I've posted this article I wrote on several boards; some of you may have seen it already. I reference it in another thread: Strange cat, so I wanted to repost it here.

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How many of us have experienced the following scenario: we’re spending a quiet evening relaxing at home and suddenly, for no apparent reason, a furry explosion takes place. Cats are flying everywhere with piercing and alarming shrieks, leaving a vapor trail of fur and shed nail sheaths on the way to their respective hidey-holes. We wonder, “What the heck?!?!” and then shrug our shoulders, roll our eyes, and think, “It’s a cat thing.” So far, so good. Hopefully after a couple hours the cats calm down and come out from their hiding places as if nothing happened. But once in a while one of the cats comes out a completely different cat. A perfectly peaceful and friendly cat has, for no apparent reason, turned into a nasty, mean and aggressive cat, snarling and hissing, and even swatting at his favorite person or cat pal. This poor cat has been the victim of redirected aggression, which I’ll refer to here as RA. And often months go by with the cat’s humans wondering what has happened to their cuddly cat and doing nothing about it. And it just gets worse and worse….

What is RA? The simple explanation is that it happens when a cat gets spooked by something, can’t handle it, and instead takes it out on the nearest living creature. Or as Pam Johnson-Bennett says in Cat vs. Cat, pg. 157,

Often the trigger is a strange cat that appears outside the window and the indoor cat can’t react by defending his territory, like he would do if he was outdoors. But it could be anything that puts a cat into an aroused and agitated state and is subsequently unable to calm himself down.

And what's a triggering event? Basically anything that puts a cat into an extremely aroused and agitated state, whether we know the cause at the time or not. This is not to be confused with the regular "psycho kitty" periods most of our cats have. This is an unusual and abnormal event. Learn to be aware of what's going on with your cats. And maybe the triggering event happens when we're gone. Then we'll see signs of unusual agitation, arousal and/or behavior in one or more of the cats when we come home. Perhaps even the first manifestations of RA.

We don’t know how often RA results from such a triggering event. Probably not all that often. But RA causes such anxiety and frustration for the cat’s caretakers that they certainly wish it could have been avoided. And here’s the point of this monograph: RA can be avoided by recognizing a potential triggering event and immediately responding appropriately. I’ve had perhaps a half-dozen of these potential triggering events in the last year. The most recent was when one cat fell in a trash can and frightened himself. He got over it in about thirty minutes, but the other two cats were wound up for hours.

Here’s what to do to avoid possible RA when one of these triggering events happens:

1) Immediately separate all the cats into their own rooms and close the doors so they cannot see each other. Leave the cats alone to calm down on their own. Trying to sooth them doesn’t help. Often it just makes them more agitated because they see your concern and it reinforces theirs. And you might end up being the object of the RA. For how long? My protocol is to leave them separated for two hours and then evaluate them. If they’re calm and relaxed, then they can come out. If not, they remain separated.

2) Establish normal routine in the household. Go about your normal activities, but perhaps as quietly and with as little fuss and bother as possible. If you have guests, it would be best if they left for the day.

3) Review the events to see if you can determine the trigger for what happened. If it was a strange cat outside a window, perhaps consider covering up the window until the stray can be dealt with. Try to remove the trigger from the environment, so it won’t happen again right away.

4) When the cats have calmed down enough to come out, careful monitor their interactions to make sure they’re acting normally. If a cat displays unusual behavior, separate that cat again, and keep him separated overnight.

Hopefully, taking these steps when a potential triggering even takes place will prevent RA from developing. Remember that RA is a self-reinforcing behavior, so that if it does occur, it’s best dealt with immediately. Each time a cat engages in the behavior, it makes it more likely that behavior will be repeated, and more difficult to deal with it. Sorry, but getting into dealing with well-developed cases of RA is beyond the scope of this article. Many cases require an individualized approach under the guidance of a professional feline behaviorist. My goal here is to help everyone prevent it from ever happening…after all, that’s supposed to be the best cure. :wink:

For more information, Pam Johnson-Bennett’s books are a wonderful source of information, and there are many good articles on the internet which can be found by googling “redirected aggression.”

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Thanks Tim....this is very helpful!

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This sounds very reasonable to me. Thank you!

Donna :kittyluv: