Hello, thank you very much, Bruce. It's a pleasure and thank you very much, to webinar vet for inviting me to speak to you all this evening. I hope you're all well.
It's lovely to be here and I'm going to talk to you this evening about understanding human directed aggression, in the home, and this is all about cats. So, hopefully you'll enjoy this. Now, you may be saying, oh my goodness, I wish we could be talking about human directed aggression in the veterinary practise.
We're not going to be talking about that, today, but I will touch on it just at the end, because I feel I need to give you, a little something, so a few tips. For those of you who've heard me speak before, you'll know that I really like to focus on, practical tips that you can use straight away in practise, things for you to think about. I don't know whether many of you have, helped your clients with cases of, human-directed aggression in the home.
You may even, I hope not, be experiencing some problems yourself with your own cats. But hopefully, this will be a useful presentation for you. So I'm going to start first of all, by talking about aggression in general, how we categorise it, how we think about it, and what motivates it.
And we're going to look at the incidence of aggressive behaviour to humans, in the case load of clinical animal behaviourists, in various parts of the world just to get a handle of how prevalent this problem is. Then I'm going to talk about how you can, talk to your clients about the aggressive behaviour, how you can find out details, take the history, risk assess. And so on and so forth.
And then in, in some cases when it's appropriate, what sort of advice you might be able to give that will do no harm. And towards the end, I'm going to mention a little bit about prevention, how you can help by educating your clients to prevent the problems from happening in the first place. So, let's just look at the prevalence of this.
Yes, human directed aggression is one of the, top 10 common reasons for referral to a clinical animal behaviourist, but it is not, so high a number as we see in house soiling, for example, or cat to cat aggression. I just picked a year of my own case load, bear in mind it's completely feline for my behaviour practise. 2014, 8% of the total caseload was related to human directed aggression in the home.
In the APBC some full members gave all their stats to the APBC in 2012, and in that caseload of the feline cases, 5% were human directed aggression, and Rachel Casey's case load from 2012, the same year in her referral practise was 13% of the feline case load. So you can see it it's, it's there, it's hovering around the sort of low tens. So over that period of 10 years in Cornell, although the caseload of cats decreased over the length of that study, actually cat to human aggression cases increased, which is interesting.
And in Barcelona, again, a long study of, of the cat cases they saw over an eight-year period. 336 cases, 17% were catch human aggression. And that's really interesting because also speaking to a veterinary surgeon in Portugal and talking about the relatively, the relative frequency of one type of problem behaviour over another.
They don't see many cases there of cat to cat conflict because it's considered to be normal, so people don't see it as a problem, but there is a zero tolerance, for cat-human aggression. So, you know, there's all sorts of reasons why this would be the case, I'm sure. So when we look at aggression, I think we've got to be kind to the species that we love so much, and we shouldn't be surprised.
That we see aggressive responses, because they are a normal part of, predation and play and social conflicts. And the species is self-reliant. They are a solitary hunter.
So physical, conflict is something they want to try and avoid. So I think we have to, again, keep that in the back of our mind and say that when we are attacked by cats. That is absolutely the last resort for them.
They've, they've looked at every other option, and we've left them, we've left them no choice. Bruce, if you can go on to the slide that that says consequences of aggression. Right, you can see a, a, an injury here, a typical sort of injury.
Why do we worried about, why do we worry specifically about cat to human aggression? Well, you know from your work in practise, you will see a lot of cat bite abscesses. And you know that there are pathogenic bacteria present in the cat's mouth.
So when we do get a bite, it is quite likely that we will get some sort of infection as a result of that bite. And there are, there's certainly the risk of consequences and complications in children, the elderly. And those with a, a suppressed immune system.
So we can't take these things lightly. And I'm sure many of you will have been bitten at some point in your, career, and it's something that, can be quite debilitating. Next slide, please, please.
So one of the things I just want to talk to you about is a very practical label is how you talk about aggression, how you listen to your client's description of aggression. Now I'm, I'm seeing this knee here, and I recognise this knee, and you'll see that there's 4 little scabs on this gentleman's knee to represent the 4 canines and where they punctured, and that was a bite from his little female black and white cat. And she was looking out of the window, pulling faces at a cat outside the patio window, and he went over to pull the curtain over and say, Well, if you don't like him, don't look at him.
And as he moved, she launched that attack on him and he actually ended up in hospital on intravenous antibiotics. So, you know, don't underestimate cats and what they can actually do to us. And we'll talk a little bit about why that cat cat may have behaved in that way, in a moment.
