【法国猫爸】猫的攻击行为与疼痛

Cats are often completely misunderstood by humans and it is often very difficult for humans to read cat’s emotional states. A recent survey¹published in 2019 and made by University of Guelph (Canada) gave us interesting results. 6329 persons participated to this survey. To determine whether people can identify feline emotions from cats faces, each participant viewed 20 short (< 4 seconds) video clips (collected on YouTube) of cats. They were asked to tell if cats faces show positive emotions or negative emotions. Participants average scores were low (11.85/20 correct), but overall above chance; furthermore, 13% of participants (young, female, and working in veterinary clinic) were individually significantly successful at identifying the valence of cats states (scoring ≥ 15/20 correct). Cat’s owners were not better than non-cat’s owners to identify cats emotional states. Also, participants performed better when asked to identify positive emotions compared to identify negative emotions.

We can definitively conclude that cats are good at hiding negative emotions and that people fail to distinguish which kind of emotions cats are experiencing, especially negative emotions like fear, anxiety, and pain.

To recognize pain on cats, I believe it is really important to understand what pain is.

This is the general definition of pain: “Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.” In other words, pain and emotions are linked. Indeed, emotion and pain originate from and use the same brain regions and specific pathways. That is why, when cats feel pain, they can easily feel in the same time fear or anxiety. Then, aggressivity on cats can develop to protect itself or in the objective to expel pain.

There are 2 kinds of pain:

- Acute pain: “Acute pain is an alarm system of the body and protects the body from further harm”

- 急性疼痛:“急性疼痛是身体的警报系统，保护身体免 受更深的伤害”

- Chronic pain：“Chronic pain has lost the protective role and become a disease in itself.”

- 慢性疼痛：“慢性疼痛失去了保护功能并已演变成疾病。”

There are specific domains to consider when assessing acute pain in cats:

• Posture and comfort-姿势和舒适度

• Activity and mobility-活动和移动性

• Attitude and demeanor-态度和行为

• Response to touch, pressure, and palpation-对触摸、挤压和触诊的反应

• Attention to the wound or painful site-关注伤口及疼痛部位

• Vocalization-叫声

• Facial expression-面部表情

In veterinary practice environments, scientists have done a great job those last years and gave us good instruments on pain assessment with 3 kind of pain scales:

-The Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale-Feline (2017)² – User friendly and broad application. 

-格拉斯哥疼痛综合测量表-猫(2017)²—较受欢迎且应用广泛。

-UNESP – Botucatu Multidimensional Composite Pain Scale for Assessing Postoperative Pain in Cats(2013)³– Time consuming, cut-off for clinical guidance, dynamic and interactive approach. 

-UNESP -用于评估猫术后疼痛的Botucatu多维综合疼痛量表(2013)³—耗时、难以获得临床指导，需采取动态的交互式研究方法。

-The Feline Grimace Scale (2019)^4、5， – valid, simple, reliable, responsive, rapid, and easy-to-use instrument for acute pain assessment. 

-猫疼痛表情（鬼脸）评分表(2019)^4、5 —高效，简单，可靠，反应迅速，易于使用的急性疼痛评估工具。

These instruments are good help for veterinary practitioners and for cat’s owners in the objective to understand in which kind of emotional state cats are and also in the objective to prevent cat’s aggressivity on people and other cats/pets.

In the context of chronic pain, the perception of pain may result of the modification of behaviors, such as those between the cat and its social and environmental surroundings.

These are the physical changes and the changes to behavior and routine as a consequence of chronic pain in cats:

• Physical signs-生理指征：

• Weight changes (less or gain) - 体重改变（减少或增加）

• Unkempt coat or missing hair-被毛杂乱/掉毛

• Weakness or loss of muscle tone-虚弱无力/失去肌肉张力

• Vomiting-呕吐

• Change in the amount, frequency, or appearance of urine-尿液的改变（尿量、频次或颜色）

• Soft or bloody stools, diarrhea, or constipation-大便稀软或带血，腹泻或便秘

• Reluctance to be touched in certain place-在某个部位不愿意被触碰

• Any change in appearance (cloudy eyes, drooling, new or changing lumps or bumps on or under the skin) -肉眼可见的变化（眼球浑浊、流口水、皮肤肿块、皮下肿块）

• Excessive skin twitching-皮肌痉挛

• Behavioral signs - 行为指征：

• Change in mood (for example, a once friendly cat becomes aggressive)-性情的改变（比如原本友好温和的猫变得具有攻击性）

