Thread: HELP! MY MAINE COON IS BULLYING ME! I am at the end of my rope.

Hi Alekto! Thank you so much for sharing your story with me. Glad to hear things are better for you! Finn doesn't attack every time we walk or ever attacked my head, thank goodness! I cant imagine that! Finn was neutered on the last week of Nov. 2012. So that is almost 7 months ago. I have tried both Feliway items and also calming sprays and chews. Nothing works. Ive also tried grabbing him by his scruff. When he was younger this was easier to do and he would eventually go limp but now he doesn't give in. He manages to resist by pushing his back legs off on your arm or wiggles around like crazy til you just let go. We also tried time outs. Since we live in a one bedroom apartment, we have to put him in the bathroom or the bedroom and he throws fits. As I've mentioned earlier the bathroom is somewhere he cant be left alone or he will urinate in the sink and claw at our towels and toilet paper. Even when we did try the short time outs, he just went right back to what he was doing. Last night, he flipped over his travel water bowl and rolled around in the spilled water. Yes, hes now found a way to flip over this bowl too! Water went everywhere. So I took his bowl and left it in the sink in hopes that he will forget about it for a bit. I refilled it a few minutes later. He went on to his litter box and kicked around litter for about 5 minutes and right back putting his paws in to the water bowl. I am sure Dexter loves to find litter in his fresh water! But later before sleep, Finn hopped on the bed and sat on my chest and purred. I was in love all over again. I just never know when hes going to be lovey and then bite out of nowhere. Most of the time when he comes at me purring he will eventually have enough and walk away and sit by my feet and rest his head. Then he will gently hug my foot and take a lick at a toe and out of nowhere chomp down like it is a piece of chicken. I cant understand why after almost a year of doing that and making me yelp, he continues to do it. At those times its not even like hes being malicious. As if he thinks he can just sit down n chew on my foot, sock on or off like its a dog bone. At first I thought maybe he is teething but he has all of his adult teeth for a while now. Hes so darn crazy, hes already broken the tip off of his adult incisor on God knows what!

I'm afraid I can't be of much help. One other deterrent to consider is a whistle. Since cats have such sensitive hearing they hate the sound, and it's easy to keep it on your person. All I have to do now is slightly blow into it and the cat stops what he's doing and darts off. Good luck, and I really hope things get better!

I would recommend the My Cat From Hell videos. Jackson has dealt with many cats doing the same things you're talking about and worse. One cat would hump a stuffed animal. His first thoughts were that the vet missed an undecended testicle, which turned out to not be the case. He had no testosterone in his blood.

Do your cats have a place to play vertically? That is a reoccuring solution, another is putting a harness on the cat and taking for walks.

Best of luck solving the issues.

Originally Posted by Joey525

sit by my feet and rest his head. Then he will gently hug my foot and take a lick at a toe and out of nowhere chomp down like it is a piece of chicken. I cant understand why after almost a year of doing that and making me yelp, he continues to do it. At those times its not even like hes being malicious. As if he thinks he can just sit down n chew on my foot, sock on or off like its a dog bone.

yup, again I'm with you there, Neevie used to do exactly the same thing....
As Brims advised, have a look at my cat from hell videos and see what works for you?

I watch the show on Animal Planet and Ive seen most of the episodes. The majority of the time the issue with the cats are that they are bored and need to be played with. I've seen episodes where the cat was seeing other cats outside and attacking their owner. This isn't the case with Finn. Playing with him seems to provoke the wild behavior. My cats have two cat towers and I also have cat clouds creating steps on our walls. They spend a lot of time up sleeping there. I swear this cat can read my mind. Since I've created this thread , hes been following me around circling my legs and purring when I am home. Last night he slept in our bed and cuddled with me this morning. Unbelievable, I haven't seen one fit since I posted this thread. Then again, I didn't cook last night so we didn't have our usual fight over the counter space. We will see what happens tonight!

Joey,
It is like when your car is making a noise and you bring it to the shop and it stops! I am blessed with a wonderful little girl that is a angel. Hopefully what ever is going on, resolves itself soon. My daughter's cat, is a handful and she is lucky her mom loves her! She hisses and bites and she is 5 years old. She may have not stayed with her mom long enough. I picked Ginger up at 11 weeks so she was well adjusted and the breeder had a bunch of grand children around to handle the kittens. Good luck with Finn I hope he becomes a gentle giant!

Joey525 you are not alone in your plight. I'd swear you were talking about our Whiskey. He does the same as Finn. We faithfully watch My Cat From Hell and we swear Whiskey is a Hellish cat. I'll be standing somewhere and all of a sudden Whiskey will come over to me with his ears back, back hunched up, then leap off the ground onto my head digging his claws into my face & neck to keep from falling off all the while he's biting into my scalp. Talk about painful and bloody. My blood that is. Anyway, haven't figured out how to stop that habit.

He loves to drown his toys in the water too. He will splash the water about and dump his water bowl out. I think he loves to watch the water move across the floor. MC's are fascinated by water. Look around on this forum as some have mentioned great non-spill water bowls.

Some people baby-proof their house. We've cat-proofed our home. Nothing is on our shelves as Whiskey would knock anything and all things off. Curtains & shades are left pulled back or in the up position to keep out of his reach. We cannot leave beverage glasses out anywhere as he'll knock them over to get to the liquid.

Whiskey is a chef, against our wishes, watching up close & personal everything that gets chopped, tossed into pan or pot, etc. He has to be right there while you're preparing a meal.

I hope that Finn calms down and leaves both you & Dexter alone other then to show cuddles to. I wish you all the best.

It may be very daft, but I am quite sure Neevie and I have started bonding more since I talk to her... I talk to her most when she's a good girl, when we have a cuddle, when she eats - I tell her nonsense, how pretty she is, what a good girl she is, I try to make her associate my voice with good things.

On the other hand, when she's bad I ignore her, I just don't talk to her - if she's very bad I just pick her up without a word and dump her in another room, the bathroom for example, Joey. If she pees in the sink so be it, it's a sink, you can just clean it with bleach... If she tries to interrupt my cooking I lock her out of the kitchen, still without a word, calmly. If she kicks off in the living room as a result, it's straight to time out in the bathroom. She hates when I ignore her.

The key seems to be consistency, and also ensure that GOOD behaviour is rewarded by whatever he likes, and reinforced by your voice, and bad behaviour means you ignore him, he is not there, you just dump the nuisance cat somewhere where he can't be such a bother - just for a little while, time for you to do what you have to do...

Once again, I do not profess to be an expert, I am not saying it will work with yours, but that's what I did and Neevie is better now... and I don't know if that's what did the trick, I just notice that her getting better seems to coincide with starting this approach...

Neevie hasn't been in time out for at least 1 and a half months - she used to be there at least twice a day at one point. I just hope my experience can help you.

I am so sorry I cant offer any advise, but you have had some really good replies. I hope things get better for you soon x

I found this article, which may help; https://www.bluecross.org.uk/1957-27...sive-cats.html Alekto- it mentions that hand rearing can cause agression so hopefully may give you a liitle insight into your piratical coon's head!
It is from a local cat charity- Joey, is there a cat charity near you that can offer some advice on Finn's behaviour?