So, some aggressive behaviour will cause injury. From teeth and or claws. So it, it's worth saying, to your client when you're talking to them.
You know, what is the extent? Can you describe the injury, so that you get a better idea? Some people will say, yes, he bit me, and they'll have an indent in their skin.
Others will say it's not so bad, and the hand is sort of swelling up as we speak. So to try and get as much information from your clients as possible, but some will exaggerate and some will make light of something that could be potentially serious. They may be talking about aggressive posturing, flattened ears, the, the hair going up on over the spine and over the tail, and a lowered body posture, or staring posture.
That can be very frightening if you've seen this in your own home, when somebody else's home, that in itself is, is scary. So, they may be describing, that to you. Next slide.
Also aggressive vocalisation, hissing, growling, staring, all of these things, can be very frightening. And if any of you have read any of my books where I talk about Some of my not quite so successful, consulting, episodes, you will know that I have been prevented from leaving a room, by a cat just looking at me in a particular way. So, so again, don't underestimate, the power of a cat that that just looks at you in the wrong way.
And the next slide So what we must bear in mind is aggression is not a temperament trait. I, I, I get sort of quite upset when people say that cat is an aggressive cat, because I don't think that's very helpful. It's not part of their makeup.
And aggression in itself is not a diagnosis. If a cat is being aggressive, it is a consequence of something that lies underneath. And so in order to understand what that something is, we have to understand the context, when it happens, how long it lasts for, how frequently it occurs, and how severe, the results of the aggressive behaviour are.
Next slide, please, Bruce. So when we're looking at aggressive behaviour as a problem behaviour that comes to your attention or or to the attention of a of a behaviourist. You can say basically one of two things.
And this is where it should tell you when to give first aid advice and when not potentially. So it will either be contextually normal or contextually abnormal. Now, contextually normal would mean that, yes, under those circumstances, a cat would do that, or this cat would do that.
So it can be quite predictable. You can quite easily identify the the trigger points and what's actually sort of leading up to the behaviour. And if you can stop those triggers from occurring, you can, potentially resolve that problem.
Now, contextually abnormal aggression is, is dangerous. It's less predictable. Therefore, it's much more complicated to address because you can't work out what actually triggers it, because it appears to be quite random.
Next slide, please. So there are various ways to categorise aggression. And if you look at this slide here, you will see a table from a really great article in the GF JFMS journal is the Journal of feline medicine, and science.
And this is the, clinical, journal edition, which is all about behaviour. So it's really worth reading if you're ISFM member practise. And this is how they've categorised aggression in this particular article.
And they've also noted its its frequency, how common it is. And they talk about aggressive behaviour can be categorised in 5 ways. It's either misdirected predatory behaviour, which they say is very common, petting related aggression again, they refer to it as very common.
And then we have behaviours they say are common, which is fear related aggression and redirected aggression. And the less common maternal aggression. And this is where female cats with their kittens are aggressive towards people in order to protect their kittens.
In my entire career, I've probably only been consulted, on two cases of maternal aggression. I think it is a normal behaviour under certain circumstances. So I'm not sure that that is, is seen very often at all.
Now another categorization, which appears in this particular textbook called Feline behavioural Health and Welfare, I've put it up here because I really want to recommend it to you. It's, it's so specific for the veterinary team. It really is a great book.
It's nice and current. It was published in 2016. There's some great stuff in there, which is so relevant to what you're doing.
And Rachel Casey writes the chapter in this book on aggression, to human directed aggression. And she talks about, categorising them in, in, in these four ways, and this sort of fits with the way I look at aggression in my practise. So I'm kind of recommending this way to you.
And firstly that aggression is a defensive response. Secondly, and there's a parallel here with the previous categorization. It's a misplaced play, predatory or attention seeking response.
It's a response to frustration, or it's a result of a disease process. And I'll be looking at each one of those in turn, next slide. So let's look first of all at the defensive response.
So let's imagine there's a cat in your clinic, . In your, one of your hospital cages, and they're scared. It's a novel environment, it's a scary environment, and they've identified you.
I was, as I just disappeared then, we were talking about you as being this real or potential danger. You're coming closer, but if the cat can avoid you, they're going to run away. That's, that's the, the, the first response a cat will always think of.
This is why cats are such a flight risk in, in practise, so they'll attempt to run away from you. But bear in mind this cat is in a. A cage, it can't escape from you.
