Whether you have already brought home a cat or are planning on getting a kitten, understanding cat behavior can help you in dealing with your pet effectively and also improve the quality of your relationship with your kitty.
Though there are many types of cat behavior problems such as obsessive-compulsive behavior, shyness, urine problems, destructive chewing, aggression etc, fear is one of the major problems that ails many cats.
When you consider the causes behind feline aggression, you will find that fear is a very common factor.
A cat usually shows aggression when it comes across something or someone that is perceived as a threat to her existence.
Though cats usually try to escape from such situations, they may growl and hiss in excess when they are unable to escape from the scene.
In extreme cases, it may even resort to biting and scratching.
Cat behavior problems that are driven by fear usually include instances of threats, growling, or biting on the cats' part so that it can get away from the stimuli responsible for inducing fear.
Once the cat learns that growling or exposing some of its teeth will stop the approach of something that it is afraid of, it will use the solution more often to steer clear of potential problems.
It is found that environmental and genetic influences give rise to such cat behavior problems induced by fear.
Some cats are timid by birth and tend to remain fearful irrespective of the level of care and attention that they are given.
Cats that are not adequately socialized may also show aggressiveness as they fear the presence of other cats or people.
Due to certain frightening experiences associated with other cats, dogs or humans, cats can often develop behavioral problems.
To deal with such problems in your cat, you need to be patient.
Try to avoid things like fast movement or loud noises that may make your cat anxious.
You should also not try to get hold of your pet and force feed it when it's petrified and prefers to be on its own in some corner of the house.
You can feed it with delicious tidbits of food in the presence of friends and other guests so that it sheds its fear of people and looks forward to mingling with them.
In brief, the best way to help your kitty overcome her fear is to be as patient as possible with her.