Feline Aggression Towards Humans

Help for Feline Aggression

• Stop doing the things that trigger the cat.  For example, for cats with petting aggression, don’t pet them.  You can often recognize body signs that cats show when they start to become annoyed.  Their eyes narrow, their ears swivel sideways, they look over their shoulder at the culprit, and their tails twitch.

• Teach the cat to obey a command using the clicker method which is conditionally rewarded with a treat.  This will achieve two things.  It will give your cat something to focus on and it will teach him or her to obey you.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q787R2DNDJI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6wgbCmaD8o&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P_XgJpUTis

The following video is for clicker training your cat to go to a mat but you could use the same technique to train your cat to go to another room (say for example when she/he

is showing signs of aggression). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2sKw33iX9I

• Exercise!  Spend at least 15 minutes twice a day exercising the cat with a favorite toy, such as a laser light or feather wand.

• If your cat is biting or scratching you, remove yourself from the situation and ignore the cat.  Often cats are looking for a reaction from you.

• Prozac and other medications can help with severe forms of aggression.