4-5 month old male cat - aggression

[stevie_rae]

Hi guys,

So i adopted a beautiful black kitten that I named Nox about 4 months ago now (we don't know his exact age probably about 5 months now). Long story short, we got him in very poor shape from a shelter. Came down with a severe URI, ringworm, malnutrition. Was on antibiotics for about 2 months to try and control all this and after a lot of effort, proding, poking and a lot of money, he finally got better (yay).

Probably over the last month or so he has been hissing at people. He has never taken a swipe at them or bit (although he does love rough play). But whenever he is introduced to someone new, no matter if it is in our house or theirs, he hisses when they even approach him. He has never hissed at me or my partner though. He seems to get used to them if they let him approach them, but if they move to fast or go to touch him fast he starts hissing again. I'm thinking he is more so scared and unsure of new people.

As long as he doesn't start his aggressive behaviour towards me i'm quite okay with it and considering all he has been through it is understandable that he doesn't trust strangers. It's just a bit hard when people come over and say "OH A CUTE KITTY!" and walk to pick him up, they seem to get quite a shock because he is still so young.

Is there anything i can do to stop this behaviour, and will getting him sprayed help stop this? (i have him booked in for a few days from now) I was also wondering if its really weird for kittens at this young age to be showing these signs of aggression.

Thanks for reading guys!! and here's a cute attached photo (coming from a very biased mother)

 

[jcat]

He's adorable! Being cautious with strangers really isn't what I'd term "aggression". A lot of cats don't like people they don't really know or see often approaching them and want to make friends on their own terms. A lot of people stare directly at a cat, and the cat will interpret that as aggression and warn them off. That's why cats seem magically drawn to people who are afraid of or don't like cats. Those people don't make eye contact and are therefore "safe".

He's at an age when his hormones are probably kicking in, so having him fixed will calm him down some, though it takes several weeks till they're out of his system.