cat agression

[Anne]

Do you have a problem with cat agression towards people?
Our stormy torbie Mishmish (she's the cat in the logo) is famous for her attacks on humans. She's a sweet kitty but very dominant - she's the queen of the house and she knows it.

When we have guests, she will greet them and ask to be petted, but a few seconds later she will usually lash out and give them a taste of her sharp claws and teeth. She always adds the right sound effects as well

People get really scared when she does that.

Many people think she's a "mean" cat but we know it's not true. She's a sweet little baby really. She just needs to assert herself and to see how brave (or not) our guests are...

She hardly ever draws blood - it's more of a warning then an attack really.

 

[kitty]

Our cat Max is a sweet cat. He never bites or scratches. My sister's got a calico that can get quite vicious and attack people with no apparent reason. I think that females tend to be a little bit more agressive then males (in cats anyway

)

 

[debby]

Hmmmmm, i don't have any advice to give on this subject, I guess. My cats are all real friendly with people, but then since they aren't in the house, they probably aren't as territorial, not to mention since there are so many of them.

 

[kezzer]

I have a cat at my parents house that does that. The only person that can pet him for any amount of time is my father. I can't figure out why especially since he was my cat and I took care of him since he was 6 weeks old.

 

[debby]

Cat's are really funny that way I think, they get attached to one person.

 

[cheekcz]

Debby's reply has made me curious about the indoor vs. outdoor cat aggressiveness. We have four cats, all indoor/outdoor "at will" and they LOVE people. Most of them even hang out during our loud and crazy parties we sometimes throw. I'd be interested to see if there is a pattern regarding the territorialness Debby mentioned. Saying that, I feel I should mention that our newest cat didn't choose to live with us until he was around two months old. He was a stray that came into the house during one of those parties I mentioned (the deep-fried turkey -and I don't mean my husband!- had nothing to do with it, I'm sure!). The kitten was VERY aggressive, especially towards the other cats, but has calmed down considerably and may only hunt us all a few times a month. It was a concern for the first few months, though!

 

[Anne]

Interesting!

I've been doing a lot of reading on cat behavior lately (I'm writing a series of articles about cat agression these days). I didn't see anything about agression being related to the outdoor/indoor issue.

The only reference that might be relevant is by the British behaviorist Roger Tabor. He says that cats need space and shouldnt' be limited to being indoor cats only. He also says that cats suffer from confinement stress and may present all sorts of behavior problems because of that (I guess agression could be one of them).

From my experience - I've had 2 cats when I was a kid, both were spayed females and indoor/outdoor cats. One was a bit agressive to people (esp. strangers) and the other one wasn't. Today I have 2 indoor only cats (we live in an city apartment), and again one (spayed female) tends to be very agressive at times and the other (neutered male) has never hissed or growled at anyone and is one of the sweetest cats I know.

I wonder what other people's cat are like in that respect. It would be very interesting to find a connection there.

Thanks for the input and a warm welcome to the forums (I put a thread especially for that in the lounge - but just in case you miss it

)

 

[debby]

Well, all I know is that my outside cats love people, doesn't matter who. A stranger could sit down on the porch and within 5 minutes have a lap full of cats!!!!

 

[megan]

These are the cats I have known well:

Cat from youth #1 - Tiggy (elderly male, neutered) - fairly complacent. He wouldn't appproach people, but didn't mind being petted or scratched. I miss Tiggy

Cat from youth #2 - Metzie (black female, spayed) - very aggressive to everyone who tried to touch her, except people who didn't like cats who she would regularly approach.

Barn cat Type A - females, not spayed - afraid of all people and human operated machinery. Will run in the opposite direction.

Barn cat Type B - females and kittens - won't approach people (unless they're hungry) but do enjoy petting. I think the difference between Type A and Type B might have something to do with the reigning tomcat. The new tomcat's offspring are quite friendly, but the old tomcat's were all scaredy. I think the new tomcat is around more too.

Ex-roommate's cat #1 - Scooter (neutered male) was quite a lot like Tiggy (above, another neutered male) - wouldn't approach but enjoyed the attention.

Ex-roommate's cat #2 - Penelope (young female not yet spayed). Okay with petting for awhile, but would get aggressive if it went on too long. She was a beautiful longhair cat so she got a lot of attention

Ex-roommate's cat #3 - Small (spayed female) - extremely affectionate. She would insist on sitting on your lap if she could, which made it rather difficult to read a magazine or something.

My Current Cat - Tabitha (not yet spayed female) - She's very affectionate with me. If she's not sitting on me (the closer to my face the better - for the first two weeks I had her she slept on my chest the whole time I was home!) she's usually sitting within a couple of feet. She doesn't really like other people though, especially other women. We live alone, so she's not used to having a lot of other people around.