Cats

A while ago I wrote an article discussing the similarities between a cat’s brain and a human brain (A Study of Cats and Humans,) this article is going to try and go inside of your cat’s head and see why it does what it does.

According to a report by Rolan Tripp, DMV, (www.AnimalBehavior.Net) that I found in the Catnip Newsletter (July 07, Vol. 15, page 10.) Dr. Tripp stated a cat’s behavior is based on five factors: genetics, gestation, early socialization, intentional training and experience.

When it comes to genetics, the kitten’s father plays an important part in determining the cat’s personality, while mom plays an important part in teaching social skills, hunting and eating.

The brain during the gestation period (pregnancy) develops quite quickly and anything that happens to the mother cat while carrying the kittens will have an effect on the litter. This includes stress, trauma and happy things. This knowledge helped me to understand why feral kittens behave as they do. Since feral cat mothers are usually fighting for survival and food while carrying a litter.

Between the ages of two weeks and seven weeks mom is teaching the kittens social skills. If the mother cat lives in a house with a family, she is teaching the kittens how not only get along with each other, but with the members of the family, which may include the dog. She is teaching them to use the litter box along with playing and hunting. (Though most domestic cats are not real hunters anymore.) This is a period of great importance to a kitten, as happy and good experiences will create a friendly and outgoing cat, and not so good experiences with have a negative effect on the kitten.

My cat Boots is a good great example of poor socialization and the effect it has on a cat’s personality. Boots is 11 years old and we have had him since he was 9 weeks old and today he is still fearful, timid, afraid of people and does not like to socialize with our other cats.

Boots is an offspring of a feral mother cat my brother felt sorry for, he took the mother cat in when she was about due to have her kittens. He had two house cats of his own and had to keep the mother cat separated from his cats and though the kittens were handled sporadically, due to the fact my brother worked long hours, this lack of socialization has had a dramatic effect on our Boots.

Intentional training is training that the mother cat teaches the kittens and the training a kitten gets from being part of a human family. This education learned at an early age will have an important impact on a kitten’s personality in the future.

The last behavioral effect is life experiences. Kittens like people learn from experience. Good experiences lead to happier kittens and people, while the negative ones can lead to distrust and fear in both kittens and humans.

These are the five basics that help to make your cat what it is today. But, it does not end there, as with humans, life experiences keep going on.

Dr. Tripp goes on to offer some insights and possible solutions for a few common cat misbehavior problems, which I will share with you along with my own life experiences, having had cats for over 55 years.

The solutions to litter box problems are not new. Once medical conditions are eliminated, many litter box problems can be directed to a few things.

Is the litter box clean (empty it at least once a day and do not use an ammonia based cleaner?)

Do you have more than one cat using the box? Each cat should have its own, and ideally there should be one to spare.

Most cats prefer unscented litter. Have you changed the litter product recently and has that created a problem?

Location, location, location is important in finding a house and is equally important placing a litter box. Cats need to feel safe when using their box. Feeling safe means the cat has the opportunity to run if it feels scared. Also placing the litter box near a noisy machine is not wise. A washer, dryer or a furnace that turns off and on can create a situation that makes a cat feel insecure and it will not use the box.

Aggression toward other cats or toward their humans is to me a mystery. We have three cats (2 males and 1 female) that barely get along. The boys will tolerate each other, but the female hates both of them and the youngest male does not like the female either. Boots the oldest is very passive and therefore gets chased at times by both cats. They do not fight, but do not want him in their space. Smokey the youngest totally dislikes the female and will chase her on a moment’s notice. Again there is no fighting, just a “get out of my space” attitude. I have followed all the rules as far as introducing them to each other, and have decided that like people there are some cats that just do not like each other. We have lived like this for the last 7 years without a major war and I guess we will continue to do so.

Cat aggression toward humans needs a different outlook. If the cat is not hurting and you know it is medically well. It is necessary to look and see what is the trigger that brings on this behavior.

Our cat, Miss Tiger will bite if she is held too long. She was a feral kitten and still has those instincts. We know when we hold her if her tail starts to thump quickly that means let her go at once. Her bite is a message that she has had enough loving and wants to be free.

Dr. Tripp suggests that once you understand the trigger of an aggressive behavior, avoid the behavior until you find and appropriate behavior modification program. I am not certain how you find an appropriate modification program that a cat understands. My feeling is once you understand what the trigger is, avoid it and leave well enough alone.

Destructive behavior, the first lesson here is to learn that cats are not vindictive and do not do anything for spite. However, I have had an experience that I feel proves that statement incorrect. I once had a cat named Cinders (a male) that loved to eat boiled ham and cheese. It was his food of choice and would demand it on occasion quite loudly. Being a person of strong will myself, there were times when I did not feel like living up to his demands and for that I suffered. He retaliated by urinating on me. The first time I thought it was funny, but after a time or two I realized he meant business. Was it possible to change the behavior, possibly, but I never tried; I just got him his ham and cheese on demand. Which goes to prove that “dog’s have masters and cat’s have staff.”

