Hi everyone, thanks for coming along to my webinar today. It is on cats versus humans. Why cats aren't the bad guys.
So this is a subject I feel very strongly about. So, I'm gonna take you through, lots of different examples of cat aggression, and we'll put lots of my experience in there too, so I'll be telling you about cats that I've worked with. So hopefully you'll find it useful.
So I'm Lucy Oyle. I'm, I am a cat behaviourist. I've been a cat behaviourist for almost 15 years, and I've worked with lots of aggressive cats along the way.
I feel very, very strongly that they're not the bad guys, and, so I'm looking forward to taking you through that today. So as an overview of what the talk will be about, we'll start with a little intro and then I'll go over owner expectations versus feline needs. And the main bulk of the talk will be on different types.
Aggression and traumatise them and how we would treat them, just keep it concise. Then I'll go into how to reduce aggression in the veterinary setting and to set you guys up for success when you're seeing cats in the in the vets and then just to conclude. So learning outcomes for today is firstly to understand why cats have such a bad reputation, like, why are they getting the like judged as being the bad guys?
We'll also talk about why aggressive situations arise, and we want you to be able to understand the different types of feline aggression because they do have different motivations and different ways of being treated. We'll also be talking about well you'll hopefully learn how to avoid aggressive situations in the veterinary setting and to appreciate that aggressive situations are not the fault of the cats. So just to start then, for me, aggression is like aggression to people is one of the most common issues I see when I'm working with cats and owners in their homes.
But I do like working with these cases because generally I tend to find that obviously there are exceptions, but there are cases where it is very easy to resolve aggression towards cats when it's day to day when it's happening at home, aggression from cats towards owners. Because often it's the people and the way they're interacting, that's causing the aggression. So it's not like we have to train the cat to do anything differently or that we have to teach the cat to accept things that they would normally like.
It is more to do with interacting with them in a way that they're happy with, and that that tends to avoid the aggressive situation happening. The problem is that by the time I come in, the issues are often very complicated. There's lots to unpick, there's lots of things that have happened along the way, and if we'd have done this consultation right back at the very beginning when you were first bitten or first scratched, it would be a lot easier to control and to undo and to get on top of than where we are now 3 years down the line when you've had a baby and now the cat's attacking everyone that comes to the house.
So I'll take you through how these things become more convoluted but I do like a aggressive cats because I do find that like they just need a bit of understanding and a bit of empathy. So aggression happening in the vet clinic is more tricky because you have to do things to the cat that they don't like. So, obviously you guys or anyone working in the veterinary setting, are.
Experiencing lots of aggression there and it's stuff that you need to get done, but you can't because the cat's been aggressive. So it does affect their care. It does mean that sometimes cats don't get the best veterinary care that that we would like to give because we just can't handle them or they, they aren't like amenable to what needs to be done.
And it puts family staff at risk too. Like, you don't want to be scratched, we don't want the vets that we take our own cats to to experience any aggression from our cats. So there is big risk there, and it's important that we get, we make the cat happy for both these reasons, to increase their care and to also make the experience better for everybody involved.
So it's not usually the cat's fault. I say usually because you can't just tarnish all cats with the same brush. So I wanna, I would never, well, I do feel like it's never their fault.
It's always like serious of unfortunate events or it's the way we're interacting with them, but I do realise that there might be some cats that, are particularly aggressive or are particularly tricky, so I just threw usually in there. But generally across the board, I would, I would say it's not their fault. So there is this reputation of dogs have own dogs have owners, cats have staff, or cats are the ones that are in control, they're in, they're in charge, top cat, like they have this reputation of like being aloof and being independent and not really actually loving anyone and just sort of using your house as their base and then just having their own independent lives.
So I think this is worse when you consider they're compared to dogs quite a lot. So dogs, they have this, they have such a social nature to them that they want to be your friend, they want to be with you, and obviously I'm generalising massively, but generally, like I know I can walk my dog, and if I was in a loop of the block, he would just come with me, and I wouldn't even need to call him because he just wants to come, he just wants to be with me or with his family. And I find that dogs tend to have that really nice way about them where they're quite good for the ego.
So they like come running over to you and they're wagging their tails and they want to be with you and they sit on you and or they sit near you and they wanna hang out with you. And it makes us feel good because we're a social species too, we like nature. The cats, they're still, if you have cats at home, then you'll know that they do show really positive nice friendly behaviours, like if your cats rubs their body or their face on your legs or on your hand when you hold out your hand for them, then that's just as like friendly and just as nice and just like good indication that your cat likes you and wants to be a friend and you have a good relationship.
So they do do these things, but it's much more subtle and if you're not a cat person, it's easy to overlook this, so it's easy to think like that little head bump that you got isn't as obvious as come charging down the stairs when you walk through the door and wagging their tails and being like, yeah, yeah, it's you. So it's easy to lump them into well it's easy to put them in the box of being like not friendly and aloof and not really caring about us and not having that relationship. So when we have this, well, they just fall into that category, then we start using difficult language.
So it's typical stereotypical language like spicy cats or frac being fractious, princess, being the top cat or being dominant, these things tend to come up time and time again with aggress, cats that are aggression. And I spoke to a journalist before and she's and she was asking me and saying like, oh my cat. My, my dog would take a bullet for me.
He's the, he's amazing. He would do anything for me. When my cat's a princess and she does her own thing and she, and I just thought this whole narrative that she just invented about her two cats in her household isn't probably isn't anywhere near true.
So we do tend to just lean into this if you cats are the bad guys. Another reason why I think this that fuels this is that the fact that they look scary, don't they? Like, if a dog's trying to diffuse tension, then they make themselves small and they want to be like, no, no, please don't hurt me, and they're trying to like appease you and be like, oh, or a dog or whatever they're wherever the aggression's coming from, but they make themselves look non-threatening.
Whereas for cats, they're trying to diffuse the attention, but they still look scary. So this cat here at the top is hissing. And hissing is always, is always a sign that they want whatever they're hissing at, they want that thing to go away.
So that's their way of trying to not appease, but just to fuse and to like get out of this. I don't want this aggression. I don't want to be involved in this conflict.
I want you to go away, please. They're hissing and they look scary. So lots of people will say that their cat, wants to attack them because they're hissing or growling, and I'm like, no, no, it's the opposite, they don't want to attack you, they want you to back off.
And lots of people will, I've had people in the past send me videos of their cat who's been cornered in a like in the corner of a room or behind the sofa, and the person has gone towards them with their phone to get the video for me. And the one particular I remember a guy in the background was saying like, oh, she's like a demon, she's like a demon. And I thought, well, you just give her some space because she's hitsing at you because of what you're, because of what you're doing, not because of anything she's doing.
She's not trying to hurt you. She wants you to go away. So even when they're trying their best, screaming at you to give them some space, they still look scary, they do look like little demons.
I could see where he was coming from. So this doesn't help, does it? It makes us, it does give us the impression that they're, they're not friendly when they're just trying to get themselves out.
