Our 7yo male cat Blaze (a rescue, we’ve had him for 3 years) has recently started being aggressive with our 4-year-old female lab Nila (dog, also a rescue, we’ve had her for just under 2 years).

Can’t exactly pinpoint when it started. We do have other animals. Everyone generally gets along. Maybe like once or twice a week though, when Nila is walking past Blaze, sometimes he’ll reach out and swipe a claw at her. For no apparent reason. Nila has a very short wiry coat and he has gotten his claws stuck in her.

We don’t know why he started doing this. But it’s been new behavior since Feb 2026. We do clip the cat’s claws maybe once a month or so. We’ve started to clip them more since we’ve noticed this behavior.

They still play together. We thought initially what had happened were accidents, at least the first couple times. But Blaze getting his claws stuck in Nila when that had never been an issue before is giving not quite accident vibes. Nila is starting to be afraid of Blaze.

We don’t know what to do about it or how to negate this behavior. Any insight or help would be appreciated.

Cat tax included.