Seriously though, if your cat is clawing your couch or stereo speakers, maybe you do not have proper scratching posts. A good post is sturdy and about 3 feet in height or long. Why such length? Cats need to stretch, stretching is good for their muscles and gives them room scratch and shed their claws. Cats also scratch in order to leave their scent on things. The scent is not noticeable to humans, but other cats will be aware that they are in another cat’s territory.

Cats are farsighted, and are able to learn to do more things that require their sense of smell or dexterity, rather than their sight. They are also more active at dawn and at dusk. Nature planned it that way, so they can catch their breakfast and dinner and that is why they wake you up at the crack of dawn looking for breakfast.

Hearing also plays an important part in what a cat learns. Familiar sounds such as your car, the can opener or the sound of a person’s footsteps all have taught your cat a thing or two.

Some cats learn faster than others, some cats learn by experience, and some by observation. But, all cats learn to do only what they want to do, when they want to do it and there is not much we can do about it.

It’s essential to human and animal health that feral cats are spay or neutered a.s.a.p. , and you must follow guidelines specifically for feral cats. Typically feral cats run away the minute you spot them. I have had the pleasure of getting to know several feral cats over the last decade. Some of these cats became loving pets; others remained wild and never allowed me to pet them. Some survive fairly well outdoors in rural or urban areas.

Feral cats are captured in humane traps by volunteers (i.e. you and me) and brought to special facilities or clinics who understand feral cats. While they are unconscious and being spayed or neutered a veterinarian typically checks them for signs of infectious disease. If he or she suspects the cat has a terminal illness that can be transmitted to other animals, or if the animal is very ill, severely injured or suffering from a painful condition they may euthanize the cat immediately. (None of the feral cats I trapped had to be euthanized despite poor conditioning and shabby coats). It’s very important to find a veterinarian or a program that specializes in feral cat spay and neuter programs. I’ll talk more about what to look for in future articles.

When you work with feral cats there are several things tips to help you successful complete a trap spay and release program. The first step is form a relationship. It can be achieved by the power of stinky food, respecting boundaries but pushing the edge, and acceptance.

When you first spot a wild cat that will not allow you to touch it or one that runs away, start placing stinky food out each night in the same location. Ideally, this should be a location you can view from inside your home or apartment. You want to make sure that the food is being eaten by the cat and not another nocturnal creature like possums or raccoons. Also, if you live in an urban area, place the food next to a tree or safe place so the cat can escape if there are any stray dog packs. Feral cats are often nocturnal so they are more likely to approach new situations at night.

The best type of food is either canned cat food or left over fish. Like all cats, feral cats are carnivores and need to eat meat. However, they often survive on poor diets like left over trash, snakes, mice, insects and birds. Don’t feed too much food or something rich. Doing so may cause the cat to vomit or have loose stools, which can lead to dehydration. Start with one or two tablespoons of inexpensive canned food, tuna fish or a single sardine. Over time you can increase the food and add mineral content. Also, think about leaving out a small dish of clean water. Don’t let the water sit though, it may attract bugs and if the feral cat has leukemia the water dish may spread the disease healthy cats in the area.

At first sight the title of this article seems a reasonable question for any cat owner. As with most individual members of the human race, we tend to orient our personal world into our own system of logic, predictability and orderliness. We establish our routines and habits to fit a life style that gives us a comfort level free from the fears that always seems to surround us. We are continually reminded of those fears whether it’s broadcast yellow journalism espoused by the news media, or from neighborhood gossip by people who seem to need such excitement because they are either just bored, or think that you’re in need of some kind of realistic jolt into seeing things the way they do. As narrow as that may seem, there’s no doubt that each person organizes their home into some kind of system, that is a life style, that encompasses the concepts of order and predictability with logical results that ensures peace, comfort and tranquility.

It’s about that time many will decide they would like a pet to complete the picture. Some may want the company of a pet because they live alone; others might want surrogate children, either because they don’t have any yet, or maybe their children have grown and flown the nest. Of course, there are those who just appreciate the easy love and fidelity pets seem so easily capable of. Many will opt to get a cat. It’s here that the peace and tranquility you have established and come to know and expect is sure to be interrupted, if not challenged.

The introduction of any new pet, and cats in particular, will require a new way of thinking. With this new way of thinking, to be a successful cat owner will depend on how well one can incorporate balance and perspective, as an evaluation of oneself, into their new relationship. In other words, one needs to balance their own personal needs and the needs of their cat with a perspective that allows them to see the relationship in the long term as well as on a daily basis.

There’s a lot hidden in that last paragraph.

• Balance and perspective as an evaluation of oneself requires complete honesty when analyzing ones emotions and reactions to a given situation. Any biased rationalization of an event or circumstance just won’t do when one is seeking the ‘truth’ of a situation.
• A person’s needs can be either emotional (a harmonious, peaceful and happy home environment), spiritual or physical (food, warmth & shelter). The same goes for your cat. She has emotional and physical needs not dissimilar to your own. As for the spiritual needs of either people or cats, we’ll leave that for other discussions.
• Perspective is necessary to perceive a relationship with your cat as a long term affair, what you might call the forest, in light of the activities of day to day living, or the trees that make up a forest. Moreover, reactions to a given situation can change from one day to the next, some of which can have an altering effect on the long term view. You can see that moving from the long view to the short view and back again requires a good measure of mental agility.