So when we think about what we expect from our cats versus what they actually want from us, there's a massive discrepancy. Like, obviously this is a scale and there's loads of people that are super cat friendly, super tuned in with their cats and give them absolutely everything that they need and they have a lovely relationship and that's fine. But lots of times there are, there is a mismatch and it is difficult because you can't take a cat and make it fit with your expectations, they are what they are for the most part.
So where it's where it's, it's tricky is when people want a cuddly cat or super friendly cat, but they, they don't have one. They don't, that's just not what they have, so they want a cat that sits on their lap or they can pick up. And sometimes it can be quite challenging if you don't have that, and that's what you're desperate for.
They want cats that are tolerant, so they'll tolerate being picked up. They'll tolerate being snuggled. They want to be able to move them around from A to B without being scratched or without being hurt.
So like trying to get into a cat into a carrier, they want their cat to be OK with that, even though they're probably not gonna love going in there. They want them to be amenable to that and so that we can do with them what what we want. It doesn't really feel in keeping with what a cat is, they don't really like to be sort of bossed around.
They want cats to be playful. I've put that in quotes or inverted commas because I have a real issue with people playing with their cats in an in an inappropriate way. So if you play with toys, and even like low level play like.
You know, you're playing with your dressing gown cord, or things that aren't necessarily toys, but you can still engage with them in, in that sort of way, it's all fine. But lots of people tend to do really aggressive hands on play or really like, enthusiastic hands on play. So when you see people that grab their cats on the head and like wiggle them around or flip them over on onto their backs so they can rub their tummy and they scare them or they rough out, about that again later.
It's even. I Recommend it, I don't know I'll tell you about later on, but lots of cats don't like the past and they try to do that with the new cat they've got on their hands might find that this leads to aggression because. Not everybody wants to be thrown around that way.
We want a cat that's obedient as well, that does what we want, that doesn't be on the bed or goes out when we want to go out, go out, come out, come back in when we want them to come in and cats like to be in control, they like to do their own thing. So we generally need to make sure that what we're actually giving them is empathy, understanding and adapting to them and being respectful, because that, I think a lot of these things that are listed here, they don't fit into that one bit. It's just very coming from a very human centred approach.
So when we compare this to what cats need, they need individualised social interaction. So what I mean by that is that there's no one size fits all. Like I'm not gonna say to you, you mustn't pick up your cat, you must only straighten them for two seconds.
You must, like, whereas for some cats that is what you need. Like some cats will not be picked up, some cats will only tolerate a little bit of stroking. Oh, the cats, they, they love it.
So it, it does depend on the individual that you have on your hands, and you must understand what their specific needs are. So you can read all you, all you would like about how to interact with cats, or you can watch videos of other people, you know, like carrying their cats like a baby. It doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be able to do that with your cat.
And this cat in the picture here I just love because she's like the woman is really into it, but look at the cat, she's just like, oh God, well you just put me down. So, even cats that tolerate it, it doesn't mean they like it and it's not really respectful to to interact with a cat that way. So we must understand their warning signs.
They do give off warning signs, and I'm sure you've experienced cats that don't, but what I would bet is that they did right at the beginning, but they've just learned that these warning signs don't work. They like there there is have gone back their tails thrashing. They tried to tell you to stop and you didn't, or the person didn't.
And so now they don't worry about warning signs anymore. So we must make sure that we are, we are listening to their warning signs right at the beginning to make sure we don't change their behaviour going forward. Cats always need choice and control.
That's how we reduce stress, that's how we help them feel like they have some autonomy in their life and they're in control of things and they can choose to remove themselves from a situation that they don't like, or they can put themselves in a situation that they find. Because that's their choice. They can do that.
So if they like, adapting to you having children in the home, then it's their choice whether they want to be around that child, and sometimes they will, and if it gets a bit too much, then they won't. That, that will help them cope much better with stress rather than them being chat in a room with them or feeling like they haven't really got any choice in the matter. So this video, I found a lot of good videos.
So this one is just an example of, how we, how that we can get it so wrong. And obviously this parent and this kid are expecting their cat to basically just be a toy, a rag doll, like something to squeeze and cuddle, and in all fairness, this lovely cat, she's clearly not liking it, but look how tolerant she's been there, claws aren't even out. Eventually she gets up and goes because she's clearly being squished.
But there's no aggression there, and so that cat is being super tolerant, but this is not a good example and of how you should interact with the cat. And if I was seeing this cat for aggression and I asked the owners to send me some videos of how they've interacted in the past, if they sent me this, well, that would explain everything. That would be like, well, yeah, obviously this cat's aggressive now.
So . We just need to be very careful and just making sure that, where possible, we can align ourselves with what our cats need. So we don't want to expect too much from them and we just want them to, all we're expecting from them is what they're giving to us.
So if they're set up to, if they've not been well socialised, if they don't love all that hands on interaction, then that's all we expect from them. We we're meeting in the middle. Mhm.
OK, so we're gonna move on to the different types of a question now. So I've tried to group these into like scenarios where you would find aggression, but there are different motivations at play, different emotions at play, and you might find that they're called different things at different times. So, so I've started with predatory aggression or misdirected play cos they tend to be sort of the same thing.
Then we'll move on to redirected aggression and petting aggression, and then handling aggression. I've sort of put them in two different things because petting aggression tends to be like if your cat wants to be with you and you're stroking them, and then handling aggression is more like I need to get you into the carrier or I'm, I'm moving you around and handling you with away from any sort of stroking. Pain related aggression I haven't gone into today, but it's just there to make you aware that obviously if your cat's poorly, then they are much more likely to respond aggressively in all these scenarios.
So it could be that, they're less tolerant to, being picked up where normally they would be fine, but if they're in pain, then they're gonna, they're more likely to respond aggressively because it's hurting. So, that's just there, but I'm not gonna go into that today. So like I said, each, each are different, there's all different motivations at play and because of that, then they're they're all treated in different ways.
So starting with predatory and misdirected play, so this is something that looks very scary sometimes because if your cat is, if we're looking at predatory aggression, then it looks, it looks horrible. Like it looks like your cat's hunting you when actually when they play, that looks exactly the same as when they hunt. So you'll see things like they'll be stalking, so they'll be like crouched down, they've got that wiggly bum, and they'll pounce and chase.
And grab a bite, just like they would if they were hunting something. So an example here is when like you would have be under the duvet at night and you'd move your leg around and they would chase your ankles and things, which loads of people do, and it's not normally a problem, but for some people that is a problem, like their cat might do it overnight, or they might do it to such an extent where they're hurting. And if you put your foot out of the duvet and they catch you, then that can be really painful.
But also here I have put in like playful kittens. So I'll show you a video in a minute of like cats that play when you're seeing like bunny kicking and like when they're grabbing their front paws and they'll pull your arm over and then they'll bunny kick with their back feet. So they are being playful and it's not like they're trying to hurt you, but it can result in a lot of injuries.
