Fear-related aggression in cats

A reaction from your cat that you perceive as aggressive could in fact be evoked by fear and used as a defense. Here, cat behaviourist Anna Jönsson Bergstedt teaches you more about fear-related aggression.

How does a cat react if they have fear-related aggression?

Most take refuge
They can curl up and become immobile
They can attack whoever or whatever threatens them

Fear-related aggression does not mean that the cat is angry, but is merely a counter-reaction to a perceived threat.

What can cause a fear-aggressive cat?

It is individual what cats are afraid of, but when the reaction is directed at people, it is usually about the cat perceiving us or something that we do as threatening. If it's your own cat, you probably don't mean to scare it, but you might happen to surprise it or do something unconsciously that the cat reacts to.

The most common is that this occurs if the cat has not been properly socialized and has not previously had good experiences with what it encounters. If it has experienced a previous trauma, is not used to people or that you accidentally startle it because we do something sudden that surprises it.