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Cat play aggression

Aggression is an inherent aspect of your cat's predatory nature: behaviours like stalking, chasing, leaping, pouncing, swatting, and biting are all common displays, and are always a major component of any play session.

Usually, this doesn't constitute a problem: it's just how cats play, and catering to your cat's predatory whims can be pretty fun!

But when your cat becomes play aggressive, things can get very uncomfortable, very quickly: faced with a cat that doesn't understand that such play is painful and even dangerous for her owner, playtimes with your cat can become a trial rather than a pleasure.

This problem is the number-one most common form of aggression that cats display towards humans. It happens when a bored, under exercised, and lonely cat becomes overstimulated during play ' and typical play-time mock aggression becomes the real deal.

• not even negative attention. Simply stand up and walk away. Leave the room, if necessary.

At this point, she will most likely try to initiate play with you again. When she does, don't respond ' play initiation is dominant behaviour, and if you accede to her demands, it'll teach her that bothering you for attention results in her getting her own way.

If she's particularly persistent, or the aggression is becoming hard to deal with, you can isolate her in a room by herself until she's calm (which can take anywhere from five to twenty minutes.)

Main do's and don'ts for play aggression:

• Remember, your cat isn't really trying to 'attack' you ' her intentions are purely playful. She just has to learn that aggressive behaviour isn't going to result in a rewarding play session for her. In order for her to learn this, you need to be consistent with your reactions: so don't reward her with attention sometimes, and ignore her at other times. She'll get confused, and won't learn to curb her aggressive behaviour.
  

• Don't ever use physical punishment to correct play aggression. There are two reasons for this: one, if you actually hurt your cat, this will result in increased aggression on her behalf; and two, even if it doesn't hurt, it's still going to scare her, which results in owner-avoidance and a general deterioration of your relationship.
  

• Since play aggression is almost always due to boredom and an excess of energy, the best thing you can do is to provide lots of opportunities for stimulating interactive play with your cat. Try to make it aerobic exercise: get her running around, chasing things, climbing, pouncing, and so on.

• Make sure the play is on your terms. Don't allow your cat to initiate play ' this is habit-forming, and teaches her that you can be manipulated.
  

• If you find it difficult to make the time to play with your cat, scheduling in a couple of set ten-minute playtimes each day might help. Paying attention to your cat's circadian rhythms (watching to see when she's the most active) is a good idea as well: play with her when she's wide-awake and raring to go. She'll get more out of it.

What toys should I use?

Cats are predators. Their play is instinctively based around behaviours that will increase their ability to hunt.

Because of this, cats prefer toys that resemble prey ' that is, small, mobile objects that move.

Try things like ping-pong balls, crumpled-up paper, cardboard boxes, paper bags, dangling ropes affixed to the ceiling or doorways, scratching posts, and skeins of yarn for solitary play; and fake mice, cat dancers (like a mobile which you dangle and jerk around for your cat to play with), wands, and anything that rolls which you can toss for her for interactive play.

If she likes to climb and explore, you can also try creating an obstacle course for her to enjoy: rig up some branches, pillars, shelves, perches, and climbing ramps etc for her to clamber around on. Most cats enjoy being up high anyway, so this should go down a treat. You can also try hiding some small, tasty treats in various places to encourage her to get climbing.

For a really detailed look at how to deal with your cat's behaviour problems, take a look at Complete Cat Training. It's a cutting-edge cat training manual that's focused on training your cat and changing her behaviour for the better.

For professional tips on transforming your cat's behaviour problems (as well as teaching her some pretty neat tricks, from sit and stay to roll over, play dead, and fetch!) Complete Cat Training comes very highly recommended.

Article by KINGDOM OF PETS

Understand cat behavior, cat play aggression and cat aggressive heavior, learn Cat Behavioral Training. Click image to view Complete Cat Training Guide

Urine marking in Cats

What is urine marking?

Urine marking ' sometimes called spraying ' is when your cat deposits small amounts of urine (usually on vertical surfaces) as a kind of message tag to announce his presence.

Although this issue involves inappropriate urination inside the house, marking isn't actually a housetraining problem: it's a deliberate expression of territoriality, which is a completely different thing.
Why do cats mark?

There are a number of reasons why cats mark:

• Territoriality: the cat is letting other cats know that the marked area is 'his' territory

• To communicate sexual availability

• Out of stress or anxiety

• A change of location: some cats will begin to mark when their owners move house

• If a new animal or human is introduced to the house

• Because of overcrowding (too many other cats in the house)

• The cat is receiving less attention than normal

• A significant change in lifestyle or routine (for example, the owner gets a full-time job; someone moves out of home; the house is renovated)

Which cats are more likely to mark?

