Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some ideas on how to work with a cat who becomes agitated and aggressive when staff attempts to touch anything in his cage. 

The cat, Sammie, is an approximately 3 year old neutered male. He is on gabapentin twice daily to help manage his stress. When he first came into the shelter, he was completely unhandleable. He would hiss and growl as soon as he saw you walk into the room, and any attempts to enter his cage space would be met with swatting and lunging. After a week or so, we were able to do limited petting, but he would still become aggressive if we attempted to move anything in his cage (litter box, dishes, bedding, anything). We decided to leave the cage open and give him the opportunity to roam the whole room, where he's the single occupant. It's been a few weeks now and he's definitely improved. He will meow to greet us when we walk in the room, will solicit pets, and has even begun coming out of the cage and into our laps when we sit on the floor with him. However, he still gets upset if we attempt to move anything around in his cage. Even if he's not currently in his cage, he will run back to it to defend his things if he sees us messing with them. He does not display this behavior when we move things outside of his cage.

I'm hoping someone has experienced this before and knows how we can help him overcome this hurdle. In the past when I've worked with territorial cats, getting them out of the cage pretty much solved the problem. Do you think it would help to close the cage so he can no longer access it? It is currently his safe space where he chooses to sleep and spend much of his time, even though he is able to access the entire room 24/7.

I appreciate any insight you might have!

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some ideas on how to work with a cat who becomes agitated and aggressive when staff attempts to touch anything in his cage. 

The cat, Sammie, is an approximately 3 year old neutered male. He is on gabapentin twice daily to help manage his stress. When he first came into the shelter, he was completely unhandleable. He would hiss and growl as soon as he saw you walk into the room, and any attempts to enter his cage space would be met with swatting and lunging. After a week or so, we were able to do limited petting, but he would still become aggressive if we attempted to move anything in his cage (litter box, dishes, bedding, anything). We decided to leave the cage open and give him the opportunity to roam the whole room, where he's the single occupant. It's been a few weeks now and he's definitely improved. He will meow to greet us when we walk in the room, will solicit pets, and has even begun coming out of the cage and into our laps when we sit on the floor with him. However, he still gets upset if we attempt to move anything around in his cage. Even if he's not currently in his cage, he will run back to it to defend his things if he sees us messing with them. He does not display this behavior when we move things outside of his cage.

I'm hoping someone has experienced this before and knows how we can help him overcome this hurdle. In the past when I've worked with territorial cats, getting them out of the cage pretty much solved the problem. Do you think it would help to close the cage so he can no longer access it? It is currently his safe space where he chooses to sleep and spend much of his time, even though he is able to access the entire room 24/7.

I appreciate any insight you might have!

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some ideas on how to work with a cat who becomes agitated and aggressive when staff attempts to touch anything in his cage. 

The cat, Sammie, is an approximately 3 year old neutered male. He is on gabapentin twice daily to help manage his stress. When he first came into the shelter, he was completely unhandleable. He would hiss and growl as soon as he saw you walk into the room, and any attempts to enter his cage space would be met with swatting and lunging. After a week or so, we were able to do limited petting, but he would still become aggressive if we attempted to move anything in his cage (litter box, dishes, bedding, anything). We decided to leave the cage open and give him the opportunity to roam the whole room, where he's the single occupant. It's been a few weeks now and he's definitely improved. He will meow to greet us when we walk in the room, will solicit pets, and has even begun coming out of the cage and into our laps when we sit on the floor with him. However, he still gets upset if we attempt to move anything around in his cage. Even if he's not currently in his cage, he will run back to it to defend his things if he sees us messing with them. He does not display this behavior when we move things outside of his cage.

I'm hoping someone has experienced this before and knows how we can help him overcome this hurdle. In the past when I've worked with territorial cats, getting them out of the cage pretty much solved the problem. Do you think it would help to close the cage so he can no longer access it? It is currently his safe space where he chooses to sleep and spend much of his time, even though he is able to access the entire room 24/7.

I appreciate any insight you might have!

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some ideas on how to work with a cat who becomes agitated and aggressive when staff attempts to touch anything in his cage. 

The cat, Sammie, is an approximately 3 year old neutered male. He is on gabapentin twice daily to help manage his stress. When he first came into the shelter, he was completely unhandleable. He would hiss and growl as soon as he saw you walk into the room, and any attempts to enter his cage space would be met with swatting and lunging. After a week or so, we were able to do limited petting, but he would still become aggressive if we attempted to move anything in his cage (litter box, dishes, bedding, anything). We decided to leave the cage open and give him the opportunity to roam the whole room, where he's the single occupant. It's been a few weeks now and he's definitely improved. He will meow to greet us when we walk in the room, will solicit pets, and has even begun coming out of the cage and into our laps when we sit on the floor with him. However, he still gets upset if we attempt to move anything around in his cage. Even if he's not currently in his cage, he will run back to it to defend his things if he sees us messing with them. He does not display this behavior when we move things outside of his cage.

I'm hoping someone has experienced this before and knows how we can help him overcome this hurdle. In the past when I've worked with territorial cats, getting them out of the cage pretty much solved the problem. Do you think it would help to close the cage so he can no longer access it? It is currently his safe space where he chooses to sleep and spend much of his time, even though he is able to access the entire room 24/7.

I appreciate any insight you might have!