Expert: Norman Auspitz - 5/5/2006

Question
We have a 3 yr old male neut.male cat who has a horrible temper. We brought him home when he was 6-8 weeks old. My boys love him to death but over the last 2 years he has become meaner and meaner.  He seems to be more aggressive to the boys than me.  He will chase my youngest(now 8) around the house and stalk him.  He starts out friendly enough playing with the boys but then he escalates into attacking and biting them.He has drawn blood on several occasions but then he can also be lovable and friendly. He is also a watch kitty. When people stop over he will rub on them like he wants to be petted but if they reach for him he jumps back and growls then hisses.  He will even lay on the end table and stare them down growling all the way!  I dont know what to do..people tell me to get rid of him but he is a part of our family. Can u help?

Answer
Diane,

Since he is already neutered, there are a couple of possibilities.  First, he may have a physical problem where all is O.K. until someone tickles his belly or pets him back towards the tail end.  A visit to the vet could confirm whther or not there is a physical problem.  One possible cause for the scratching, hissing, biting behavior is pain.

If there is no physical problem, then we have a behavioral problem.  First off, 6-8 weeks of age is way too young for a kitten to be going to a new home.  It is barely weaned and has not been socialized to humans yet.  If you could watch how little kittens play with each other or their mama, you would see how roughly they play.  In fact the stalking, scratching, hissing, biting behavior is what they do!  Cat skin is very, very tough (just watch a vet have to give a cat a shot), so cats/kittens naturally tend to play very roughly.  Unfortunately they play too roughly for us poor soft skinned humans!  So, we socialize kittens to play with people.  We hold them, talk softly too them, stroke them, but, when the teeth and claws behavior begins, we put then down and walk away.  Kittens love the holding, stroking, talking game, so they quickly get the idea that, when playing with humans they should not use teeth and claws.  Unfortunately, your boys probably inadvertently reinforced the teeth and claws behavior when the kitten first arrived.

So, first of all, the cat is probably not bad tempered, but playing like he played with his siblings.  Of course, as he gets older, he gets stronger and more carefree at the game. He probably has no idea that this is not an acceptable behavior.

As an aside, there are cases where a cat becomes an aggressive psycho kitty, and there is only one remedy, euthanasia.  However, these cases are very rare and I would consider that as a last resort.

So, what to do?  You could try the stroking, holding, talking game as a behavior modification technique and, eventually, it just might work.  It would require much patience and perseverance to finally have a good effect on the 3 year old.  You might have to modify the techniques, so that when he starts, he is confined to a cage for some amount of time.  He may figure out that aggressive behavior is not good.

Another thing you might investigate is clicker training which has, purportendly, had good results in behavior modification with cats and dogs (and other species).  You can visit Karen Pryor's web site at:

  http://www.clickertraining.com

and see what you think.


Please let me know how it goes.

Good luck and best regards... Norm.