Expert: Norman Auspitz - 3/9/2011

Question
Hello,
I was hoping that you could give me some advice about our cat Hades. He is a 5 year old neutered mix breed tabby. Hades has always been a handful but also very sweet and very affectionate to me. About 2 years ago my ex husband and I got divorced. At the time we had 3 cats (Hades and 2 kittens). When I left I took the 2 kittens with me but had to leave Hades behind because he is a door dasher and the place I was moving to was not as safe for him. Hades seem to get mean after I left. Now, more than 2 years later Hades is still mean and aggressive. Although he is treated very well he still bites and scratches my ex husband, my son and my son's friends for no apparent reason. What could be the problem after all this time and what can be done to help him?
       Thank you

Answer
Sidney,

People often misinterpret a cat's biting/scratching behavior as being "mean".  Cats have incredibly tough skin (just watch your vet have to punch a hypodermic needle through that skin).  As kittens, even while nursing on mama, they play and show affection using these biting/ scratching behaviors.  Often they have to be socialized to us relatively soft skinned humans to be much more gentle when they show us affection.

At age 5, Hades is probably pretty well set in his ways, so it might be very, very difficult to retrain the behavior. What we do with kittens is hold them, stroke them, and speak softly to them. If they start the biting/scratching behavior, we scruff them, scowl at them, put them down, and walk away. Now kittens really like the holding/stroking/speaking softly "game", so it does not take them very long to catch on that they need to be gentle with humans. Whether the same technique could work with Hades is unclear, but it would take much persistence and consistent training with positive reinforcement (i.e. special treats) to have a hope of succeeding. Cats, as a rule, do not respond well to negative reinforcement and discipline.

Believe me, when a cat is really aggressive, the bites are quite deep and the scratches much more damaging!

I hope this will be of some help.

Best regards... Norm