So it can vary on how severe they are, so some cats are just playing, sometimes the claws aren't even out and they're not biting hard and they're really inhibited, then that's not so much of a problem, although I would still really not recommend. And other cats, they probably go for it. So especially if you're like exacerbating things, so like for example, if your cat's over your arm and they have, they are bunny kicking in their back feet, if you shake your hand or try to wind them up, which lots of people do, and it annoys, it annoys me, then everything gets more intense.
So they're gonna bite that much harder, they're gonna kick that much harder because suddenly it's got too much for them and now they can't really do anything. They can't get out of this situation. So, it can vary on how severe it is, but.
Here there's no intention to hurt anybody. It is part of the fun, unless they're trying to escape because you're playing a bit too hard, then generally there's no sort of . Malice there, there's no aggression really, it is just part of the game.
It is stimulated by movement, so if you're just like the problem is when you're trying, like you don't want to play, but then you're walking to the loo in the middle of the night, you're probably gonna get ambushed because it's part of like it is stimulated by movement and that's the only thing that's moving around at night. This is quite a problem as well in multi-cat households. I know we're not talking about cat cat aggression today, but there is the problem of one cat will be a moving target essentially walking around and then there's the other cat that's being aggressive will be like, oh, something to chase, and then that that fuels a whole different problem.
But, predatory and misdirected play is definitely something that is a big issue for cats. There's not normally any vocalising here, so you shouldn't see any hissing, you shouldn't see any growling, no aggressive vocalising, so that can sometimes be a good indication as to what we're dealing with here. And the emotion at play is mainly frustration.
So it is like there's a lack of stimulation, there's nothing else to play with, so I might as well play with you. And there is an element of learning, so particularly if you've encouraged it as kittens or or a person has encouraged it, playing with kittens with fingers, you know, fingers are fun to chase, but we're setting up bad habits and now they just know, or they've learned that hands are toys and they're fun to play with and toes are toys and things like that. So there is a lot of learning involved.
There are a few predisposing factor here so previous lifestyle. So for that, I mean, it could be their socialisation and where they've come from a litter. If they've been in a particularly big litter, then they would have played for 12 weeks solid, they would have played with their litter mates.
And then if they can't can't suddenly find themselves in a very quiet and calm environment with like an elderly couple and they're on their own, then that can be quite difficult because where's all this energy gonna go that they've been primed for. So sometimes you can find that that's quite difficult to manage. Two kittens are always better than 1 in that scenario.
The environment is a predisposing factor too. If it's particularly boring, if it's particularly like unexciting and for indoor cats particularly, then the the inside environment is their whole world, so all their stimulation has to come from there. So if it's, there's nothing there, then you're going to find this is much more of a problem.
I've put age and breed here, so age is just if you've got younger cats, then it's more more prevalent, particularly one around sort of 10 to 18 months when they're big, but super playful, that's like a bit of a danger zone. And breed in that some are just more active than others. So, like your Bengals or I have a Cornish Schreck and he's quite, he was always more active than my other fluffy mog and just a bit more athletic and a bit more sort of enthusiastic with play.
So you might have to bear that in mind if you're dealing with a particular breed. So this is just an example of . Sort of misdirected play.
So this cat here is just biting some toes. So obviously from a cat's point of view, that looks really fun and it's something that's interesting to, to try and catch and try and bite. So this cat's not being, mean, they're not being naughty, but, and you can't see any sort of aggressive body language here, like the years go back, but the ears go back in play as well, and it's just playful, so there's nothing to worry about there, but obviously that could become a big problem for the owner if, if they carry on.
This one is, is a sort of, well, it's really common for kittens for them to behave this way. So, oh, I don't think that, was that the whole video? I'm sorry if that was being cut short, but there is the problem here that people tend to sort of let this happen when the kittens are younger because it doesn't really hurt.
And these, there's a lot of scratches here, but they're quite superficial, aren't they? They, they're not very deep and that probably only happened in like one or two play sessions. So this person is, is tolerating this behaviour, probably thinking, you know, it's a kitten, let's just let this play out, whereas actually once that kitten grows and does exactly the same, then it will be in trouble for petting and then these scratches will be much deeper and someone will come to me and be like, I'm covered in scratches because of my kitten.
And it will be because they've been doing it from when they were litter when it wasn't an issue. So, again, this kitten's not doing anything wrong, definitely not the bad guy, how can this adorable kitten be doing anything wrong? It's just, this is totally normal kitten behaviour, but we need to make sure we're handling it in a, in a suitable way.
So, I went to see a kitten a couple of weeks ago and this was my hand when I left, because the kitten I'd seen was a single kitten in a very, very calm household and that I was only there for an hour and a half, I think, and he was absolutely relentless and his owner was saying to me like, he's, he's naughty, he's he's a devil cat, he's, it's awful, he hates me. And was really struggling with it, but I, I was literally sitting there like this is totally normal, I'm so sorry because this is what you're gonna have. But this is normal, and we spoke to how to deal with it, and I was, I had like a whole load of toys around me that I, he was so easy to redirect, which is a good indication that there's nothing more to it other than he wants something to play with and there's nothing around.
And as I was talking to her doing all this, then he was obviously seeing my hands being like, OK, something to play with and something to jump on. So, so yeah, it's, it's very easy to resolve if you're, if, if you get it early enough and if you can, if you know how to deal with it. So complications with this sort of issue, this is where these complications is where it gets where it gets complicated, but I mean where it's more difficult to resolve.
So if we encourage it, then it's gonna get much worse as they get older. If we put up with it again, it's gonna get much worse. It will become a learned behaviour.
So once your cat is 2 years old and still doing this, not only are we having to deal with the fact that he needs extra stimulation. But now we have to teach him that actually hands are not for play, they're for strokes or they're to be ignored. So when you go to try to stroke your cat, after two years of just playing with hands, you'll probably find they turn around and try to bite you because they're like, yay, we're playing.
So it's just, I guess here I'm just flagging the fact that it's not as simple as it seems and sometimes we're dealing with more than just one issue, but predatory or misdirected play is like the underlying cause and now we have to figure out what sort of complications have have come into play along the way. Punishment is something that I guess it's relevant to every, every aggressive cat, because most of the time, I would say people have tried some sort of punishment to stop this. Like maybe it's intentional, maybe it isn't, but you could, like, it's things like tap them on the nose and tell them no.
Or like raise your voice or like things that we might think are quite low level for a cat or for a kitten are going to be quite startling. And there are people that will properly punish, so they'll throw them away or like throw them down onto the floor, or they will smack them or they'll try something like, how can I get this to stop and they might move into sort of punishment. This is very, very risky because what do you think will happen if your cat's trying to play with you and you smack them?
Clearly they're gonna start actively being aggressive. So then we're we're introducing a new emotion here, fear, because it started off as just play and I was like, oh I was just playing and it was fun and I've done that for 6 months and it's not been an issue, and now it is an issue. But now you smacked me, so, oh, I don't actually like you anymore.
