Landlord’s aggressive cat keeps attacking me, and I’m told to just take it.
I came to Singapore a few months ago, and moved in to a HDB flat with a landlord, her daughter that owns 2 cats. I love cats but never owned one. I was also promised that the cats would be friendly. When they were introducing me to the cats, despite me being gentle and calm, one of the cats scratched my leg. We tried again another day, but he bit my leg, and further injured the landlord. From that day on, we followed a schedule where the cat was to be kept in the cage when I’m home, and out when I’m at work. There were instances where the cat was accidentally left out and tried to attack me, growling at me. And there were also times when the cat would scratch at me door, howl really loudly, when i opened the door, it would try to attack again.
I know that it thinks I’m intruding on his space, and he has territorial aggression. So I started eating meals beside him while he remained in the cage, and fed him treats as well. All the while, the landlord was trying to defend herself saying “if I knew the cat would respond like this, i wouldn’t have taken you in”, and “I was trying to give it a chance”, while fully telling me a history of its bad behaviour with other strangers.
Last week, we booked a cat therapist to come and advise us on what to do. To my horror, she tells me that they have to let it out while im eating my dinner, have it attack me and I cannot react to it. I have to let it get used to me not being a threat. We tried it the first time yesterday, and now I’m dreading all dinners. It was horrible. The cat bit me on my arm and left two deep marks that kept bleeding last night.
More context about the room. It’s a very nice room, spacious and has a queen bed. It is near to my workplace as well with a less than 20 minute commute. And moving out now means to dive into the high rental prices to seek for a decent place. I am very comfortable where I’m at currently, but I am at a loss. How is everyone willing to have me as a tenant, that was forced to be in this situation to compromise in this manner. On one hand, I do understand that it isn’t right to have my safety at risk like that. But on another, I know that this room is the best I can get with this price. I just want to know whether it’s reasonable for me to continue staying on until my lease ends. Will the cat eventually change his behaviour or should i just give up and move out?
Tldr: Moved into HDB with an aggressive cat, and it has to stay in cage when I’m at home. Cat will attack any chance it gets. Landlord calls in a cat therapist that asks us to let the cat roam while I’m having dinner, and not react if it attacks me. It left deep bite marks on my arm, and now I’m at a loss what to do. Love the room, location and space, just unsure whether my efforts of taking more bite marks or scars will even have an effect on it.