You’ve just settled down for a quiet evening in your favorite chair. As usual your cat saunters up, purring and rubbing, demanding your attention. You reach up from your book (or magazine, or laptop) and stroke her absent-mindedly as you continue reading. Suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere, your fickle feline is all teeth and claws. She savages your arm, then scurries away, hackles up, tail swishing. What on earth just happened?

Your cat is showing signs of petting-induced aggression, a common behavioral issue in cats.

The amount of human interaction a cat enjoys varies significantly by individual. While some cats will sprawl out for belly rubs by the hour; others have strict limits on how much touching they allow and where. Most cats like being stroked on the head and neck. This may be because felines greet each other by rubbing or grooming in these areas. Physical contact on the lower back or belly is a different matter. It can signify a provocation or a threat. Some cats will just walk away when they’ve had enough. Others, seized by the competing desire for affection and escape, will lash out.

These attacks don’t occur without warning. Typically there are clues. The body gets tense. The tail twitches, the ears flatten, and the pupils dilate. The skin on the lower back may ripple. At this point, any further petting will cause the cat to react. Except that the occasional cat bites when the petting stops! Well-meaning cat lovers often miss these cues due to inattention or because it seems to be human nature to stroke a cat down the full length of the back. Young children may be especially prone due to an inability to read feline body language.

Petting-induced aggression is more than just a nuisance. Cat bites can cause serious injury. It can also become a self perpetuating problem as the cat learns how effective her behavior is at putting unwanted petting to a stop.

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