I hate hitting practically any animal but my cat is aggressive and suddenly and out of nowhere attacks me or my wife, sometimes its for the most mundane things like asking him to leave the kitchen then closing the door, he then jumps as far as her neck with his claws and this behavior is outrageous, he can be so cute but he snaps sometimes for no reason at all, maybe attacking my wife when shes at the bathroom.
I need help in making him understand attacking us is not ok.
I tried hitting him back but this clearly only works for a couple of hours he does not learn anything other than to fear me so he does not continue the string of attacks, but with my wife things are different, he can keep chasing her for minutes while she backs away and asks for him to calm down.
We tried with spray bottle but this also had temporary effect.
We also tried putting him in a couple of minutes timeout in a room.
Nothing helps long term, please help me I'm desperate to have a peaceful solution with this cat, i love him dearly but this behavior is too much for us, help me solve this in a peaceful way.
I think it is also important to mention that its a cat that "adopted" us from the streets.