So this is where you might find that they do start hissing, they do back off, they are showing signs of being a scared cat, and they begin to, their trust begins to break down, so they're not going to trust that person anymore because that person's not very nice to them. So again, it becomes much more convoluted and we're not just dealing with misdirected play now, we're dealing with a big problem. I'll tell you about a case that's similar to this in the moment, more in the redirected aggression one, but, yeah, I would say we definitely, like if you're, if you're in the behaviour world and you're investigating an aggressive case, I would always probe a little bit about punishment and say, like, how have you responded to this in the past?
Because it's really important to flag whether or not that's been a, an issue. So treatment for if it's simple, misdirected play or predatory, then they need immediate redirection onto something else. So as soon as your kitten grabs onto your, well to be fair, as soon as they've grabbed you, it's it is later than we want.
We want, as soon as we notice like the stalking, the, the locking eyes, the wiggling bum, as soon as you see that, that's when we need to be like, no, you can play with this, so we need to be waving toys around. We need to be making the toys much more fun than us. So the Kong do like a really good kickaroo toy, which is fab for this because it's like the same width as an arm and they can properly like bite down on it and grab it, whereas toys that on like fishing rods are good for them to chase something around so you can run all that around the house and they can properly chase something.
So have a think about what sort of different things you could use to redirect. Because we basically want to stop it from happening from now on, 100% of the time, if possible, like is that realistic? I don't know.
But we, we need like a massive handful of toys ready at the moment we see him wiggling his bum, ready to pounce. We're there to be like this is what you do. So it's still lots of fun, but it's it's not happening on us.
Also, I would make sure that that cat has plenty of appropriate stimulation in other areas as well, because we don't want him to be initiating the play every time because you will find that he'll be like, oh, if I just chase that ankle, then you'll play with me. So we need to make sure that there's plenty of stimulation the rest of the time, regular play sessions throughout the day, so he is getting lots of play time and, how else can we keep them stimulated. So for that kiss and that I, that here that scratched my hand.
The lady who owned him was considering having outside access. So I would never push someone in that direction because it's very personal choice whether you let your cat outside or not. But she was in two minds, and we, we did have the conversation of it will be a massive help if he can go out.
So, she has let him out and it's almost completely resolved. Like there are some times where he grabs, grabs her, arm or her leg or whatever, but she knows exactly how to manage that and it's happening a lot less. So.
There's sort of two issues to deal with there, that's the redirection of it happening and making sure they're stimulated the rest of the time. I would also say that how the person responds is important as well. So it's because it's the movement that sort of gears them up, then we want to make sure we're being very still, because if you don't know that, once your kitten grabs you or cat grabs you, it is the obvious thing to try to shake them off or to be like, no, no, no, get off, get off.
So that just makes everything a lot more fun for them. So we just want to keep nice and still, slide something in between you if you can, like a toy, to get him onto that. And then have a good play session with him there, so hopefully that's helpful to anyone that's dealing with this issue, but it is quite an easy one to resolve once you know what you're dealing with.
Oh, OK, yeah, so, so punishment, so I've gone on about punishment already, but here's an example of, I'm just guessing because I just found this video on like a stock website. But if we look at how this cat responds, I feel like there is some level of punishment here. So like, it's just the curtain that that's moving.
But just the way that he sort of pursues her makes me think that there's a lot, like he's quite confident with it, but I guess even like the way she rolls them over, you could take that. Or maybe leaning into rough play to offensive aggression with cats because their default is to run away. So if they're scared, if they find themselves in a, in a situation where they need to be aggressive, generally they will tend to avoid you.
Whereas once they've moved to the position where they're actually actively coming to get you, there's lots to unpick there, and I would say that that's probably, been some sort of punishment in that. I'm not saying that this lady is on perfectly trying to hurt him, but The way that cat perceives the situation, that is a punishing event, like he did not like being rolled over like that, and we don't obviously know what's happening most of the time. OK, so moving on to redirected aggression, so essentially this is when your cat wants, like it is bothered by something, but they can't get to it.
So they're in a state of like high arousal and they're feeling uncertain, they're feeling unsure. And then we might disturb them or they might be pent up and then end up redirecting that aggression onto us. So, this cat isn't being aggressive here, but it is a very good example of when you should not try to stroke your cat or pick them up because, I guess it's different because he wants to hunt this pigeon.
It's not like he wants to attack it, or does it? Like, I don't know how that would work, but sometimes you can see this when it's like there's another cat outside, so. That's probably the most common I would say.
Most common scenario is when a cat sees another cat out through the window and they're showing this sort of body posture, so their tail's flicking, you can see the tension in the body. The fur is rippling a little bit, and you know that cat's super pent up and so if you were to try to interact, you're gonna get the reaction there, so it is gonna be redirected. I've got a slide on this, I should probably go on before I just talk through it all.
So what we're looking for, or how you know it's redirected aggression, is that it tends to happen in a specific scenario. So they will be focused on the target outside or have been, and then they've sort of wandered off and now they're, they're pent up, but they're sort of wandering about. So if that cat gave up looking at the pigeon and went to get some food, they might still be in that mood and might not be up for any sort of interaction.
So it's quite common in multi-cat households for this to be redirected onto another cat cause they're often crossing paths and things like that. So you should notice signs of tension. So in that video we noticed the tail swishing, they should be hypervigilant, you'll notice tense, and they might be vocalising.
You might probably not hissing, but more like you might notice like a low level growling, particularly if it's it's towards another cat. So this, this is where you do not want to interrupt your cat. The aggression tends to come when they're disturbed or surprised or they receive any sort of unwanted attention.
So it is a reactive form of aggression. It shouldn't be the case that they will then go and find something to attack, although I guess that could happen, but I think there'd be more to it there. So it might be that they already have quite a bad relationship with another cat in the household, or they already have quite a bad relationship with you, and that they might, you might find that.
They not come to attack you, but they it's more likely to happen because you haven't got that relationship already. Injuries here can be severe because it is like a reaction. It's like a, almost as if to say, look, I didn't mean to do that.
I didn't mean to hurt you. So, you'll probably see a swipe, bite or they might chase. But it's not a scenario where you should see any sort of stalking or like, anything that you would imagine to see with the more predatory pression.
The emotion here is fear and frustration, so they're generally scared by what they can see outside. That cat hunting the pigeon, I wouldn't say is scared, but if it was another cat, then you'd imagine there'd be fear there and frustration of not being able to get out there. Like for some cats, it might be that they could get out there if they wanted to.
So the cat flat might be open or available, but, they, they, they're not brave enough. So again, there is frustration of like, I wish I could go and do that, but I, I would never because that cat out there is super scary. So there's a lot of like mixed emotions here and a lot to take into account depending on the individual that you have and how they feel.
So pre predisposing factors here is previous experience, so how well have they been socialised? Are they OK with other cats outside and previous life events? So if they've had a great big fight with the cat outside, then you'll probably find that you'll experience this a lot more.
