What do domestic cats dream about? My thoughts.

What do domestic cats dream about? 

Past experiences and emotions reprocessed in the rarefied and distorted environment of a dream in order to mentally process them to help make them emotionally acceptable. - My thoughts.

You can tackle the question in the title in two ways: you can rely on your personal experience in observing your cat and how they behave when they are dreaming or you can rely on research which in the USA would suggest that cats may dream about things that have happened during the day or in the distant or recent past which is similar to the way dogs and humans dream.

We are going to have to guess and that's exactly what Dr Desmond Morris has suggested. It's a question that he can't answer and neither can anybody else with certainty but I think we can rely on our personal, human experiences and the dreams that we can recollect and what they mean.

I have suggested that a lot of the dreams we have are a means to divest ourselves of anxieties. A lot of my dreams are about becoming anxious in trying to do something that can't be done such as catch a train at a station which is impossible to get at or hitting a golf ball which is impossible to hit or take an exam which I am bound to fail. These are expressions of frustration in trying to get things done and the anxiety that they produce.

Indoor/outdoor cat

In dreaming about them I believe that we can divest ourselves of these anxieties and renew the brain for the next day's fight.

I know that my cat dreams and has nightmares sometimes or a feline's version of nightmares. He might suddenly wake up with a start and he might vocalise his difficult experiences during his nightmare. I can only guess that he has encountered a fox or had some other very bad experience in his dream which has woken him up.

But his dream will be based on his day-to-day experiences, possibly a particular bad one that occurred outside in which he now dreams about. It may have happened a long time ago or recently.

Indoor cat

I don't think you can expect a full-time indoor cat to have the same kind of dreams experienced by an indoor/outdoor cat.

In fact, I would suggest that a full-time indoor cat is rarely if ever going to have nightmares unless they are being bullied in a multi-cat home. And I would suggest that their dreams are going to be less difficult and painful or distressing particularly if they are well looked after in a pleasant home by a nice and considerate caregiver.

If it's true that a person or cat processes their anxieties in their dreams, I would expect very few dreams to be recalled by domestic cats that live a cosseted and pleasant indoor lifestyle. 

They have nothing nasty to process. They should have no anxieties because all their needs are met. They have security, warmth and food and a loving caregiver. There is no room therefore for anxiety. Perhaps they just dream about nice things. Every dream is a pleasant experience.

Dreaming experiences

But the bottom line is that either people or cats dream the things they've experienced but in a dreamlike way which is distorted but ultimately, in my case, these negative dreams boil down to a feeling of anxiety and my brain's desire to process them to make them more acceptable. 

The image is by Bing Co-pilot using DALL E 3.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Experiences before and during stay at animal shelter leaves dog terrified (video)

This is not news. It is pretty obvious if you know anything about animal shelters and the kind of life dogs and cats can have before they are rescued. The combined experiences can leave the cat or dog terrified. It may be be that the shelter alone scares the dog because they can be scary places.

Perhaps they can sense that death is around the corner. If they've been placed on a list of dogs to be euthanised, perhaps some of them sense this and understand that their death is impending. We don't know. But dogs are very sensitive and intelligent. It's certainly plausible to suggest that they might understand that their lives are in danger.

Combine that with the small space they are living in. The sterility of the place. The noises. The unnaturalness of the environment and you might have a scared dog.

A dog might have come from a good home and then suddenly thrust into sheltered life which would be a great shock to them. Either way, the video we see on this page is not, in my experience of researching these matters, unusual. This dog looks terrified. She won't even turn her head towards the person petting her. You can see that they have covered her up perhaps to make you feel more secure.

One great problem with a dog becoming scared like this is that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Dogs that are scared and timid and hiding or trying to hide become unadoptable. This means that that they are earmarked for euthanasia.

Or perhaps their reaction will be aggression in defence of what they consider to be a hostile environment. This also can make them unadoptable.

It just looks to me as if like this video indicates a failure in dog domestication. This is what it has come down to in this instance. It shouldn't be like this.

Fortunately, I can report that this dog has been fostered and once they live in a foster home they often flower and their personality comes out. They behave more normally and become unadoptable. 

That simple step of going into foster care can save their lives. Perhaps you know all about this because it's quite common knowledge but if not this little video which I find very difficult to watch might be instructional.

Terrified dog at animal shelter. Screenshot.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

If your cat is really, really anxious going to the vet you can now give them pregabalin in the USA

The FDA has approved pregabalin as an anti-anxiety drug for cats when they go to the veterinarian because, as we know, a trip to the veterinarian is sure to make a cat anxious. And we mustn't forget the cat's owner who is going to be equally anxious or even more so. It's a reason why not enough cats get the opportunity to go to the vet when they need to see a vet. You will see a stark difference between cats and dogs in this respect.

Note: this is a cross-post.

