Are all hisses bad?

Bolts

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Got a male cat from rescue 4 days ago. He came to them 5 months ago and they don’t think he’d had any human contact before. COVID hit so he was forced to stay there rather than sent to a feral centre. He bonded with one of the girls there to a point he’d sit on her lap. I went to see him, he came to me for a head scratch, then hissed, swiped and bit me..let me add claws were retracted and no pressure at all when he bit. Anyway 4 days in, he’s come out from the back of the washing machine, and moved into a cardboard box in the kitchen. Comes out when I go in the kitchen, puts one paw in the living room, sits and watches for a bit....now here’s the thing, when I feed him (he seems very greedy) he sits by my foot and hisses! He don’t swipe, so I look down at him and say no need for that...he tries to meow...it’s almost like he don’t know how..no noise resembling a meow comes out..which is why I ask are hisses bad?
 

ArtNJ

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Cats hiss to mean many different things. I had a cat that would hiss at the door if it was raining. Most hisses are some shade of negative though -- displeasure, warning, back off, something like that. Not necessarily anything remotely serious, but some variety of negative. So maybe "my food, I'm eating, stay the bleep away!" or something like that. Very easy to understand why a rescue might do that.

Do you need guidance on anything else? We are here to help, and there are a ton of guides in the articles tab.
 

neely

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Welcome to TCS and thank you for rescuing and giving him a home. :thanks: What did you decide to name him? The best advice I can offer is time and patience. I firmly believe every cat is unique and different, some will warm up and cuddle with you from the start but others need time to adjust and that's perfectly okay. You may want to consider a Feliway diffuser. When you bring a new cat into your home it's usually best to keep him in an enclosed room with his litter box, food/water dishes and maybe a few toys. This makes him feel more secure.

There are many members on the site who have expertise in working with a cat from a feral environment. I'm sure some of them will chime in. Until then I thought these two Articles might have some helpful information for you:
How To Help A New Cat Adjust To Your Home
Bringing Home A New Cat – The Complete Guide

Best of luck, please keep us posted on your cat's progress. :goodluck:
 

gilmargl

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Emily has been with me for 6 years. She loves me (well, everyone says she does) but she still hisses at me if she's not sure it's me who's stroking her, or if she thinks I'm going to get up and push her off my lap. She also swipes out and tries to grab my clothes to keep me near her. She is only just beginning to accept my daughters, who visit regularly. She rubs herself against their legs but won't let them touch her. Any attempt to stroke her is met by her swinging round, hissing and swiping. My partner is frightened of her and gets scratched into the bargain! (I've no idea how he manages that!) Emily was not a feral cat - just a stray with 4 kittens who no-one wanted. I housed them in the basement. The kittens went to new homes and Emily stayed.

She sometimes hisses at my other cats and attacks them like a bulldozer. But, although they run off, they don't seem to take her too seriously. This only occurs at feeding time and I know she's petrified of starving. She used to make herself ill by gobbling down all the food I put out for her kittens, before eating her own food as well.

So, summing up - I see hissing obviously as a warning - keep your distance. But it stems from fear. We don't know what Emily experienced during her (possibly) 5 years living on the streets and searching for food. Any kittens she had probably being removed as soon as possible to be sold. Your rescue has not had much positive experience with human beings and doesn't know what to expect from you. I think hissing simply means that he's scared. Keep your distance, let him come to you, rather than the other way round and ..... who knows? He may still be hissing six years later, like Emily, but he'll love you!
 

rubysmama

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Hello and welcome to TCS. :wave2: Congrats on the new kitty. And thanks for giving him a home. Hopefully before too long, he'll be completely settled into life as a pampered housecat.

As for your specific question, here's what the TCS article Why Do Cats…? A Guide To Understanding Feline Behavior has to say about hissing:

Why Do Cats Hiss?
Hissing is another way cats let people and other animals know they’ve had enough. It’s a way for them to say to back off or else. Typically, a cat will hiss at things when she feels afraid, threatened, or extremely annoyed. Hissing is usually followed by aggression if the situation isn’t quickly resolved.
Some experts believe that a cat makes the sound to mimic the hissing of a snake. This sound is one that most animals are instinctively afraid of, which helps the cat keep threats at a distance. This gives the cat a chance to escape from an undesirable situation.
 
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Bolts

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Thanks for the warm welcome :) The shelter named him Len, so i've kept it, yes i already got a feliway diffuser. I recently had my old boy put to sleep..i actually rescued him from a neighbour..or should i say he just moved in with me after 3 months befreinding him in the garden..took years to get him to the stage of liking cuddles and every night he slept on my pillow purring in my ear lol.
It just seems odd he dont know how to meow, and the hissing is when im putting food in his bowls ..its as if he's saying hurry up!!! he dont do it when he's eating. He's quite happy for me to sit in the room with him.Once he walked over sniffed my hand and hissed at me. He dont even seem that wary, just sits and stares at me. IMG_20200704_112026.jpg
 

MoonstoneWolf

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Sopdet hisses at Treasure all the time. He tends to get a bit over energetic and bothers her so she'll hiss and swat at him but they're both very good buddies.
 

rubysmama

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Oh, what a cutie pie. I love the way the black and white colours curve around his eyes. :purr:
 
