Pet Articles

It can be frightening when your cat becomes aggressive. Your cat's behavior can turn on a dime. Feline aggression is often caused by five common things. We will discuss these five things as well as examine some ways that you can deal with cat behavior problems such as aggression.

It is not surprising to see aggression in cats. Most frequently you will observe cats displaying play aggression. During play aggression, you would notice your kitty using their claws or teeth to play roughly. You could easily mistake this for aggression directed to you. In reality, your cat is confusing you for a toy. One way of handling this is to always play with a toy and not your hand.

Another cause of aggression in cats is over-stimulation. As kitty becomes too excited, she may lash out too violently. In order to deal with this problem, remove yourself or the object of kitty's ire from the room for an hour. If this doesn't work, kitty may need to be isolated in her own room, with her own food and water dish, for another short "time out". After kitty calms down, her cat behavior problems should also cease.

Territorial aggression is also a common problem in cats, and often is directed toward a new person or animal who enters the house for the first time. It occurs because kitty has come to believe that your home, and everything in it, belongs to her. To deal with this problem, introduce new animals and people slowly and carefully, and feed plenty of treats during the getting to know you phase.

One of the more unusual cat behavior problems is redirected aggression, in which a cat feels aggressive toward another animal and in turn directs this anger toward you. Often, this problem can happen when your cat sees other cats through the window, feels threatened, but cannot lash out at them so targets you instead. To deal with this problem, place shades on your windows so kitty cannot see outside.

Finally, we should mention that some cats can become aggressive due to health problems. Any condition that causes pain, such as a bladder infection, abscess, or stomach problem, can lead to aggression because kitty cannot tell you what is wrong. If you are dealing with aggressive cats, pay a visit to your vet before trying behavior modification, and you might find a simple way to achieve cat control.