hello my name is Phil and I am a new member here. My girlfriend and I have just adopted a 2 year old domestic short hair calico cat from my local shelter and she is fantastic we are so happy. However, lately she has been having some behavior problems so i am just trying to see if I can get any advice from forum members.
We have only had her for about a month now, she was a stray I guess but at 10 lbs for 2 years old she was fed very well for a stray. I assume she was owned and domesticated by a family and got out somehow until someone brought her to the shelter.
She has been the ideal cat since day 1, my girlfriend is a pre school teacher and works 9-5 M-F with weekends off and I work at a Honda dealership and work 9-7 most days with almost no days off but since day one we left her home alone and she was great in our 1 bedroom apartment about 720 sq ft so plenty of room to roam and claim as her own and feel comfortable and not overwhelmed. Home all day alone and no scratching furniture or walls or wood, uses litter box with no problems at all, very friendly and lovable, greets us when we get home with a nice meow, even jumps into bed and sleeps with us almost every night like a dog would (even thou we bought her a cozy little bed for herself) everything has been great.
As of late though she has been very aggressive. Just walking around has become a game for her where she will hide in a box or just sit and wait for us to walk by and you can see her get into pounce mode and swipe at our feet like its a game. I will say that she does not scratch and is good about keeping her claws in when she does this but does a playful bite that does not hurt but is upsetting my girlfriend very much because her tolerance for pressure and pain is lower than mine. even if we are petting her, she will roll on her back and put her paws in the air and that is how i know that she is in play mode because petting at that point becomes a game where my hand is a toy and she will try to grab them with her paws and gently bite. We have a few toys for her like a pole with feathers and a mouse, a few little balls, mouse toys with the mouse in a plastic circle and she can swipe it and it goes around and around (which she figured out from day 1 how it works) (she is very smart). I usually shower her with affection and pets and praises. The past 2 days i have been stressed from work and still show her attention but maybe a fraction less than normal, plus like i mentioned she is slightly over weight so we are feeding her slightly less to try and get her to lose weight. Could this be why she is acting aggressively lately? I imagine this is a common issue but i would appreciate any input to get her to stopping swiping at our feet and biting our hands. I think she is just trying to be playful but i cant be sure. either way my gf won't tolerate this even if i am more lenient and use the "she is just a cat" excuse. I appreciate it.
