Ouch! Human-Directed Feline Aggression with Beth Adelman

This webinar will focus on the most common reasons cats display aggression toward the people they live with: to create distance from inappropriate touching, to solicit play and attention, and reactive aggression. I will also touch briefly on the causes of redirected aggression directed at humans, and how to respond to it.

Cat owners often are unable to distinguish among these types of behavior, and characterize them all as angry, dominant, crazy, territorial, or a combination of several of these. These attacks can be scary and painful, no matter what the motivation. Typical owner reactions—yelling, chasing, throwing something, squirting the cat with water, wrestling with the cat—inadvertently reinforce the behavior. We will discuss the common triggers of aggression, and how to ask questions and think more broadly about possible triggers. We will also learn how to formulate a behavior modification plan to address each type of aggression.

Webinar Objectives – What You Will Learn

• Understand how species-specific behaviors factor into human-directed aggression.
• Understand the causes of aggression.
• Understand the common triggers of aggression, and learn how to ask questions and think more broadly about possible triggers
• Learn how to respond safely to each type of aggression
• Recognize the different presentations of these types of aggression
• Learn what types of reactions do and do not reinforce aggressive behavior
• Understand how the physical layout of the cat’s living space affects aggression
• Learn how to formulate a behavior modification plan to address each type of aggression

Your Presenters- Beth Adelman

Beth Adelman, MS, is a Cat Behavior Consultant in Brooklyn, New York. Beth is currently on the Advocacy Committee of the Pet Professional Guild, and was a founding member of the Cat Division of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC). She is the resident behavior consultant at New York’s first cat café, Meow Parlour. She is the former editor in chief of Cats magazine and DogWorld and former cat columnist for the New York Post. Beth has worked as a writer and a speaker for the Winn Feline Foundation, and received Winn’s Media Appreciation Award in 2011. She has also been a speaker for Jackson Galaxy’s Cat Camp, PPG, IAABC, Kutztown University, Pet Sitters International, Catsbury Park, the Cat Writers Association, the Garden State Cat Club and the Cat Fanciers Association, and a guest on a variety of podcasts and radio shows. She is a regular on The Pet Buzz, discussing all aspects of cat behavior. Beth has edited more than 100 books about companion animals, many of them award-winners.

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