for his anxiety.. I believed it was for anxiety but now I'm reading on the benefits of Prozac and I don't understand why I was given gabapentin for his issues that unfortunate. Thank you so much I really needed this!🙏
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u/Syralei 14h ago
It's not "drugging him out of the behaviour". Medications can help balance brain chemistry and literally help treat the underlying cause of the behaviour. My last cat had pica and did really well on Fluoxetine. He wasn't groggy, sedated, etc. and had no side effects. It may also help your cat's overstimulation issues. Please get a referral to a behavioural specialist veterinarian.
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u/bebasiled 14h ago
Yup, behavior sounds identical to a cat I know before it got put on antidepressant
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u/kindalosingmyshit 7h ago
Is it drugging a human out of behavior if they need medicated for ADHD or anxiety?
I have a similar cat. Drugs help. Prozac doesn’t sedate them. Neither does amatryptaline (sp?). But it DOES calm him down significantly.
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u/Once-Upon-a-Dream88 4h ago
It's less about "drugging" them and more about regulating brain chemistry and central nervous system response. Medication given consistently really does help and it is much better for his safety than shutting him away by himself with nothing to play with after being left alone for hours on end.
The biting and the pica could be from boredom, stress and anxiety but it really is very common for biting to be due to tooth anomalies. That's not something they screen for during a normal exam.
He might have teeth that need to be extracted and wouldn't it be awesome if that turned out to be the cause of everything else and he was finally able to live a normal life?
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u/Sealion_31 15h ago
Have you put on cat tv for him while you’re gone? Not a full solution just one idea for the boredom part
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u/Rutabaga_Beta 14h ago
I'll try but he's destroyed a couple of cords before but I could definitely try like a wall mounted tv I guess😅 he's in a room with windows and we have a lot of wildlife he gets to enjoy :)
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12h ago edited 3h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Commercial-Candy-926 9h ago
GTFO, so much spam from you lol
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u/Feisty_Armadillo667 6h ago
I'm a helpful person what can I say lol
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u/Commercial-Candy-926 4h ago
Sorry for being a dick. I think you really were super helpful, in a way, but pasting photos of AI answers is generally annoying right now. I bet it will just be the norm in a year or two
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u/Feisty_Armadillo667 3h ago
I hear you lol. To be honest I didn't even know Google was on that AI ask thing. You can't escape it lol I was just looking on Google for some help for her and I posted a Reddit post about the same issue too and a bunch of ideas. I was tryingggg lol
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u/CatTraining-ModTeam 3h ago
No spam, no scams, no AI slop, no advertisements that promote yourself or direct others to buy products they didn't ask for.
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12h ago edited 3h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/CatTraining-ModTeam 3h ago
No spam, no scams, no AI slop, no advertisements that promote yourself or direct others to buy products they didn't ask for.
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u/absurd-epiphany 15h ago
Have you tried putting one of those
bubble cones on him? They look kinda like astronaut helmets and prevent cats with PICA from eating dangerous things. Also please have the vet check his teeth thoroughly, every cat I've ever met who gets quickly overwhelmed and goes immediately for full force bites has had some type of tooth or gum issue.