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Your cat goes for your ankles when you’re just walking past or suddenly bites you while you’re cuddling her, for no apparent reason. I’ll explain the motivations behind aggressive feline behavior and how to address them.

Play aggression
Play-motivated aggressive behaviors are commonly observed in young active cats less than 2 years of age, that live in 1-cat households. Play incorporates a variety of behaviors such as exploratory, investigative and predatory and provides young cats with opportunities to practice skills they would normally need for survival. For example, kittens like to explore new areas and investigate anything that moves, and may bat at, pounce on and bite objects that resemble prey.

Playful aggression often occurs when an unsuspecting owner comes down the stairs, rounds a corner or even moves under the bedcovers while sleeping. These playful attacks may result in scratches and inhibited bites that don’t break the skin. People sometimes inadvertly initiate aggressive behavior by encouraging their cat to chase or bite at their hands and feet during play. The body postures seen during play aggression resemble the postures a cat would normally show when searching for or catching prey. A cat may freeze in a low crouch before pouncing, twitch her tail, flick her ears back and forth, or wrap her front feet around a person’s hands or feet while biting. Most play aggression can be successfully redirected to appropriate targets.

Outlets for play
The first strategy is to provide many opportunities each day for your cat to play in an acceptable manner. Have toys available that are interesting from your cat’s point of view and allow your cat to show her own individual style and favorite ways to play. You may need to experiment to see which toys your particular cat prefers. It is also helpful to provide new toys (or at least rotate the availability of the ones you have) once their novelty wears off.

Owners should avoid wrestling or using their hands and feet as toys for playfully aggressive cats. This type of play only encourages the cat to grab and/or bite your flesh as part of its normal play. Try using a stuffed sock, fishing pole type toys or catnip mice to encourage your cat to re-direct her playful energy.

Remote forms of punishment may be used as a means of discouraging inappropriate play only if the cat also has opportunities for acceptable play. Some methods for remote punishment, which startle the cat but do not involve you physically interacting with the cat include using a squirt bottle filled with water, using noise making devices such as horns from a bike or giving the cat a puff of air in the face from a can of compressed air.

Hitting or slapping a playfully aggressive cat is NOT acceptable. This approach seldom corrects the problem and can have some nasty results. Your cat may become more aggressive, afraid of you or both. Punishment alone is never an effective treatment.

Stop petting me now
Some cats will suddenly bite while they’re being petted. This behavior isn’t well understood even by behaviorists. For whatever reason, petting which the cat was previously enjoying apparently becomes unpleasant. Biting is the cat’s signal that she has had enough petting. Cats vary in how much they’ll tolerate being petted or held. Although often people describe their cats as biting ‘out of the blue’ or without warning, cats do generally give several signals before biting.

You should become more aware of your cat’s body postures and cease petting or stop any other kind of interaction before a bite occurs. Signals to be aware of include restlessness, the tail beginning to twitch, the ears turning back or flicking back and forth and your cat turning or moving her head toward your hand.

When you observe any of these signs, it’s time to stop petting your cat immediately and allow her to sit quietly on your lap or go her own way, whichever she prefers. Any kind of physical punishment almost always makes the problem worse because your cat is more likely to bite either because she is fearful or because petting becomes even more unpleasant if it’s associated with punishment.

If you want to prolong the amount of time your cat will tolerate petting, try using more food rewards. When your cat first begins to show any of the behaviors described above (or even before she does so) offer her a special tidbit. At the same time, decrease the intensity of your petting. Continue to lightly pet her a little longer each time using the food as a reward. Be sure to stop the petting before she shows any aggression. If a display of aggression results in the petting being stopped, then you are telling you cat that her unacceptable behavior has worked.

Other types of aggression
Defensive, territorial, redirected and idiopathic (with an unknown cause) forms of cat aggression can be quite serious and usually require professional help to resolve. Cats who are fearful may display body postures, which appear to be similar to canine submissive postures – crouching on the floor, ears back, tail tucked and possibly rolling slightly to the side. Cats in this posture are not submissive; they are fearful and defensive and may attack if touched.

Any cat that suddenly becomes aggressive should be taken to your regular vet for a complete examination. Certain kinds of diseases, illness or physical conditions such as abscessed bite wounds can cause cats to show aggression. Medical causes for the behavior should be evaluated before the problem is assumed to be behavioral. If the aggression is due to a behavioral problem, ask your vet to refer you to a professional who is knowledgeable and experienced in working with cats.