Hey chillminx, thanks for your reply
Sorry I didn't put loads of details about Biff, I posted various places about him on the forum, although a long time ago, and I didn't want to bore people by repeating
He is 3 years old. We have had him for just over a year. I found him on gumtree (I know, I know, not a great idea but here we are) so I don't know a lot about his history.
In terms of his behaviour, he is in general a lot better than when we first got him. He used to bite a lot, he very rarely bites now. He only pees inappropriately occasionally, we seem to get a few months relief between episodes, and the last time it happened we discovered that he did in fact have crystals and cystitis. We had another few good months, after a period on loxicom painkiller, with him on the cystophan/cystaid and the urinary dry food continuously for several months now. Then he did two more pees on our bed - first time they found his pee was clear of crystals and infection but it was concentrated. He had been sick a few times that week trying to get a hairball up, so it was thought perhaps dehydration causing a bit of swelling and soreness in his bladder again. We kept him on wet food only for a couple of days and then he peed on the bed again and this time it was still concentrated but no other problems. So the vet gave us loxicom painkiller again and the change was immediate - he had been hiding away upstairs all the time, with the painkillers he was sitting in the same room as us, relaxed, he even rolled around on his back and showed us his belly which is a rare thing.
Sorry this is so long!
He is super, super fussy about food, he used to like a certain hairball remedy treat, then he stopped eating it. We found another one he is loving just now so the hairball thing is under control. I'm also brushing him every day so I think we're doing well with all that.
Oh also, he liked the urinary dry food so much, he has put on a bit of weight, which we hadn't realised, so we're being very careful with how much food he gets, as the vet said weight could be bringing on another touch of swelling in the bladder and it seems to be pain relief always helps him, so the bladder does really seem to be the central thing here.
So it could be with the cystaid/cystophan, urinary dry, encouraging drinking and watching his weight (deep breath!) we could maybe find a solution.
Here's hoping.
Other anxious behaviours are just being very jumpy, if you walk into the room too quickly or who knows what, he can get frightened. He growls sometimes, he growls at the postman, at lawn mowers. If one of us leaves the house he cries (I don't know if he does when we leave him alone but I do worry he probably does). Some cat toys scare him. He does approach and want stroking but only as much as he wants and when he's had enough is when the biting can come out (which worries me when we have visitors because he can switch very suddenly from being affectionate to biting). But that's fine, we've got to know his ways with that and how much he wants is fine, we give him his space and as soon as he has had enough stroking that's fine and always saying 'good boy' and being calm and things helps. He is weird though. He can come up to me, miaowing sort of angrily, and what he wants is stroking. Like he doesn't know how to communicate nicely.
It is just me and my husband here, Biff is an indoors cat, he has never been outside and I don't think he could cope as he won't be streetwise and we are near a very busy road and a motorway. I am concerned he might have been neglected and/or teased with his original owner. His name kind of suggests that to me, he can indeed be a bit biffy, but if he gets annoyed with us and biffs at one of us we ignore that or give him other attention like appropriate toys and playing. But if before, what if this lad who used to own him in his boys flat with his huge TV screen and computer games, what if they were a bit rough with him? What if he didn't get the play he needed and only got attention through stalking/attacking people? Or what if he was taken from his mum too early so he never learned how to be a proper cat?
Also he was only fed dry food before which has made it a job to get him to try wet food and eat more of it, and he will only eat one kind. Believe me, I have tried everything! Including introducing new foods one teaspoon at a time...one teaspoon he will tolerate...two teaspoons new food and he goes on food strike. I tried giving him a raw chicken wing once, he wouldn't go anywhere near it. He was very suspicious of cat milk and wouldn't try it. He will eat three different kinds of dry food that we know of so far. Sometimes he will take a little bit of plain cooked chicken or a little cheddar cheese and that is the sum total of what food he likes. Basically, his reaction to anything new is suspicion.
He has access to the whole house, plenty of room, cat tree and hidey places, cat beds, toys, tunnels, scratching posts which he loves and he is totally obsessed with rubbing his face on everything to put his scent there. Only one litter tray, in a nice private spot away from his food. He does seem to wait till one of us gets home before he'll use it it tends to be empty when we get home from work, and will then go pretty soon after we get home, which again makes me wonder about his past was he left on his own for too long at some point?
Have ordered a water fountain
looking forward to trying that, hoping he will like it.
