Cat hissing can be very disturbing for many cat owners. Often times their cats will hiss at them just for approaching them. The are many ways to get your cat to stop hissing at everyone that comes by.

Cat behavior problems are the most common reasons cats are given over by their owners to cat shelters. Among these cat behavior problems that are most common are litter box problems and aggression, cat hissing falls into the cat aggression category.

Cats usually hiss because they are either frightened or trying to scare someone off. Cats that are cornered and think they will be attacked will usually hiss. Cats that are trying to be left alone or trying to get rid of someone will also usually hiss.

One cat owner had a cat that sat on the doorstep and constantly hissed at the new boyfriend or anyone else that came near the doorstep. No matter what she tried the cat would continue to hiss at the new boyfriend. It got so bad that many people when they came to her house would just enter in from the garage.

One thing that helped this cat owner is desensitizing and positive reinforcement techniques. Desensitizing is a common behavior modification tool that many people see great success with.

To use desensitization for a hissing cat, slowly approach the cat until it starts to hiss, and then back off. Slowly over the period of a week or two try to decrease the distance you can approach the cat without it hissing at you.

The other technique is positive reinforcement. In our example the owner’s boyfriend simply started feeding the cat and gave it treats. Once it started to associate him with rewards the hissing went away.