Using intellectual stimulation and behavior modification with aggressive cats

One of our cats, Babby, has a disorder called Feline Hyperesthesia, which can cause her to act out aggressively towards herself, our other cats and ourselves when she is having an attack. FHS and other aggression issues can be treated with both medication and behavioral medication, but in Babby’s instance I decided to try behavior mods before moving ahead with any pharmacological interventions that might effect her cognition.

While Babby lives with 9 other cats and can always find a playmate, that doesn’t necessarily mean that her intellectual needs are being met. Cats in the wild spend a good amount of their time seeking/hunting for food, and use their complex brains and skills to secure that food. Domestic cats are fed by their owners, and therefore are far removed from their biological programming to make a living. I decided to help Babby ignore the twitches and shocks that come from FHS by supplying her with several hunting toys, so that she might spend the majority of her day “hunting” for her food. I initially filled the toy mice with treats, and then transitioned them over to her high protein dry food (she is also fed wet food twice a day). After a few days she had the hang of the toys and now exclusively eats her dry food from the mice!

As Babby’s days are now spent hunting for her food, her FHS aggression has been reduced about 90%. If we see signs of FHS agitation (muscle twitches along the back, vocalizing, ears back, tail chasing), I can simply off her a full mouse toy and redirect her to use her hunting instinct instead of attacking another cat. Since giving her a hunting outlet, she has become much more relaxed and cuddly, and I couldn’t be happier that she hasn’t required any medical intervention!

Click here to check out the hunting mice toys that she uses!