Image: MikeB

The testing of pregabalin called Bonqat in the USA didn't produce stark differences between the drug and a placebo. There was a difference and therefore it does benefit cats who are particularly anxious but the improvements were about 20% on my reading of the facts available to us on the Internet and therefore it begs the question whether alternative methods to reduce anxiety would be preferable particularly as humans are advised to handle this drug with great caution. Why then are we allowed to put it into the mouths of cats?

My overriding feeling is that Bonqat should be used reluctantly to calm down a cat in a pre-vet visit. It'll be a matter of choice whether you think your cat is sufficiently anxious and, in any case, you will need a veterinarian's prescription before you can administer the drug to a cat.

Bonqat is given to cats orally as a single dose of 5 mg/kg (0.1mL/kg) approximately 1.5 hours before the start of the transportation or veterinary visit. It is packaged in 50 mL bottles containing 2 mL of dosing solution with a child resistant closure and that adapter.

Pregabalin is a DEA schedule class V drug which is why it has to be prescribed by a veterinarian. The FDA states the following about the success rate of pregabalin in reducing pre-vet anxiety visit:

A little over half of cats given Bonqat had a good to excellent response during both transportation and the veterinary visit compared to about one-third of cats given placebo. In addition, 83 of 108 (77%) cats given Bonqat showed improvement in levels of fear and anxiety over the course of the two physical examinations, compared to 46 of 101 (46%) cats given placebo.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Noel Gallagher's wild parties gave his cats nervous breakdowns, he said

The Metro newspaper online tells us that Noel Gallagher's wild parties caused his cats to have nervous breakdowns. A big and bold statement because it's very difficult to tell if a cat is suffering from a nervous breakdown. In fact, do domestic cats suffer from nervous breakdowns? We don't know. I don't believe so. 

There is still a lot to learn about domestic cats particularly in respect of their brain function and their psychology. I am being too serious. What he means is that his parties made his cats anxious which is entirely to be expected. Perhaps he should have provided them with a hiding place. Perhaps he did.

Anyway, I will press on. The information comes from the man himself who said: "I had a couple of cats who had a nervous breakdown. Benson and Hedges, after the cigarettes."

Well, it is nice to know that Noel Gallagher liked cats enough to look after a couple but, by his own admission, he didn't do a great job.

He was speaking on the Take 5 podcast. He added that, "They were a pair of f*****g lightweights". I have no idea what that means. Not a clue. He then adds that his cats had "seen things that no feline should ever see."

He adds that it was a great time however. At the time, I believe, he was living with his now estranged wife Sara MacDonald and his children, Anais, Donovan and Sonny. They are now aged 23, 16 and 13 respectively. He sold the family house in 2005 and looks back at that time with fondness he says.

He added that "They were great times. It was open house. I look back on it as just really fun, happy, hedonistic, carefree times. I didn't have any kids. It was great. That period from 1998, there were a couple of years that were a bit turbulent but I enjoyed it.

I don't understand this either! Because he said that he had a great time from 1998 and his oldest child is Anais who is aged 23. 1998 is 25 years ago. That means Anais was born during this time that he enjoyed so much. He says that he didn't have any kids at that time! Like I said I'm confused.

Correction/clarification: Noel Gallagher, the 53-year-old former oasis star, lives with his wife Sara and his sons Donovan, 13, and Sonny, 10. He has homes in Hampshire and in London. They have a family cat. He also has a 21-year-old daughter, Anais, from his past marriage to Meg Matthews but she doesn't live with him currently.

He confessed that he would be keen to revive his former band oasis despite the long-running feud with his brother Liam Gallagher. The band imploded in 2009.

I wonder whether he has pet cats at the moment? We don't know. I hope so (he does, see below). He probably lives a quiet life now. Ideal for a cat! On second thoughts I doubt if it is that quiet.

Noel Gallagher, the British musician and songwriter known for being a member of the band Oasis, is a cat owner. He has expressed his love for cats in interviews and has been photographed with his pet cats. In fact, he has mentioned his cats in several interviews, including sharing stories about their antics and companionship. - Poe using AI tech

"Curiosity killed the cat" is an adage which was "Care killed the cat" meaning anxiety

We all know the old saying "Curiosity killed the cat". It's a saying which fits cat behaviour. Domestic cats are, indeed, very curious. It gets him into trouble sometimes which is why they can be harmed because of their curiosity and even, rarely, killed. Therefore, the adage has some veracity.

Domestic cats' lack of understanding of activities and objects in the human world makes them nervous. Photo: Pixabay.

But the original version of this proverb, from its first appearance in the 16th century until the end of the 19th century was, "Care killed the cat".

Care meaning anxious

In this saying, the word "care" means to worry about or to be anxious about something or other. It points to the possibility that cats could become so anxious and worried about something that it could even kill them. And this, apparently, used to be a belief by many people back in the day when the saying was first created.