Current environment, so how many stresses are in the household? Can they see cats from outside? Is there anything else that they're, they're feeling unsettled by, but they can't do anything about it?
Age, age. Why did I put age? I think I would probably take age out.
I think I've probably left that in. But just thinking about whether that is, is the case, I think this could affect your cat at any age, to be fair. Breed, some breeds are more sort of territorial than others, so you might notice some of the hybrid breeds like the Bengals, if they, if they see another cat out there, they might be more motivated than like your rag dolls or your more sort of laid back cats.
An illness again, so if they're poorly, then you might find this happens a little bit more. Complications with this is punishment, so don't, don't punish them for it because again it could lead to all the issues that we said before, but generally there doesn't seem to be any more complications with this. It just is one of those things where you're in the wrong place at the wrong time.
So treatment for this is to leave them alone, like if you notice they're they're in that mood, then just give them a wide berth and let them calm down. We want to reduce the presence of the actual stressor, so like if you, if it's a cat outside, then we want to get rid of them, like for that pigeon, if we could place something on the outside of the window sill so pigeons weren't landing there. Then that would help with with that.
Or we can help them cope. So if you cannot get rid of them, or if there's no way of stopping cats from entering your garden, then you might want to make sure they've got like high resting areas so they've got the vantage point and right at the top, or you could frost the window to make sure that they can see outside and things. So, again, that's very individual, but we need to deal with both sides, so it's helping them feel better about that or cope with that sort of sort of stress, and then just not bothering them when they're in that sort of mood.
So moving on to petting aggression, something I'm sure lots of people are familiar with. I've got a couple of examples here. It's hard to find exactly what you want, isn't it?
I should put together a big collection of videos, but this cat in her defence, is not being aggressive at all. But you can tell she's not really comfortable and she's just sort of getting a bit fed up. And this is what I mean like, what, why are we expecting this to be OK?
Why would we think that that's all right to do for a cat? It's just, I don't know, it just feels like I would say this is sort of a, it's not following that like respectful mindset that we want to have towards cats. Like if your cat loves it and you know they love it, and so you're noticing that they're, sorry, that if they're snuggling into you and they're looking up at you and they're asking you to pick them up and they're very, very Like, happy with that, then that's fine.
Like I say, I wouldn't be like, never pick up your cat. But if you notice they're struggling to get down or like they'll stay, but only if you squeeze them just tight enough that they don't, like they're they're still, then that doesn't mean that they're enjoying it and it's not really something that I would encourage. Lots of cats in this scenario will scratch and they will, struggle to get down and they might end up like trying to climb over your shoulders to get back and so you can end up with scratches even if they're not actually trying to hurt you, they're just trying to get off.
This one is quite similar in that like, well that you might expect to see like this cat's just being stroked but it didn't want to be stroked, it didn't ask to be stroked. It's not showing any sign that it actually wants to be stroked. So that was a quick video, wasn't it, but.
I think we can learn a lot from what cats are trying to tell us and they're a lesson in consent, aren't they, like, we just want to make sure that they're actually up for it before we just go in for a stroke like that. So, so yeah. This cat is, I mean, she doesn't even really do anything that bad, does she, but she just doesn't want to be straight with them.
So when we're doing a petting aggression, so here I specifically mean like cats that like you and they want to be with you, but then they scratch you. So it's not like in the same, it's not, I've I've separated this to like handling. So if you try to pick up a cat and to put it in a carrier, then it might scratch you.
That's different to sort of this, thing. Because what I find is that people say things like, he comes over to me, he wants to be straight, he comes and gets my lap and then he bites me. So this is, is quite a complicated problem again, they all are, aren't they, but this tends to happen in response to human interaction.
So again, it's a reactive behaviour. There aren't really many cats that come, like, like actively come and hurt you. It's to do with us.
So again, like how can you label them as the bad guys if the fact is they don't want to be stroked right now and you just stroke them anyway. That's not, that's not on them. So, so they might come over, they might be asking for stroking, they might come sit on your lap, but then what do you do then?
What happens then? So some people, like I watch them as I, as I sit and chat to them and their hands are on their cats and they're talking and they're like patting them and they're rubbing them and like they're squeezing around their necks and like stroking their heads, and it's just so, so, so full on that eventually the cat's like, well you just stop. And so you'll notice that they might get bitten, or they might just get off, or they might swipe out.
So it's like if they could speak English, it's as if they would say like, oh I wanna sit on your lap, but I just don't want that. Can you just not stroke so much or like, I wanna be here because I want to be with you and I like you and I, I want that physical interaction, but I just don't want so much of it. So normally you will notice that there were or or are warning signs.
So these are, these are signs of frustration. So the tail might start to flick, so it's probably not gonna be thrashing around like in that other video, but you might notice the ends start to flick and their ears might go back, it might just be one ear that just sort of turns around and is like, what, what's happening back there? You might notice the furs rippling on the, on sort of the lower part of their back.
They might nip and that they might not bite properly, but just sort of sharply turn around or put their teeth on the hand to say like, oh, you know, I don't want to get off, but I don't want you to do that anymore. They might tense up, they might try to leave or just get off, and there's usually no vocalising here, so this is when people will say like, oh, there were no warning signs. It's cos it's not super obvious, but there are little signs that actually they're not so comfortable.
What sometimes happens is that, like I said before, they can decide they're actually, and there's no point showing all these warning signs, and they'll bite straight away because that's the only thing that will get you to stop. And so in these situations, this cat does bite with no warning because you didn't listen, right? They, they did all that and you didn't listen.
So now we're just gone straight to the, the biting. So here you'll probably notice that it will be a bite or a swipe, they might grab out with their front paws, like if you reach towards them to try and stroke them, they might grab you with both paws and they might do that bunny kicking things. So once they've grabbed, they might, if they managed to like get into the right position, they might bunny kick with their back feet.
Injury is not too severe normally because like they're not scared, they're just irritated and they just want you to stop what you're doing, so it's not like they're trying to hurt you or they're not, it's not fight or flight, they're not, . Fighting for their survival, it's just, I've had enough of that now. So the emotion involved here, generally frustration, I would say some cats, like if they're scared they wouldn't really come on you, would they?
So, but if, if you're super mean to them, then they fear might come into it, but generally it's frustration. Some cats are annoyed, and I, other cats get quite excited, so that's cats that get overstimulated. So your stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke stroke, and they're loving it, loving it, loving it.
And then eventually they're just like, Ah, like, I can't cope with this anymore. And so you might notice that they bite in this scenario. So we want to keep them quite emotionally regulated.
We don't want them getting super emotional in either direction, like, annoying them too much, or getting them too overstimulated and too excited. Here, previous expenses are a predisposing factor. So what are they used to?
What do they like? What do they want from you? Like, have you, have they lived with some previously who did all that loads of hands on stuff that they didn't like because they'll be less tolerant to that now, were they handled properly when they were lit it all, and so that's, gives you some idea as to what they'll they'll expect now.
