I’d love some hive mind thoughts on this.
This guy has been with me since he was ~ 5 weeks old. He arrived healthy considering he received no care of note for those first 5 weeks. At around 10 weeks he was introduced to another kitten who had completed a 2 week quarantine. I knew this second kitten had a wicked URI when found but arrived to me having completed medication, clear eyed, no concerns from vet about introductions, and I waited an extra 2 weeks as a precaution.
More or less the first kitten hasn’t been 100% since introduction. It has been 3 months of spiking high fevers, eye funk, excessive sneezing, bouts of raspy breathing, etc. The second kitten never had a re-emergence of symptoms and was placed into an only cat household and is a thriving.
Kitten 1 has had two negative combo tests and is fully vaccinated. The vet is pretty set on Herpes that his system just can’t kick. We are doing antibiotics + Famciclovir and eye meds for the latest flare.
All of this backstory to say - He was horrible for the vet this last visit. As in voided his bladder + bowels, tried to puncture multiple people, and apparently just went ballistic. At 4 lbs it was highly unwelcomed behavior but they got the appointment done. My vet had a heart to heart that I needed to be prepared he may be one they request to be sedated before visits going forward. I appreciated their honesty and was both shocked and embarrassed.
When he came back out he was full body shaking and growling in the carrier. He growled when I reached into the carrier but allowed me to pick him up without issue and then let a tech pet him while he was in my arms. Every vet visit has involved shots and I get that he’s over it. t I also pride myself in having safe well-mannered animals. I don’t want to have a cat that is a liability for my vets. He stretched out and slept totally relaxed the whole way home so it doesn’t appear to be generalized travel anxiety but rather targeted anxiety/aggression.
Tonight I went to pick him up and he gave a sharp warning noise. It caught me off guard and I instantly stopped thinking he was spiking a fever again and felt cruddy. He then took off after a toy and did acrobatics including bouncing off of the walls and vaulting off of furniture. I tried the same lift a minute later and he happily hopped into my arms and wanted to cuddle. If I’m being honest, he’s also kind of an ass for getting his toenails done. It isn’t anything that I can’t manage but it is not behavior I would tolerate with my other cats (lots of back talking and growling). Until this vet visit, the idea of him following through with teeth wasn’t even on my radar. I am starting to wonder if I may have inadvertently fostered some attitude towards being manipulated when it isn’t 100% his idea.
Has anyone else navigated potential behavioral issues in an animal that also genuinely does not feel great all of the time? How did you determine your parameters for what is okay/not okay? With dogs, I have always been told that it is a mistake to correct growling because it is a communication tool and if you silence it then you can create a dog that goes straight for a bite. Does this same logic hold with a cat?