Changes

====Discerning patterns associated with aggression====

====Discerning patterns associated with aggression====

Signs that a cat is becoming likely to react aggressively:

Signs that a cat is becoming likely to react aggressively:

* Avoidant behaviour and freezing

* Avoidant behaviour: Running away or hiding, struggling whilst being held and freezing.

* Signs of increased arousal: pupillary dilation, increased respiratory rate (including panting), trembling, agitation.

* Signs of increased arousal: Pupillary dilation, increased respiratory rate (including panting), trembling, agitation.

* Defensive signals: Flattened or rotated ears, low body posture, body rigidity, growling, hissing, spitting, tail thrashing, rolling onto back.<br>

* Defensive signals: Flattened or rotated ears, low body posture, body rigidity, growling, hissing, spitting, tail thrashing, rolling onto back.<br>

Owners should be taught to identify the above signs and react appropriately (stop handling the cat, move away and avoid eye contact).<br><br>

Owners should be taught to identify the above signs and react appropriately (stop handling the cat, move away and avoid eye contact).<br><br>

*Timing (certain times of day)

*Relationship to events or activities (territorial trigger, arrival of a visitor, play, grooming, feeding, owner departure from the house, etc.)

*Presence of certain stimuli (a noise, another cat, unfamiliar people, etc).

*Relationship to the actions of a person (raised hand, shouting/shrieking, sudden movements, cornering the cat, picking the cat up).

* Human actions/interactions: Handling, grooming, picking up or corning the cat. Shouting/shrieking at the cat, pushing the cat away, sudden movements, threats (raised hand).

* Relationship to events or activities (arrival of a visitor, entry of another cat, play, grooming, feeding, owner departure from the house)

* Timing: the times of day when aggressive incidents, or near misses, have tended to occur.<br><br>

To safely treat aggressive cats, the motivation for every aggressive incident must be thoroughly understood and a pattern of behaviour identified if possible. The owner should be asked to describe what happened at each event, and not to interpret what happened. The first priority is to use this information to prevent injury. If attacks were truly unpredictable then this would constitute a serious and unavoidable risk that would not be acceptable.

One problem with aggression dogs and cats is that the actual number of aggressive incidents may not be large enough to properly identify a pattern. However, "near misses" are as important as actual aggressive attacks; once owners understand the signs that are typical of the build up to an aggressive attack they can usually provide a much more extensive list of incidents that came close to an attack. This is a better guide to the underlying cause of the problem and the triggers for aggression.

==Prognosis==

==Prognosis==