So, what’s all that got to do with cat behavior?The instincts of cats have been ingrained over eons of evolution. The qualities that distinguish a cat from all other animals (people included) can be listed as follows:

• Cats are nocturnal: Cats learned a long time ago that they could find prey and avoid predators by doing their hunting at night. Physiologically, they evolved senses that allowed them to be quite successful at night time activities. Senses such as eyes that could detect motion in very little light. Hearing that allows them to accurately pinpoint a prey’s movements in the dark. Their hearing range far exceeds that of humans so that they can not only hear noises people can’t, but they can communicate in those ranges, too. They’ve the ability to lay a scent trail that doesn’t require light to follow which is useful when escape from predators can be the difference between life and death in total darkness.
• Cats are territorial: A cat will mark off an area with her scents and claim it for herself. Usually her territory would be just large enough to support her, and any of her kittens, with a food source in the form of prey. Her scent marking also warns other cats that this is her land and it would be best if they just move on.
• Cats are solitary: Except when mating, cats are used to living alone. This is closely related to the territorial aspect of the cat’s personality. In order to keep from spending all their time marking a territory, the claimed land is usually small enough for only one cat. Besides, to many scents can be confusing especially if she is trying to escape a predator in the dark of night.
• Cats are predatory: They have learned to be quite proficient at hunting, especially for small nocturnal prey. The cat’s hunting technique can be divided into four phases:
  • Stalking
  • Catching
  • Killing
  • Eating

  Most cat owners are familiar with the staking phase. All cats will stalk from kitten-hood. But, the success of any cat’s ability to stalk, catch, kill and eat prey is solely dependant on what their mother teaches them when they were a kitten. If they didn’t get good training in these predation techniques, they may be less than stellar at being a predator. Still, the instinct to act out all four phases is inherent in every cat’s nature.

• Cats are maternal: Because a cat is solitary and her territory will only provide prey for her and her brood, it’s necessary for the kittens to learn a lot before mom kicks them out of the house. Otherwise, there would be too many mouths competing for a limited supply of food. Not to mention all the different scents cluttering up the territory. The maternal instinct has to be strong to teach so much in a short period of time. Unlike pack animals that will share in child rearing, a cat has only herself to rely upon to successfully raise her brood and perpetuate the cat species.

So, when someone decides to own a cat as a pet, they should realize that the cat comes with some pretty deeply ingrained characteristics. Most see only a package that doesn’t require a lot of attention (unlike dogs), is basically clean and doesn’t have to be house trained. But, then when a person’s logical sense of order and predictability comes into conflict with the basic natural instincts of a cat… the fur begins to fly!!When a cat’s feeling at home, she will rub her cheeks against prominent pieces of furniture, your pillows, or your leg. Most people find that an endearing quality. She’s really marking her territory which she shares with you. If she becomes stressed (due to a change in or invasion of her environment such as a move to a new home, or the introduction of a new pet or family member), or due to certain illnesses, she may feel the need to mark her territory a little more strongly, say with urine. In both cases she is marking her territory, but only one marking is acceptable to you. The other can cause you fits and wonder why you brought her home in the first place. Your reaction will have a lot to say about you and how you evaluate circumstances. It will say less about your cat since she will only be doing what comes naturally to her.

It’s sometimes hard to believe, but cats really aren’t diabolical.

I know that there are many who’ll disagree with me. But, I’ve found that cats are just as loving, faithful, playful and needful of attention as any dog. They just manifest those qualities in a different manner which is unique to cats in general. Mostly, I’ve found that with an understanding of the instinctual feline characteristics, many of the problematic behavioral confrontations people have with their cats can either be corrected, albeit with some compromise on the person’s part, or avoided altogether. Yes, you’ll have to be smarter than the cat. And, being smarter than anything requires a lot of work. In the end, cats aren’t diabolical, or out to make your life miserable; they don’t try to get even, even when you think they should. They just do what comes naturally. Whether what they do is normal or not… that depends a lot on their childhood experiences. Something even people have a hard time being. Normal, that is. Kitten-hood experiences and how they relate to adult cat behavior will be discussed in the next newsletter. For now give yourself a little test. Without looking at your cat, ask the following questions:

• What color are your cat’s eyes and coat?
• Describe the quality of your cat’s coat, skin, teeth and gums.
• What sex is your cat? Is your cat neutered or intact?
• How much does she/he weigh?
• How much does she/he eat and drink every day?
• When, how much and how often does she/he urinate and defecate?

If you can answer these questions, then you are on your way to really knowing your cat and a big step towards a peaceful coexistence which you both want, for sure. Learning her instinctual drives will complete the picture. Then your life together will be remembered as a life of harmony. Not of strife or détente. Or worse with her staring at euthanasia or becoming feral.Work in Progress: Coming to Cat Lovers Gift World will be a section entitled Cat Behavior which will discuss the concept of the cat’s natural instincts and how they affect the cat in her relations with people.