I have a 6 year old tabby cat. I have had him since he was around 10 weeks old.
In the past approximately two years he has started to hate strangers coming over. It started about a year ago when my friend's sister was watching him and had a friend over. He sniffed around her stuff, seemed anxious then attacked her. And when I describe his attacking, I mean as vicious a cat attack as I have seen anywhere, and I include television in that.
It got to a point today where my girlfriend had a colleague staying with us. He attacked her, my girlfriend and myself (scratching and hissing). It got to such an awful point her colleague started to cry. Obviously I felt awful about this.
Normally, I'd try to give him a time out in another room, but I can't pick him up because he attacks me viciously whenever I try to get near him. He seems incredibly anxious and scared.
I feel like I have tried everything - distracting him, giving him treats, playing with him, but nothing seems to work.
It has now got to the stage where he will periodically attack me in a hugely vicious manner. He often leaves me bleeding. I really want to correct this behaviour, but I can't do anything when he attacks. He seems blinded by rage. I just have to get out of his way and let him calm down a little, but I'm a prisoner in my own home.
Would love to know how to train him out of this - can't even have friends over at the moment and honestly I fear for my safety.
To note: I have tried Feliway but it seems to only make him more angry.