• Change in activity or energy level-活动或能量水平的变化

• Less outgoing and social-外向的社交行为减少

• Hiding or sleeping more-更喜欢躲藏和睡觉

• Decreased activity level-活动水平下降

• Less interested in play or toys-对玩耍或玩具不感兴趣

• Hyperactivity-多动

• Increased or decreased vocalization-叫声频繁或减少

• Altered routines-日常习惯发生改变

• Change in sleep-wake pattern-睡眠模式的改变

• Increased or decreased appetite-食欲增加或减少:

a.Dropping food out of the mouth-食物从嘴里掉落

b.Change in food preference (for example, no longer eat dry food)-改变食物偏好（例如不再喜欢干粮）

• Increased or decreased water drinking-饮水量增加或减少

• Difficulty walking, or walking with a crouched gait-行走艰难，呈伏地姿态

• Difficulty climbing stairs-爬楼艰难

• Difficulty jumping - 起跳艰难:

a.Prefers to lie on the ground or on lower furniture-喜欢躺在地上或较低的家具上

b. Reduced height of jumping-跳跃高度变低

c.Jumping on low objects to reach higher location-借助较低的物体来跳到高处

d.Pausing to consider the height of a jump-会停下来考虑跳跃的高度

e. Loss of catlike grace, including clumsy or heaving landings or pulling itself up rather than jumping-失去了猫的优雅比如笨拙地起伏降落或跳跃时失去以往的敏捷

• New or changing behaviors problems-新出现的或是正在变化的行为问题

•House soiling, aggressive behavior, excessive vocalization-弄脏房间、攻击行为、过度嚎叫

• Problem worsening in frequency or intensity-在某个问题上频率和强度发生恶化

• Previous behavior problem improves or resolves (for example, no longer jumps on counters, not aggressive because the cat spends most of the day hiding) -之前的行为问题得以改善或解决（例如不再跳上桌子，不再表现出攻击性，因为一天的大部分时间都在躲藏）

When cats are aged it is easy to mix up chronic pain with cognitive dysfunction because some of the changes to behavior and routine are the same. So, it is important to consult with a veterinary behaviorist because this expert will be able to distinguish between the two or even to diagnose both diseases at the same time.

A lot of conditions often cause chronic pain in cats:

• Chronic musculoskeletal pain (ex: degenerative joint disease, osteoarthritis)-慢性的肌肉骨骼疼痛（例如：退行性关节病、骨关节炎）

•Postsurgical(ex:fibrosarcoma excision, limb amputation)-术后疼痛(例如:纤维肉瘤切除、截肢)

• Dental and Oral pain (ex: chronic gingivostomatitis)-牙齿或口腔疼痛（例如：慢性齿龈炎）

•Visceral pain (ex: Inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatitis, interstitial cystitis)-内脏疼痛（例如：炎性肠炎、胰腺炎、间质性膀胱炎）

•Chronic otitis externa, chronic dermatitis, and pruritic lesions-慢性外耳炎，慢性皮炎，瘙痒性病变

•Neoplasia-associated pain (ex: osteosarcoma, lymphoma)-肿瘤性疼痛(例如:骨肉瘤、淋巴瘤)

• Neurologic pain (ex: diabetic neuropathy)-神经性疼痛(例如:糖尿病神经病变)

When cats become aggressive towards their owners, it is important to recognize the cause and the origin of the aggressivity. Apart from Pain-related aggression, there are other types of aggression, so we will define what is aggression and every type of aggression to avoid any confusion for cat’s owners.

• Fear-related aggression: aggression that is used as self-defense. It may be a last resort for cats who otherwise cannot escape, or it may be preemptive behavior when they anticipate a threat. Cats can learn that certain situations (such as guests coming into the house) cause them to feel afraid. In a proactive manner, then, the best defense become a good offense.

• 与恐惧相关的攻击行为：通常被用来自我保护。对猫来说，这可能是它们面临无法逃脱的情况时被迫采取的最终手段，也可能成为它们预测到威胁时的先发制人。猫可以感知到某些情况（比如有陌生人进到房间里），这会引起它们的恐惧。因此最好的防御变成了主动进攻。

• Irritable aggression: aggression that may be associated with a disease or discomfort. For example, a cat who is experiencing malaise or nausea has a lower threshold of aggression, and so things that did not used to or do not typically bother the cat suddenly do.

• 易怒的攻击行为：与疾病或身体不适相关的攻击行为。例如：一只正在经历不适或想吐的猫更容易发生攻击行为，所以以前不会或者通常不会困扰猫的事情突然间就发生了。

• Petting-induced aggression: aggression associated with being petted in an undesired location, or in a desired location but for too long or too intensely.

• 抚摸引起的攻击行为：此类攻击常常由于被抚摸了不想被抚摸的部位，渴望被抚摸的部位被摸了太久或者力度太大而引起。

• Redirected aggression: aggression that occurs when a cat is aroused by some trigger (such as another cat outside) but cannot get to that trigger. Cat’s emotional response is then redirected to another target (such as cat’s owner or other pet at home).