There's nowhere for it to hide, so it is going to fight. That's going to be its response just to push you away to to get rid of you. And that that may involve biting or swiping at you or may even involve a warning and usually does beforehand, lots of aggressive vocalisation just to tell you to back off.
They don't want to fight you, they just want you to go away. So why, why would a cat behave like that next slide, please? Because they're scared And these cats are scared for two basic reasons.
One of which is that they didn't have that all important early socialisation as a kitten to get them used to the idea of being around people, and that people are not something to be feared. When they don't have that, and then sadly, a lot of cats come into the, the pet world and end up living as a pet without that in their background, which makes life very difficult for them. Or they have a negative experience of being handled.
And that's, that could be, they've been in some pain when they've been handled at the practise, for example. Now you may be thinking, do you know what? That's all very well, but I reckon I've seen cats in my practise who I just have to walk into the room and they will body slam that cage and they will scream at me and they're really, I, I think they are offensively aggressive.
They seem to start it before you do anything. Now, that is defensive. But that will be a cat who has learned that to do a preemptive strike actually works even better.
They're still scared of you. But over a period of time, the more the, the quicker they chip in with their aggressive posturing, the more likely you are to, to back off. So when you see these cats who are body slamming and you're thinking, God, that's a crazy, crazy animal, do bear in mind that that probably is a learned behaviour over time because that's what's worked well for them to, to do the crazy cat thing and you won't go anywhere near them.
Next slide. So let's just look at misplaced play or predatory or attention seeking response. Now this is something that maybe, I know I've done it in the past.
I mean, I've done a lot of things I wouldn't do now as I've learned more about cats over the years, but maybe there was a time when you were playing with a kitten and the kitten was very cute and very small, and the kitten was play fighting with your hand and you were sort of play fighting back and it was enormous fun. Huge fun for the kitten, and it's very cute. And people will continue doing it because it's, a fun thing to do.
However, that cat gets its grown-up teeth and it gets heavier and bigger and stronger. And so suddenly when it grabs hold of you thinking, this is a game I've played all my life and I love it, you're not quite so keen. You're not so willing to engage, because actually, now it's drawing blood and it's really hurting and it's not nice, and you're being ambushed on the way to the bathroom at night.
So what happens is you actually, you stop engaging in the game, which is very confusing for the cat. And then, Maybe, I mean I'm sure you wouldn't be doing this, but some of your clients may. They go on to Dr.
Google and say, oh, you give your cat a little tap on the nose to punish it for for bad behaviour. So they, you know, tap the cat on the nose, and the cat thinks, Well, my goodness, this is crazy, and they get very conflicted because they love the game, they're very highly motivated to play the game, but they also feel conflicted because they don't want to be punished, they don't want you to be scary, so. And actually, that can, that can escalate the behaviour to a new level as they get sort of incredibly aroused and conflicted.
So you can see how this escalates into a pattern where if you saw the cat at the age of 3, that cat would be labelled by people as being an aggressive cat, but there's a pathway to that behaviour. What about the response to frustration? Well, I, I showed you that gentleman's knee just now, and the little black and white cat saw the cat outside, and this is a very similar scenario, the cat outside looking very sort of neutral and benign, cat inside with a full defensive.
Right, this is what is referred to by many as redirected aggression. The cat is frustrated, the target outside cannot be beaten up. Something moves inside and that frustrated response redirected onto the owner potentially indoors.
Next slide. And finally the result of a disease process, and there is, no question that cats who are poorly, are more likely to be aggressive in response to handling all the approach from people, probably because Being frustrated with their illness or anxious, it lowers the threshold when aggressive behaviour actually become evident. Common diseases include those of the elderly, hyperthyroid cats or cats with osteoarthritis who are very resistant to being touched, for example.
And then of course we have these contextually abnormal, forms of, aggression associated with the disease process and this would be something like seizure activity. In the limbic region of the brain where the aggression is spontaneous, it's not triggered by anything specific. OK, so if you are confronted with one of these phone calls, and they usually come, particularly with the acute ones and the severe ones, they'll come as a phone call potentially.
And so the most important thing you do whenever you get a phone call about aggression. Is to establish how severe the problem is, using all those questions, that questioning about what sort of aggression they are describing, is it bites, is it scratches? Is it leaving a mark?
Does it puncture the skin, etc. And then ask a very, very important question is, where is the cat now? Because sometimes, if any of you have been bitten in your own home, it, this is more so the case that this will happen.