And interestingly, this concept of worry killing cats is being revisited by veterinarians. Perhaps it's being revisited in terms of the fact that anxiety in domestic cats can harm their health which can lead to on occasions a serious health problems and even death.

But apparently, about 25% of cat owners surveyed in a 2008 study believed that their cat was incapable of feeling anxiety or sadness. Times have changed thanks to the internet I would say which has educated many cat owners. It is believed now that cats can at least experience the basic emotions that humans experience which includes anxiety or sadness.

And if asked today, scientists would agree that the old version of the proverb is to a certain extent true. Anxiety does present as a serious and real affliction for many domestic cats.

Anxiety is defined as a fear of something that is not currently happening. And you will find that there are, today, some anti-anxiety drugs which have been developed for humans which can be used on cats off-licence. Although, we are still unsure as to whether domestic cat feels the same kind of anxiety that humans feel but we are sure that feline anxiety is similar to human anxiety.

Elavil for anxious cats sometimes. Last resort. Image: MikeB

Interestingly, in the study I mention, more than 60% of cat owners thought that domestic cats can be jealous. Almost 20% of the participants thought that cats can feel the emotion of embarrassment and more than 20% believed that cats can feel shame. Around 35% believed that cats can feel guilt and 40% were sure that cats experienced grief. About 60% thought that domestic cats experienced empathy.

Home range issues

The most common cause of anxiety in cats is to worry that their home range i.e. their territory is about to be invaded by other cats in the neighbourhood. This might apply to full-time indoor cats when looking out the window into the back yard.

Or they might feel this anxiety when living in a multi-cat home and where their territory is very compressed. Under these circumstances home ranges overlap a lot and there is a greater possibility for cats to develop anxiety because of intrusions into their home range.

When Dr. Jon Bradshaw conducted a survey of 90 cat owners in suburban Hampshire and rural Devon in 2000, the participants reported that almost 50% of their cats regularly fought with other cats. They confirmed that 40% of the cats were fearful of cats in general.

He states that he has a colleague, a veterinary surgeon, Rachel Casey, specialising in cat behavioural disorders who regularly diagnoses anxiety and fear. She believes that these emotions are main factors driving cats to urinate and defecate indoors outside of the litter box.

Forced to live with cat they don't trust and owner absence

As about half of domestic cats on that survey suffer from anxiety the old adage that I mention above carries some truth. And this leads to inappropriate defecation and urination inside the home. When cats defecate on bedsheets which by the way happened to my ex-wife's cat after my divorce, the cat is desperately trying to mingle their own smells with their owner's smells to establish ownership. 

It can be reassuring for a cat to do this. In my ex-wife's case I don't think this was about ownership of space but more about anxiety about her absence. Although she had introduced a new cat to the home which would have probably compounded the matter.

The stress of being forced to live with a cat or cat that they don't trust can affect a cat's health. The classic illness caused by stress is cystitis which veterinarians call idiopathic cystitis because there is no apparent cause of it.

66% urination problems

Dr. Jon Bradshaw tells me in his book Cat Sense that "As many as two thirds of cats taking to vets for urination problems-blood in the urine, difficult or painful urination, urinating in inappropriate places-have no obvious medical problems, other than inflammation of the bladder and intermittent blockage of the urethra by mucus thereby displaced from the bladder wall. The factors triggering such episodes of cystitis are therefore psychological."

Lack of understanding

When you think about it, there are a lot of things about the human world that domestic cats are going to struggle to understand because they are human. They can become acclimatised to them but constantly fail to understand them.

Certainly, new events and activities can make them anxious because of this failure to understand.

It's a reminder that we are different species and that our relationship as is an interspecies relationship and therefore quite special.

There are numerous activities which occur throughout the day and throughout the year which can cause anxiety and which are exclusively human in nature such as fireworks, delivery vans outside, the doorbell going off, the hoover being used and so on and so forth.

Owners aware

I think based upon this article that many cat owners should really be switched onto the possibility that their cat companion is going to stressed at some stage of their lives and they should look to the causes, the most common of which, as mentioned, is another cat or cats.

One cat needs 4 covered beds in different places as they like to rotate them

This is a really quick note. I was prompted to write it because I was looking for my cat this morning. He had been out and active all night. This is usual for him. He goes to bed at about 11 AM and stays there until the mid or late afternoon. And he likes to rotate the places where he sleeps, which is why it can be tricky to find him sometimes. 

My experience tells me that four different hiding places that are covered and in different locations around the home is about ideal. What are your ideals?

And he particularly likes places in which to sleep that are covered. In fact, he almost insists upon it. The reason is obvious: he feels more secure. Even better for him is when there are four walls and a roof with an entry point in one of the walls as you can see in the photograph.

