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Angry Cat

November 11, 2021

All too often the quiet, peaceful, purring cat sleeping next to us on the couch can turn into an attacking beast within a few seconds. This change in behaviour can lead to biting and scratching and occurs in many households.
Cats can be bossy creatures and like to be in control. Aggression comes from fear and your cats’ perception they need to defend themselves.
All too often when we are having a nice cuddle, your cat can decide it’s had enough and try to leave. Sometimes we try to force them to stay and it’s at this stage they will become threatened. This then leads to angry attacking behaviour with potential injury to ourselves.

  • To have a good relationship with your cat please remember they like to be in control. Learn to read their body language, by ensuring they think they’re the boss they won’t feel threatened and become aggressive.
  • Signs of anger to watch out for include swishing of the tail, flattened ears, growling, stopping purring and big black eye pupils. If any of these signs occur, stop patting your cat and let them sit quietly, or move away if they want. Next time you can try the technique below.
  • You can teach, or rather convince your cat that longer periods of patting are ok with a little bribery. Start with short periods of patting without aggression occurring, for some cats this may only be a few minutes. At the end of the period reward with a tasty treat. Next time at least a day later, you can extend the period slightly and reward again and so on.

‘Dogs have owners, cats have staff’

Photo cred: istock