You go into a state of shock because your pet cat has suddenly bitten you and it's very unexpected. And so sometimes you don't necessarily behave in a logical or rational way. And you may almost forget to put the cat, somewhere safe away from anybody.
So you really want to establish that there is a door between that person who has been injured and any other people and any other animals, before you give further advice. It's just a little tip there. So taking the history on any aggression problem, sorry, this is the next slide please, Bruce.
A thorough medical examination and a review of the clinical history will have to be done by your vets. Is this an existing condition that's got worse? Is this something new?
We need to find out if this is caused by a disease process. And then of course once that's been ruled out, you start to look at early life experience, general lifestyle, how the cat's cared for by the owners, the presence of other animals and and the makeup of the household. Next slide.
And during the course of of taking that history, you may be able to differentiate between the types of aggression, actually pick one that you feel might be the motivating factor and actually identify the trigger for it as well, potentially. For example, if it's a fear-based aggression, a defensive response, the causal factor could just be the owner approaching the cat when . The cat doesn't want to be approached, basically.
So it's really important because when people describe behaviour, it's very difficult to fully understand exactly what it is they're seeing and see it from their perspective. They're quite often very subjective, that in order to, to take the history you want extra information from them, like a diary of how often this happens. What exactly happens, what happens before and after, and maybe some video footage of the actual incident.
Now Bruce's going to play this video for, for you in a moment. If you watch this, bear in mind this is the owner with a phone videoing the cat, and you could see when, when you watch this video, it's very short. Look out for all the different behaviours.
Look out for the sudden change in the cat's behaviour. When the person appears to advance towards them, the ears flatten the pupils dilate, there's a hiss, a defensive response to tell the, the person to back off. But also, you may see some conflicted behaviour there.
You may see the tail thrashing, and the, ears rotating and slightly flattening, which is a very sort of typical frustrated, facial expression. So Bruce, if you'd like to just play that video, that would be really helpful, and I'll press the play at the same time. So you can see the frustrated face and just see how that face changes as the person moves towards the cat, that the little sort of nose slick, the fully dilated pupils, that is a frightened cat who knows this person, so feels a degree of, of conflict, fear, but also knowing that this person is familiar.
So a really unhappy, unhappy cat. Next slide. So when you're taking the history, you also want to ask when did it start?
How is, how has this problem progressed? Has the owner been able to identify any obvious triggers or patterns? What does the cat do before and after the problem?
What is the owner's response? And then the, the really important one, frequency, duration, and, and severity. Now bear in mind when an owner is being attacked by their own cat.
Their ability to form a memory of the event sort of goes offline. So you may find they'll say things to you, I really don't remember. That's OK, that's pretty understandable.
Now, this is one little tip for you. I've said, ask for video footage. Do make it perfectly clear to the owner what exactly you want them to video.
You want a normal situation that hasn't been staged. So many clients will want to please you by giving video of, of this terrible behaviour, and they'll actually provoke the cat into it. Bruce, if you can just play this next short video, you'll see what I mean.
The gentleman is very conscientious. He's putting the phone right in the cat's face, trying to wind it up and then thinking, I'm going to put a hand into my cat's face. And of course he gets a slap for that.
And then he confuses the cat terribly by poking. Him and, and, you know, this is not a really positive, cat owner interaction. So you, obviously your, your clients are very keen to please you with with video evidence of what's going on.
But do say to them, look, you know, if you do manage to get this, don't set it up, just if it happens. You know, it's very difficult to get these videos. It's great in theory, but actually quite difficult to say, just have your phone and your camera ready for something that that usually happens in a matter of seconds.
So next slide please, Bruce. So while you're taking the history, you are really looking for the, the prognosis of this and deciding whether this is something you want to tackle in-house with some good basic first aid advice, or whether you feel that you really want to recommend a referral as a matter of urgency. And obviously the sort of things you're looking at is duration, frequency and severity.
Now, you may get a duration that's for a very long period of time, however, the frequency may be once every couple of years, or you may get a very short duration. It's only just happened, but a very severe, situation that's put somebody in hospital. And of course, you're constantly looking for risk assessments, you're looking for the presence of vulnerable children or adults, maybe a lack of predictability of this behaviour, or if you really are struggling to identify triggers.
The other thing that you need to factor in is owner fear. And I don't know whether any of you have experienced this yourself in your own home or know somebody who does. It's very difficult not to be frightened of the cat afterwards.
