Is your cat an aggressive or angry cat? Keeping an angry cat in your home takes all of the fun out of cat ownership. Luckily, there are steps that you can take to help change your angry cat’s behavior and make her a welcome member of the family.
When people complain about their cats it usually comes down to a one or two problems: aggression and failure to use the litter box. These are the two most common problems cited when owners are forced to give their cats to shelters. After dealing with the problem for a long time it just becomes too much for them and their family.
You can find a way to deal with your aggressive or angry cat. There are many levels of aggressive cat, ranging from kitty who nips at your toes when you don’t expect it, to very frightening physical attacks.
It isn’t uncommon to hear that someone is quietly petting their cat and suddenly the cat bites and runs away. Usually there is more shock than injury, and if you start watching your cat a little more closely, you should be able to pick up the signs that kitty is in an aggressive mood.
Aggressive or Angry Cats Warning Signs
My daughter’s cat would only bite our legs and toes when we were sitting on the sofa. After a while my daughter saw that when kitty was approaching with her head and her tail low, she was in a biting mood. If her head and tail were held high she wanted to be petted.
By recognizing the warning signs we knew what her cat was up to, and saw what she was communicating to us. Cat body language can teach us a lot so I urge you to read that article.
How to Distract Aggressive or Angry Cats
Sometimes a hand clap or other noise will be enough to distract aggressive or angry cats from attacking. Giving your cat a toy to play with is another method of distracting it. In extreme cases, you might need to keep a spray bottle of water handy and give a soft squirt at the cat’s backside. Never squirt water at a cat’s face.
Retraining Angry Cats
It is possible to retrain your cat so it doesn’t attack you. It will require time and patience on your part but it is worth it. My kitten Asha would dig her claws into my legs under the desk if she felt she wasn’t getting enough attention or she wanted something. She would come in behind me so the first I knew that she was angry about something was the claws in my thighs. It took practice for me to not yell at the sudden attack but I refused to pay attention to her until she just put paws, minus claws, on my legs. When that happened she got my immediate attention and was praised. I would then go see if she wanted a cuddle, a game or to tell me her biscuit bowl was empty.
Angry cats can make our life difficult and it is up to us to work out why they are angry. Liz Barton has a section in her book Cat Secrets Revealed on what to look for in *aggressive or angry cats and other methods of dealing with it. I refer to it often and love it.
The cat is considered to be the most highly specialised mammalian predator. In fact, the cat is perfectly equipped by genetics to capture its food. The size of cats varies hugely, from the massive lion and tiger to the smallest domestic cat. Their habitat ranges from the wilds of Africa to farm sheds to absolute luxury in some homes. They all have basically the same approach to raising their young and their social organization. And they are all, from the lion to your beautiful moggie, a top-of-the-food-chain predator.
The catching of prey in order to live is what has honed our cat’s senses. And it is possibly their ‘extra sensory perception’ that puts cats in a different class. Mammals all have the five senses but in greatly varying degrees. We all see, hear, smell, taste and feel tactile objects. However, what you and I hear is vastly different to what your cat or dog will hear. What you and I smell is only a fraction of what cats smell, and the dog is different again to the cat as it has nearly double the amount of cells which are receptive to smell. I’m sure we would love to have the degree of vision that our cats have so long as we retained our depth of color. Cats can ‘taste’ the air by concentrating smells in the ‘Jacobson’s organ’ in the palate above the roof of the mouth.
Even the cat’s fur, especially in the wild, is ideal camouflage and protection against other predators. In ancient times, the fur was much prized as clothing as it insulated the ‘lesser prepared’ humans against the extreme cold and heat. Today’s domestic cat will still use long grass and shade to camouflage itself when hunting. This allows the cat to get as close as possible to the prey without being detected.
The skeleton and muscular system of cats shows the amazing suppleness and flexibility of their bodies. The speed of the hunting cat, whether it is a moggie chasing a mouse or a lion chasing a zebra, is facilitated by the skeleton that allows the controlled, quiet stalk as well as occasional sprints, ending with the rapid pounce on the prey. With the flexibility of the cat’s spine, it is able to increase its stride length when running. At full speed, cats move in a series of long half-bounds propelled by the back legs while using the front legs for balance and a lesser degree of propelling.
Cats keep their claws ready to catch prey by constantly sharpening them on any ready surface. This surface could be the trunk of a tree or your furniture. Claws are instantly releasable – there is no time lost in ‘drawing the weapon’. The cat is the only species that has retractable claws, with the exception of the cheetah. Dogs use their claws for balance, not for catching prey or fighting. The claws on the hind legs are utilized when the cat is immobilizing larger prey such as a rabbit, or when fighting. The hind claws can deliver rapid alternating slicing kicks which can be lethal.
If you ever have the opportunity to watch a cat stalk its prey, watch it closely. The sense of sight and hearing are acutely alert, enabling the cat to detect any slight movement or sound. The cat will then move slowly and silently towards the prey, freezing the body completely when necessary to avoid being detected itself. The cat’s head is kept low, as is the body, sometimes almost sliding along the ground like a snake. When in position, the cat will coordinate all senses and bodily actions ready for the pounce, springing forward and flying through the air to land almost unerringly on the prey.
The mother cat will teach her kittens how to hunt and catch their prey. She will do this by bringing them half dead mice or other small prey to practice on. Kittens will also practice on their litter mates, stalking them and pouncing. I’m sure we’ve all been ‘attacked’ by our kittens as we walk past an open door. This is all necessary and instinctive training for our cats, even if they are never to be allowed outdoors.
Cats are truly amazing creatures. Their predatory hunting ability is fairly well unmatched in the animal kingdom. And your beautiful domestic cat that loves to curl up on your lap or in front of the fire is capable of these amazing feats of agility when catching that pesky mouse or other prey.
