How to Help Your Horrible Housecat

So your cat seems to pick on you, your kids, the other cats, the dog, or whoever. In fact it seems to be just plain mean. That can be a problem so how do you fix it or adjust things so that you can live with it. Before you can fix it you need to figure out why the cat is mean. I have always had cats and bred Somalies (see picture) for over twenty years. I have never had a mean cat. In fact I don't think I have ever met a mean cat. Perhaps they are just not mean with me.

While some people would only buy a pure bred dog, because you can predict the disposition, they don't realize that the same thing is true of pure bred cats. When I first began showing cats in the late 1960's Russian Blues were generally considered at best difficult to handle, at worst mean. Today cats of that breed are sweet and loving. The breeders worked at it. If it is at all possible when you pick out a kitten, meet the parents. Not the people parents, but the feline parents. What a kitten learns from its mother is part of what forms its behavior. One of the reasons that a cat might be mean is its heredity. It will be harder to change that behavior, but not impossible. You will just have to be more patient.

If your normally nice cat has suddenly turned into a fearsome feline, first be sure that the cat isn't sick or injured. Pain, a fever or an illness of some kind will make even the nicest of us mean. So put the cat in a carrier and take it to the vet. You may have to wrap it with a towel over its head long enough to get it into the carrier, but for heavens sake don't take it loose in your arms. That is begging for problems on the trip as well as in the waiting room. The vet might be able to help you out if your senior citizen has become senile too. There are some medicines that will help calm the cat, but your vet will advise you about that. If your cat has not been altered, hormones might be part of the problem and again, your vet can handle that.

If you have ruled out health, then you should look at what is different in the cat's environment. An older cat might be very unhappy with a new kitten, a young child, or even an adult, pestering or teasing it. If your cat suddenly bites someone, you need to look at what the person was doing. Why did the cat feel threatened? If it has no claws, then its only defense is its teeth (although I have heard of people being slapped hard by a cat with no claws). Was there someone in the cat's past who mistreated it? Perhaps the person that it attacked had characteristics that were like that person. If your cat doesn't want to be around a particular person or animal, don't make it. Give it a way to escape to a place it feels safe. Tell your friend that your normally nice cat is not in the mood. Maybe it will come around later to see what is going on.

Is there lots of confusion, noise or something that makes the cat afraid? Try to help your cat by calming things down. If you are having noisy visitors, plan in advance and give your cat an out. Put a litter pan and water and food in a bedroom and make it off limits to company. If your cat is normally interested in company, give it a way to get away from the company when the company becomes too much. We have a cat tree that is on a platform built over our back door. The cats can get to it by the narrow bridge pictured. We can get to it by a tall ladder. When there are children here, the cats go up there and watch. While that isn't a solution for everyone, there are high spots in most houses, like the tops of furniture or on a tall bookcase.

I have heard of cats attacking their owner's legs as they walk through a particular room. This is stalking behavior and fun for the cat, but no fun for the people. The behavior needs to be stopped, without making the cat afraid to go near its owner. This problem has a three part solution. First the cat needs to have something else to stalk. A "cat toy" on a string, being pulled along gradually, or a feather can provide that. Telling the cat "NO"or "SHAME" in a deep, displeased voice when the cat attacks and stopping right where the attack happens is better than chasing the cat around the house. The attack may only be a bid for attention and bad attention is better than no attention. Obviously giving the cat attention when it is being nice is the other side of that coin. When there is no reward for bad behavior, it will stop.

Another situation that sometimes arises is that a cat which is being petted and seems to enjoy it, suddenly turns around and bites the person petting it. This cat has been over-stimulated. This behavior will repeat itself unless the petter changes how they pet the cat. Slow down. Stroke the cat, praise the cat, take a breath and repeat. If you scratch the cat until it is very excited, don't be surprised if you get bit. If however, you were calmly petting the cat, then look for something that is hurting the cat. Some cats don't like to have certain parts of their body petted. They will bite at you when you get near those places. They have to really trust you to allow you near those places.

If you have tried everything so far suggested with no success, then you need to patiently and slowly try to modify the cat's behavior. Give it a safe place. Speak softly. Use food as a reward for good behavior. Don't try to force the cat to do anything. Most importantly be patient. We had a very shy, skittish cat. As she grew more confident that we weren't going to eat her, she became more friendly and started to actually enjoy being around us. It took about a month for her to approach us on her own to be petted. It is hard to force yourself not to grab the cat and tell it that you aren't going to hurt it, but that will destroy all the effort that you have put into teaching the cat that you are to be trusted.

Good luck at helping your fearsome feline to become the loving cat that will make it and you happy.