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Agression towards guests in the home

20 13:54:00

Question
QUESTION: Hello,

About 2 weekends ago, my 4 month old male tabby kitten showed aggression towards my mother whom was visiting with me. He is a very sweet, playful, rowdy kitten and has never shown aggression before(with the exception of his encounter with a pineapple).Granted, we really don't have many visitors at home. We are usually the ones who visit others rather than them visit us. The last encounter he has had was when he was around 4-6 weeks old. When he saw my mother he hissed, stuck his hair up and circled her like a shark. He hissed at both myself and at my husband when we tried to hold him. He would also occasionally go up to her and hiss if she moved. After a couple hours he snuck up to her and licked her leg briefly before she freaked out....she was a bit scared of him. Shortly after that he grabbed his "binky" a toy that looks similar to a babies' cloth material rattle which he has had since he was 2 weeks old and started to try to mount it. I know he will begin to have those feelings but this was the first time he ever tried something like that.  He has not showed this mounting behavior ever since that last incident. I do not know if this behavior might be related to his aggression on that day. I would like to know what I can do to ease his aggression to unfamiliar people. He gets along well with objects and especially other animals but with other people he can come off as mean and unsocial. Eventually we plan to have my husbands sister and child sleep over but are worried of his aggression. We live in a 1bedroom apartment and so it is hard to seclude him from guests. Can you provide me on some suggestions on what you may think is going on in his kitty head of his and possibly provide some solutions to the issue?

dog crate for cats
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ANSWER: Nicole,

The first important thing to do is to get him neutered right away. Spaying and neutering can be done now when a kitten is 8-10 weeks old. I've had 9 and 10 week old kittens fixed at the SPCA.
Neutering also helps aggression.

The kitten is 'becoming a man' and he has confused feelings. He more than likely can smell a female in heat in the neighborhood. Even if he is an indoor cat he can smell a female a block away! He is mounting his toy because he is having sexual feelings but doesn't quite know what to do about it yet. I had a male kitten that would bite the neck, and try to mount, any cat (or dog) that he came in contact with....male or female! It's normal and natural.

It also sounds like your kitten had a feral parent. The fear and distrust of humans is inbred and inherited in ferals. They are not domesticated house cats and will not behave like one. Feral kittens (or kittens with a feral dad) usually bond to one person, or couple, (their care givers) and will run and hide if they see or hear strangers. I have one feral kitten who is sweet and loving but if someone knocks on the door she hides under the bed for hours! Nobody has ever seen her because she's gone in a flash!

If the kitten did NOT have a feral parent, and was weaned too early, then it did not get a get a chance to learn correct behavior and 'social skills' from it's mom and siblings. A kitten should not be taken from the mom until it is about 8 weeks old, and ideally, not until it's 12 weeks old. From 8-12 weeks old is when mom teaches the babies 'life skills' (protecting itself, hunting, etc.). In the wild kittens stay with their mom until they are 6 months old!

If your kitten has not had a lot of contact with other people he can be protective of his 'people' thinking that strangers are threats or danger to you. I had one cat that would hiss and growl and scare the bejeezes out of the pizza delivery person! Try to have any guests give the kitten a treat, like some tuna or tinned sardines in oil. Food is a great bribe! It will help the kitten associate people with something pleasant instead of negative. Or, if he is not fond of people, then have them ignore him...completely. Cats HATE to be ignored and it will help him be more sociable...just out of curiosity, or he will avoid them.

The younger a feral cat is the better chance you have for socializing it, but you can't change it's basic personality. I would suggest that when you have company you put the cat in a cage or carrier and put it in the room with the company so he gets used to other people around, but safely. If you have room, you can use a large dog crate. I have one and it is great for new cats, cat sitting, or keeping a cat safely and comfortably contained. It has room for litterbox, food and water, small cat carrier without the door for a bed, to hide in, and to get up on, and they still have room. I got mine at Petco. I am attaching a picture of it.

You may want to think about getting another kitten for a friend for your cat. Cats need another cat to play kitty games with (that humans can't do), to snuggle with, and for companionship and company when they are alone. It is easier to care for two cats than one because it takes some of the pressure off of you to keep one kitten amused. One cat also has a tendency to be more destructive out of boredom. It's not good to have a cat too dependant on humans for companionship. Plus kittens can learn social skills behavior from other kittens.

I hope this helps.

Tabbi



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi. Thank you for the reply. My kitty is does actually have a feral parent- his father but we do not know what tom cat it is exactly. We have also taken our kitty in at a very young age of 3 weeks old. Reason being is because all the kittens were limited to moving in a cardboard box and was not able to roam at my sister and laws residence. She rents a room with her toddler and at the time she had a pit bull puppy. The mother cat had adopted my sister and law and is quite social yet is an outside cat and resided on the streets until she came across my sister and law. Occasionally the mother cat would try to relocate her babies outside and so due to that and the space issues my sister and law has I had taken him early. I am aware of the proper age they should be weaned but I was afraid that I would have a hard time catching my kitty if he was outside. Unfortunately all of the kittens but one was taken at an early age. The last kitten was thrown outside by my sister and law because it started to venture. Luckily the kitten had found a home 2 weeks after that. Today after receiving your reply, my husband had a friend over to test our kitty and his aggressive issues. We used treats and his favorite toys to kind of lure him. He actually was for the most part not aggressive. He did hiss a couple times but he did not circle our guest like a shark with his hair sticking up. He was bit timid but passive. He was very receptive to the treats and he ran up when there was a treat in hand versus the traditional calling by his name empty handed. He did really good and I am very proud of him. I am not sure if it makes a difference but my first guest who he had the issues with was my mom and well ... she is not much of a cat person. My husbands guest has a cat of his own. She is an older female spayed cat. I am not sure if my cat had noticed that scent of the female cat or not. Another issue that was brought to my mind after reading your response is regarding the dependent issues with humans. I think he has separation anxiety but I am not quite sure. There are times where we are outside and downstairs of our apartment and we can hear him scream for us. He also cannot stand being in a different room than us. ever since we have had him we made sure to be home a lot and have not taken a trip or visit that would cause us to be gone overnight. This is also partially my fault because I am a bit attached to him as well and cannot stand to be away from him for long periods of time. I am worried if I leave him overnight that he will be very vocal. I do not want my neighbors to be upset either. I was thinking of leaving a voice recorder on all day to monitor his vocal levels when we are away from him. What do you think about this issue?

Answer
Nicole,

It sounds like you won't have too much trouble with him learning to deal with people. It just takes patience!

Your mother may have some 'smells' on her from home that trigger a negative response from your kitty, or some smell that that she brings over that he doesn't trust as 'being safe'. *smile*

You are correct that he may have separation anxiety, and because of not being able to interact with another kitten and be able to judge their reaction to something, he has to make up in his own mind what he thinks is safe or not. Even if he is not vocal when you are away he still may have the insecurities of being alone and frightened, which is another reason for having a 'friend' for him. It will comfort him to know he has a companion and is not alone.

Tabbi