Behaviour of the person. So some people are dog people, some people aren't really tuned into what a cat needs, and so they might try to interact in a way that you would interact with the dog, like a cat on the head, or, I, I don't know, I'm not a dog person, but it's not the same. So, how the person behaves towards a cat is, is a.
It's practise. It's always the case, isn't it, where people that don't like cats tend to be the the one that the cat goes to because they're not really paying them any attention. They're just looking like they're not trying to get to engage.
And so the cat's like, Oh, OK, I'll hang up with you because I'm not gonna get too much attention at once. Age and illness, both factor here, so older cats, they might be less tolerant of just any of that like picking up and too heavy too too much heavy handling and illness again, just less tolerant to things that they might have tolerated before but didn't really like. Now they're just not gonna tolerate it anymore, so you will get a bite or a scratch.
Complications, I think I've probably said so ignoring the warning signs again is not great. Punishment is gonna complicate things and we'll make them avoid you, we'll make that install that fear, which we don't want. Rough play, I think maybe here's a good time to talk about rough play because, it's one of my like ultimate, I'll say bugbear, but I feel like it's more serious than that because it's dangerous to play with your cat in a, in a, in a rough way.
. I think I have a video of that. Oh yes, here we go. I'll go back to that side in a second, but this is what I sort of mean by rough play.
It's just like, just this isn't even that rough, is it, but it's like. Annoying and what I see like in this scenario is if this man was to or lady was to sort of put their hand over their cat's face and just rub a little bit. Then it's this sort of stuff that that I feel sets them on the wrong path.
So I have a story of someone that I thought, so it's the only time that I've been attacked by a cat is when it was a couple and they played with the cat in such a rough way, like super rough housing, and they were send me videos going like, oh, here's me playing with, I've forgotten her name even, but here's me playing with the cat. And. She's loving it, is what they thought.
And they even sent it to me as if to say, like, look how much she loves being played with. And, and one example is like, she was down on the side of the sofa and they were reaching down towards her with their their hands like this, like, oh, and she was like flying up at it, trying to like be like, ah, it's coming towards me. So, obviously this hadn't been a problem for them all along, but in the video, her behaviour.
She was absolutely screaming at them to not do that because her, like, you know, when you see a Halloween cat and she sort of turned to the side and her fur was all on end and it is right back and she was sort of startled and she was hissing and she was like, ah, and then he was like flipping her over and doing all that stuff. So she hadn't hurt him in any up to any of this point. But then later we were back in like, we had a redirected aggression situation.
So the reason they called me in is because this cat has seen a cat through the window. And then had attacked the female owner because she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and the aggression was absolutely intense. It was so severe.
She was like savaged all up her leg, the cat had like flew at her leg, scratched and bitten and went again and again and again, and then the lady was like panicking and running around being like, how, what, what am I supposed to do now? So my interpretation of this is that it was because of all the rough play leading up to this point that. Because now she wasn't playing, because she was seriously upset and it wasn't, and it was different to the play she'd had up to this point, that everything was just much more intense and she was not playing, which might have been sort of down here, like in terms of intensity, but it was serious aggression.
So her, it was up here, so it was very serious and it was more than she was doing the rest of the time. So, so when I came in, I sat down and because she was super friendly, because like this sort of interaction wasn't anything out of the ordinary other than the redirected depression, she was still herself, she was still confident, so she wasn't hiding and she came and she walked behind the back of the sofa, and then I got a bit scared because I was like, oh no, she can attack me. So I got up to move away and I couldn't have because as I got up, she flew at my foot.
Obviously I scared her because I stood up. And I was sort of looming, well, I wasn't looming over her, but to her I was sort of looming over her. So just it's just a very difficult combination of cats when you have a friendly, confident cat that's well rehearsed at biting, that's used to like chasing and biting skin and.
I used to having her buttons pushed and more and more. So, her scale just wasn't like you would expect of a normal cat. She didn't really have that like runaway type mentality.
Anyway, that's my story, but, it's just a very series of unfortunate events like I said, that resulted in a really aggressive situation. She's doing fine, yeah, she's OK. So treatment of this affecting aggression is to, well, understand the cat that you have, like, what are their thresholds and understand what, what the limits are, how long can they tolerate stroking?
Where do they like it happening? And is it that they just want to sit on you but not be stroked? Ask consent before you straight them, so hold your hand out towards them, let them sniff you and see what they do.
They just wander off and they don't want to be straight. If they rub their head on your hand, then they're up for it, so there you go. Now you know.
Give them lots of breaks and sort of repeat that like every few seconds and see if they're still up for it or not. Like when you've got your own cat in your house, you'll know this, you won't have to do this all the time, but you'll have a gauge the more you do it, like, oh they, they love as much drinking as they can get, or they have got a threshold where they've only, they can only do it for 10 so minutes. And focus on safe areas.
So lots of cats don't like their tummies being stroked or like that bit that's sort of like at the end of their back before it goes up into the tail. That's quite a problem area for some cats paws and things. Like, don't really stroke them as part of a stroking session because you'll probably find that they don't like it.
Oops, so I've got so much more to cover and not much more time, so I'm gonna sque squeeze, whiz through things but so here we're talking about aggression from unwanted handling or interactions, so basically. This is when we have to do things to cats that we don't want, they don't want us to do. So again, this is a reactive behaviour, it's in response to the stuff we're doing.
So when we want to restrain them, even if we're coming too close to them, like that's too close, I don't want you any closer, or we're trying to chase them around to get them in a carrier or whatever it needs to be, needs to be done. So, they won't, they won't approach us and they're actively trying to get away from us and we're perceiving them. That's, that's like the problem area.
They do obviously show warning signs like they'll be very clear, so they'll be running away and hiding, like little eyes under the bed sometimes, and you'll probably notice that their furs on end, their tail's thrashing, or it might be tucked right under. I'll do that sort of weird shape it does. I've got a picture in a moment.
Their ears will be pulled right back, eyes dilated, so if I see a cat whose eyes are dilated and they're sort of hiding, I always just feel so sorry for them cos I'm like whatever's happening in that picture needs to stop because that cat is not comfortable. Often they're trying to leave, so they're panicking and they're trying to like run everywhere trying to get away, and they are normally vocal, so you might notice hissing or growling or yelling or all of them. But any sort of aggressive vocalising, that cat's not OK, and it doesn't mean they're trying to hurt you, it doesn't mean that they're being horrible.
It's like they're desperately trying to escape the situation, so we need to help, help them do that. Don't judge them, help them. So here they might bite, swipe, grab, depending on what you're doing.
So if you try to reach out to them, then you'll probably find they'll swipe at you or they might bite you. Injuries from trying to escape, so, so like, like I was saying, if you try to pick up a cat and it runs up your back to try and get off the back, then you'll probably have scratches from their back paws and cats don't scratch with their back paws because that's not like they're their feet rather than their hands. I don't know if that's the right explanation, but.
