# Random hissing?



## Aenjie (Nov 15, 2011)

When I adopted Louis, he didn't really know how to act like a cat. (He'd been living with dogs.) So I started treating him like a cat. 

Every time he did something wrong: scratching door frames, humping my pillows, etc, I would hiss at him, and when he was really being a little devil, I'd bite the scruff of his neck like a mother, carry him off (supporting his bum of course) and give him a tap on the nose.

Recently we got a new roommate that also owns a cat, but this cat hisses at Louis. They don't see each other often, but when they do, it hisses like mad.

Louis has started hissing during play time, which he has never done in the time that I've owned him. He doesn't hiss when he plays with his favourite jingle bell ball, but he only hisses in the midst when another human is playing with him (wiggling a rope, string, etc).

Do cats hiss for various reasons other than being upset? Am I teaching Louis something wrong? Or should I stop hissing at him entirely? (It's scary!)


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## Aenjie (Nov 15, 2011)

Also, why would he start hissing now? DX


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

it's probably nothing. sometimes i randomly hiss for no apparent reason.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

Sooo, you're objecting to his hissing, and yet you taught him to hiss? You taught him that when he's being bad, scratching at door frame etc. he gets hissed at, so I think now he's telling you _you're_ being bad because you're interfering with his play. Hissing between cats is usually a warning that they not pleased and/or afraid...."back off", "out of my face", "don't like you", "don't like you doing that" (clipping claws, being picked when they don't want to be, getting a pill). Most cats when they're happy with a person or another cat, don't hiss, so I wouldn't use it as it seems to have backfired. Have you ever heard a momacat talk to her kittens?...they make a quiet "Bbrrrt" sound. I think that would be a better sound to use, and Louis may remember it from his momacat.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

LOL a stray downstairs used to hiss at me when I'd say "enough" and remove her from my lap. She had learned, in the streets, that hissing means "I don't want you to do that!", so she used it as a way of communicating with me too.


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## Krista2882 (Jan 26, 2012)

My cat, Callie, hisses at the randomest times. Sometimes she does hiss when it seems appropriate, but sometimes it makes no sense why she hisses.
It's hilarious because my dad's friend is at our house pretty often, and Callie knows him well enough to not hide anymore when he comes over, but she hisses at him every time! He was here a few days ago, and he said, "Hey, Callie! Where's my hiss?!" and she trotted toward him and started rubbing on him, and then she just hissed for no reason! And then continued to rub all over him. We can't figure it out because obviously, if she didn't want his attention, she wouldn't have walked over to him when he called her. So we just laugh now because sometimes it just seems like she doesn't understand when she's supposed to and not supposed to hiss. lol


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

I would stop hissing at him. Cats hiss to tell others to back off/go away or not try anything more than what they're doing. They're annoyed, unsure or afraid.

Hissing during playtime is odd. Perhaps the toys movement is a little frightening? Unsure of the persons motives/fast movements? Could he be sick of playing and want you to cut it out if you're moving it around his face/poking him?


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

Yes, I use hisses and yowls to communicate with my cats and they have never hissed back at me; ever. I only use the hisses and yowls in appropriate situations and never for minor corrections like clawing the furniture or the woodwork. It has to be a discipline situation like a cat being too aggressive about my food or about to get into trouble that would hurt them. Yowls are reserved for breaking up cat fights or clarifying I am serious about them stopping what they are doing right now!

I also have a cat that hisses constantly in many situations; when she is playing, when she is sleeping and even when she is happy. She also purrs at the drop of a hat. I do not understand her at all but she is very laid back. Then there is Inky, my omega cat. Inky hisses at everything and everyone except me. Being the recipient of all the other cats' greater status has taught her to hiss now and regret later, I guess. Inky gets serious alone time with me every day in the bathroom right before bedtime. She is a nice cat, but not interested in fighting for dominance in the pride.

Hisses, I feel, are a generic audible calling card and there are many different types with length of hiss, volume and whether it is combined with a spit working with body language to tell the other cat the meaning of the hiss. My two youngest cats hiss one another when they wrestle; and they are sisters and just seem to be having fun while they hiss. Then there is Apache's top female cat hiss toward her nemesis Tux Cat which says "get out of my sight"! Many meanings for hisses.


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