Nora has always been very sweet, but definitely has her own personality. She's a very funny cat. Recently she has started this aggressive behavior and we have no idea where it came from or how to stop it without being "mean" per say.
It is mainly in regard to her food. She gets free access to a limited amount of dry food during the day (1/2c, but it usually takes her a full day to eat it), and then gets 1/4 of a large 5.5oz can of wet food twice per day. Her aggressive behavior is about her wet food. We usually wait until she asks for it or she won't eat all of it, and since it is expensive I don't want to waste it. She used to be fine and would be patient, but now if we are in a hurry and can't feed her at that exact moment, or we go into the kitchen and then leave without feeding her when she is hungry, she will chase after us and grab our leg with her front paws and bite us.
She also does this thing where it is like she is giving a flying high five, but she is being aggressive and batting at us, trying to scratch. Another thing she does is, as we are walking into or out of the kitchen, she will RUN up into a specific chair at our table, stand up in the chair with her back feet ON the chair but her front feet over the back of the chair, and grab at us and try to scratch us.
All this while she DOES have dry food in her bowl to eat and fresh water.
At first it was funny and she never tried to hurt us, just get our attention, but now it is getting worse and it is starting to hurt. When she does it I scold her with a strong "NO!" and then pick her up and put her on the floor and then walk away. The problem with that is she holds a grudge and refuses to come anywhere near me for the whole day after I do that. She still does the aggressive behavior, though, when she is hungry. I don't want it to get to the point where she won't come to me anymore, and is afraid of me. I have NO clue how to stop her from doing this, though.
There is no particular pattern to any of this. She doesn't do it at specific times of day, it is pretty sporadic. I should mention that the thing with the chair she mainly does when she knows we are going to leave. She has REALLY bad separation anxiety, and starts to freak out any time we put our shoes on b/c she knows that is a sign that we are leaving the house and she will be alone. She did the flying high five scratching thing to me when I was leaving the other day, also. Now she is insistent on trying to come with me (trying to run out when I leave, when she normally avoids going outside b/c it scares her), and I'm afraid she will get out.
Can anyone give me any advice as to how to deal with her behavior?? I wish it was just as easy as feeding her at regular times, but when I've tried that she will try it and leave the rest to go to waste. She wants to eat when SHE is hungry, and if we are busy and can't do it right away she FREAKS out. What can I do?? Thanks!!
It is mainly in regard to her food. She gets free access to a limited amount of dry food during the day (1/2c, but it usually takes her a full day to eat it), and then gets 1/4 of a large 5.5oz can of wet food twice per day. Her aggressive behavior is about her wet food. We usually wait until she asks for it or she won't eat all of it, and since it is expensive I don't want to waste it. She used to be fine and would be patient, but now if we are in a hurry and can't feed her at that exact moment, or we go into the kitchen and then leave without feeding her when she is hungry, she will chase after us and grab our leg with her front paws and bite us.
She also does this thing where it is like she is giving a flying high five, but she is being aggressive and batting at us, trying to scratch. Another thing she does is, as we are walking into or out of the kitchen, she will RUN up into a specific chair at our table, stand up in the chair with her back feet ON the chair but her front feet over the back of the chair, and grab at us and try to scratch us.
All this while she DOES have dry food in her bowl to eat and fresh water.
At first it was funny and she never tried to hurt us, just get our attention, but now it is getting worse and it is starting to hurt. When she does it I scold her with a strong "NO!" and then pick her up and put her on the floor and then walk away. The problem with that is she holds a grudge and refuses to come anywhere near me for the whole day after I do that. She still does the aggressive behavior, though, when she is hungry. I don't want it to get to the point where she won't come to me anymore, and is afraid of me. I have NO clue how to stop her from doing this, though.
There is no particular pattern to any of this. She doesn't do it at specific times of day, it is pretty sporadic. I should mention that the thing with the chair she mainly does when she knows we are going to leave. She has REALLY bad separation anxiety, and starts to freak out any time we put our shoes on b/c she knows that is a sign that we are leaving the house and she will be alone. She did the flying high five scratching thing to me when I was leaving the other day, also. Now she is insistent on trying to come with me (trying to run out when I leave, when she normally avoids going outside b/c it scares her), and I'm afraid she will get out.
Can anyone give me any advice as to how to deal with her behavior?? I wish it was just as easy as feeding her at regular times, but when I've tried that she will try it and leave the rest to go to waste. She wants to eat when SHE is hungry, and if we are busy and can't do it right away she FREAKS out. What can I do?? Thanks!!