Domestic cat's sleeping place is covered and enclosed for a sense of security. Image: MikeB

Note about the picture above. You see that well-worn scratching post? That's good as it is infused with his scent due to long usage which will encourage him to continue to use it and avoid the couch or armchair!

It's all about feeling secure and secondly, it's all about having options for a domestic cat to choose from because they like variation. They like variety. They can get bored like people. And they are particularly prone to boredom when they are cosseted and provided for all their lives as they are when living in good homes. 

They can often lack challenges. Domestic cats actually need challenges. They need them to be mentally stimulated.

Domestic cat's sleeping place is covered and enclosed for a sense of security. This is an expensive one at £200! Too expensive but pretty. Image: MikeB

And it's ideal if those little hiding places are off the ground and it doesn't matter if they are high off the ground. It might even be better for some cats. Although of course for older cats they need to be easy to get into because they might suffer from arthritis which makes it very difficult due to pain to climb and jump.

That is the point of the article. Try and provide a variety of little protective hiding places around the home where your cat can sleep. And there might be one or two outside the home if you live in a part of the world where the climate is very amenable for a cat who wants to sleep outside at night. 

Sometimes it's cooler for a cat to sleep outside at night and therefore a similar-type enclosed "bedroom" could be constructed outside as well.

There are deficiencies in indoor cat housing causing multiple behavioural problems

The title comes from a study dated 1997 of around 1200 cats living indoors full-time.

Many more domestic cats are full-time indoor cats today, 2023, then there were 20 years ago. There is a trend towards keeping domestic cat indoors full-time. 

The domestic cat, it is said, is barely domesticated. They retain, underneath the surface, their wild cat behaviours. This includes the size of their home range and all the other behaviours to do with a solitary, predatory lifestyle.

Full-time indoor cat superhighway. An important aspect of creating a good indoor environment. Image in public domain.

In 1997, a study assessed the behaviour of just under 1200 full-time indoor cats owned by 550 owners. A total of 65% of the cats were standard random-bred cats described as "domestic European shorthairs". 

Just under 80% were sterilized animals. Comment: this is a quite a high percentage of unsterilised domestic cats which may have had an effect on the conclusions because unsterilised gets retain more of their wild cat inherited behaviours all of which will be unwanted by a human.

87 percent of the owners were female and 59% of the household had more than one cat with an average of 2.2 cats per household.

On average, an individual cat used 34 m² of living space and had five different resting places.

Cat walks. Important for full-time indoor cats. Image in public domain.

Importantly, the owner's bed was the favourite resting place in 52% of the cases. Comment: this is because the owner's bed carries the most body odour of any other area in the home. And body odour is very important to domestic cats. It's also why sometimes domestic cats defecate on their owner's bed when they are stressed. They want to merge their scent in their faeces with the scent of their owner to reassure themselves.

RELATED: Every full-time indoor cat should have a window box (at least).

55% of the owners let the cat out under various levels of control. 79% fed their cats in the kitchen and 24% of the cats had communal food bowls.

A total of 51% of the cats had to share their cat toilet. Comment: this is a very bad policy. Jackson Galaxy, the well-known American cat behaviourist advises that there should be one cat litter per cat plus one extra. 

You do not want resource guarding behaviour by a dominant cat over a subservient cat which might take place if there isn't enough litter trays. And to share food bowls will help promote the same problem.

22% of the cat were fed in the same room as their toilet. That means that one-fifth of cases the food bowl was in the same room as the litter tray which is also a very bad idea.

The picture painted by the study is that the owners were not doing a great job looking after their full-time indoor cats. This is probably why in 54.7% of the households the owners complained of one or more behavioural problems with their cats.

The owners were given self-assessment questionnaires. The most often mentioned cat behaviour problems were:

• A state of anxiety in 16.7% of the cats,
• 15.2% of the cat scratched furniture,
• Feeding problems accounted for 10.9% of complaints,
• 10.5% of cat owners complained about cat aggression
• 8.2% of the owners complained about inappropriate urination and urine spraying
• And defecation in the home was a problem in 5.2% of the cases.

They concluded that neutered females exhibited problems most often. Owners with children complained more often about cat behaviour. Comment: probably because the kids were mishandling the cats and getting scratched and the cats were getting stressed.

When the owner spent more time interacting with their cat i.e. for several hours spread over the day they mentioned problems less often.

Cat owners spent less effort trying to resolve cat anxiety problems and scratching furniture problems than other problems.

In many cases the owners were unable to solve the problems on their own

The overall conclusion was that "there are deficiencies in indoor cat housing and that owners need help to correct them."

RELATED: The big flaw that is never admitted in keeping cats indoors full-time.

