changes in my cat

by polina
(pomona, ny)

i have a female 1 1/2 year old sphinx cat, she has always been friendly and lovable with everyone. (we have had her since she was 4 months). During the last week and a half she has been hissing very loud at my husband and everyone who comes into our house, this is way out of her character since she is our little lap cat she is usually always around. she is eating the same, drinking and using her little box the same and does not look in pain, we have tried to check her and she seems in perfect health, what is the matter with her, please help

Answer by Kate
a cat hissing is a sign of fear, so something has upset her and made her feel uncertain and fearful and she may be blaming her fear on others. This is not uncommon and is known as trauma aggression.

If you are certain that her behaviour in any other way is unchanged i.e still eating normally etc and you do not suspect any illness then I would say that something may have frightened her to cause this behaviour. It could have been something as simple as a loud noise of getting her tail trod on or caught.

There is not much you can do apart from give her lots of TLC and time to regain her confidence again. It may be an idea to get all your family to try and re bond with her using the techniques mentioned on my page here as it is non threatening and allows the cat to do things in her own time. Here is the page https://www.our-happy-cat.com/new-cat.html

Hopefully she will find her confidence again soon.

best wishes Kate

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