www.roanoke.com

Paws & Claws

Jill Bowen has practiced veterinary medicine in England and Texas. She lives in Blacksburg now, and answers local pet owners' questions every week in The Roanoke Times and roanoke.com.

Recent columns

• Bacteria can cause ear infections in cats
• Chiari is a malformation of the back for some spaniels
• Your plant smells like a great spot to ...
• Sting salve: meat tenderizer

Q I think that we are going to have to get rid of our cat because she has become very aggressive toward several family members, biting them on the ankles when they sit and refusing to get out of a chair, hissing, spitting and striking at them. I am the only one she seems to tolerate, probably because I feed her. She is a 3-year-old spayed tortoiseshell who can be very sweet and affectionate when she feels like it. Any ideas on why this Jekyll and Hyde personality?

A There are several types of feline aggression; the type you describe is typical of dominance aggression where cats use threatening behavior to get their way. These cats are usually confident, friendly and social, but become aggressive toward people in order to get what they want.

Initially they become mildly aggressive when they want attention, food or your lap. Over time they will start to attack whenever they feel neglected.

Other members of the family are viewed as fair game, and it is common for these cats to lunge at people as they pass by in the hallways, or to mount surreptitious attacks from underneath the furniture.

Such cats do not appreciate being corrected and hitting and yelling will make matters worse. The most effective deterrent is a squirt from a water bottle, particularly if the cat does not see you. Eventually it will be sufficient to merely pick up the bottle. A soda can containing pebbles that make a loud noise when shaken or rolled toward the cat is often enough to stop the obnoxious behavior.

These cats do give some warning signals before an attack. Usually there is excessive eye contact with the pupils widely dilated, followed by an open-mouthed hiss and a front paw raised with the claws extended. At this point discretion is the better part of valor; remove yourself until the situation has calmed down. Avoid aggression by avoiding confrontations, think of those situations where your cat has become aggressive and avoid them where possible.

There is also a learned part to this behavior, and Nicholas Dodman of Tufts veterinary school thinks that petting-induced aggression and dominance/alpha cat aggression are the same. The cat's behavior escalates from biting or scratching when being stroked to full-blown aggression.

Watch for the warning signs of petting aggression such as dilated pupils, restlessness, flattened ears, sideways glances at your hand and the twitching tail. Before your cat strikes, stop stroking, stand up, tip her off your lap and walk away. Do not allow the cat back on your lap or to sit beside you until her manners have improved. If this petting aggression is avoided, then it is less likely for it to develop into the unpleasant dominance aggression. If this aggressive behavior has become ingrained in your cat over a long period of time, the possibility of rehabilitation is much reduced.

Cats that are permitted to go outdoors are less likely to show this behavior because they develop other interests by being able to play outside.

Make sure there is no physical or medical reason for this behavior. Cats that are in pain can react in this way, so a visit to your veterinarian is warranted.

From anecdotal evidence it seems that tortoiseshell or calico cats may be more likely to show aggressive behavior than cats of other colors. When I was in veterinary practice, we tended to be a little more circumspect when handling tortoiseshell cats, as we knew that they tended to have a short fuse and did not care for being handled by strangers. My daughter has had two tortoiseshell cats that exhibited the same behavior patterns as your cat; one eventually settled into being a very happy barn cat appearing twice daily to be fed and petted, but it still allows no grooming.