I have said it before; with the trend for full-time indoor cats not enough is being done in parallel with this to ensure that the environment is adequate as a good substitute for the indoor/outdoor environment. This is going to cause behavioural problems. This may in turn lead to an increase in cats being abandoned to shelters or simply dumped.

Study: Housing conditions and behavioural problems of indoor cats as assessed by their owners. Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-1591(96)01134-3

Infographics on 3 cat companion behaviours that need correction plus training fear out of your cat

 

I am thankful for Jackson's thoughts on this. He has his own language for describing cat behavior. I am not sure that the Infographic needs to be expanded on but I will add some words. 

Fridging and cocooning?

Two of these behavioural traits: liking to be on top of the fridge or underneath furniture which Jackson exceeded describes as fridging and cocooning respectively, are due to anxiety even fear. They are not that uncommon. 

Domestic cats have to be quite wary in some homes where the environment is not really conducive to a cat expressing their natural behaviours.

So, if a cat caregiver sees this kind of behaviour, they might accurately presume that their cat is anxious. Other signs might be over grooming themselves even to the point where they barber the hair from the inside of their legs were on their belly, both easily accessible places.

Treatment

Jackson Galaxy, American's favourite cat behaviourist, suggests that in order to allow a domestic cat to gain their confidence and become less timid, the cat caregiver should provide a cocoon for them which is a transformational place. 

This is a hiding place which is more open to the possibility of them interacting with what is going on around them. It is an intermediate location where a cat can feel secure and when it suits them integrate into general household life.

Train to reduce fear in a cat

Here is another infographic on a similar topic.

Infographic by MikeB at PoC.

Pandemic lockdowns exposed the less-than-optimal human-to-cat relationship

NEWS AND OPINION: I'm on my high horse again but I think that this is a very relevant topic. But first things first. The Kingston Humane Society has a nice photograph of a cat in one of their cages and what I like about it is the customised tent in one corner of the cage where the cat can hide. 

It's sad and nice at the same time. It's sad because cats in shelters need to hide because they are frightened but it is nice because the shelter has provided cats with a means to hide. A sort of home-from-home environment.

Kingston Humane Society cat in a cage with a tent to hide in. Image: the society.

The fact that cats need to hide indicates that their true character is probably not going to be shown at a shelter because of anxiety induced by the shelter environment. This affects adoptions.

That's the first point out of the way. The second point is this: like other cat and animal shelters, this one has too many animals in their care. Their capacity is 144 and they currently care for 315 which is more than twice their capacity.

The director of the Kingston Humane Society, Gord Hunter, puts this down to the after-effects of the Covid pandemic and those long lockdowns during which some people impulsively adopted a companion animal.

And there is the problem: people adopted these abandoned companion animals on a known temporary basis. They must have known that the lockdowns were going to end within a defined time. They must've realised that at the end of those lockdowns they would have to go back to their normal work routine, and they should have asked themselves whether they would retain their cat or dog companion when that happened.

If they didn't do that and many didn't, they were not committed to being the caregiver of a companion animal for the life of the animal. And that is the only way to adopt a cat or dog. If a person can't make that commitment, they should not adopt.

There might be some culpability with animal shelters in this regard by adopting out cats and dogs to people during the pandemic perhaps realising that this was a temporary state of affairs.

For me, it's a question of raising standards of cat caregiving. I know it's boring to discuss this, but the flood of unwanted animals adopted inwards to shelters such as the one in Kingston indicates a less than optimal human-to-cat relationship and standard of care.

This state of affairs is one reason why there are feral cats which are a perceived problem to many people. There needs to be some way of raising standards in the interest of human society and animal welfare. Education is the best answer and regulations are a secondary solution.

Source: Global News.

New, young cat is terrified. Owner asks, "What can I do?"

On social media a new cat owner has just adopted a young cat and is concerned as she hides away and does not move. She is in the bathroom where she was placed. Below is the picture provided.

It is a very classic, common situation as strange surroundings and sounds concern cats. They love familiarity, routines and rhythms. My response below is also typical, but it is always useful to spread the word. The keyword for the human is PATIENCE. Everything should proceed at the kitten's pace and things should never be forced by the human.

New, frightened kitten concerns her owner as she won't move. Image: u/UnluckyTie6534

My response on social media is as follows (what would yours be?):

You'll need a lot of patience. Give her all the time she needs to feel more at home. Perhaps provide her with a hiding place which is better than the one in the picture ✔️😎. And provide her with a really good food treat. With respect, the dry cat food you have provided looks to be poor/average quality. Provide high quality wet cat food. You'll get to know what treats she likes but slightly warmed up prawns might do it. Placed a little away from her may encourage her to move.

And try and play with her when she feels confident enough to venture forth as when a human plays with their cat, they lose themselves in play and allow the human to be close and interact but never force interactions. She'll choose. One day she'll jump on your lap and look at you in a way that melts your heart. She will come around at her own speed. Well done and it was good of you to ask.

