Do Kittens Understand Hissing? How To Use It

Do kittens understand hissing? These three cats for sure do!

Yes, kittens do understand hissing. They are taught what this means by their mothers, and it is probably passed down to them in their genes. Some cat owners hiss at their kittens to teach what behavior is not accepted.

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Do kittens understand hissing?

Kittens are hissed at by their mothers from their first weeks on earth. Their mothers do this to discipline them, and kittens understand this very well. Not only is it scary by nature, since the mother cat shows its sharp teeth, but the sound is something all kittens associate with aggression.

The act of hissing is completely normal for cats, who cannot communicate with words. They rely on other ways of expression, such as sounds and body language. Even small kittens understand this, in the same way that our babies can tell the difference between a happy face, and one that seems threatening. 

Naturally then, they also understand when we hiss at them. Regardless if the hissing comes from another cat or their human owners, they can notice and understand the signals that a hissing sound is supposed to send, and will most likely back off, or stop the behavior that caused you to hiss at him or her. 

The fact that they understand hissing even when it comes from a human, makes more sense when you consider that some science suggests that cats view us humans as animals of the same kind as themselves. I elaborated further on this subject in this post.

Should I hiss at my kitten?

Raising a kitten isn’t easy. When I raised my cat, one of the biggest problems I had was getting him to understand what was behavior was okay, and what things I would not accept. Searching for advice on this, I stumbled upon a forum thread discussing whether hissing at a kitten was a good practice or not. 

Many cat owners said this practice was completely fine, and even natural, since kittens are hissed at by their mothers during the entire upbringing. I was hesitant at first, I was a first-time cat owner, after all. Being aggressive to my little pet felt wrong in a way, and it took some time before I was able to comfortably adopt this practice. As soon as I did, though, I wished I had begun sooner. Suddenly, I had a good way to discipline my kitten, and teach him what I did not enjoy.

I overcame my initial hesitation towards hissing by making sure I showed my kitten some love quickly after. If my cat did something wrong, I hissed, walked away for a few minutes, and then came back to pet him. I made sure to show some extra love and affection, as I did not want him to feel I was going to be angry forever. It was important to me that my kitten understood that I hissed as a way to discipline him, not to show aggression. Did he understand that I did this as much for his sake as my own? I guess not!

My kitten is hissing at me – Why is it doing this?

Well, well, well. How the turntables… Umm… Anyways. 

If your kitten is hissing at you, do not be alarmed. This is completely natural behavior. Most commonly, cats do this as a warning before they attack. While your pet cat probably won’t ever attack you, see this as your cat’s way of expressing anger, or discomfort. Cats will generally try to avoid conflict, so a hiss is their way of trying to make someone, or something, back off. 

There are numerous other reasons for a cat to hiss though, and some could be cause for worry. For example, a hissing cat could be trying to show that it is in pain. It might have a wound that is hurting when you touch it, or something internal is hurting. Hissing is rarely a sign of something serious, but keep this in mind.

Speaking from my own experience, my cat would often hiss at me if it thought I went too far while playing with him. My cat seemed to do this quite often, and I learned that it wasn’t anything serious. I would back off for a moment, and then continue playing a little bit less rough.

Hissing between cats is common in confrontations. As I wrote above, hissing is often a cat’s way of warning before attacking. This article on PetMD explains that it is usually the weaker cat that hisses, while the aggressor does not. Simultaneous to hissing, a cat often raises its hair to appear bigger, as to scare off the attacker. 

Conclusion

Yes, cats do understand hissing. Not only because it is taught to them by their mothers, but also because it is passed down to them by their ancestors. Hissing is not always that serious though, and you can use it to send signals to your cat about what you think is okay and what is not.

Cats’ mothers hiss at their kittens right after birth, so kittens are taught what it means at an early age. Use this to your advantage when raising your kittens! I can only speak for myself, but I had great success with this method!

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