Nervous cats  

When you take on a cat or kitten it may be quiet and wary for the first few days or even the first few weeks until it gets used to you and its new environment. However, some cats remain very fearful despite a gentle welcome and time to settle in. This can cause their owners great anxiety because they feel the cat is not happy. The cat may run and hide as soon as someone comes into the house or if there is a sudden noise or from common everyday sounds such as the television. Many such cats spend a great deal of their time under the bed or on top of the wardrobe, hiding from the world. A nervous or frightened cat can make a very disappointing pet, especially if the household which has adopted it is a busy and noisy one. They will probably see little of the cat until the children have gone to bed and the adults have settled down quietly in front of the TV in the evening.

There can be several causes of nervousness in cats:

•  Genetics: like people, some cats seem to be naturally more fearful than others.

•  Bad experiences: the cat may have previously had a frightening experience. Its natural survival mechanisms make it generally fearful in anticipation of it happening again.

•  Lack of experience at a crucial time in its development: Kittens which meet people and other animals and which are exposed to the general hubbub of life by the time they are eight weeks old will take almost anything in their stride and deal with it as a normal part of life. This is the making of a confident cat. Eight weeks seems to be a very crucial cut-off point for the kitten. If it has not had these very early experiences it will find life with humans very difficult to cope with. Take for example the feral kitten (one born to a cat living wild) which does not have contact with people in these early weeks. It will behave like a wild animal and handling or confinement will cause acute fear. Although some people persevere with older feral kittens, it requires a great deal of time and patience to get them to respond and this lack of early experience is usually very difficult, if not sometimes impossible, to get over.

Hence, knowing a cat's background can make a difference in determining whether you can help it or not. However, for many cat owners this is an unknown as they have no idea what happened to their cat before they took it on. They have to try to tackle the problem anyway. It is not something which can be solved overnight, if at all. It takes patience and time.

Consider the cat which hides under the bed at the slightest noise or activity within the house. It has removed itself from what it sees as a life-threatening situation and feels a flood of relief. This feeling is very strong and reinforces the fleeing behaviour - after all, the cat has saved its life. As a solitary species the cat has no pack to back it up if things go wrong - if threatened its best chance of survival is to run away and hide, staying very quiet until the danger has passed. Owners must be able to offer something even more rewarding than this feeling of safety and relief that the cat feels on following its instincts if they want to stop it running. This can be very difficult.

The cat needs to learn that there is nothing threatening in the situation it is running from. It can be very useful to obtain an indoor crate or kittening pen for the cat's re-education. Place it in the corner of the room and cover with a blanket so that the cat can see out of the front but the sides are covered and the cat feels somewhat protected. Put the cat in the pen first of all during a quiet period so that it can get used to it and relax. It will probably like the feeling of protection the pen provides. Feed favourite treats in the pen and provide a litter tray. Let the cat view all the normal household goings-on from its safe haven and gradually add more 'action' to its repertoire.

When the cat seems relaxed, ask a friend to visit. Normally the cat would run away when the door bell rings, but now it has to watch and listen, albeit from the safety of its pen. You want the cat to realise that the threats it perceived are not going to materialise. Ask your guest to feed the cat through the cage with a special tidbit and offer lots of praise and soothing talk. You can then graduate to having the cat in the room without the pen and inviting visitors in (again pre-briefed so they to behave quietly and prevent startling the cat). As the cat learns that everything is not a threat and that the rewards of staying around are indeed worth overcoming its fear for, you are gaining success.

Never lose your temper or try to force it too quickly - this will just reinforce the cat's previous fears. If the cat progresses, even slowly, you are likely to be dealing with an animal which is overcoming a fear rather than one which has missed out during its socialising period as a kitten. Build on your successes gradually. Remember that cats feel safe in high places so when you progress to letting the cat out in the room with you, provide it with a high perch where it can sit in safety and watch the world go by beneath. Use warmth, affection and food as rewards for being with you.

Aggressive cats   

There are many different types of aggression exhibited by animals, and cats are no exception. We are happy to accept many forms of aggression as normal behaviour - such as our own cat chasing a strange cat out of the garden or a female cat with kittens pushing away intruders. We even accept cats which scratch or bite us, provided we feel that they have been provoked enough to retaliate! Aggression towards people is not a common problem in cats and even when it does occur it seldom causes serious injury.

Pain

If your cat suddenly becomes aggressive when stroked and he has never exhibited such behaviour before, it may be that he is in pain or feeling unwell and doesn't want to be touched. If you think this is the case then an immediate visit to the vet is called for.

