A 14-month-old female spayed Arabian Mau cat was presented for preparation for international air travel and relocation. The cat’s owners were also concerned that the cat was showing aggressive behaviours towards them and were referred to the clinic’s behaviour service to assist with the behavioural concerns as well as preparation for relocation. The cat was rescued as a stray at the age of 6 weeks. It was in poor health, with no sign of siblings or mother. When questioned about the aggressive behaviours, the owners described frequent episodes (daily, sometimes multiple times per day) of the cat jumping at their hands and legs, scratching and biting them, locking onto their feet and legs with its teeth and/or claws and ‘kicking’ with its back feet. These episodes lasted for up to 20 mins and the cat drew blood from their hands, arms and legs. The cat’s body language, facial expressions and vocalisations before and during aggressive events were described as follows: it had dilated pupils; it stared at and fixated on them; its ears were turned sideways or backwards; and it may have shown piloerection while lying on its side with its tail flicking before jumping up to run at them. With visitors, the cat approached slowly with a fixed stare, then hissed, swiped at and sometimes bit them; its pupils were also dilated and its ears turned sideways if they tried to interact with it. The first aggressive incident towards the owners occurred when the cat was 12 weeks old. Aggressive events occured when the cat had been separated from the owners or after being let out of a locked room. The cat became aroused when the owners prepared to leave the home and aggressive incidents occurred frequently at these times. The owners work long hours in shifts, so the cat was spending periods of up to 12 h alone in the home. Aggressive events were frequent at the end of a stint of multiple consecutive shifts. The owners interrupted aggressive behaviours by raising their voices and used verbal reprimands such as ‘no, be nice’. They also utilised physical punishment, including tapping its nose, scruffing, and using water sprayers and other repellents, such as ‘shaker cans’ that make a loud noise. Reprimands and punishments caused the cat to vocalise (angry meows and yowls) and attack more frequently and with more intensity. A further behavioural concern was that the cat chewed on and was ingesting fabric items, such as woolly socks and towels. It was seeking out fabric items a few times per week, which was managed primarily by keeping fabric items out of reach. Based on the behavioural history, owner descriptions and initial behaviour consultation, the following diagnoses were made: aggression occurring as misplaced play/predatory behaviour; fear-based aggression towards visitors; and pica, specifically wool sucking and fabric eating. The family, including the cat, was due to relocate from the United Arab Emirates to Ireland 2 weeks after the initial consultation and recommendations were made to support the behavioural presentations as well as help manage stress in preparation for, during the flight and upon arrival in a new home. Flight preparation recommendations are detailed in. All recommendations were followed, although there was not much time (2 weeks) for crate familiarisation. Alpha-casozepine (Zylkene, Vetoquinol) was used for 4 weeks upon arrival as recommended and gabapentin was used at the recommended dose twice daily until the follow-up. Management and enrichment recommendations for human-directed aggressive behaviours are detailed in. Management of likely fear-based aggressive behaviours towards strangers and visitors was not addressed at this time as it was a secondary concern. To manage pica, it was recommended to feed the cat ad libitum and to continue keeping fabric items out of reach. The initiation of long-term psychotropic medication such as the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluoxetine or the tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) clomipramine was recommended to help reduce aggression and treat pica; however, this was declined at the time. Given the role serotonin plays and its effects on the brain, SSRIs, such as fluoxetine, have a broad range of effects and are useful for many conditions, including aggression, high arousal and compulsive disorders. Reconcile (Forte Healthcare) is currently licensed for separation anxiety in dogs; therefore, its use for any conditions in cats is off-label and obtaining informed consent from the owner is recommended, which was done in this case. Another medication option would have been a TCA, such as clomipramine, which is also indicated for the off-label treatment of aggression and compulsive disorders in cats and is licensed for urine marking in cats in Australia. A follow-up appointment occurred 2 weeks after arrival in Ireland as there had been significant worsening of aggression towards strangers and pica; aggression towards the owners was the same as before air travel. The cat seemed terrified of all unfamiliar people coming into the new home, which was not previously the case, and it ran at, hissed and swiped at visitors, and attacked the female owner’s elderly mother. There was an increase in frequency and intensity of wool-sucking and fabric-eating behaviour since arrival in Ireland. The cat chewed large holes into dressing gowns, wool socks and towels (), and ingested the material. It had vomited the dressing gown material and there were some pieces of material in the stool in the litter box. This behaviour posed a high risk for a foreign body and potential need for surgery. The use of long-acting psychotropic medication was discussed again, and the owner agreed to start the SSRI fluoxetine (Reconcile, Forte Healthcare) at 0.5 mg/kg for the first 2 weeks to monitor for side effects. The most common side effects are appetite reduction, lethargy and gastrointestinal signs, such as nausea and diarrhoea. A further side effect is urinary retention. It is thought that increased serotonin levels may cause urethral spasms and increased external urethral sphincter activity by affecting the central micturition nucleus and the motor neurons of Onuf’s nucleus in the sacral spinal cord. The cat did not show any side effects and the dose was increased to 1 mg/kg after 2 weeks. The owner reported significant improvements in behavioural signs 6 weeks after the initiation of fluoxetine. The cat was generally calmer and chewed on fabric items less frequently with less intensity and fixation. It was also less fearful of visitors entering the home and showed fewer aggressive behaviours towards visitors and the owners. Twelve weeks after the initiation of fluoxetine, the owner reported that pica had ceased completely and that the cat now sat on the female owner’s mother’s lap during visits. The ambushing behaviour towards the owners had also completely stopped. The only behavioural sign that remained was agitation and distress as the owners prepared to leave the home, so gabapentin was prescribed at a dose of 100 mg 90 mins before departure, which reduced pre-departure arousal within 2 weeks.