Mom is sometimes a little nuts with the water bottle at this point.

Sometimes it is hard to apply the principles of cat-ifying a space when one's budget is limited and one's home is set up in a much different way than the homes on the show. If I could see your place I might be able to make some suggestions, but static photos wouldn't really do the job - I'd need to see traffic patterns (especially how Rocky moves through the space) and the locations of incidents with your mom. Some of the stuff they do on the show, you just know costs hundreds, if not thousands of dollars - but I do have some cheaper substitute ideas for some of that stuff.

omg, y'all. I am Cranktina of the Cranktown Crankstons right now.

The pet care company has been really calm lately, but with the holiday upon us, people are being...difficult. So, that means, the fixer is back on deck.

Last night a boarder says her dog was attacked by a client dog. She refuses to take the dog to the vet because he 'won't let her.' He's a 20lb mix who she says has PUNCTURE WOUNDS TO THE FACE.

She says the vet told her to just pick up some antibiotics and that we need to pay that bill. Now, I've treated my dogs for a ton of stuff at home, but I have never heard of a vet being casual about the bacteria stew that puncture wounds represent.

No one has seen the dog. We have no photos. The boarded pet has no history of violence that we are aware of. The boarder didn't actually see the attack until she broke the dogs up and instructed the visitor to go to her bed...which she did, and stayed there.

So. When you say to me, "What is the company going to do to take care of this?" I'm at a loss. TAKE CARE OF WHAT?!

And...throw a towel over your dog, wrap him up and get him to the ever-loving vet. For cripessake.

He hangs out in doorways and in her closet.(I believe some of it is about territory, but they have a cold war now--no trust.)

Mom is sometimes a little nuts with the water bottle at this point.

She's afraid. A perfectly rational reaction. But it's easy for that to feed into a nasty, nasty recursion loop.

Can you get her to do a behavioral analysis chart on biting incidents? The ABC format would be useful. A=antecedent (the events preceding the biting), B=behavior (the actual thing the cat did, ie sank teeth into ankle & let go immediately, or bit and held on, etc.; C=consequence, what happened immediately after it. Figuring out exactly what is happening is key to figuring out how to prevent or diffuse it.

And now I have to hop in the shower to get ready for work.

I do have some cheaper substitute ideas for some of that stuff.

PODCAST! (forgive me for yelling) There is clearly an audience for that kind of cure and less-expensive options are needed.

Yeah, I get it.(And it *does* back him up in the short-term...it's just not so great for their relationship.) This last time, I actually witnessed. She was helping me with something and her leg was kind of in his face. I know that the more upset she gets about being close to him...he kind of does it more, but I'm not the one soaking my extremities in epsom salts. And, yeah, would love to have some of the shelves and trees and so forth like MCFH. This last one was not as intense or deep as the one in July, but still, no joke. She is also the fastest thing that moves in here...I'm no good to pounce on. Everyone is like, "How can you keep him?" but like I said, with this hair-trigger thing, it would be not so much re-homing him as ending his life.

We have a cute relationship, but sometimes it feels like I'm forcing my mother to live with her offender.

He hangs out in doorways and in her closet.

Sounds like a territorial thing. He probably feels dislike/distrust/fear towards her by this point. (All basically the same emotion, to a cat.) I'd suggest stopping with the spray bottle, and trying to avoid giving the cat reason to fear being stepped on/shoved/sprayed - just giving him a little space. Can he be separated from her, even for a while, and then reintroduced slowly with treats and happy things, like you'd do for two cats who were fighting?

Also playing more. A LOT more. I had no idea you tried the water bottle before or I would not have recommended it. It only works in the short term. The loud OW thing is doing what another cat would do--give a distress cry, so the cat knows he is hurting you.

If it's territorial, I agree, some safe places for the kitty will help a lot.