It's difficult for me to go into owners' homes, knowing that the cat I'm going to see has put somebody in hospital. You can't help but have that natural sense of self-preservation. But when it's happened to the owner, this can be really difficult.
. And the more fearful they are, sadly, the more it is likely to exacerbate the behaviour. So all of these things would lead you to say, I think that this is something I shall refer. And we'll talk about the referral process later.
So, what do you do in emergency situations, this is the next slide please, Bruce. I hope you never have to deal with any of these situations, I really do. But this is when you get that urgent phone call to say that somebody has been badly hurt, and it's been quite an unprecedented thing.
So, as I said, you want to make sure the cat is secured in another room. Cats take a while to calm down from these episodes. You're not going to want to examine that cat, within the next 24 hour period.
So let's just put them in another room. Let's deal with the injuries. People sometimes feel because there's no blood, this is not a particularly serious wound, so you do want to advise them about cleaning and flushing puncture wounds, and then seek medical advice, please, for these injuries, and they can call their GP surgery in the UK we can call 111, which is a triage service, and they'll tell the person what to do or go to the accident and emergency centre.
If they, they, they're already getting symptoms of the hand swelling or whatever. And of course, then you can arrange to discuss this further when the injury's been treated. Next slide.
So, In these emergency situations, it's going to be a while before you can take the history from the owner. And it may be a while before the owner feels brave enough to actually put the cat into a basket, even if the initial behaviour has subsided. So you would arrange to examine the cat, the cat will be treated, the vet will treat any condition that's found, and you may then give advice.
Depending on what you're dealing with, you may then refer as a matter of urgency. There may even be cases where euthanasia is the best option. And I've put rehome there as an option, which I'll revisit later, because that seems quite shocking that you would rehome such a problem, but there are some cases where that, certain cats will never aggress again.
So again, we'll just hold on to that thought and we'll come back to it later. Next slide, please. So the non-emergency, these are, I reckon, the cases that you're going to see more often.
And these are ones where there is no sort of lasting injuries, the odd scratch or a very superficial little puncture, but it's a chronic problem. And these come up usually during nurses clinics on other matters or annual checkups or whatever, just routine examinations. Definitely examine on that basis, treat anything that's found, and then if you feel confident enough, you can give advice on the basis that the advice I'm going to recommend you give will, will do no harm.
Next slide please. Keeping safe is the most important thing. If you give one piece of advice, give advice about personal safety.
I have advised many people to wear protective clothing because people are constantly fearful of future attacks and they remember the pain they experience. So if we can show them a way to actually prevent that pain from occurring again, that's going to help them feel safer in their home and therefore behave more normally, which will have a positive impact on their cat. So.
Three bits of advice, they're a pretty good way to keep safe, protective clothing, that could be footwear, sick jeans, gloves, whatever part of the body they feel is, is vulnerable to attack, then cover it in something strong. And two very good pieces of advice, don't approach the cat and don't make eye contact. Render the cat invisible.
Just for a period of time while everything settles down, we're trying to work out what the next step is. Also, when, when in a room and the cat's in the room too, try not to get between the cat and the exit point. Try not to, to, allow the cat to feel blocked and, and always have an escape route.
So that's really important. So that's some key pieces of advice that you can give people, and it doesn't really matter what they wear indoors as long as they feel safe. So let's look at treatment next slide, please, for fear-based aggression.
3 basic things here. The first one is ensure the cat's environmental needs are met, and I'll tell you what that means in a moment because it applies to all the types of aggression that we're going to talk about. And for fear-based, basically, and this is a, it seems like a bit of a no-brainer, but stop the fear inducing behaviour.
So if approaching the cat is causing the aggressive behaviour or touching the cat, then stop that. Don't, don't do it. Seems very straightforward, but it's actually very good advice.
And then you might want to recommend what is referred to as a desensitisation and counter-conditioning programme, which is basically getting the cat used to the fear inducing behaviour gradually and . Change their perception of that by replacing it with something more positive. So let's, let's have a look at this meet the cat's environmental needs.
Now, I won't go into it in too much detail here, but I'm recommending to every one of you that you have a look at the feline environmental needs guidelines. Now these have been put together by the American Association of Feline Practitioners. And International Society of Feline Medicine, and they are free to download, just do a search for that, download those and everything you need to give your owners, your clients really good, basic advice on what their every cat needs at home is in there.
