Although people describe a cat’s sudden negative reaction to being petted as if they are Jekyll and Hyde characters, it is naturally logical and normal from the cat’s perspective. Cats react and interact instinctively. And by default, cats are cautiously defensive. Through socialisation, they have adapted to living in what is an unnatural environment inside the human home in a land of giants.
Getting into the head of our cat companion we can see how they may respond in an unwelcome way to being petted. As petting is an expression of love and affection it is particularly upsetting if a cat responds not by purring and reciprocating the affection but by attacking and harming the caregiver.
My guess is that many a cat-to-human relationship has been strained by what the caregiver may regard as a mean-spirited feline response. It is not. It is just a cat world issue. It is about seeing the world from the cat’s perspective which can be hard especially as in many loving homes the family cat has become an important member of the family and taken on human characteristics.
The problem discussed is probably more prevalent in child-to-cat interactions when the child has not been fully instructed by their parents in how to pet a cat and interact generally with a cat. When children are scratched and bitten by an otherwise placid and tolerant cat, they are sometimes abandoned to a cat rescue centre for rehoming.
Sometimes there is the mistaken belief that the cat is unnecessarily aggressive. From the cat’s perspective they are being aggressive out of necessity. It is defensive.
If a cat scratches and bites during a petting session, he or she will normally run off in a kind of panic to avoid retaliation from the person (big cat in the mind of the cat). This tells us that the cat’s behaviour is often, ultimately defensive.
Studies have found that there is a natural time limit to a cat’s acceptance of petting. We can’t assume that cats automatically enjoy being petted and therefore we can do it for as long as we wish. We should do for as long as the cat wishes.
You learn how long that is through trial and error. The same goes for the force of the petting. For me the general rule of thumb is that petting should be gentle, respectful of the items mentioned in the infographic and time-limited.
