Expert: Dear Tabbi - 4/5/2009

Question
My 5 year old neutered male cat, all of a sudden hisses and growls at me. When I took him to the vet he doesn't do it , I was taking him to Cornell to a specialist when he got out of his carrier, left slightly open by accident, crawled up on my lap and was good as gold. When I took him back home, back to hissing and growling? the Vet has no answers.

Answer
Darryl,

Cats will react like that if you smell different. Have you been bringing home smells from being around other animals?

He may also have what is called Redirected Aggression. That happens when a cat sees a strange cat outside and  becomes territorial, but can't get to the strange cat to defend his territory. The cat then turns on the closest animal member of the family and fights with them as if they were the other cat, but if there are no other animals in the home, they have been known to attack instead. You may not see the animal that the cat sees. The first thing you need to do is block the window past the cat's eye level of the window he can see another cat out of (out of sight, out of mind#. If it is allowed to go on your cat may develop a permanent personality change. Also put the cat in a room by itself for at least 4 hours to calm down when he behaves like that.

There is a very popular cat calming spray and plug-in you can use called Feliway. It is available at pet stores or on-line. It copies relaxing pheromones that cats produce from rubbing their faces on things.

There is also a calming product that you can add to the cat's food or water that reduces anxiety called Bach's Rescue Remedy. It is available on-line and in health food stores. Here is a link about it: #copy and paste, or type the whole links into your address bar) http://www.bachflower.com/Pets.htm

If your cat is still being very stressed the vet can put him on "kitty Prozac" for a short term (usually 2 weeks) until he calms down. You may want to speak to the vet about it.

I am including links to good articles on Redirected Aggression that may be helpful to you:
(copy and paste, or type, the whole links into your address bar)

http://www.catsinternational.org/articles/aggression_to_people/redir_to_humans.h...

http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/aggression3.html

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=redirectedagr...

But first make sure it's not a medical issue causing the behavior. Pain from ear problems, tooth problems, etc. can cause aggression.
Whenever a cat changes his behavior noticeably you should take him to the vet to be examined even though he may be too nervous to hiss when you take him in.

I'm also adding a good link on assorted behaviors that may be helpful for further information:

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/9352/behavior.html

Tabbi