The first order of business is to temporarily separate the cats. What to do when you experience redirected aggression It becomes especially difficult when the attack is directed at another cat in the household, because in most cases, the triggered cat will continue to be aggressive toward the victim. Of all the types of feline aggression, this is the most difficult form to deal with, because it may not always be possible to identify the trigger, and because, unlike with petting or play aggression, there’s usually no warning from the cat in terms of body language because these attacks happen so fast. For some cats, it can take days, weeks or even months to return to normal. And I now know how lucky I was that he recovered so quickly. He had left two deep puncture wounds in my calf. I don’t remember seeing anything we hadn’t seen before, but clearly, he had. I slowly walked away, and within about 30 seconds, he calmed down and acted normal again. Now I saw a puffed up, hissing little grey monster next to me. I screamed – not because it was all that painful at that moment, but because I was so startled. A second ago he was sitting next to me, peacefully looking out the window. All of a sudden, I felt his jaws clamp around my calf. Feebee and I were standing by my sliding glass door looking out into the backyard. I’ve only experienced this once with one of my cats, and thankfully, it was an isolated incident. The cat simply reacts to a perceived threat. It is important to understand that these attacks are not malicious, or even intentional on the cat’s part. This kind of attack is often described by cat guardians as coming “out of nowhere.” However, from the cat’s perspective, there is always a trigger. Other triggers can include smelling a strange cat on the guardian’s hands or clothing, being frightened by something or someone, coming back inside after accidentally getting outside if the cat is normally an indoor cat, or even watching birds and squirrels outside. Most commonly, redirected aggression is triggered when indoor cats see a strange cat outside the window. Since they consider their home their territory, the outside cat is perceived as an intruder. The human equivalent is the man who gets so angry he wants to punch someone, and ends up punching a wall instead. Redirected aggression is not unique to cats. These attacks happen seemingly out of the blue, and they can be fairly damaging to the victim. This may be another cat or pet in the household, or it may be the cat’s humans. Unable to lash out at the perceived threat, the cat turns to the nearest victim. This form of aggression is called redirected aggression, and it happens when a cat is agitated by an animal, event, or person it can’t get at. Today, I’d like to address one other form of feline aggression, and it’s one that can be very frightening, as well as damaging, for cat guardians. We recently covered petting aggression and play aggression in cats.
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