And they talk about the five pillars. You need to ensure that your cat has a safe place, multiple resources, that's our place separate from each other. That your cat has opportunities for play and predatory behaviour.
That all human interaction is positive and predictable, and that we as a species respect the cats. A sense of smell as being a far more important sense than it may be for us. So that's talking about the presence of getting rid of really sort of strong pungent smells in our home and maybe using some synthetic pheromones.
So if you look at those guidelines, they can be the sort of template of any discussion you have with your clients on behavioural matters. Next slide please. So back to the fear base, the defensive response.
And the idea is you increase the tolerance to handling. So if we look at a a typical desensitisation and counter conditioning programme, we basically start with don't approach the cat. So we've removed the fear inducing behaviour and let the cat initiate contact.
Let the cat approach the owner. And then establish what level of interaction does the cat tolerate at the moment. And then find a high value food treat that's not used at any other time, and use that as a positive reward, for gradually increasing the level of interaction, once the previous level is, is tolerated.
Now, these programmes probably work better with a behaviourist working alongside the clients on a regular basis, giving lots of support. So if you don't feel confident in doing that, A very simple alternative is to suggest to your client that they leave the cat alone and let the cat chew when to interact. Of course, you have to manage their expectations on that because the cat may go nowhere near them, ever again.
However, What we do know from various studies that have been done recently is the more interaction you want with your cat, and the more you initiate, the less you get. As soon as you back off and put the cat back in control, they are more likely to see you as something that's worth approaching. So that in itself may be incredibly therapeutic for the cat.
So just want to show you this petting zone. This is something that Lauren Finer created, who is a brilliant, feline behaviour researcher, and she's produced some really interesting papers. And what she's basically saying, if you don't know the cat, stick to the green zones.
Stick to to touching the cat around its cheek and chin, the place where it has, the scent glands. It's quite used to feeling the touch of things around its face. It's not OK to go for the amber ones, which is the forehead, the back, and the base of the tail, and definitely avoid the red zones, the legs, the belly, and the base of the tail.
I think that's just sort of common sense advice if you don't know the cat, but you can use this advice as well for people who've had this sort of experience with their own cat and are trying to sort of build up a relationship again. Next slide please. So let's look at misdirected play and predatory aggression.
What would you do then? Well, again, you want to ensure the cat's environmental needs are being met, but also you want to add in some enrichment into the cat's environment, some three dimensional shelving, lots of puzzle feeding, cardboard boxes, things to forage, things to explore, ideally access outdoors, maybe with a patio, like a fenced in. Patio or even a secure garden.
That picture you can see at the top there is my garden, which has a protector be inverted bracket system. I don't know you can see it's on top of the, the wall there, to stop JP from, . Attacking next door's birds, unfortunately they, they feed birds and JP has got a bit of a track record for that.
So, so she's kept in our garden, but it's great for situations where people don't want their cats to go outdoors for fear of of of dangers of built up areas to have a secure garden for them to go into. So lots of opportunities to play outside. Definitely scheduled play sessions, lots of fishing rod toys, lots of play behaviour that happens very remotely from the owner's body.
And you may need some protective clothing for those nighttime visits to the bathroom whatever where the cat has got into a habit of ambushing. Next slide, please. So when we look at frustration related aggression, this sort of redirected stuff that we talked about again.
Ensure the cats' environmental needs are met. Never forget that, that's really important. Enrich the environment and with cats who suffer from frustration, they just can't tolerate being frustrated.
They are much better off with unrestricted access outdoors. That sense that anything they may want, they can't have, is very difficult for them to, to tolerate. So ideally unrestricted access outdoors, ideally unrestricted access to all resources in a multi-cat home as well.
And if there is an issue with cats outside that opaque film on the bottom of 1 metre of the full length windows, it's probably a good idea. And that's just a static adhesive film. If you can just buy static adhesives, so owners don't have to worry about glueing anything to the to the lovely patio doors.
Next slide, please. And of course, the treatment for disease-related aggression is obvious, you treat the disease, but it's another opportunity for you to chat with a client to ensure that that cat's environmental needs are being met. Next slide, please.
And don't forget, as I said to you, own a fear. There are very few occasions where the relationship does not need some degree of restoration, and sometimes they completely lose confidence in their cats. They don't trust them anymore, they don't feel comfortable around them and they're frightened of them.
