My dog was discovered, not born. She appeared in the belly of a stray that veterinary students were operating on as they learned their trade. (In surgery school, unwanted animals are sedated, operated on, roused, resedated, operated on again--a different procedure--then euthanized.) Anyhow, they hadn't realized her mother was pregnant, so there were the 7 premies. She was born breathing, one was resuscitated, the rest died.

My friend the vet student and his wife bottle fed her for 6 weeks, then we adopted her. She bit our hands constantly, aggressively. We needed gloves.

Finally I asked a smart trainer about it. He said, when a puppy sinks its needle teeth into mother dog's ear, mother dog does not squeal, "Nooo! Mustn't bite Mommy. Bad puppy!" Mother dog snarls, whirls, and nips her good. The puppy learns things about coexistence from being in a litter; it's not just cuteness when they climb all over each other.

I had to stop acting like a human and be a bitch. For the next several months I roared, advanced as though I were going to bite, and shook her by the back of the neck--one or several, depending. Now she's 12, and a cupcake.

Dogs and cats are taught by their mothers and siblings. Some can be saved by humans who can fake it. But I think some can't.

Actually, you WERE using proper cat psychology. When I brought home my most recent cat, we already had one cat. The two of them had to work out their dominance hierarchy just as you did with your cat. It sounds like you were no rougher with him than my cats were with each other--it's their way of communicating and settling their pecking order. Sounds like you did a great job.

Put him in a cardboard box and drive about 30 miles from home into some wooded area. Put the box opn the ground and pry the top open just enough so the beast can struggle free, but while he does that, wave goodbye and drive home. Hasta la vista, gato ...

I too had a similar situation with a cat. A cat I purchased at a cat show got away from me and hid in crawlspace under the building. After a couple of weeks of trying to coax it from under the building failed, I finally got it using a live capture trap.

It was growling and spitting at me for a day and a half. I finally had enough of it's behavior, got down on all fours, chased it around the house while growling and hissing at the cat. I got it cornered in the bathroom and batted at it with my "paw" while hissing at it. I then left the bathroom and ignored it.

From that point on, the cat would hide from strangers but whenever I was home, it would come out and follow me around the house, sitting beside me at every opportunity.

I'm not sure what I would do in the LW's place. I suspect after 3 years, the cat's behavior is too firmly engrained into its "psyche". I think the best thing to do is have the animal put down.

The current situation is intolerable so you must do something. Your cat was abandoned by its mother very shortly after its birth. Why did she abandon it? Did she in some "cat way" detect a profound neurophysiological deficit in its kitten? In any event you intervened. Let's give you points for compassion. Compassion, however, doesn't always come with knowing the right thing to do (apologies to my Buddhist friends). You did your best, but I suspect that there was no way you could have made up for the condition in which you found your cat. Abandoned by its mom sounds like a recipe for a "schizophrenic" cat, i.e., a cat living with a profound sense of terror. You have been given some good advice. By all means get professional help before anything else. There may be behavioral approaches that could help even with a cat as developmentally damaged as yours must be. Yes, the cat should be altered if it has not already been. Medication may provide a solution. As your last resort I would not under any circumstances put this cat out to fend for itself. Euthanasia is by far the more humane choice. You will grieve. We all do under such circumstances. Here is your mantra: "Not my fault, I did my best."

"To Anonymous, the cranky cat hater

Sorry you're a lemon sucker, but most Americans have pets, either cats or dogs (cats are now more popular than dogs), so you better get used to it. If a pet gets on your property, go ahead and chase it off or talk to the owner. Don't even think about hurting it, though, since you'll be in trouble with the law, not to mention the person whose beloved pet you made the grievous mistake of harming.

-- DurianJoe"

Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins, and your right to own a pet stops at your own property line. I can't chase off a cat that defecates in my yard when I'm gone or asleep, and I can't talk to the owner if I don't know whose cat it is. I never said anything about hurting anyone's pet, though, so save the hyperbole.

The people who are recommending the LW allow this cat or any cat outdoors are doing a disservice to all pet owners. Some of us accept our responsibility to keep our pets on our own property instead of letting them become a nuisance to others (or to songbirds and other native wildlife).

I still dream about the abused cat I adopted after college. It bit everyone except me, and when a neighbor got a German shepherd, it went nuts and peed all over my apartment. Vets assured me nothing was physically wrong, and one vet refused to see the cat as it was too vicious for him to deal with (!). I followed the vet's advice, and had the cat put down.

Twenty years later, I know what I could have done to help that cat. The cat needed a bigger space; I should have rented a small house in the suburbs where it could establish some territory.

Five years ago, my husband adopted a deaf white cat that was loving to us, but incredibly agressive to other cats. It literally tried to chase down and kill any cat that got near it. We were nearly sued by the next door neighbors after a horrible attack on their cat. The cat stayed up all night shoving vases off the tables and bookcases! Fortunately, we had a tuned-in vet, who had us try both anti-anxiety drugs and anti-depressants on the cat. We only needed to use drugs for a few months, and new, healty behavior was established. And we got it a pair of kittens, which it raised very successfully.

We also had to use anti-anxiety drugs for an abused kitten, born feral, that took shelter with us after it was mistreated by a family down the street. It was not vicious, but it was definitely weird. It was three years before anyone was able to pet it with the lights on...it would sneak onto the bed to be petted, but only in the dark! And it never groomed itself, so had to be sheared by the vet periodically.

Talk with a vet who knows about anti-anxiety drugs and anti-depressants. They could change your household! And, even if you are confirmed city dwellers, think about a quiet, dead-end street in the suburbs. Good luck.