Guide to cats – Affection and Aggression

1st September 2016

Domestication and Territory

Pack animals like dogs have a hierarchy and have developed a series of appeasement behaviours in order to avoid conflict.  Cats, being highly territorial and solitary hunters by nature, have different ways of interacting with one another and in dealing with confrontation or aggression.

Before cats were domesticated, population densities were lower, with little need for appeasement, so the absence of this behaviour trait today can lead to stress when they are overcrowded. This is sometimes the case with confined cats, in a multi-cat household.

Keeping their distance

Cats don’t normally sit or lie close to one another unless they are part of a group and even confined house cats will often keep a respectable distance apart, possibly only coming together at meal times. Bonding does happen and owners will sometimes see their cat’s head rubbing or grooming each other.

Human Bonding

Cats often form a strong bond with their owner (or a particular member of the family) as they regard them as part of the cat group. They approach with the traditional ‘tail up’ greeting, hand rubbing and scent marking on legs. Some will be happy to settle on a lap with a contented purr or even sleep with their owner.

Mealtime Aggression

Mild aggression often occurs around meal times, frustration about being confined to the house or territorial violations such as ‘cat A’ occupying the favourite chair or bed of ‘cat B’.

This is usually nothing more serious than a raised front paw accompanied by a bit of growling or hissing. Rarer would be a planned and targeted attack towards another cat, which would crouch low with head drawn back and ears flattened ready to defend itself.

Cats can also become aggressive or fearful when ‘cornered’ with no escape route and are likely to come out with all claws blazing!

Once bitten – twice shy!

For this reason, dogs are often more respectful of cats than they may at first seem; a cat chased up a tree by a dog, will merely wait for the dog get bored and leave, then climb down again, however, if a cat is chased by a dog onto the top of a fence, with no ability to climb higher, the cat will feel cornered and fearful and possibly attack the dog in revenge.

In the case of confined indoor cats its always a good idea to give them high places of refuge such as shelves, wardrobes and window ledges.

Next time: Introducing a new cat to the home

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