Frightened kitten poops over girl in car (picture)

This is a bit sad but amusing at the same time. Well, it might be amusing if you are not the girl 🙃. It looks to me as if the family had just adopted this kitten from a rescue center and the kitten was scared as he/she was held by the girl as they drove home. Pooping inappropriately is a sign of stress as it is scent marking to reassure the kitten. It is instinctive. The kitten was removed from her known temporary territory and placed in a strange place. She was out of sorts and needed to reassure herself. There was nothing malicious or hostile in the behavior. The cause is the opposite really; nervousness. I am sure that she settled down quickly and is now a contented adult in her nice home.

Frightened kitten poops over girl in car (picture). Pic in the public domain.

Anxious cats are pushing up the price of pet insurance in the UK

The Times newspaper has a headline which interests me: "Why anxious cats and dogs are pushing up the price of pet insurance". They refer to a guy, Sean Feast, who had to work from home during the pandemic lockdown. Until then he was unsure why he is cat, Marble, a four-year-old tabby, was difficult. She was hard to control and "bitey". 

Marble and Sean Feast. Photo: The Times. Great newspaper. Highly recommended!

In other words, Marble tended to bite people even though they were kind to her. She was always aggressive towards people. He discovered why while he was at home durning the extensive lockdown. A neighbouring Bengal cat frequently came through the cat flap for a visit. This dramatically disturbed Marble's life. It was a massive intrusion onto her territory which made her anxious. It would seem that the Bengal cat was quite dominant and that Marble is quite timid by comparison. She had no outlet for her anxiety. It would come out in aggressivity towards people who wanted to be kind to her.

This is called redirected aggression in the cat world. Sometimes people think that their cat is simply aggressive and nasty. There is always a good reason why a cat demonstrates apparent unprovoked aggression. And redirected aggression is not uncommon.

RELATED: Domestic cat attacks their own tail because of redirected aggression.

But the purpose of this short article is in the title. I'm concerned that there are more anxious cats than people are aware of. I believe that cat caregivers should be alert to anxiety in their cat. I believe that it is not that far from the surface. Domestic cats are inherently very alert to what is going on around them and it does not take a lot to energise them. I believe that this predisposes them to anxiety. It is inherent as part of their survival strategy. And as they live in the human world, a land of giants, a slightly timid cat may suffer an almost continual level of slight anxiety.

Certainly, Covid, and the long lockdowns followed by the caregiver going back to the office has disturbed the routines and rhythms upon which the domestic cat relies so heavily. This, too, is likely to heighten anxiety levels. There is, if we are honest, a great problem with cat owners who have to be away from home all day, sometimes for long hours. 

RELATED: Picture of a young cat with a large elderly dog whose separation anxiety was cured by this confident cat.

Under these circumstances cats will often become anxious. It'll be a form of separation anxiety. This can be manifest in health issues such as cystitis and behavioural issues brought about by isolation and boredom if they are confined to the home. And of course cat owners who are away all the time are not able to observe their cat to notice the kind of pressures that they might be under from neighbouring cats if they are allowed outside.

I believe that it is beholden upon cat owners to prioritise the confidence levels in their cat. They should do all they can to boost their domestic cat companion's confidence to make them feel as calm and relaxed as possible. This means plenty of routines in their life which makes them feel more secure. It also means being around as much as possible and creating a calm environment in which they are allowed to express natural behaviour which at heart is wild cat behaviour. 

RELATED: Study says that cats are prone to separation anxiety in homes with two female residents.

This is the raw cat as Jackson Galaxy calls it. The raw cat within - the wildcat within. If you meet the demands of the wildcat they feel whole. If you add to that a friendly and predictable environment they feel whole and content.

I wasn't able to read The Times article but I suspect that the increased insurance premiums arise out of the fact that with feline anxiety you get health problems. The classic one is cystitis commonly called idiopathic cystitis. This causes inappropriate elimination. But there will be other perhaps more insidious health issues.

Do you believe scientists who say that smelly clothes don't reassure domestic cats?

This is a cross post - click this for the earlier post. Three scientists conducted an experiment as to whether the scented i.e. unwashed clothes, of domestic cat human caregiver's provided what they describe as a "secure base effect" (SBE) for their cats. To cut out the technical language, they wanted to see whether cats obtained reassurance from the unwashed clothes of their owners when their owners were absent; away from the home or perhaps asleep at night. Are smelly clothes a substitute for the presence of cat owners in terms of reassuring the domestic cat companions?

Do you believe scientists who say that smelly clothes don't reassure domestic cats? Image in public domain.

I would expect that nearly all cat owners would say that they are at least a second-best substitute. Many cat owners place an unwashed item of clothing in a cat carrier to help to reassure their cat when they take them to a veterinarian for instance. Or they leave an item of clothing with their cat when they are boarded at a cattery when they are away on holiday.

