Cat randomly swatted and hissed at my brother…

[Oford21]

So I have a Ragdoll/Siamese mix named Penelope and I’ve had her since she was a baby. She is going to be 2 years old in July. She lives/grew up with my mom and I and is usually very loving to people but does have some anxiety. Tonight my brother came over and she was rubbing all over his legs etc when he came in but my brother doesn’t pay too much attention to her because she can be moody. Tonight after he had been here a couple of hours she hopped up on the window seal near him and randomly out of nowhere swatted him twice and then finally hissed at him. This came out of NOWHERE and SHE approached him by jumping up on the window near him. He didn’t try to pet her or even look at her. I am so confused by her behavior- I have noticed that she isn’t crazy about men but she has never hissed at anyone or any other male except him. My brother also has no pets so it wouldn’t be a scent she feels threatened by. He is the only male who has worn a hat around her…that is a far stretch but that’s the only thing I can think of. Also just doesn’t make sense why she became threatened almost 2 hours after he had already been here…

Anyone else ever experience this with a friend or family member!?

TIA

 

[Cat McCannon]

Unless your cat has some sort of mental disorder, the swats are not coming out of nowhere or for no reason. It could be a number of things, such as redirected aggression. Find the source of the problem and resolve it and the swatting will stop.

 

[Alldara]

Do you encourage her to interact with guests via play and treats?
Nervousness in cats can come out as agression. It could be a slightly different scent on him, a twitch he had or a loud sound outside.

Either way play really builds a cat's confidence and helps to get that nervous energy out before it becomes aggression. Play before company comes over and use a high reward treat. Then build to playing while company is over.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

It may well have been something she saw out of the window, or a loud noise (to her) from outside.

Re-directed Aggression In Cats - TheCatSite

 

[lollie]

It may well have been something she saw out of the window,

Right, especially since that was where she was sitting. When my cat was a kitten, about six months old, she bit me pretty hard on the hand once. I had walked up next to her and bent down to pet her. It was only after that I realized her attention had been focused on the window several feet away. She was alerted to something and when I touched her it startled her. She is also super skittish and any noise or quick movement can startle her.