 Although owners often report a cat attacking out of nowhere, cats often exhibit subtle changes in body positioning before launching into an actual act of aggression. These postures may be a clue in pinpointing the trigger for the aggressive behavior, as well as a much-needed warning before future attacks. Defensive postures are intended to make a cat look smaller and position herself in a protective manner. These postures may include, crouching, flattened ears, turning away from the hissing, swatting at you, raised hackles, or a tucked hat. A defensive cat is often experiencing fear or anxiety about a situation that may or may not be apparent to you. You can be the recipient of fear-based aggression even if you're not the one causing the anxiety. Play. Rough play is common and natural among kittens and young cats less than two years of age. Despite the playful intentions of a cat, however, when such play is directed toward people or becomes overly rambunctious, it can cause injury to people or damage household items. Play aggression is the most common type of aggressive behavior that cats directly toward their owners. It involves typical predatory and plays behaviors, including stalking, chasing, attacking, running, ambushing, pouncing, leaping, batting, swatting, grasping, fighting, and biting. It's believed that through play with each other, young cats learn to inhibit their bites and sheath their claws when swatting. The degree to which individual cats learn to inhibit their rough play varies, and those who were orphaned or weaned early might never have learned to temper their play behavior. Other factors that can contribute to play aggression are long hours spent alone without opportunities to play, and if pet parents encourage their cats to chase and attack people's hands and feed in play. Redirected. Redirected aggression is probably the most dangerous type of cat aggression because the bites are uninhibited and the attacks can be frightening and damaging. Unfortunately, it's also a very common type of feline aggression. Redirected aggression occurs when a cat is aggressively aroused and agitated by an animal or person he can't get at, because there's a window between them, for example. Unable to get to the trigger of his agitation, he turns and lashes out at someone, person, dog, or cat, who is nearby or who approaches him. There can be a considerable delay between the initial arousal and the redirected aggression, as long as ours. This is why cat parents sometimes describe this kind of aggression as unprovoked or out of the blue. They weren't even aware of the initial trigger, for example, a cat outside who passed by 30 minutes before the attack. A redirected attack occurs only if an agitated cat is approached or there's someone close by. The cat won't go looking for someone to attack. It's not a malicious or even intentional type of aggression. It's almost like a reflex, done automatically without thought. This is why it's never a good idea to break up a cat fight or approach an agitated cat showing defensive or offensive aggression postures. Some common triggers for redirected aggression are watching another cat through a door or window, watching more stalking birds, squirrels, or other prey animals, smelling another cat's odor on a family member, a visitor, or clothing, coming indoors after getting outside if the cat usually lives only indoors, hearing high-pitched noises, being frightened or harassed by a dog, having a person intervene in a cat fight, being in an animal shelter, surrounded by the sight, smell, and sounds of other cats, petting induced. Some cats enjoy being petted, held, carried, and even hugged. Some merely tolerate these activities with their owners, or they like being petted but not carried. And a few don't like being petted at all. Petting induced aggression occurs when a cat suddenly feels irritated by being petted, nips or lightly bites the person petting him, and then jumps up and runs off. This type of aggression isn't well understood, but behaviorists think that physical contact, like stroking, can quickly become unpleasant if it's repeated over and over. Repetitive contact can cause arousal, excitement, pain, and even static electricity in a cat's fur. Imagine if someone rubbed your back but, instead of moving his hand all over your back, he rubbed in just one spot, over and over. That could quickly become unpleasant. Your cat might feel the same way, what started out feeling good is now irritating, and he wants you to stop. This type of aggression is more common in males than females. When your cat signals you to stop petting, the best response is simply to stop. With careful observation of your cat's communication signals, you'll usually see warning signs, such as quickly turning his head toward a person's hand, twitching or flipping his tail, flattening his ears or rotating them forward and back, restlessness, dilating pupils, pain-induced and irritable. Pain-induced and irritable aggression are triggered by pain, frustration, or deprivation, and they can be directed toward people, animals, and objects. Any animal, including humans, can aggress one in pain. So even a well-socialized, normally docile cat can lash out when he's hurt when someone tries to touch a painful part of him, for example, to medicate his infected ears, or when he's in pain and he anticipates being handled because someone is approaching him. Cats with aggression problems should always be examined for underlying medical problems, especially painful diseases such as arthritis, dental pain, and abscesses from fighting. A painful punishment is not only ineffective for changing cat behavior, it can also trigger pain-induced aggression and worsen other types of aggression, like fear and territorial aggression. Body postures will usually be defensive. Maternal. All mothers have instincts to protect their offspring from potential danger. Maternal aggression can occur when a mother cat, called the queen, with her kittens is approached by people or other animals whom she perceives as a threat. It's more often directed in other cats, but it can be directed toward people, too. Queens can be quite aggressive when defending their young, especially in the first few days after birth. For this reason, it's a good idea to avoid handling kittens during the first few days of their lives. Hello. This video is sponsored by Beemix Pets. Are you looking for high-quality cat collars at an affordable cost? Check out, BeemixPets.com. Use coupon code KittenLife, to get 20% off. Idiopathic. The classification of idiopathic aggression includes any type of aggression whose cause can't be determined or explained through behavior history or medical exam. Cats with this type of aggression can attack their owners violently. They may bite repeatedly and remain in an aroused state for long periods of time. Redirected aggression must be closely considered and ruled out as a possible cause before a diagnosis of idiopathic aggression is made. These cats are dangerous, and pet parents of such cats should carefully assess their quality of life, as well as the safety of those around them. Predatory. Cats are predators, and predatory behaviors are completely natural and highly motivated behaviors for them. Many experts don't classify predation as aggression because its purpose is to obtain food, unlike other types of aggression, which are responses to conflict. Cats are superb hunters. They use their acute vision and sensitivity to high-pitched sounds to locate their prey. They hunt insects, reptiles, rodents, young rabbits, and birds. Most cats specialize in rodents, such as mison voles, but a few become good at killing birds. When a cat detects potential prey, his predatory sequence of behaviors starts with silent stalking, watching, and waiting for the perfect moment to strike, his rear end might wobble from side to side and his tail might twitch. Then he'll finally sprint toward the prey and strike it with his front paws. If he's successful, he'll deliver a killing bite that all cat species use, he'll bite the prey at the back of the neck to sever the spinal cord. If your cat likes to watch out the windows, you may have seen him become focused, twitch the end of his tail, and move his mouth to make a strange chattering sound. When cats do this, it's because they've detected prey that they'd like to hunt. If you enjoyed this video, kindly press the like button. 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