And of course you see thousands of pictures on the Internet of cat sleeping on beds which contain copious amounts of body odour from their owner or domestic cats sleeping on their owner's favourite chair. Domestic cat sleep on the laps of owners because it is warmer and because it smells of their owner. The scientist will say that these are all anecdotal forms of evidence.

They wanted to address the issue through science and provide a scientific, objective answer as to whether smelly clothes reassure domestic cats. And they say that they DO NOT! This runs counter to conventional wisdom on cat caregiving.

ASSOCIATED PAGE: 14 links between stress in domestic cats and health implications

They conducted the experiment in what was a strange place for the cats. The cats would have been brought there in carriers. The room would have been quite stark I expect and there would have been other interfering aspects such as strange noises and strange people. I believe that when you place a domestic cat into an entirely new place which might be perceived as being hostile to them, you cannot expect them to behave normally. And if you can't expect them to behave normally you can't measure natural behaviours.

The researchers found that when cats were left in a room without their owner being present but with the benefit of smelly clothing from their owner they did not use those clothes to seek reassurance. When their owner was in the room with them their stress levels went down but the clothes did not reduce stress levels as judged through their behaviour when their owners left the room.

ASSOCIATED: Study says that cats are prone to separation anxiety in homes with two female residents

They concluded, firmly, that this was scientific evidence that cats don't obtain a "secure base effect" from scented objects belonging to their owner. I would argue, as mentioned, that the study is tainted by the abnormal behaviour of the cats brought about because they were out of their home range and placed in a strange place with can induce a mild sense of panic and anxiety which masks normal behaviours.

The use of scented clothes to help reduce a well-known condition called "separation anxiety" in felines appears to have been debunked by this study. You make up your own mind. I have made up mine as you can see. There is too much first hand experience to show that scented clothes are very important to domestic cat because the smell of objects is a vital part of their lives. The use their sense of smell as much as they use their eyesight. Humans rely far more heavily on their eyesight.

Note: The scientists are: Alexandra C.Behnkea, Kristyn R.Vital and Monique A.R.Udella who, I believe, conducted the study at Animal Health & Behavior, Distance Education, Unity College, 49 Farm View Drive, Suite 201, New Gloucester, ME 04260, USA.

Reasons female cats pee on things

The reasons why a female cat might pee on things are the same reasons that a male cat might be on things. The question is one of Google's predictive questions meaning that they ask questions for you in the belief that they know what you want to ask.

Stress is a factor in inappropriate peeing. Image: MikeB.

I'm going to interpret the word "pee" very widely to include urinating and spraying. Clearly, female cats are just as likely to eliminate inappropriately as male cats. Therefore, if they don't pee in the litter box it may be because the substrate i.e. the litter material, is not a good match for that cat. Domestic cats do have a preference or they can object to a certain litter material. Declawed cats pee outside the litter tray 6 times more often than non-declawed cats. Tender feet and stress are the cause?! Or the litter tray might be in the wrong position. 

Or in a multi-cat household she may be bullied and therefore is forced to urinate outside the litterbox because she is forced off it i.e. there are not enough litter trays. Or the bullying may cause her to feel stressed and anxious.

On the subject of anxiety and stress, it can lead to what is called feline idiopathic cystitis (FIC) which is cystitis caused by no known cause except the cause is going to be stress and anxiety. If you combined that mental state with a permanent diet of dry cat food there is a possibility that the cat will develop urinary tract problems and a bacterial infection which leads to cystitis. The major cause of FIC is conflict with another cat in the home.

Male cats are more prone to cystitis because of their anatomy, however.

Female cats do spray urine just like males but less so. They are territorial like male cats. They have their own home range. But they don't defend it so aggressively compared to males. That is probably why people ask whether female cats do spray urine. Urine spraying is like a calling card as it tells are the cats that this is the resident cat's home range.

The matter of a home range is relevant to multi-cat households as well because the home ranges are much compressed which is one reason why without careful management the cats can become stressed or a timid cat can become stressed and spray.

The bottom line in answering the question as to the reasons why a female cat might pee inappropriately or spray is because of cystitis, stress and anxiety and/or defending a home range. Of these 3, the most common will be stress as it can lead to cystitis and spraying. Separation anxiety is a factor here too.

Feral cats have lower incidence of cystitis compared to domestic cats. This is probably because they are less emotionally stressed but they are probably more physically stressed.

Harmless objects might NOT seem harmless to a domestic cat

There is a popular video on YouTube and on the website Rumble with the title "Cat remarkably startled by harmless object."

But if you know a little bit about domestic cats, you have to come to the conclusion that the title is plain wrong. The person who wrote the title doesn't know domestic cat behaviour. This is one of those classic cucumber-and-cat videos. It's quite a good example although a bit dingy because the lighting is so bad.

