Expert: Ali - 8/30/2008

Question
My kitten is almost a year old and right from a few months' of age has displayed aggressive behaviour. When we first picked her out she was so cuddly and friendly and clung to us so we knew she was the one. The first few times I tried to feed her she would growl and eat the food like another cat was going to steal it from her. She grew out of this and got used to eating without stress. However, she started biting us, firstly in a playful way but she started to latch onto our hands and arms and bit us very agressively. I have many scratches and scars from my cat and so do visitors. Months later she started urinating on our bed. She did so daily for a few days until we started to give her "time out" in the bathroom (for a full hour after she did it to train her not to). She has stopped urinating on the bed but I fear her aggressiveness is not subsiding. We now tap her on the nose or give her "time out" in the bathroom for an hour each time she bits us badly but it isn't working. She has even started biting me during the night so I will wake up and let her outside (we keep her inside at night). I am sometimes afraid of my cat but love her dearly and don't know how to train her not to bite us. Sometimes when I pick her up lately she is pleased to see me and licks my face then latches on with her teeth. What can we do and is this aggressive trait common in hand-reared cats? We were told at the pet store that she was the runt of the litter (in fact she wan't caged with the other cats - she was kept out the back - supposedly because she had been treated for fleas) but we were wondering if maybe the other cats may have picked on her (hence her fear of not getting enough food and possibly the aggressiveness). Any tips you can offer me to deal with my cat would be much appreciated.


Answer
Penne,

This is an extremely serious situation. If your little cat hasn't been spayed that may be the way to cut down on some of the aggression. Hand reared cats and kittens don't tend to be aggressive unless they have been improperly raised. Your cat doesn't understand the whole concept of time outs that last an hour. I have a few recommendations for you which hopefully will be helpful.

Your cat should be completely assessed by your vet. I think that blood work is a good idea because it paints a much clearer picture of how your little one is functioning when it comes to her internal organs. It's not a bad idea to seek the opinion of a holistic vet. A vet that is practicing holistic medicine looks at the whole cat and he/she is also trained in "alternative" therapies like acupuncture, massage and homeopathy. If there is no medical explanation for this then you will need to treat it as a purely behavioral issue. To help your kitten understand the difference between good behavior and bad you may want to pick up a few standard tools. A can of compressed air (the ones used to clean electronics), a spray bottle and a shaker can (a can or container that has a few pennies or dried beans in it, a tightly closed lid works. Shaker can is meant to make loud noises in response to negative behavior thereby conditioning the cat to avoid certain behaviors)will all be helpful tools. Keep cans of compressed air and spray bottles within reach in all rooms of your home so that you can give immediate consequences for unpleasant behaviors. You can also work with your cat using a very important resource. Cats are quite territorial and every cat finds food to be a fairly important part of their territory. My recommendation, provided that there isn't a medical issue of course, would be to take half of your cat's daily ration and place it into a ziploc bag in your pocket. Every time that the cat approaches you in a non-threatening way you can reward her with a few pieces of kibble. You should also make sure that you call her to you and reward her for being calm and gentle while you pet her and pay some attention to her. Essentially this has the effect of reminding your cat that dominant or aggressive behavior has consequences while positive and gentle behavior and independently seeking affection from you are rewarded. Given the severity of the situation you may want to ask your vet for a referral to an animal behaviorist if the tips I have offered don't seem to be making any difference.