And of course, the more fearful fearful they are, as I said, the more it reinforces the cat's aggressive behaviour, and they need to build that confidence. So don't judge an owner if they come to you and say, I can't do what you suggested. I just can't do it.
I, I don't want my cat anymore. It's a horrible situation to be in when the bond is just broken irretrievably. So, that might be an occasion where you need to sort of think, beyond that relationship.
It's very sad, but it does happen. Next slide, please. Now I mentioned about rehoming, and there will be some occasions where it may be appropriate, but I would suggest that probably that would be the, behaviourist who would make that call, because it's really important that you judge every case on its own merits, and that if a rehoming centre is going to be involved in the rehoming process, they have full, you're fully transparent about, the behaviour that's occurred in the past.
Now, the sort of home I'm thinking about is what some organisations call outlet homes, farm homes, stable homes, alternative lifestyles. So there's still somebody looking after that cat, but they have unrestricted access to an outside space. They have shelter, they have food and water, and they are monitored.
But the person who's caring for them has no expectation of that relationship, so they don't try and approach them or pet them or do anything like that. They put the cat firmly in control. And those are the sorts of environments where cats who have a very low tolerance for frustration, or cats who are generally very, very fearful, inherently fearful of people.
Those are the environments where these cats can do very well. So that's just something to potentially think about. Next slide, please.
So when you're referring to a behaviour specialist, do bear in mind this is not a regulated profession. So you, it's your duty to ensure that the practitioner is suitably qualified to do the work. So of course, if you have a veterinary behaviourist nearby who can take your cases, that's wonderful.
One with a particular interest in cats, that's super wonderful. Otherwise you're looking for certified clinical animal behaviourists, Animal behaviour and Training council registered for members of the APBC or . The, Association of Study of Animal behaviour, certified.
So those three symbols you can see on the right hand side are probably your first port of call. And don't underestimate an interest in cats. It's really good to have somebody who sees a lot of cat cases and really, really understands how to work with them.
Next slide, please. Now, prevention is better than cure. This is where you can really make a difference because most of the cases we see could be prevented if people reared kittens properly, reared them fit for purpose, socialised them well, chose parents well, nice, friendly, confident parents, gave the mother good nutrition during her pregnancy and when she's lactating.
Allow her to have her pregnancy in a low stress environment and let the kittens stay with their siblings and with the mother beyond 8 weeks. And also teaching people, and if you do kitten classes, I don't know whether any of you do these, maybe without the kittens, so that just people can get together and you can teach them various things about how to, be around their kitten, how to look after their kitten. Do teach people respectful interaction.
It's amazing that we sort of assume that whatever we want to do, the cat will like to. And we're not very good at spotting the difference between a cat tolerating something and a cat actually liking it. So, Respectful interaction is allow the cat to initiate contact.
Allow the cat to dictate how intense it is and, and, and how long it lasts, because cats are very different to us. They like low intensity interaction. They like it to be short duration, whereas we can be very high intensity, we can get very excited around cats.
We can want it to last a long time. So we have to be respectful of them. We don't want to push them into situations where they feel they have to be aggressive towards us.
So again, if you're doing these kitten classes you're just advising your clients generally about how to be around kittens, do teach them to play properly with their kittens and don't use their hands or feet. It may seem incredibly exciting and fun when they're tiny, but they don't stop playing. They see it as fair game and it gets, it can get quite painful.
So don't reward that sort of behaviour. Use a lot of these long sticks with toys at the end, fishing rod toys is something dangling. So that when they play and attack something, it is that they get the association with, not with, with parts of the owner's body.
When we see a frustrated, cats. Funnily enough, the prevention of frustration is exactly the same as the the remedy for it. You want to prevent future incidents occurring.
So the advice is exactly the same, unrestricted access, don't put pressure on the cat, allow the cat to feel in control. Make sure that everything is predictable in what goes on, predictable feeding schedule, predictable, ideally unrestricted access outdoors, for example. The one thing I'll add here as far as prevention but being better than cure is this avoid frustration provoking play.
Laser pointers can be very popular with some cats, but hugely frustrating. And cats with a low tolerance for being able to sit with frustration, will really struggle with this. So I probably wouldn't use those at all in these circumstances.
Next slide, please. So just before I go, I just want to say a couple of words about handling fractious cats actually in the clinic. It's not a given that cats who are being aggressive at home will be aggressive with you because it depends on the motivation for that aggression.
