disengage, abort mission, return to base

Usually I hiss back.

just leave them alone, they are expressing fear/frustration.

Chuff and lay my ears back.

Wink at them and apologise.

do the slow blink thing and try to interact with either food or a toy depends on the situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcMyBzjN8eI

Behold an expert doing the thing you asked about

"Meow?"

if they maintain their stance the polite thing to do is to stand upright and politely walk away at an unceremonious speed.

Depends.

Originally posted by Original:

What do you do if a cat hissed at you?

This is not a video about "what to do", and it's not even a housecat, but she does explain a little bit about the hissing. Make sure you have subtitles turned on, unless you speak Russian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRdcMc5ba2E

Originally posted by Vinegaroon:

do the slow blink thing and try to interact with either food or a toy depends on the situation.

if they are your cat/a cat you are attempting to gain the trust of, yes. food is the ultimate motivator for animals.

get down on all fours, as low to the ground as you can be getting. standing tall over a small animal like a cat is intimidating to them. place the food for them and then back off, they will come to it in time.

Fun fact: When cats show you their butt they are saying hello to you.

Freeze and break eye contact.

Originally posted by Ｋidd𝔦ｅc͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at 🃏 7ｊ:

Originally posted by salamander:

... if they are your cat/a cat you are attempting to gain the trust of, yes. food is the ultimate motivator for animals. ...

Yeah, if trust is the issue otherwise it depends on the cat and situation.

My last cat would only back down when he came at me hissing and growling if confronted with the spray bottle. He'd either ignore the treats, or eat them then go back to what he was doing (ie. return to hissing and growling while following me around).
...although he'd only come at me that way when dad was in the hospital. Don't know why exactly.
He leapt into the air and scratched clear across my stomach ...so spray bottle became a friend for a day or two. Obviously, I forgave him ...after ignoring him for about a week.

learned behaviours, somehow he learned not to be trusting even food. not to say it was necessarily anything you did, sometimes strange experiences colour cats perceptions of things for their entire lives. i recommend not using a spray bottle on any future cats. while not harmful, you are teaching your cat through punishment and such tactics do not really work in creating a kinder animal.

you can get them to listen with one, but fear should not be a motivator.

píss on it (show em who's boss)