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Bolts

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So from the links I read and all your knowledge it’s fear...I dunno but past 24 hours since I posted has been amazing..still the hissing, this morning he came to me head butted my hand , started purring ...then bit me and scratched me...then came back for more fuss...I went straight out and got some thick gloves lol. He don’t seem in the slightest bit fearful..even as I write this he’s trying to sit on my iPad! . He’s estimated to be about 5 , is it even possible to teach a kitty that age good manners? He’s quite content sitting on the sofa beside me now...can’t help thinking his sweet moments are just a rouse to get some food lol.
 

susanm9006

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My Willow never gets angry but she hisses all the time. At her toys when she plays, when she yawns, when she is happy to see me or at ceilings or walls. Sometimes she seems very surprised when a hiss comes out of her mouth. So no, hisses aren’t always bad. For most cats it can mean they are scared, they find something kind of creepy, they would like you to keep your distance or of course, they are issuing a warning. If there isn’t slapping or other signs of anger, just ignore it and give the cat it’s space.
 
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Bolts

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Ah that’s good to hear..no there’s no slaps with the random hisses. But it’s hard to give him space when he’s winding himself round my legs when he’s doing it. I’m not going anywhere near him except when he’s sitting in the doorway. He’s the one following me around..which I’m quite surprised at. He can go back to his hideaway cardboard box anytime. I went out to get the gloves and when I came back he was looking up at the front door..so glad I got a cat cam. Even a knock at the door didn’t move him. Seems he desperately wants to be buddies but is not sure how to go about it!
 

Hellenww

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morning he came to me head butted my hand , started purring ...then bit me and scratched me...then came back for more fuss...I went straight out and got some thick gloves lol.
He might be getting overstimlated very quickly. Try just a few pets and stopping far a short time. Repeat until you learn his limit. If you can get him to play it could help him work off some of his nervous energy. Since he's a nervoud boy try dragging a string toy on the ground before flying it.

That face is precious and his eyes are so expressive.
 

susanm9006

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He just may not know how to communicate other than hissing. Cats in the wild don’t meow much to one another and he has probably never learned to talk to humans so you get hisses in place of meows.
 

MoonstoneWolf

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Something I read on here is that you can hiss at your cat to correct them as it's the language they understand from when they were kittens from their Mom. Treasure needs a lot of hissing at. lol Sopdet just hissed and swatted at Treasure again this morning but at the moment they're out there eating together. It can mean many things so you have to observe what else is going on to interpret what they are saying.
 
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Bolts

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MoonstoneWolf MoonstoneWolf it pretty random...but everytime when I pick his empty food bowl up..but I will try hissing at him next time.
susanm9006 susanm9006 funnily enough he does try to meow but a very strange sound comes out.
Hellenww Hellenww that makes so much sense he was sitting on the couch watching tv last night. He came for a fuss (no claws involved)10 seconds then went to the opposite end of the sofa, few seconds later came back, and repeated this several times.
He kinda lazily plays if that makes sense, ive sent for a puzzle food thing as food is the centre of his universe.
 

jefferd18

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Humans are still very new to him with you being the newest- expect some hisses now and then.
 
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Bolts

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Yes ofc and he's exceeded my wildest expectations in just a few days. I can understand and live with the aggression at feeding times.
 

bikeman

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Madge (RIP) was a year or two old when she was outside one day (supervised outing) and another neighborhood cat came along and stopped and hissed at her. Madge was frightened and confused at the noise. She didn't know cats could even make a hissing sound. For her, hissing wasn't a natural reaction. A few days go by and we found her practicing her hissing, at odd moments and not connected to being angry. She just wanted to perfect it since it was something new to her. Confused the heck out of her sibling Mitty. When Madge got good at it, she learned to hiss properly and at the right moments. It was like a ten year old learning how to swear. That whole episode in her life was memorable and funny. Hopefully, Len will learn many types of meows in time too. And those will tell you what he wants, once he perfects his meowing. Every cat has their own set.

Work with your new boy, but slowly and don't force anything on him. He sounds a bit skittish, but that's not all that unusual. Let him be curious and ask you for attention and love. He will set the pace. It takes a while for a new environment to become comfortable and unconfusing. Our new ex-feral Lolli is still adjusting one year later and occasionally air-bites and attempts to fight us when he gets in a strange mood. He's getting better month by month. It's all part of the rewarding journey in making a cat's life a better one.

Oh, and Lolli was extremely protective of his food, and even empty bowls. Still is. He needs to protect them at all costs. Len's anxiety and hissing around his food is probably similar. I was attacked once a year and a half back (by Lolli, outside when he lived outside) for carrying an empty bowl away even after replacing it with a full one.
 

jcat

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My Willow never gets angry but she hisses all the time. At her toys when she plays, when she yawns, when she is happy to see me or at ceilings or walls. Sometimes she seems very surprised when a hiss comes out of her mouth. So no, hisses aren’t always bad. For most cats it can mean they are scared, they find something kind of creepy, they would like you to keep your distance or of course, they are issuing a warning. If there isn’t slapping or other signs of anger, just ignore it and give the cat it’s space.
We had a cat like that at the shelter. Valerie's mother was trapped at a feral colony, and both her kittens only witnessed her hissing at humans. Valerie wasn't adopted for months. She hissed in almost all situations, even when seeking affection and continues to do it. The vet joked that she was like those husbands that communicated in grunts, but theorized that poor eye sight might be a contributing factor.

Len hasn't been in his new home for very long and may not completely settle in for several months. The hissing will most probably diminish over time.
 
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