Rewarding a cat with a food treat for allowing brief, light stroking without signs of aggression may also be helpful. Over time, owners can gradually increase the duration of stroking, but with any sign of aggression, the owner should stop the petting and begin a cooling down period with no physical contact.
Get the Basics Down
Spend extra time with your cat, letting her see you not as her owner but as her friend, meal provider and guardian. If she's not coming up to you to say hi, be proactive: Walk over to her (as long as she's not super-shy) and lavish affection on her.
Providing them with something they love when the other cat is around or when they see the other cat. Typically, this involves giving the cats food or a treat! Play time, as well as grooming (assuming your cat likes to be brushed), can also lead to positive associations.
If cats are tussling, make a brief loud noise or create another distraction to separate them. Don't approach or touch them until they're ready. It takes two hours for an aggressive cat to calm down. As the joke goes, cats train their pet parents and not the other way around.
Common Reasons for Cat Aggression
Cats use aggression as an adaptive response to their surroundings—so chances are something environmental is causing them to feel anxious, stressed, or overwhelmed, leading them to lash out.
Separate cats that act aggressively toward each other and reintroduce slowly with positive reinforcement, as described in the Territorial Aggression section. Food treats are excellent positive enforcers of non-aggressive behavior.
Instead, your veterinarian may recommend managing the problem with feline pheromones, a ThunderShirt and behavior modification in the form of desensitization and counterconditioning. None of these things are cures, but they can help your cat be a little more chill in frightening situations.
Most of the time, this comes down to individual personality differences. However, some cats might be less affectionate because they didn't have enough socialisation with humans when they were young. A cat's behaviour and personality are shaped through an interplay of genetics and early experience as a kitten.
Most literature on feral kitten socialization suggests that kittens older than 8 weeks up to 6-8 months old, or even adult cats, can still be socialized and adopted, but they need more time and experienced attention.
Yes, they can! If you think your cat is upset with you, give them some space to calm down and give it some time. The best thing you can do is back off and show them that you recognize that you've hurt them and that you're going to stop doing what you were doing.
Causes of fear aggression include the cat's living situation and people's interactions with them, lack of socialisation, genetic predisposition, and a cat's general personality. Inappropriate human-cat interactions, such as a history of punishment, can lead to the development of fear aggression.
Cats hold a grudge. When a cat is mad, she wants you to acknowledge it. Some will act out doing such things as clearing the books off the coffee table, sumo wrestling a feline roommate, or emptying her water dish out onto the floor—all to get your attention.
Pet your cat, when allowed, and talk to them frequently so they get accustomed to it. They will already be associating you with food, which is a definite positive, and by stroking them gently and speaking softly, you'll make your cat more comfortable around you.
Aggressive cats can become more aggressive on catnip, while others can become aggressive when they see another cat playing with the catnip. While catnip can help reduce the anxiety that may lead to aggressiveness, it can also prevent them from behaving properly.
Redirected or Misdirected Aggression in Cats
That energy might be fear, excitement, the urge to defend territory, pain, or the desire to chase prey. Cats that are otherwise friendly might attack people or other animals in the home when they are affected by this.
Overall, our results showed that cats are able to integrate acoustic and visual emotional signals of a conspecific “hiss” and human “anger” and “happiness”. They also show a functional understanding of highly arousing emotions (i.e., cat “hiss” and human “anger”), regardless of the species that produced them.
The good news is, despite their reputations for being antisocial, cats love bonding and they do forgive and forget. So, if you're at a loss as to how you're going to rebuild trust and affection with your cat, don't fret.