Purring, Nuzzling and Hissing Simultaneously (2024)

Jun 14, 2012

  • #1

tumbleweed01

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I just got a 6 month old kitten 5 days ago and which was brought to me by my daughter, whom she had been living with up until now. When the kitty (“Clementine”) was first delivered to me, she would look at me, open her mouth and hiss at me like a snake would. I figured it was no big deal because she didn’t know me at all and was scared of me. It was entirely understandable behavior in my opinion.

Now, after 5 days here she has become MUCH less wary of me and is starting to feel at home. She often purrs loudly now, constantly rubs against (“nuzzles”) my legs as cats of course always do and often follows me around the house. She is obviously at home enough now to start showing me considerable affection.

The one aspect of her behavior which I don’t understand at all is that occasionally while nuzzling my legs and purring, she will sometimes also open her mouth at the same time and hiss as she did when she first got here. I am completely puzzled by this. I have had several cats over my lifetime and have never seen this behavior before.

It’s not a problem for me (nor do I expect to become one) but I am still curious about why she does this. My interpretation is that she is demonstrating fear and/or anger at the same time that she is showing affection, something I consider quite contradictory. Furthermore, it is obvious by all of her other behavior that she feels fairly comfortable here now and there is no real reason anymore to be fearful of or angry at me or her new surroundings. That just makes this behavior all the more strange to me.

Does anyone have any feedback or ideas about why she is doing this? Thanks.

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Jun 16, 2012

  • #2

mani

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I wonder if it is just habit?

Jun 16, 2012

  • #3

S

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Could be the only sound she learned to make as a wee one. Hissy would hiss in greeting, at feeding time, in short, at every other instance where most cats at least make at least a faint mew AND she did the wind around the ankles purring and emitting soft hisses. I never heard her make any sound resembling a meow in 6 years until she decided to become a house cat on her own. She learned to meow for food and as a greeting from Da Lip and Da Magpie but thankfully without the volume that Da Lip uses - he thinks humans are deaf and need to be shouted at. Just enjoy your hissing cat, and be thankful she doesn't think people are dim and need to be screamed down!!!LOL. .

Jul 9, 2012

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tx_kat

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One of our girls used to hiss at us like this, but she is a former feral. After a while, she would give us a hiss-meow as we passed in the hallway. Now she just meows at us. Another one of our girls doesn't meow properly. She opens her mouth, but what comes out is a squeaky hissing sound.

Feb 28, 2013

  • #5

taizen

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I'm having that reaction too...but this may be because it's my new cat's first day in a new house. He'll purr and rub against me for me to pet him, then hiss and walk away. He's either just stressed or bi-polar...

Mar 1, 2013

  • #6

nujay

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Seems to me that she is just nervous...she wants to be friends...but also is on guard because she doesn't know you well...

Mar 2, 2013

  • #7

sivyaleah

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I think she's just nervous also.

When we got Cocoa, just over 2 months ago, we were told she was a "hisser" but, it didn't mean much of anything. And indeed she was. She would initially hiss each time you approached her but once you touched her, she melted at the touch and purred and nuzzled you like crazy.

It took a couple of weeks before she stopped hissing at me, and much longer before she stopped doing it to my BF. I think it continued with him now and then for a good 6 weeks.

Now, she is hiss free. She just needed to get comfortable with us and being in our home with our resident cat. She had been a stray cat for who knows how long, possibly semi-feral status, not sure. The rescue agency has no idea how long she was on the streets but it's evident she was someone's pet at some point as she acclimated well to being kept in doors and, obviously is used to being handled. She just, forgot what it was like and the hissing was her way of expressing her trepidation.

Now she meows to communicate with us. All. The. Time. ROFL. She's quite the talker!

Mar 2, 2013

  • #8

catspaw66

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Taizen said:

I'm having that reaction too...but this may be because it's my new cat's first day in a new house. He'll purr and rub against me for me to pet him, then hiss and walk away. He's either just stressed or bi-polar...

It is stress caused by a new person and a new environment. I don't think he is bi-polar. Just calmly talk and play with him and he should get more confident about his new conditions.

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Purring, Nuzzling and Hissing Simultaneously (2024)

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