Expert: Kate Tilmouth - 9/16/2009

Question
I have an extremely territorial 4 year old cat who is aggressive with anyone other than me. Her behavior has always been like this, and I've had her since she was a kitten (she was bottle fed by a rescue group). When it's the two of us, she's as sweet and cuddly and cute as can be. When ANYONE else comes over, she growls, hisses and even attacks. When other people are around, her attacks can be directed at me- and that seems to be happening more often. She has not warmed up to my family or my fiance, both of whom are around frequently. In fact, she's hyper-territorial with my fiance. We've tried play thearpy, ignored her when she's bad, and rewarded her with treats when she's good, but her problematic behavior seems to be escalating. Short of rehoming her to a barn/outdoor area where she has limited human contact, I'm at a loss as to what to do.

Answer
Hi
well this can be a problem, especially in cats who have not had a lot of contact with lots of different people in their lives, especially in their very young lives.

Most aggression is caused by fear and even when she lashes out at you it's because she is still afraid or fearful of whatever (another person etc) and is still reacting to that even though they may not be around at that moment.

It can be very difficult to cure in cats who have displayed this behaviour their whole lives. Apart from trying to socialise them over a period of time using very understanding friends or family, there is not much else you can do. this would basically involve someone coming over, not approaching the cat or looking at it, not wearing any strong scents and being prepared to sit quiet for a while to allow the cat to either approach them or time to calm down from the initial fear of their arrival. If this is repeated often enough and the cat is allowed to become familiar with that person on their own terms (see this page regarding bonding http://www.our-happy-cat.com/new-cat.html )then they may be more social in the future, although i doubt they will ever get over the fear completely.

there are some medications available i believe which are supposed to calm the cats down. i have never tried them but I know others who have and had some success.

i also have a web page about aggressive cats which you may also find of interest. here is that page
http://www.our-happy-cat.com/aggressive-cat-behavior.html

I do hope that something can be done to help your cat as it can't be very nice for her either to be always afraid of other people etc apart from you.

best wishes kate
http://www.our-happy-cat.com