MacK, I know from experience that feral cats can make fine pets. We adopted a one year-old feral cat and her months-old son, and with enough love and attention, they are now great pets. In this case, though, it's not an issue. A one-day old kitten does not qualify as feral.

Note to anyone who advises dumping the cat in the country. Domestic cats are not wild animals, and a cat raised from birth in a human household will die a miserable death by starvation or disease if dumped in the middle of nowhere. The only creatures who deserve to die in such a terrible way are people who suggest doing things like that to animals.

There are the reasons others have already mentioned - not safe for the cat, not good for the environment (nonnative species that kills native species, including some endangered ones), probably won't make cat happy anyway. But another reason is that this cat is a danger to other people, especially children.

You are responsible enough not to foist this cat off on someone else without disclosing problems. So certainly do not foist this cat off on the world at large. What if it ends up on someone's property and attacks their own little cat or dog or - God forbid - their child? In addition, a cat who defecates on someone else's property is definitely a nuisance and possibly a health risk. Toxoplasmosis is not usually that serious, but it can be very dangerous to certain individuals (pregnant women, immuno-compromised people).

As I see it, you have three options: try to give the cat away to a responsible person who would want it even after full disclosure of its problems (good luck); committing yourself to spending as much time, effort, and money as it takes to try to rehabilitate cat, keeping in mind that success is by no means guaranteed; or putting the cat down and getting on with your lives.

I personally would choose option 3. And if you think you would feel too guilty, think about taking that time, effort, and money that you would have spent on keeping a miserable cat alive, and putting it toward helping human beings instead. Volunteer at a nursing home or a children's hospital. Donate to a homeless shelter or an organization working on the cure for some disease. Or put those resources toward some animal-centered charity if you'd rather.

who is very sweet, and timid rather than aggressive around unfamiliar people. One big difference between my cat's story and yours (and not something you can go back and change, unfortunately) is that I had another cat who served as a means for socialization for the kitten. So while I fed him and cleaned him, the older cat taught him to use the litterbox, groom himself, and play-fought with him a lot (which gives cats a sense of the limits of acceptable aggression... bite too hard or claw too deep and the older cat would set him straight). He has never once shat outside his box, nor attacked a stranger. While getting a kitten to survive is not simple, but is something a human can do, teaching cat behavior is much more complex and probably requires a cat.

After my wife died, her cat became neurotic and started to do distructive things, almost like it was being defiant. It was not a happy cat. I took he to the vet and had him put to death. I mourned for a couple of hours at the loss and for what I had to do. Then, life became easier and better which was what I needed to have in my life at that time.

Dear LW,

There are a number of good psychiatric drugs for cats which, hopefully, can alleviate your cat's problems. Find a good vet and inquire. If your cat won't eat food with the pill or liquid mixed in, then just use an inexpensive pill popper and shoot the pill right down his mouth before meals. We use prozac to treat one of our cat's aggression, and it works very well.

I would get another opinion about the issue of defecating outside of the litter box. Your cat might be constipated or have a urinary tract infection, or a similiar problem, and thus he would associate his litter box with pain and avoid it. Also, if you haven't already, experiment with different kinds of litter, because it might just be a matter of preference.

I know it's hard to go what you're going through, but please don't give up on this little fellow. If you need to isolate him when you have company, so be it. If he knocks stuff over, "cat proof" your house by minimizing the amount of stuff he can access and knock over.

Good luck!

Put it in a crate and drive it out in the middle of nowhere. Sounds like the cat is just evil enough to survive. Because let's face reality 'cats-are-people-too' people. You'd do that if you came home and a squirrel was in your house. So send it back out into the wild. It's basically a wild animal. An-I-Maaaal! Not a person not a baby not even a pet. Maybe it'll make it maybe it won't. Go cry on Chuck Darwin's shoulder.

Molly Picon advised: 'I just thought of a piece of advice- have you tried exercising your cat with a cat dancer or laser toy?'

Excellent suggestion there from Molly. The LW said the cat couldn't be bothered with the standard fake mice & furry balls & plastic BS that goes for cat toys these days.

I own 3 cats myself & I'm telling you I can run em up a wall chasing after the ole laser pointer. It gets to the point where I have to stop (thinking I'm going to stroke one out). This kind of high-excitement chasing can get the aggression out & tire him out so much all he wants to do is get a drink of water & sleep for 10 hours.

Good luck to the LW. I have never owned an angry cat myself (hope I never do). My relatives have had them & they just basically lived & tolerated the animal until it died.