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It’s Not Them – It’s You Andrea Carne examines a new study that reveals owner/ guardian behavior may play a role in cat aggression
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ggression in cats. It’s a sensitive and difficult issue for many cat owners and one that can lead to relinquishment or even euthanasia – particularly when the behavior is directed to wards the humans of the household. In such situations, in my expe rience at least, the blame is often placed directly on the cat itself. I have lost count of the number of owners who have contacted me about their cat’s aggressive behavior, saying the cat is “wired wrong” (or called them various names which aren’t fit for publishing). All too often, that blame is misguided. But try as I might, it is very difficult to convince some owners that their behavior may actu ally be playing a role in that of their cats. In such cases, people find it almost impossible to believe that how they interact with their cats, the resources they provide for them, and how they react to un wanted behaviors could be directly influencing how their cats behave. And so, as always, I turn to the science to provide evidence, which is why I welcome a new study from the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph in Canada. Published earlier this year by O’Hanley and colleagues, the study gives some much needed support to the notion that it may be cat owners – and not just the cats themselves, their genetics and early life experiences – who also play a role in cat aggression. This outcome was actually an accidental finding. The study was originally designed to assess whether early experiences as a kitten in a shelter contributed to aggressive behavior as an adult cat. But what the researchers uncovered was evidence to support the notion that owners who use aggressive training or behavior management techniques – in cluding yelling at the cat and shouting “no,” or holding them by the scruff of the neck – tend to end up with an aggressive cat. Surprised? No – me neither. But, with research into cat behavior only just beginning to become more prevalent in recent years, studies such as this finally give cat behavior consultants like me some solid evi dence for convincing owners that the way they care for and manage their cats can have a direct influence on the cats’ behavior. A new study shows the odds of owner directed aggression were lower in households that reported using positive reinforcement, while the odds of severe aggression toward people were greater when the owner reported using positive punishment
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Counter surfing is seen a commonly reported behavior issue in cats: research shows that addressing undesired behaviors with a positive reinforcement approach, as opposed to aversives, has a direct, more positive influence on the cat’s behavior
Anxiety Now, to be fair, a cat’s personality is built on a number of factors that we now know includes their genetics, prenatal stress experienced by the mother, as well as the experiences they had during the critical socializa tion period of between 2 and 7 weeks of age (Atkinson, 2018, pp.6672). Cats that show signs of anxiety from an early age (from 8 weeks on wards) have likely acquired this anxiety either genetically or from nega tive experiences as very young kittens – or as a combination of both. Anxiety can reveal itself in a range of behaviors in such cats, one of which is aggression towards people or other animals. But what the Guelph study points to is the potential for aggressive behavior to also de velop as a result of how the cat is managed and provided for by their owner. The study surveyed 260 owners of cats aged 1 to 6 years, who were adopted as kittens from shelters. The owners were asked a range of questions on their cat’s current behavior, their social interactions and home environment. What the researchers found, among other things, was that the odds of ownerdirected aggression were lower in house holds where owners reported using positive reinforcement, and the odds of severe aggression toward people were greater when the owner reported using positive punishment. Also, “…the odds of severe aggres sion toward other animals were increased when the owner indicated there were other pets living in the household and when owners re ported using positive punishment, and lower when provided with train ing enrichment.” (O’Hanley et al., 2021).
Undesired Behaviors Let’s recap what positive reinforcement is as opposed to positive pun ishment. Well, the simple explanation is that positive reinforcement adds something pleasant to a situation to increase the likelihood of a
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BARKS from the Guild/September 2021
