UGH!

So those of you know me well, know I am an animal lover. We have a small zoo consisting of 4 cats and 2 dogs. Sylvester is our oldest cat. I inherited him when Micahel and I got together. He used to be the devil. No, really. The first couple of times I met him, he tried to rip off my arm. Then he had to stay with my a few weeks while Michael finished up his 3rd year of Pharmacy School and then moved to Tulsa. He pretty much stayed under my bed and would attack me while I fed him if I did not shut him out while I placed his food in his bowl. Michael's friend's and brother are still leery of him because they know the evil that lies within.

I often joke and say I brought Jesus into his life when I encouraged us to adopt Puck and Paju. They were two kittens we rescued that had been dropped off with their mom at the vet clinic we were getting Forrest, our lab, treated after we first got him. After we got him the company of the kittens, Sylvester calmed down A LOT. He became nicer in general, he wasn't a defensive over his food and in the 4+ years he has had buddies, we have had minimal incidents of biting. They have not gone away completely. The last BIG attack was on me a little over a year ago. I told the cats to SHOOOSH because they were running through the house making a lot of noise and we had just got Allisyn down for the night. I guess I startled him because he attacked hard, and I have a scar.

So naturally when we got pregnant with Allisyn, we were concerned. Other incidents happened while I was pregnant with her that made us have to rehome Forrest's sister Athena. That incident took us from 4 dogs to 2. I won't go into details. Allisyn will be 2 in July and before today, Sylvester has nipped at her about 4 times. Usually the result of her bugging him. I believe that little ones need to learn boundaries. Puck will hit Allisyn pretty hard on the head when he wants to be left alone. Usually she laughs, sometimes she gets upset, but he doesn't really hurt her. Tiger will bite at her, but NOT hard at all. She always thinks it is a game and it continues until Tiger gives up and goes away. Paju will just leave if Alli bothers her too much.

Then today happens. I was on the phone with Michael and Allisyn was sitting in the floor playing with Sylvester. I wasn't watching the whole thing, so I do not know how rough she was getting, but the results are not pretty. He bit her pretty hard breaking the skin. I know that it could have been worse, but I am still just so mad. He had sat there and taken her "play" for a good 10 minutes. If he was getting annoyed, he could have just walked away. So what do we do? Allisyn's feelings were hurt more than anything. She has loved on him since it happened, so she obviously isn't scarred. I have always told Michael that if he ever got her this bad, he was going to go. But how do you rehome a cat who has a history of a devil cat?

He is one of our four-legged fur babies, and we want him to be happy. I think my main concern is as he gets older, he is going to be more likely to regress back to his old ways when he gets upset or startled. If it were just Michael and I, we would just live with it, but I have got my babies safety to think about. I know Michael won't let me rush into anything, but I know it will be on my mind a lot. Prayers are appreciated.

On a brighter note, someone is going to look at our 4Runner tomorrow! Hopefully they will like it, and want it.