Cats don’t behave randomly or do things out of the blue, even if we can’t see a logical explanation. We need to look at things from the cat’s perspective, which can be very different from our own.
Cats are very subtle in their behaviour when something is wrong and it is very easy to overlook an increase in hiding behaviour. This stems from also being a prey animal as well as a predator so they try to hide signs of vulnerability.
A common problem that many people experience is inappropriate play behaviour. One of the reasons it is so frequently seen is that so many people play with kittens, in particular, using their fingers and toes as part of a game.
It can be very hard to tell whether cats are fighting or play fighting as they have not evolved the complex facial muscles to show a wide variety of facial expressions. Cats struggle with each other too as they don’t have much in the way of appeasement signals to smooth things over.
During the excitement of having a new cat, it can be very tempting to power through the introduction process, and this is the biggest reason that Cats Protection has cats returned to the charity – as they didn’t get on well with the resident cat and vice versa.
Most cat owners are familiar with their cat trying to wake them up in the early hours of the morning. Some cats will miaow at their owners, others will paw at their face and some even knock ornaments off the side.
Spraying is a very common behavioural problem. Most people are surprised to learn that all cats can spray, regardless of whether they are male or female, neutered or unneutered.
In this week’s behaviour focus post, Cats Protection Behaviour Manager Nicky Trevorrow discusses why cats may choose to wee on the furniture instead of using their litter tray – and what you can do about it.
Many owners find this behaviour frustrating particularly if their cat has already been given a scratch post. The first thing is to understand why a cat is scratching.
In the first of our new weekly behaviour focus posts, Cats Protection Behaviour Manager Nicky Trevorrow explains what to do if your cat isn't drinking from their water bowl.