I've never known a cat scratch with their back feet. It's just that they will leave deep scratches if they're desperately trying to get away and they use you as their escape route. So if you, if you find anyone that's got deep scratches on the back claws, that was an accident only, they're just trying to get away.
So injuries here are usually very severe cos there's lots of fear involved and they are a very emotional situation and there is flight or fight or flight. I've lumped in frustration here as well because if you can't get out of the situation, then it would be frustrating, but I think overwhelmingly it's fear in this situation. So previous experience, again, is another predisposing fact they might have been abused in the past, they might not be socialised.
So that's gonna set them up for this sort of scenario. Again, it's the behaviour of the person, like, can we get them in a carrier in a different way, or can we, can we, like if it's trapping or something like how can we do that in as cat friendly way as possible. Age and illness again, it just makes them very intolerant and there are have been cats that have had a sudden change, so they were super friendly and then all of a sudden now they're the most aggressive they've ever been, there's normally some sort of medical issue involved there.
So it's a very hard situation to deal with because you've got to keep yourself safe, but there you need to speak to a vet ASAP. And I've put here that breed will affect the level of injury, so it won't make any difference. Like, well, as far as I know, based on like breed characteristics, but if you're dealing with a strong muscular breed, then the injuries will probably be much more severe.
I've just got savannah in mind. I know there's not many about yet, and I hope that there won't be because of this sort of issue, but if you have some of the more larger breeds, then just because the claws are bigger, because the teeth are bigger, and because they're they're more muscular, then the, the risk of injury is just much higher. So complications here is that stress affects the how so if they're already stressed, they're gonna have a much lower threshold for aggression.
So like if they live in a stressful environment, then you'll probably find they become aggressive much more quickly. It does make it worse for next time. So the very first time they go in a carrier or they have to be examined or whatever, whatever we have to do to them, then if that goes terribly, then that's gonna set them up for a, a bad experience next time because, again, like, they'll know what's coming, and, they'll know it went terribly and it probably will go terribly this time.
So I want to make sure that, we set them up for for long term success. Here I've just added in a few examples of sort of more complicated cases that that you might come across, but I don't know how I didn't want to put them as separate, but it sort of feeds in here. So nursing queens, they will tend to be aggressive or maybe aggressive to you if you, because you might be a threat to their kittens.
So again, it's because we're approaching, it's because we're getting too close for comfort. But that's an additional motivation is that it's, it's hormonal and there's lots of different factors in play here. Feral cats, there are lots of people that try to tame feral cats or sort of, yeah, rehabilitate them, and it can happen, but lots of times it doesn't happen and although they might trust you, they might not trust people.
So there can be scenarios when a vet tries to examine a feral cat, then that's not happening because the, obviously it's feral and it's not had any sort of interaction with people when, when it should have. Unsocialized cats is quite similar. It's just that they, in the important window between 2 and 8 weeks, they didn't get all that interaction that they needed, so they're just less tolerant to this sort of like people activity, and that makes total sense.
And scared cats, again, this is just an example of what I was showing you before. So, this cat is very scared, and someone might interpret this as this cat being horrible, or like, Oh yeah, that cat's a nightmare, like, it's hot, like really, really horrible, then this cat is just scared. So just back off, just leave them be.
And then let's try and find a way that we can help. Whatever we need to do to it, let's find a way that we can do that that works for them. OK, I'm gonna whiz through reducing stress in the clinic because, it wasn't really the focus of today's topic, but I do think it's important.
So obviously, when you, when a cat is taken to the vet, that's prime place for aggression to happen because, well, because of lots of reasons we'll go through. But if, if we can help reduce the stress that they experience all along the way, then we can reduce the threshold of of how much they can tolerate before they're aggressive. So, if you think about the cat's experience, when by the time they get to the clinic or, or meet the vet, they've had so much stress in that they've had to go to the carrier, into the carrier, they've had to go in the car, they've sat in the waiting room, and now they're being examined, so often the vet, it's the vet that will get like, all of that aggression.
So if we can work on everything leading up to there, then the vet will be in a much better position and the cat will be much more relaxed when they get there. So, to reduce the stress, so first of all, we want to make sure that kittens are appropriately socialised and habituated to the veterinary process. So that is all with the breeders, because most times now we get our kittens between at 12 weeks.
So between 2 and 8 weeks of age is when the, the kittens will need to be socialised. So this is relies heavily on the breeder or the rescue. Depending on where you get your kitten from.
So between 2 and 8 weeks of age, we want to make sure they have met a variety of people. It's not just the people that live there, it's lots of people, because you might find the vet is very different to the people that live there. So we want to make sure they're used to different people of different ethnicities, different, like, as I say, different voices.
Do you know what I mean? Like, say if you have, a very loud booming voice compared to like a soft voice, that's gonna scare that kitten. And so just lots of people of, of all different varieties.
And they need to be handled for at least 40 minutes a day in total, so short sessions and handling in a way that's gonna replicate the veterinary examination. So looking in their ears, touching their paws, looking in their eyes and just getting them used to that sort of, sort, sort of interaction. We need them to be used to carrier travel, going in and out the carrier, so that should be out and the kittens should be familiar with that and car travel as well, so.
I'm not, I don't think I know of many breeders that take their cats out into the car other than when they're going to the vets, so, but what I would recommend is just going out and hanging out in the car for. Couple of minutes, that's all it takes, giving a few treats and then coming back in. Again, you could turn on the engine one time, you could just drive around the block one time and then come back home, so they're they're sort of familiar with that and it's not an issue and it's not really on the radar or something they need to be worried about.
Administering a medication to, so making sure like even just putting on flea stuff, so making sure that we can restrain them, clear this fur on the back of the neck and, and pretend to drop something on there, then that can get them used to having that later down the line, which obviously is something that they'll probably do throughout their lives. So for owners, we can provide a stress-free home, and then I've just taken you through the pillars here of a healthy beeline environment which you can find at ISFM. So #1, provide a safe place, number 2, to be fair, you'll probably notice these are relevant in all with all types of aggression.
So you provide multiple and separated key environmental resources, so if they feel like their resources are not readily available or if there's any competition for them, or they're hard to get to, then that's gonna increase stress and lower their tolerance for aggression or when they get to aggression. Provide opportunity for play and predatory behaviour that will help with your predatory aggression. Provide positive, consistent and predictable human excuse me, I'm just gonna have some more, sorry.
So pillar number 4, provide positive, consistent and predictable human social interaction that will help with your petting aggression and your handling aggression. And provide an environment that respects the importance of a cat's sense of smell, so like things like making sure your carrier is in the house so it doesn't smell like the loft or the garage, that can really help. Carrier training is super important, then making sure that cats aren't stressed as soon as they go into the carrier.
This is something that I think for most cats is where the stress begins, it's when the carrier comes out and they're like, oh my God, I know exactly what's happening. So leave the carrier out, make sure that it's not something that's alien to them. Make it comfortable, so put some of their natural bedding inside that they have already at home, that's already smells like them.