• 重定向攻击行为：这种攻击通常发生于当猫被某些因素触发了情绪(比如房子外面的另一只猫)，它却又无法触及攻击这只猫。然后，猫的情绪反应会被重定向到另一个目标(比如猫的主人或家里的其他宠物)。

• Predatory behavior: behavior that is motivated by the instinct to detect, pursue, and kill for food; not really an aggressive behavior. Unlike overtly aggressive behaviors, the object of predatory behavior is not to increase the distance between the aggressor (cat) and the target (prey). Cats who are being predatory are usually silent, while in other types of aggression there is often hissing, growling, or other vocalizations.

• 掠食行为:由发现、追逐和为食物而争夺的本能所激发的行为;并不是真正的攻击性行为。与明显的攻击行为不同，掠食行为的目的不是为了增加攻击者(猫)和目标(猎物)之间的距离。产生此行为的猫通常是无声的，而在其他类型的攻击行为中，通常会发出嘶嘶声、咆哮声或其他的声音。

• Misdirected play behavior: a normal feline play behavior that is directed at an unwilling human or cat. This is not really an aggressive behavior.

• 被误解的玩耍行为：通常被针对的对象是迫不得已的人类或者猫，这是猫的正常玩耍行为，而不是攻击行为。

• Pain-related aggression: aggression that occurs directly as a result of pain or discomfort.

• 与疼痛相关的攻击行为：由于疼痛或不适而直接产生的攻击行为。

“喵不吃喵就摸摸” source: gifsboom.com

For the safety of every cat’s owners it is also important to recognize most of the signals that might show a cat become aggressive:

• Offensive postures include - 进攻姿势：

• A stiff, straight-legged upright stance-僵硬、腿伸直站立的姿势

• Stiffened rear legs, with the rear end raised and the back sloped downward toward the head-后腿僵硬，臀部抬起，背部朝头部向下倾斜

• Tail is stiff and lowered or held straight down to the ground-尾巴僵硬，下垂，或者直接垂到地面上

• Direct stare-注视观察

• Upright ears, with the backs rotated slightly forward-竖起耳朵，耳背微微向前旋转

• Piloerection (hackles up), including fur on the tail-炸毛，包括尾巴上的毛

• Constricted pupils-瞳孔收缩

• Directly facing opponent, possibly moving toward him-面向对手或者向前移动

• Might be growling, howling, or yowling-可能伴随咆哮还有嚎叫

• Defensive postures include - 防守姿势：

• Crouching-蹲伏

• Head tucked in-头部内缩

• Tail curved around the body and tucked in-尾巴紧紧绕着躯干或藏于腹下

• Eyes wide open with pupils partially or fully dilated-眼睛睁大，瞳孔部分或完全扩张

• Ears flattened sideways or backward on the head-耳朵向下贴在头旁边或后面

• Piloerection (hackles up) -炸毛

• In an anxious cat, whiskers might be retracted. In a fearful cat, whiskers might pan out and forward to assess distance between himself and the danger -焦虑的猫，胡须可能会贴于脸侧。恐惧的猫，胡须可能会向前伸展，以评估自己和危险物之间的距离

• Turning sideways to the opponent, not straight on-侧身，而不是直面对方

• Open-mouthed hissing or spitting-发出嘶嘶声或喷口水

• Might deliver quick strikes with front paws, claws out-可能会伸出爪子进行快速拍打

• Overt aggression, whether defensive or offensive, includes - 明显的攻击行为，无论是防御性的还是攻击性的，包括：

• Swatting, striking with paws-伸出爪子快速拍打

• Biting-咬

• Fighting-厮打

• Growling, shrieking-咆哮或尖叫

• Scratching-抓

• Preparing for an all-out attack by rolling onto side or back and exposing all weapons: teeth and claws-准备弓起身子发动全面进攻，同时露出它的武器：牙齿和爪子

• In this position, your cat might attempt to grab your hand and bring it to his mouth to bite it-在这种情况下，猫还可能会勾住你的手，然后张嘴去咬

When cats are aggressive, what we can do?

If a cat is attacking you at the moment, try to avoid doing any movement and play dead-prey without saying any word. If you can get something to protect you, like a pillow, use it as a shield. Never try to be more aggressive (do not shout, do not kick the cat, do not use a squirt bottle) than the cat. Move slowly in another direction (avoid dead end) and try to access a safe place and if you can, try to lock the cat in a room so he can calm down.

To avoid another aggression at your place, protect you (change clothes), prepare treats or toys in sensitive areas (such as main door) so you can do diversion.

If you believe the cat is in pain, bring the cat asap to the vet.

The vet will give you medications (to treat the disease but also maybe to treat the anxiety/fear due to the pain).

When the medical issue is resolved, some cats might continue to be aggressive. In this case, it is always important to continue to work in coordination with a cat behavior consultant that might be able to give you some good advices.