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I have a 1.5 year old cat that will be sitting quietly on a stool, chair etc, and then he will, apparently at random, react to his tail movements and run away and sprint around the house. There seems to be no reason for him to react this way and it often results in him becoming increasingly aggressive towards the other cat (who is 8 months old). He behaved this way before the other cat came into the house, too.

When he is in this state he reacts aggressively towards any interaction.

While he is an indoor cat, he spends most of the early mornings chasing and playing with our other cat. Also I take time to play with him via laser-pointer when I get freetime

Is this normal for a young cat or is it something I should be concerned about?

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  • does your cat get exercise?
    – scio me nescire
    Oct 8, 2013 at 22:10
  • Yes. While he is an indoor cat, he spends most of the early mornings chasing and playing with our other cat. Also I take time to play with him via laser-pointer when I get freetime.
    – Dennis Graves
    Oct 8, 2013 at 22:11
  • How old is the other cat?
    – scio me nescire
    Oct 8, 2013 at 22:13
  • My ~5-year-old cat chases his tail randomly, too (excitement but not aggression in this case). I've wondered about that too.
    – Monica Cellio
    Oct 8, 2013 at 22:13
  • The other cat is 8 months. He still reacts like this even when the other cat is away and before the other cat came into the house 2 months ago.
    – Dennis Graves
    Oct 8, 2013 at 22:15

1 Answer 1

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Cats are just like dogs in that they need a lot of exercise. More importantly, they also share the same instinct to kill, except to a much greater degree.

I would say that your cat needs one or both of these things to happen:

  1. More exercise (buy some interactive toys)
  2. Something to "kill" after exercising (and no, don't buy mice just so it can kill them)

What I mean by something to kill is a toy or something for it to chew on after some laser chasing or something. If a cat chases after something but can't actually do anything with it, it can build up frustration and aggression.

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    Yes, this exactly was going to be my comment. Laser pointers are useful in some situations, but generally they cause frustration because there's nothing to "kill". Switching to a wand toy that he can catch may help. We also feed right after play time, so they get that normal hunt-eat-sleep sequence.
    – Zaralynda
    Oct 31, 2013 at 16:32

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