Strange behaviour of cat when stroked

[punkin 10]

Does anyone know why my gf cat likes to be stroked, but after the 2nd or 3rd stoke it growls & hiss then attacks you, he does this to anyone.

 

He loves the first stroke, he will rub his head hard to your hand as you start to stroke him on his head & his tale goes up as you stroke down his back but then he gets angry, attacks you and then he runs off, why?

[canetoad 10]

We have a rescue cat and his back end has an old injury does this if we go past the middle of his back perhaps it's a sensitive spot

[wornout53 10]

I would suggest a quick vets visit just to be sure there is nothing amiss along his back

[teeny 10]

Does anyone know why my gf cat likes to be stroked, but after the 2nd or 3rd stoke it growls & hiss then attacks you, he does this to anyone.

 

He loves the first stroke, he will rub his head hard to your hand as you start to stroke him on his head & his tale goes up as you stroke down his back but then he gets angry, attacks you and then he runs off, why?

 

is he by any chance semi feral ? as this is what ours do .

[medusa 16]

This is pretty normal behaviour for any cat with trust issues. This all comes down to cats being so ridiculously well armed, and small enough that if you were to try to hurt them then they would be very vulnerable indeed.

 

Any cat who doesn't trust well is likely to use offence as the best defence, the key is to work out whether they need a vet to work out what's going on with them (as teeny says, it could be pain related, but not necessarily) and learn a) how not to provoke this reaction, and b) how to how to evade the slashing if you do provoke it.

 

Is your cat normally nervous, or is this out of character?

 

EDIT- It could be a lack of trust or that your stroke extends from a bit that he likes you fussing (his head, for example) into a bit that he's not happy with you touching (further down his back, possibly). What happens if you just limit yourself to fussing his head?

 

Have you ever tried not letting your instinct to pull away take hold and letting him have your hand when he's like this? The vast majority of cats learn to trust much faster (if it's a trust issue or a warning) if you let them have your hand instead of pulling away. It takes lots of work to overcome your reflex to pull your hand away, but pulling away means that you're damaging your skin much more than the initial swipe from the cat just because their claws dig in more as you pull your hand back away from them.

 

One of the first thing you learn when working in cat rescue is that in the vast majority of these situations this is a warning from the cat rather than an attack. Bearing in mind how well armed your cat is, how many of these attacks have been severe enough to need hospital treatment? He's perfectly capable of inflicting huge injury, if he really wanted to injure you, so if he isn't doing that then it's a warning rather than an attack. Most cats who are warning will just retract their claws and let go of your hand, if you defeat your instinct to pull away and let them have your hand, and leaving your hand with them is a huge statement of trust in them, which they do understand.

Edited April 9, 2018 by medusa

[punkin 10]

I'm sure his back end is fine as many cats do the same as he does when enjoying being stroked, its just the hiss and attack that normal cats don't do afterwards.

 

I don't pull away when he attacks, he will hiss, tap my hand and shoot off. He never hurts us or even scratch us, its like a warning like you guys have said.

Come to think about it, he did start this behavior about 5 years ago when we introduced in a kitten, over the years became worse, but surely he would have gotten over this by now?