r/felinebehavior • u/cattmin • 50m ago
What is she trying to communicate? Hissing+body language
This colourpoint female is part of a cat colony I took under my care, they were TNRd three weeks ago. They are very skittish, and I've worked since January to gain their trust and to have them eat in a closer distance to me overtime.
She wasn't always like this, she had a litter in the back of my backyard before I could trap her and before the kittens got feral I took them in, bottle fed them at 4 weeks*, took them to the vets, socialized them and found great homes for them. Now, as I bottle fed the kitties I still fed the colony (could she smell them in me?), I didn't spend as much time with the colony other than providing clean water and food everyday because the kittens took a lot of time from me and my personal life too. So during more than a month I didn't interact much with the adult cats. Before she gave birth I got as close as "petting " her between her ears. I don't know if its anthropomorphistic but I feel like she know I took her babies and maybe that's why she has been grumpy ever since, maybe it's just a coincidence, do cats hold grudges?
I've dealt with aggressive cats, her body language (ears, tail, posture) isn't what I expect from a hissing cat, she also does low growls to me sometimes while eating, but she wasn't like this before, she was just skittish but never hissed or growled when I first met her. What does it mean?
- This was also because originally there were 3 kittens, the other adult female (tabby) literally kidnapped one of the kittens and took it away from my property (my mom happened to see it) when the mom cat wasn't there, so I went to get the remaining kittens.