"studio" wrote in message
...
You see in Mama's eyes, she's looking at the other female cat, and
the
hand reaching down to pet her is an extension of that cat.
That hand will be attacked as if the other cat itself were too close.
It doesn't matter whose hand it is, it could have just as well been
mine.
That's called misdirected (or redirected) aggression.
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/aggression3.html
MaryL