Do cats get mad at you? This is another part-anthropomorphized cat question. It’s a question which touches upon human behavior which is inapplicable to domestic cats and which in turn makes it a bit complicated to answer clearly.

Photo in public domain.

Anger at person’s attitude and character or actions?

People get mad at other people all the time; far too often in fact. It’s a human trait for people to hold grudges and hate people often for no genuine or apparent reason. We should avoid interpreting cat behavior in this way.

But do cats get mad at people? We have to mean do cats direct their anger at people for who the person is (i.e. his character) rather than for what they do? In my opinion, domestic cats do not get mad at people because of who they are, unlike for humans. However, domestic cats do get mad at people, as expressed in aggression, for what they might do to them.

Example

I have just read an article about a man and his brother who lived with an angry cat who hated to be picked up. I thought the household wasn’t that friendly for this cat but one of the brothers used to ambush the cat and pick her up just for the fun of it. She became very upset and mad at him and on one occasion succeeded in scratching him.

This is an example of a cat getting mad at a person for what he did. It is a direct retaliation for a hostile act against a cat. It is almost a defensive act by the cat in response to provocative behavior by the person. Done often the cat will connect the hostile act with the person and avoid them. It is more likely the cat will retire and hide rather than attack the person who made them angry.

The high profile story of Lux, a highly aggressive cat, who terrorized the entire family indicates a cat can get mad at a person or persons. Jackson Galaxy struggled to fix the problem but it transpired that the man of the house may have been abusing the cat over a long time.

Irritated

Domestic cats become irritated sometimes if they are over petted. It depends upon the character of the cat but some cats have quite strict limits on how long you can pet them. Or if you pet them in the wrong place or hold them too tightly or for too long.

Cats can become upset if we don’t wake up at four in the morning and participate in play and or feed them. They don’t get mad at you when you don’t get up in the morning early but they might demonstrate their displeasure or frustration at your bizarre human behavior. They regard us as cats and are surprised at our lack of activity at night.

Retaliation

If a person walking down the sidewalk kicks a cat for the hell of it or shoves his boot in her face, the cat may well retaliate by slapping at the boot and trying to scratch the foot. The cat does not harbor ill feeling against the person per se (in telling herself that this is a horrible person), she just sees a hostile act to which she must retaliate to defend herself.

I would argue, therefore, that the domestic cat does not become enraged at a person’s character or attitude but responds to a person’s behavior directed at them. In that context, it could be argued that a cat can be mad at you.