Grabbing the hand which strokes

One of the most common 'aggression' problems is known as 'petting and biting syndrome' and indeed it is as it says - when you start to stroke your cat it turns around and bites you or attacks your hand, grabbing your wrist with its front feet and kicking you with its back feet. Some cats only attack in this way if their tummy is being tickled, others only need to be stroked on the head before they retaliate.

Think of the cat sitting on your lap and being stroked - it has to be very relaxed and trusting to put itself in this position - like a kitten being groomed by its mother. For some cats this is just a little too dangerous - they relax and then suddenly feel vulnerable. With conflicting feelings of security and fear, they react with defensive aggression and grab the hand which is stroking them. They then usually jump off our laps and sit and groom to calm themselves.

Accepting stroking is a learned response rather than a natural adult behaviour and some cats may just be more naturally reactive than others. They may calm down as they get older, as young cats (like children) may be easily excited. Others may have missed out on human attention at that vital time in their social development before eight weeks old and find it impossible to accept physical attention.

You need to try and help your cat to feel more secure with physical attention. Sit quietly with the cat when you won't be interrupted and keep everything very calm. Keep interactions very short and stop before the cat reacts. Try not to provoke a reaction - stop stroking when you notice twitching or backwards-facing ears, dilated pupils or sudden tensing. Reward the cat with food and praise for behaving in a relaxed way. Never punish the cat - this will only reinforce the idea that you are a threatening person.

Pent-up energies

Very occasionally cats go beyond reactive aggression and into proactive aggression, attacking their owners as they walk past or preventing them gaining access to certain parts of the house. Quite often the problems occur in indoor cats and may be a form of redirected aggression. Cats watch birds or other cats through the window and become excited. However, they have no way of getting rid of the pent up energy or frustration. If their owner happens to be walking past, the movement triggers them into the hunting or defensive aggression mode and they attack. School teachers are aware how noisy and fidgety children become if they are unable to go out at lunchtime because of bad weather - they need to let off steam before they can concentrate again. Likewise scientists have noticed that captive tigers, which are made to work for their food by putting it at the top of a pole which they have to climb, will actually leave the food at the base of the pole for some time before they eat it. They think that this is because the tiger needs to settle down before it eats - the surge of adrenalin and response to the energy surge needed to reach the top of the pole 'charges' the cat up. Perhaps these aggressive 'problems' in cats have similar motivations. Owners of such cats may want to try and help them use up some of that energy and allow them to fulfil their hunting repertoire - especially if they are indoor only cats. This can be done by providing new toys and objects to climb in and play on, by playing hunting games with toys on the end of string and by teaching the cat that it has to find its food around the house rather than just presenting it in a bowl.

Playing too hard

Many kittens and young cats will get overexcited when they are playing and attack hands and feet. When kittens are very small owners may even encourage this because they find it amusing. However, as the kitten grows stronger and its teeth bigger, it can become very painful. If it becomes a problem you need to remove any attention immediately from the kitten when it bites so you are not rewarding the behaviour. Walk away and leave it alone. Give attention when the kitten is behaving as you want it to. If you want to play games use one of the fishing-rod type toys which allow you to keep hands and feet at a safe distance from those flashing teeth and claws. Give the kitten lots to play with so that it uses up its energy where you want it, not on you!

Aggression in hand-reared kittens

Aggression can also be a problem in some hand-reared animals (not just cats either) if their behaviours are interrupted or frustrated. It is thought that this is because although we can feed and then wean the kittens nutritionally, we do not know how to wean the kittens behaviourally. Just as our children must learn to do as they are told, to be able to cope when they cannot get their own way and to fit in with our social rules, queens will teach their kittens the feline equivalent. Much of this learning is to do with dealing with forced change - as the mother's milk dries up and the kittens demand more, she diverts their attention onto prey. In making the switch successfully they learn to be adaptable and to deal with the frustration. Many hand-reared kittens do not learn this vital lesson in life and react aggressively to frustration. Again the solution is to reward the behaviour you want with attention and food and to ignore or prevent situations when aggression comes into play.

Aggression between cats

Aggression between cats can be a common problem when new cats are introduced in a household - this can be tackled by careful introductions (see Introducing your cat to other cats and dogs) and time. Sometimes even cats which have lived alongside each other for years will have a breakdown in their relationship and begin to fight. If there is an external factor such as a new cat in the household which has upset the balance, then this may be remediable. However, sometimes it can be virtually impossible to get cats back together and rehoming one may need to be considered.

If you are having persistent problems of aggression of any type with your cat, especially if targeted towards people or children, you may wish to talk to your vet about referral to a feline behaviourist.

Updated November 2008