The most famous feline mascot

They are social media stars. If you live with a cat, you are living with a kind of celebrity. Or, your cat is living with your sense that you are living with a kind of celebrity.

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Apparently, living in close proximity to other cats is likely to cause your cat emotional strain too. Cats have excellent poker faces. Other symptoms include sleeping under the bed, excessive spraying, scratching, sweaty feet, and displacement activities. This is not a sign of vanity.

The Algonquin Hotel in NYC is famous for its feline mascots.

Is the utility room really the best place for a litter tray? Would you like to go to the toilet while your flatmate fills the washing machine?

Hutchison advises leaving facilities in multiple locations so your cat can use the one that suits its mood or temperament. The combination of the stress of pregnancy, nursing, and sharp kitten teeth create a potential playground for bacteria. Mastitis is most common in older cats. Although it is usually limited to one or two teats, mastitis is extremely painful and, if left untreated, the bacteria can spread and the mama cat can become seriously ill. Mastitis causes the mammary gland to become blocked, thus milk cannot be released. The teat swells and becomes red and painful to the touch.

Sometimes pus or discolored milk may be released.

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It becomes increasingly difficult for mama cat to nurse her kittens because of the pain, so the whole litter suffers. In pet cats, aggressive behavior can range from cats who hiss and avoid the target of their aggression to cats who attack. Understanding what cats are communicating through their body language is essential for cat parents. It also helps them respond more effectively to behavior issues like aggression. Cat body language is more subtle than dog body language and can be harder for people to interpret.

Threats and aggression can be either offensive or defensive.


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An offensively aggressive cat tries to make himself look bigger and more intimidating, whereas a defensively aggressive cat adopts a self-protective posture and tries to make himself look smaller. The following are typical postures seen in feline aggression. A rule of thumb is to not touch, attempt to reassure, or punish cats showing these postures!

If your cat has been aggressive in the past or you suspect he could become aggressive, take time to evaluate the situations that got him upset. Who did he aggress toward? When and where did it happen?


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What was going on during the half-hour or so leading up to the incident? What was about to happen to your cat? Aggressive behavior problems in cats can be classified in different ways. A good way to understand why your cat is aggressive is to think about the function or purpose of the aggression. If you consider all the reasons why cats behave aggressively, you can determine what motivates your cat to do so and identify what he might gain from his behavior. The most obvious and easily understood type of aggression between cats occurs between unneutered males. As males reach adulthood, they often begin to challenge each other for access to mates and territory.

Tom cats who roam will get into threatening stand-offs and actual fights. They sit or stand stiffly, their hackles up, and stare at each other. Their ears are swiveled backward, and they often growl, hiss and howl loudly.

Common Cat Behavior Issues

One cat might eventually slowly leave, or one or both of them might attack. Aggression between household cats is more subtle and complex than the conflicts between two outdoor toms. The aggressor cat postures, and the recipient makes himself look smaller and may break away to avoid the aggressor. The aggression can occur between females or between females and males. It can be related to physical size and activity large cats often intimidate smaller or less active cats , to a lack of pleasant social experiences with other cats, to an accidentally learned association between the other cat and something unpleasant like fireworks or thunder , or to a simple personality clash.

Please see our article, Aggression Between Cats in Your Household , for more information about this problem. The more threatening the person, animal, object or sound seems to the cat, the more heightened his fear reaction will be. Typical body postures associated with fearful or defensive aggression are a combination of defensive signals such as crouching, flattening the ears, tucking the tail, leaning away or rolling onto the side, and pupil dilation and aggressive signals such as hissing and spitting, piloerection, growling, swatting, biting and scratching.

Often the best way to deal with a defensively aggressive cat is to simply avoid him until he calms down.


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  4. Animals of many species strive to expel or keep out other individuals from their territory, and cats are no exception. Both male and female cats are territorial, but males may defend larger territories than females. A cat can show territorial aggression toward some family members and not others and toward some cats but not others. Cats mark their turf by patrolling, chin rubbing and urine spraying.

    They may stalk, chase and ambush a targeted intruder while displaying offensive body postures, including hissing, swatting and growling.