How to Deal With an Aggressive Cat
Aggression in cats stems from several factors. As predators, cats enjoy stalking and striking at objects, including people. Cats can also react to fearful or stressful situations by biting. An aggressive cat can inflict serious injury on family members and pets, so you must address the cause of this behavior at once.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Socialize cats early and often. Expose young cats to people of all ages as well as to other cats and dogs if you think you may ever want another pet. The older the cat, the longer the socializing process takes.
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2
Allow cats to enact their predatory instincts during acceptable play. Cats love to hunt and pounce on objects. If you think it's cute to encourage your cat to attack your wiggling toes under a blanket, you're teaching him that aggression is OK. Substitute toys for toes.
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3
Learn your cat's threshold for petting. Some cats enjoy an hour of stroking. Some cats become over stimulated after five minutes. Honor your cat's threshold and stop petting before the cat gets irritated.
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4
Let cats approach new people and animals on their own terms. You must not force a cat to accept the petting of a person she's afraid of. This encourages fear biting.
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5
Use shaping techniques to encourage an aggressive cat to accept touching and grooming. First, offer the cat a treat when he's in the same room with the person. Then give a treat each subsequent time the cat allows more interaction with the person, until the cat permits touching.
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6
Rule out medical problems that can cause aggression. All sorts of feline problems from constipation to an abscessed tooth can cause cats to be grumpy.
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7
Spay or neuter your cat. Intact cats are more territorial and aggressive than altered cats.
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Comments
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pudders
Sep 19, 2008
This is a tough situation. We have faced the same type of thing with one of our cats. The aggressive cat is a female and about 2-4 years older than the one she is attacking (also a female). My wife thinks this if from two things. First, we waited too long to have the younger cat spayed and second, the older cat feels that she should be the only female in the house. I don't know what it is but something has to be done to fix the situation or we may have to say good bye to the older cat. -
pudders
Sep 19, 2008
This is a tough situation. We have faced the same type of thing with one of our cats. The aggressive cat is a female and about 2-4 years older than the one she is attacking (also a female). My wife thinks this if from two things. First, we waited too long to have the younger cat spayed and second, the older cat feels that she should be the only female in the house. I don't know what it is but something has to be done to fix the situation or we may have to say good bye to the older cat.
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dwiley
Nov 27, 2007
I have a 5 year old male cat, Baby, who is neutered. I also have an 8 year old female cat who was with me when I got Baby. A year and 1/2 ago 2 other 14 year old cats moved into our house. One is a female. Baby attacks the female every chance he gets, actually leaving puncture wounds. It looks like he is trying to mount her. She is completely terrified. I have to keep them completely separated on different floors of the house. If he gets upstairs, the minute he sees her he goes after her. HELP!
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dwiley
Nov 27, 2007
I have a 5 year old male cat, Baby, who is neutered. I also have an 8 year old female cat who was with me when I got Baby. A year and 1/2 ago 2 other 14 year old cats moved into our house. One is a female. Baby attacks the female every chance he gets, actually leaving puncture wounds. It looks like he is trying to mount her. She is completely terrified. I have to keep them completely separated on different floors of the house. If he gets upstairs, the minute he sees her he goes after her. HELP!
