Back story: my cat was a stray that we took in when he was about 1 year old. The neighbors across the street from us were taking care of him so he was pretty accustomed to people. But after he was wounded and they failed to get him any medical attention we claimed him. We got him vaccinated, neutered, and a flea treatment and at that point considered him ours. We let him inside and had him become an indoor cat.
About 40% of the time he was super sweet and snuggly, but the other 60% of the time he was a total menace. He was always stalking, hunting and attacking us, and the yelling would never end. He also was constantly trying to get into his cat feeder and knocking it over, which became problematic.
We moved about two years ago and these problems stopped for a little while, so we figured the issue was with the many stray cats that used to live around our old home. however, after a few months in our new house, the problems began again, and have been getting worse it seems. He attacks me quite frequently, to the point where walking around the first floor I feel on edge. We have to put 10 pound weights around his feeder to keep him from knocking it over (and yes, he gets fed enough, he is on a special diet after having a few urinary blockages last year, but is eating plenty.) today he scratched my eight month old across the face out of the blue, the baby didn’t even touch him. I’m really fed up. And the yelling has started again.
I’m not sure what to do, I’ve bought him new toys, he seems to get bored with them after a day and realizes they’re just toys. I have designated playtime with him, we have a catio, and we have a large house that he has free rein over. I’ve also tried the pheromone plug-ins, but those didn’t seem to change anything. The vet doesn’t think he’s sick or in pain either.
Rehoming isn’t really an option, I love him so much. He’s part of the family, but I have to get him to stop playing so aggressively with us. If it even is playing? At this point, I just feel a bit scared of him.
What would you do? What am I missing?