My cat swats when I pet her and her tail swishes. Is she mad?

He s so happy that he is petted and loved on that he gets very excited and the biting and swatting is a sign of Uebersprung, ie it is the only way he knows to get rid of the overstimulation. The way to reduce that is to pet him to the point where you notice that he gets excited, ie a tiny flick of the tail, for example, and then stop and give him a chance to come down again. It can take a long time to get him to the point where he will not do the biting or swatting at all, however it does work. I had a tom like that who would even bite my head at night, because he was sooo happy lying next to me, purring for hours. It took about a year before he could be petted and held for a long time before biting. He will need to be adopted out to a home with very experienced cat owners who do not mistake this as viciousness. It basically takes observation skills and the ability to stop petting him in time.

Unfortunately this sounds like pretty normal cat behavior to me! While some cats like to be picked up and snuggle, many cats only like attention on their terms. You should continue to pay attention to Princess’s body language and try to stop petting before she gets too upset - cats often lay their ears back or swish their tails before they start to vocalize. You may want to find other ways to spend time with her such as playing with a toy or even teaching her some tricks rather than petting her.

Some pets will vocalize when they are in deep sleep or REM sleep, so this can be normal if she otherwise is acting fine. As for the swatting, if this is a new behavior, it could indicate Tulip isn't feeling well or is in pain. Cats are great at hiding illness symptoms, but may show it in the form of changes in behavior, so ruling out any issues with your vet is always a good idea. If she checks out healthy, she could just be getting over stimulated. Shorter brushing sessions or using a different brush type, and making sure she has places to go and hide or rest without her sister bugging her may help reduce her agitation.

Something may have scared him recently which is making him overreact to simple things like petting. Some cats are more easily 'spooked' than others but it is typically not a problem. Sometimes animals that have lost vision or hearing are more easily startled, but you would probably notice other symptoms like head shaking or ear scratching with hearing loss, or bumping into walls or very large pupils with vision loss.

Cats are naturally independent and defensive and it is important to understand their body language and needs in order for you both to enjoy the best of each others company. It is unlikely that your cat is being mean but more that she is feeling uncertain as to how to deal with the situation - many cats feel intimidated by being picked up as this removes their ability to escape if they need to and many cats are very defensive if petted under their belly or behind the chest/shoulder area. Watch closely for her cues of swishing the tail or putting back her ears which indicate she is unhappy and allow her to jump up to you when she is ready. Icatcare (international cat care) website has some very interesting articles on cat behavior in the house and are worth a read to better understand her behaviors

This is normal behavior for cats and kittens. They will just get wild and run and jump. Sometimes they jump, arch their back and puff their tail.. Cats can be really crazy sometimes. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Thanks for using PetCoach. This is a normal play behavior. (So is reaching out to claw your pants as you walk by or trying to catch your hands with her claws while you pet her.) There are two ways I handle this. One is to stop petting and leave so that she knows play time is over. Honestly it hasn’t really worked yet (she still does it sometimes) and my cat is now 18 mos. What seems to work better is to get up and grab her favorite toy and start playing with that. That is something she CAN bite and claw at and get those natural play behaviors out- without chomping my hands. My girl is OBSESSED with one very similar to the one in the link below. https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/leaps-and-bounds-caterpillar-cat-teaser?rrec=true Hope this helps and best wishes to you and Raven!