All cats mark - and unfortunately, there's no way of predicting in advance which cats are going to become sprayers!

However, some cats are more likely to mark than others. From most likely to least likely, these are:

• Unneutered (intact) male cats

• Neutered male cats

• Intact females

• Spayed females

If you have an intact male cat, urine marking is practically to be expected. The urine of a tomcat has that characteristically strong, catty odour, and is very recognizable (and offensive) to humans: neutering your male cat will remove this odour and will also reduce the likelihood of recurrent marking.

Although neutering is strongly recommended in the treatment of feline marking, it's not necessarily guaranteed to work: approximately 10% of neutered males and 5% of neutered females keep right on doing it.

How can I get my cat to stop marking?

Although there's no hard-and-fast, guaranteed 'cure' for this undesirable behaviour, there are a number of steps that you can take which are likely to either significantly reduce, or stop entirely, your cat's marking.

Listed below are some of the most effective options:

• Take him for a check-up

There are a huge number of reasons why your cat is choosing to urinate outside the litter box: he may be marking, or there may be a medical cause for the behaviour. Before you can decide on appropriate treatment, you need to rule out health-related causes for the inappropriate elimination.
Take him to the vet for a urinalysis (a complete analysis of his urine) and an overall check-up, to make sure that there are no medical reasons for his behaviour.

• Neuter your cat

Neuter your cat immediately. This is the single most effective thing you can do to stop your cat's spraying, and if you hope to get any control at all over the issue, it's pretty much mandatory.

Statistics show that a whopping 87% of all cats stop marking when they're altered - of this number, 78% cease marking immediately, and 9% stop within three months.

• Behavioural modification

Behaviour modification is a tried and true method of controlling your cat's spraying, although it will require a considerable investment of time and effort on your behalf. You'll need to supervise your cat closely, paying attention to where and when he marks. The use of behavioural-modification tools like water pistols and shake cans (a tin can with ten pennies or a handful of pebbles inside ' when shaken, it makes a loud, scary noise) speeds the process up considerably: when you catch him marking, startle him out of continuing by either spraying him with the water pistol or shaking the can vigorously.

'Redesignating' the areas which he tends to mark in can also help: cats don't like to spray in areas where they eat, sleep, and play. If he marks in particular places around the home (as opposed to indiscriminately), put his food bowls next to the spot, play with him there, and put his bed there.

• Make things easy for your cat

Treatment for marking is based around removing your cat's motivation to mark in the first place. The most common reasons for marking is territoriality: he could be feeling threatened by the presence of strange cats around the house, or he could be experiencing some conflict with another cat(s) in the house. So, to control his marking behaviour, you need to minimize his need to act in a defensive, territorial way.

You can do this by minimizing his exposure to the strange cats, and by resolving any conflict in the home.

For strange cats:

Keep him inside the house, and restrict his access to windows: shut the doors to high-risk rooms, block out his view by installing shields across the sills (these are made of translucent plastic, and can be bought from home-improvement and DIY stores), and if you have a cat-flap, make sure it's permanently closed (both to prevent your cat from going outside, and to prevent other cats from coming in.)

For problems inside the home:

If the problem's based around a situation in the home (perhaps he's feeling overcrowded, perhaps there are conflict issues with one or more other cats), you'll need to pay attention to how your cats are interacting, and then separate the cats that have issues with each other.

Keep them in separate rooms, with separate litter boxes and food bowls. This doesn't have to be a permanent thing ' once the spraying's stopped, give them at least another week of separation (just to be on the safe side) and then you can gradually reintroduce them by way of mutually-enjoyable events like mealtimes and playtimes.)

• Use your common sense

Make it really easy for your cat to urinate appropriately. Make sure that there are enough litter boxes in the house: there should be at least one more than the total number of cats. If you have a multi-storey house, make sure there's at least one box per storey (more, if you have more cats), and see that they're all cleaned regularly.

For a really detailed look at how to deal with your cat's behaviour problems, take a look at Complete Cat Training. It's a cutting-edge cat training manual that's focused on training your cat and changing her behaviour for the better.

For professional tips on transforming your cat's behaviour problems (as well as teaching her some pretty neat tricks, from sit and stay to roll over, play dead, and fetch!) Complete Cat Training comes very highly recommended.

Article by KINGDOM OF PETS

Complete Cat Training is the next step in cat behavior training. Join Paula Robb as she shares cat training secrets on everything from basic toilet training to all sorts of fun tricks. No matter how much your cat scratches, hisses or sprays, Paula will teach you what to do to stop any behavioral problem in its tracks.

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