For me, a cat hissing at every opportunity is a sign of chronic, defensive behavior. I had not seen this before. One of the tabby cats who visits hisses constantly. It is so engrained into his behavior that he will rub against you while hissing 😉 In the video he puts his head into my hand and hisses. Sweet but contradictory behavior. It is like a switch turning on and off rapidly because it is not working properly. He is friendly to me and head butts my face, which is a strong sign of friendliness, and hisses pretty much simultaneously.
It was a bit unnerving, at first, for me because a cat that is hissing should be treated with caution and respect. This is because he could lash out if approached. Common sense tells us to keep away and respect what he is telling us with his hisses.
Head butting is a sign of friendliness. Hissing is a signal that says, “stay away, I am dangerous”. The two signals conflict as far as I am concerned. Yet, they can happen at the same time, more or less.
To me it indicates a cat who has some manageable psychological problems. I could be wrong on that assessment but it looks like that.
[In the video you will hear a plane going over. It is landing at Heathrow about 6 miles away]
If I am correct, how did this cat end up in this almost perpetually defensive state? My theory is that his owner is not around enough so he roams and visits other houses. Entering a strange house is dangerous for a cat. So, he developed the super hiss to protect himself in these strange places.
His hiss is like a beacon. It is switched on a lot of the time sending out a warning signal to stay away.
I would call this cat problem behavior to an owner if he does it to his caretaker. A person does not want to live with a defensive cat. The ideal cat companion is confident, outgoing and friendly.
His sibling is similar but hisses less. You can see her in the video at the beginning. There may also be a problem at their home. I have wondered if the woman who owns and cares for them has a husband who does not like them. A wild guess. Alternatively, the owner is just not there and has an irresponsible attitude towards her cats. She also lets them wander across busy roads and such like.
Yes I wanted them all to feel that they were equal loved and no-one is being replaced. Wasn’t an easy task, but then Jasmin basically made herself known with all of the Cats she was very super confident and still is after her surgery.
That’s the secret Kylee, making sure every cat has equal attention and not fussing the new one in front of the others, thanks to that your Jasmine did fit into your family very smoothly 🙂
When Ozzie met Jasmine things were abit tough too. Ozzie hissed and Growled at Jasmine, even though jasmine basically went close to him all the time. It took about a week or two. We Gave Jasmine & Ozzie both equal patts and lots of love. Saying this is your new Sister and saying your not being replaced. Until Ozzie, realized that she was safe, he gave that look like OK, I suppose I’ll accept her. Now, they play together everywhere, he was really upset when she had her Surgery & Couldn’t find her anywhere. I think Ozzie would be really upset,If I ever had to split the family up which I have no attention to at this stage. The other Cats took awhile, Tiger still struggles at times but he Copes with it a whole lot better now. I still think he misses Cassy lots. As we all do. He’s a very shy Quiet boy.
Yes, in the case of my visiting cat, the hissing was a “default position” automatically delivered in case some hostility arrived and then the friendly behavior was superimposed on that. He is very defensive because he visits other people’s homes and I presume gets kicked out!
Michael, I had an experience yesterday exactly like this. A friend’s cat had been hissing and she took it as aggression and asked if I could come and see the behavior as she was concerned that he might bite. I was on the floor and he began rubbing up against me and hissing, but never tried to bite and I didn’t pull away intentionally so I could see if it continued in a non-aggressive manner. It did. My friend also has an older dog (a Shitzu). They seem to get along okay. I was just very surprised at this non-aggressive hissing, which almost seemed to me to be friendly in a way as he was rubbing up against me and making “trilling” noises at the same time. Cats are curious creatures indeed!