I AM ACTUALLY LAUGHING SO HARD I AM CRYING SOMEONE GET ME THIS BOOK
Romina / 21 / Sydney, Australia
Studying Animal Science / Striving to become a dog behaviourist
Um, I can't think of anything to say that'll make you think I'm cool, super witty, and hilarious
so...that's it
I AM ACTUALLY LAUGHING SO HARD I AM CRYING SOMEONE GET ME THIS BOOK
vetstudent-microbiologymaniac:
Numerous types of aggression have been identified in cats, including the following:
1. Aggression owing to lack of socialization
o No human contact before 3 months of age—cat misses sensitive period important for development of normal approach responses to people; if not handled until 14 weeks of age, it usually is fearful and aggressive to people; if handled for only 5 min/day until 7 weeks of age, it interacts with people, approaches inanimate objects, and plays with toys.
o Lack of social interaction with other cats—may result in lack of normal inquisitive response to other cats
o These cats are usually not normal, cuddly pets; they may eventually attach to one person or a small group of people; if forced into a situation involving restraint, confinement, or intimate contact, they may become extremely aggressive
2. Play aggression
o Weaned early and hand-raised by humans—cat may never learn to temper its play responses; if not taught as a kitten to modulate responses, it may not learn to sheathe claws or inhibit bite; bottle-fed cats may be over represented
3. Fearful or fear-induced aggression
o Fearful—cat may hiss, spit, arch the back, and hair may stand up if flight is not possible; combinations of offensive and defensive postures and overt and covert aggressive behaviors are usually involved
o Flight—virtually always a component of fearful aggression if the cat can escape
o Pursued—if cornered, cat will stop, draw its head in, crouch, growl, roll on its back when approached (not submissive but overtly defensive), and paw at the approacher; if pursuit is continued, cat will strike, then hold the approacher with its forepaws while kicking with the back feet and biting
o If threatened, cat will defend itself; any cat can become fearfully aggressive
4. Pain aggression
o Pain may cause aggression; with extended painful treatment, cat may exhibit fearful aggression
5. Cat-to-cat (intercat) aggression
o Male cat-to-male cat aggression associated with mating or hierarchical status within the social group; mating also may involve social hierarchy issues
o Maturity—in peaceful multi-cat households, problems may occur, regardless of sexes in the household, when a cat reaches social maturity (2–4 years of age)
6. Maternal aggression
o May occur during the period surrounding the birth of kittens (known as the “periparturient period”)
o Protection—queens may guard nesting areas and kittens by threatening with long approach distances, rather than attack; usually directed toward unfamiliar individuals; may inappropriately be directed toward known individuals; as kittens mature, aggression resolves
o Unknown if kittens learn aggressive behavior from an aggressive mother
7. Predatory behavior
o Occurs under different behavioral circumstances
o Normal predatory behavior develops at 5–7 weeks of age; kitten may be a proficient hunter by 14 weeks of age; commonly displayed with field voles, house mice, and birds at feeders; may be learned from mother; more common in cats that have to fend for themselves; if well fed, cat may kill prey without feeding on it
o Aggression—stealth, silence, heightened attentiveness, body posture associated with hunting (slinking, head lowering, tail twitching, and pounce postures), lunging or springing at prey, exhibiting sudden movement after a quiet period
o In free-ranging groups of cats, when a new male enters, he may kill kittens to encourage queen to come into heat (estrus)
o Inappropriate context distinctions about prey—potentially dangerous if “prey” is a foot, hand, or infant; cats exhibiting pre-pounce behaviors in these contexts are at risk of displaying inappropriate predatory behavior
8. Territorial aggression
o May be exhibited toward other cats, dogs, or people; owing to transitive nature of social hierarchies, a cat aggressive to one housemate may not be to another if its turf is not contested
o Turf may be delineated by patrol, chin rubbing, spraying, or non-spraying marking; threats and/or fights may occur if a perceived offender enters the area; if the struggle involves social hierarchy, the challenger may be sought out and attacked after the territory is invaded
o May be difficult to treat, particularly if the cat is marking its territory; marking problems suggest a possible underlying aggression
9. Redirected aggression
o Difficult to recognize and may be reported as incidental to another form of aggression
o Occurs when a aggressive behavior pattern appropriate for a specific motivational state is redirected to an accessible target because the primary target is unavailable (e.g., cat sees a bird outside the window and is demonstrating predatory behavior; person walks behind cat and cat pounces the person, possibly biting the person); cat may remain reactive for some time after being thwarted in an aggressive interaction
o Often precipitated by another inappropriate behavior or event; important to treat that behavior as well
10. Assertion or status-related aggression
o If unprovoked, most frequently occurs when cat is being petted; a need to control all interactions with humans and when attention starts and ceases; cat may bite and leave or may take hand in teeth but not bite
o May be accompanied by true territorial aggression where specific areas are patrolled
o May best be called impulse control/dyscontrol aggression
o Exact syndrome is not well defined or recognized
11. Idiopathic aggression
o Rare; poorly understood and poorly defined; unprovoked, unpredictable, “ toggle-switch” (turned on and off) aggression.
(Source: Blackwell’s five-minute veterinary consult: canine and feline)
Image: badcatbehavior.com
Cooper, a 3 year old munchkin cat, was brought in after vomiting a 20cm long ribbon, 13 elastic hair ties, and pieces of tape. The first image is one of the initial radiographs taken which showed several foreign bodies present in Cooper’s stomach. He showed no signs of distress or pain when his abdomen was palpated.
The vet administered 3 mL of a hairball laxative to help pass the hair ties through the intestines. After an hour, another set of radiographs showed that it was unsuccessful. Cooper soon vomited 3 hair ties, long pieces of string, a hairball, and some confetti. However, the foreign body was still lodged in the pylorus. The remaining hair ties and pieces of ribbon were removed during exploratory surgery.
And THIS, my dear friends, is why you listen to your vet when they tell you to keep your recently spayed cat as calm and still as possible.