But if they're scared, generally of people, then it's quite possible they're going to be difficult to handle. Sophia Yin's book, it's quite a big time, and it's quite costly. It's called Low Stress Handling Restraints and behaviour modification of Dogs and Cats.
There's some really interesting stuff in there. There's some YouTube videos and a CD that comes with it with lots of videos of what she does. Don't be too startled by some of the things that she does.
You can see just a picture of her there using a towel for a cat. She does a lot of work with feral on socialised cats. So some of her her methods and her procedures, you might think, well, I don't have to do that with my client's cats, and that's fine.
But a lot of the stuff is really good, advice. Also, I don't know how many of you routinely in your practise use gabapentin to just reduce the fear response in cats that are coming into the clinic. There's a couple of papers here for you to look at, maybe make a note of, maybe have a chat with your vets if you're not using it already, and get them to, to research this.
There are two studies where either 50 milligrammes or 100 milligrammes of gabapentin were given just as a single dose by the owner at home before they brought the cat in. And it seemed to really help, in procedures, on those cats that they tolerated better. They weren't quite so fearful between 2 and 3 hours after the gabapentin was actually given.
Sedation is reported, as is ataxia, hyper salivation, and vomiting, in some cases, but all the effects resolved within 8 hours after the gabapentin was given. So, it's quite short acting and seems to be very useful. And if it's a difference between that cat coming in for treatment or not coming in for treatment to give it a bit of gabapentin beforehand, then it might be something that you want to chat to your vets about if you're not already using it.
There's a lot of, discussion in in veterinary forums to say that this has really made a difference for those patients who are so fearful about coming into practise. So in summary, and I do apologise for some of the problems that we've had during the course of this presentation, but, in summary, human directed aggression is one of the top 10 problem behaviours. It's referred to clinical animal behaviourists.
But we shouldn't be surprised that there are aggressive responses in, in cats because it's a normal part of of what they do and how they survive. And when you talk about aggression, you can talk about it and everything from from biting causing injury to posturing and vocalisation. But be clear, be very clear about what it is that your owners and your clients are actually experiencing.
Next slide, please. Categorization of aggression varies, but it's usually motivated by fear, frustration, misdirected play, or disease. And you can identify and treat many cases that come to you.
And I hope that you found some of the information I've given you, this evening is, is useful, and I hope you'll have a look at that environmental needs, paper. And of course, a big role in preventing, the incidents of aggression by educating cat owners about the sort of kittens to choose, where to get the kittens from, and how to treat their cats, when they're living with them. So final slide, thank you, Bruce, thank you very much details.com and JHP recruitment for sponsoring this.
Once again, terrible apologies about all the the glitches we've been having this end and I hope it hasn't spoiled your enjoyment of this presentation. Vicky, that was absolutely fabulous. And it, it really has been worth going through all the, the hassles and everything else that have come along.
One thing that you didn't see was when you were off air, we had people chatting. And I was talking about, you know, it's, it's worth hanging in there. Let's get through this.
And those messages are piling through now as well. Say bravo, well done for hanging in there. And it was really an awesome webinar.
Really helpful tips, great pointers and the thunderous applause would still be raining if we were in a hall together. So thank you for your time. It's a pleasure, Bruce.
Just 11 comment to make on that gabapentin. Personally, I've, I've seen fabulous responses with it. The problem that we have of course is gabapentin has just been rescheduled now, so it's now schedule 3.
So it's a catch 22 which says you can't get it unless you've examined the cat. But you've got to give it so that the cat calms down to be able to. It's a real catch-22 with the scheduling Bruce, thank you for pointing that out.
Yeah, I just didn't want to go to the vets. Sorry. Yeah, but it does work.
It it it really does in most cases and yeah when the cats are all spaced out and that sort of thing afterwards. Sometimes although it's not nice, the owners are just going, oh well thank God he slept for 8 hours after that. Yes, I, I mean, definitely, but certainly that rescheduling is, is going to make it a little bit more complicated, but I, I'm, you know, I'm throwing it out there and, and we'll see what happens.
Yeah, perfect. Folks, it's been a technical challenge, but it has been an absolutely awesome webinar. So once again to Vicky, thank you for your perseverance.
Thank you for coming back on over and over again. And to all of you out there, thank you for staying with us to enjoy the webinar. Lisa, my controller in the background, thank you for all your help.
And it's my pleasure to be able to thank our sponsors once again, Tails.com and JHP recruitment. Thank you so much for your support of these webinars.
It's goodnight from my side.