And I've put choose the right carrier because it can help to have one that you can take the lid off so that you can, you guys or vets can examine the cats in the carrier. Car travel, so we want to desensitise them, but, but without making it, we don't want to overwhelm them, so I wouldn't be like, yeah, go and take your cat out in the car every day for 10 minutes a day, because that'll be too stressful. But, building up some resilience to that, and again, like I say, break it down into each scary element, so you're switching on the engine, just a short journey and then hopefully they'll be more resilient when you actually take them to the vets.
Owners can also desensitise to procedures and medication, so they can gently restrain them and then just let them go. So it's not like at the at the clinic they have to be restrained and then the stuff has to happen, like whatever it is they haven't done, it's just like they have that restraint and then nothing. So that's a lot more easy for them to manage and to to feel like, oh, OK, that's not so bad.
Make it enjoyable depending on what the cat likes. So, if, if I use my example, my example, my cat fig, down here on the left, he, is diabetic, so he has his, Insulin injections twice a day, and we've made it such an enjoyable experience because he loves the attention because he is a cat that likes a lot of strokes and things, so we do that, and he literally comes running over ready for his little cuddle, which is really sweet. And at the very beginning, I was giving him a little piece of ham, a little piece of ham at first, do the injection, then another little piece of ham as well.
So for him it became a really lovely time. He did have to have the injection, but as far as I could see, he didn't really notice it. I'm sure he did, but it didn't bother him.
So we can use things like this, depending on what the cat likes, we can use things to desensitise them. One thing I did notice was Fig was quite nervous from the pot. You know, when like, I don't know if you know, when you take off the top from the needle, it's like a little like I guess airtight sort of thing, and then when you take it off, it just pops.
And he didn't like the pop, so I could see his like, he would do a little start. So I was just like going around popping it all like 10 times a day just so that he was used to that and he didn't have to do anything. I wasn't doing it right next to him, but I was just getting him familiar with that.
So it's very individual, but there are things you can do to help, desensitise and reduce that stress. So when it comes to the vets, I would refer you over to the cat friendly clinic. I've, I've pilfered a few pictures from their website.
I hope that's OK. But then this is the stuff that you, if you work in a vet clinic, then this is what you can do there. So a separate waiting area for cats, raised areas to keep them off the ground, use some pheromone therapy.
Give them the option to wait in the car and encourage it if you need to. That's what I always do, just because, I mean, the fig's fine at the vet, but sometimes there's a noisy dog in there, sometimes there's a dog that isn't the owner isn't quite keeping it much control over. So, even with the option of putting him on the chair, I'll still just wait in the car and they'll be like, oh, I'm here, can you just, come and get me when you're ready.
So if you know that you're dealing with a particularly difficult cat and you're thinking, oh no, this I'm dreading seeing this cat today, then ask them to wait in the car because that can really help keep those stress levels down. If your practise allows then that you could have a separate entrance for cats, try to keep it quiet, but I know that must be much more difficult than it seems, and give out that advice, you know, like tell them not to let people interact. So like a two strangers having a chat with their dogs and cats next to each other isn't going to be great for the cats, and they might not really realise there's anything going on.
In the consulting room, it's useful to have separate ones for cats and dogs. Again, that pheromone therapy, a non-slip table so they're not sort of sliding around. Give them a hiding place if it's practical, even if that's the carrier, and block any nooks and crannies.
You don't want them getting stuck anywhere if they do sort of make a break for it. And in the hospital ward, we want separate rooms for different species and barriers in place to it, so they don't see each other. For cats particularly, it's the eye contact between two cats that can be particularly intimidating, so make sure they're not getting any of that.
Hiding places inside the pen, including the carrier can be really useful, especially if they, the that carrier is out at home. And you can add a high place in there as long as you know they're not gonna launch at you when you try to open the pen. The therapy again as well in that.
So when it comes to handling, then make sure that you're giving, you've got enough time to do the consult, which again I'm sure is easier said than done, but we want to make sure we're giving them lots of breaks, lots of opportunity to bring their sort of, I was gonna say give them time to like compress, decompress again, even in the moment, like a little bit of handling and then stop, and then a little bit more handling and then a break so that it's not sort of building, building, building, there is sort of time for it to come back down again. Use rewards again depending on what the cat likes, it might be treats, it might be a little stroke, depending on what they like, and let them stay in the carrier. I've got a video of that in a sec, like if it's possible to do the appointment in the.
The carrier, then, then do that. If, if it's not then obviously that's not an option but it is useful where you can. And know the cat's history, so talk to the owners what's happened previously and if you're expecting aggression then you might know to put some extra things in place just to make sure you're prepared.
I thought of avoid getting the job done. I know that again is another thing that's easier said than done, but sometimes like if it's a case that you've got to pin them down and get it done, that the next time it's gonna be much more difficult, so it's not gonna be helping them long term, even though in the moment then you'd have got what you needed. And I've just been here to use appropriate and accurate language, so don't label them as being spicy or being difficult or, oh, you know, they've got this nightmare cat coming in because like they are stressed, they are worried, they are, they, they do need that empathy and that understanding that's gonna help you, hopefully help you feel differently towards that cat and the way that you treat them and the way that you handle them.
So I, I just love this video because their cat is so desperate to get back in there and like, I don't know anything about this. Obviously that cat could need anything done, it could be super poorly, and, but just look how desperate he is to get back in. And that carrier is the perfect example of as well of, of, of a good carrier, because there's quite a big, a good, a good amount of space in there that you could hopefully get a lot of examining done while they're in that.
And, oh look, he does a little hiss there as well, so he's clearly uncomfortable and not really, in the right frame of mind to be handled, and she might find it would be easier if he, if he was able to stay in the carrier. So, that's, that's it really, so just to summarise that they, they really are not the bad guys. I like I say, I can't think of a scenario.
I'm sure they exist, but I can't think of any scenario that actually it's the cat's fault. It's always the way that like what we expect from them, the scenario that we put them in. And the way that we're interacting with them, be it because we don't know better, or because it's something that we just have to do because they need treatment.
So, when we take all that into account, it is so easy to, to give them that compassion and that understanding and that respect, that's something I would just sort of. If there's one takeaway, we just need to respect them. We need to respect that they're not a social species.
They're not, like, there's a lot of trust there, the fact that they even live in our houses, they're putting a lot of trust in us, and we just need to make sure that we respect that and, and don't sort of push them too far. So if we can give them that, then it will lead to better care for them, both veterinary care and also day to day. They'll have better quality of life if we've got a much better understanding of what they need.
And a better experience for us, we'll have much more loving cats and much less aggression going forward in all different scenarios. So thank you again for coming, thanks for listening and if anyone does have any questions or wants to talk anything through, then my email address is on screen now. So I'd welcome any feedback or any questions.
I'd love to chat, but thanks again, bye.
