How to Tell If Your Cat Is Angry
Many dog-loving people claim that they prefer dogs to cats because felines are often too mysterious and you just don’t know where you are with them. However, understanding a cat doesn’t have to be as difficult as you may think. In this article we’ll be focusing specifically on how you can tell if your cat is angry, so read on!
Why cats get angry
Cats are, by nature, quiet, peaceful creatures, and they don’t usually get agitated. However, there are occasions when they do, as we’ll see from the following story.
Once, a friend told me about how one of her cats absolutely adored her son. One day they brought home a puppy they had found on the street. Since it was so tiny, the boy spent lots of time looking after it. He put it in his room, petted it, slept with it, and fed it.
It wasn’t long before Gary, the family cat, started hissing at the dog, making him tremble with fear. Then he looked at his owner with an angry look.
At first, it seemed quite funny, but Gary let them all see that he didn’t find it a laughing matter. He became more and more aggressive with the poor puppy, and they eventually had to give the puppy away, in order to avoid a very difficult situation.
Despite this, Gary spent more than a week without responding to his owner’s call. He didn’t look at him or pay any attention to him, showing him how hurt he was.
This story doesn’t mean that all cats will react in the same way when we bring a dog home. In fact, many dogs and cats live quite happily together. But, in this particular case, it seems to be mostly the owner’s fault, for turning all their attention on the new pet and ignoring the cat.
What we want to highlight here is that cats have feelings. They feel bad when we don’t give them the love they need and deserve. This is one of the main reasons why a cat may get angry with you.
How to tell if your cat is angry with you
So, how can you tell if your cat is angry?
There are several ways that your cat will show, through its body language, that it’s feeling angry. This, of course, apart from hissing which is a widely-recognized sign.
- Ears pulled back. Although this gesture sometimes implies fear, other times it means that the cat doesn’t like something. It could be the way you are petting him, or simply because he’s angry at you and your voice is bothering him. In that case, leave him alone and don’t touch him for a while.
- Growling. You must learn to differentiate purring from growling. If your cat growls when you pet him, leave and let him cool off.
- He ignores you. If your cat always comes when you call and shows you affection but suddenly stops, then it’s clear that he’s mad at you. Maybe a there’s a new addition to the family, either human or animal, or you’ve had guests over and you’ve ignored him. Or maybe you just left him alone for too long. The best thing to do is to approach him little by little. His anger will soon pass.
- He bares his teeth. If your cat bares his teeth while growling, watch out! Don’t try to calm him down. Remember that animals don’t know how to reason. Keep away from him, and let him come to you.
So, we hope that this article has helped you see how a cat expresses anger, and how you can maybe avoid the situations that will make him angry.