 Harmless objects might NOT seem harmless to a domestic cat. Screenshot.

And once again the person who made the video had to scare their cat to make it which I don't like. But putting that moral issue to one side for a second, a cucumber placed behind a cat which the cat then turns and sees does not seem harmless to that cat. The cat does not know what the hell it is! It is a new, unknown object and it might be a threat. In order to play safe they jump out of the way. It's common sense. Note: the cucumber looks as if it could be an animal to a cat. It is a plausible analysis.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

People do this all the time. Many people are fearful of so many things and they avoid them. The Covid pandemic is a good example. People have been avoiding each other for 16 months. Even when they've been double vaccinated, they still go around wearing a mask in the open air or in their car. Animals and humans are alike in this respect; in general fearful of the unknown.

We should not, therefore, be surprised when a cat behaves like this. But people are surprised and amused at the same time period and we should not be amused either. This is neither surprising nor amusing behaviour. It is normal behaviour and an abuse of the domestic cat. But I'm becoming far too serious no doubt for the vast majority of people.

CLICK FOR SOME PAGES ON FUNNY CAT VIDEOS

But people should be aware that all these funny cat videos are at a price. And the price is the emotional welfare of the cats in the videos. A study found that a significant percentage of these cats are stressed and anxious because the person who made the video put their cats through a stressful situation in order to create something funny. And it is funny (strange) why people find frightened cats and cats put into difficult situations as amusing.

I would like to see a slightly higher standard of animal welfare and an attitude which reflects that if that is at all possible, please.

Why are cats scared of cucumbers?

This question has been answered a million times so no one is going to read this but I'll try and answer it differently. I think it is obvious why domestic cats are scared of cucumbers. It is not that they are scared of cucumbers per se. Is because they are suddenly confronted with something that they do not understand and have not seen before. This causes an immediate surge of anxiety and defensive action so they jump up into the air and run off.

Cat and cucumber. Screenshot from one of those not so funny cat videos.

Think of the human analogy. You are intensely doing something and somebody creeps up behind you and makes a loud noise. Something suddenly has happened which you don't understand and which came out of the blue. That is very similar to what happens when you put a cucumber behind a cat and the cat turns around and sees it.

If you understand the reasoning as to why people are frightened under those circumstances you will understand the reason why cats are too.

It's just something uncertain which is suddenly sprung upon them. Any animal would respond with anxiety under those circumstances. The cat's reaction looks extreme because they are fantastic jumpers. They have fast-twitch muscles and great levers in their legs so if they jump backwards and upwards, they jump a long way. This gives the impression that they are terrified but perhaps the better description is that they are immediately anxious.

They probably come back to the object later and sniff it to understand that it is not hostile. There is the added effect that the cucumber could be a strange, hostile creature such as a snake. Cats understand that snakes are dangerous which is why they adopted the hiss. They copied it over eons to try and frighten away predators.

Questionable morality of these videos

The unfortunate aspect of these many videos of cats being scared by cucumbers is that the people making them are scaring their cat deliberately to get some hits on YouTube. They are doing it for advertising money. So, they are scaring their cat to make money. You've got to ask yourself whether that is morally acceptable behaviour.

A study found that a good 30% or more of cats in funny cat videos are anxious. That is the price of making a funny cat video. It relies on the cat being anxious. I would doubt that anybody thinks about this because they are too absorbed with the funny aspect of the video. I think, though, that we need to ask questions.

Perhaps YouTube should start asking questions of themselves and as to whether allowing them is acceptable. But I'm asking the impossible because the YouTube guys just don't see it like that. For donkeys years they have accepted unacceptable videos and only recently have they become more aware of the need to satisfy their advertisers after pressure. They hate censorship of any kind as do Google and Facebook as it damages business.

Wife went back to the office this week, her favorite cat is waiting sadly at her empty desk

The headline comes direct from Reddit.com because I can't beat it. This is happening all over America and Europe; cats suddenly and unceremoniously left without their human companion who they've been close to for 18 months or thereabouts due to social distancing measures i.e. lockdowns.

Wife went back to the office this week, her favorite cat is waiting sadly at her empty desk. Photo: Reddit.com user: u/HawkTheHawker

The same is happening for dogs perhaps even more so. This is because a lot of people adopted dogs during the coronavirus pandemic and all they've known is to be with their human companion all day long. Suddenly, their owner is going back to work at the office and bingo, a puppy who's lived most of his life with an owner who was always there is suddenly alone. This is going to cause a lot of distress for the dog and I guess for the owner if they are genuinely concerned.

And cats aren't quite as independent as people make them out to be. Domestic cats have become social creatures and they love to have their owner at home with them. As you can see in the photograph they particularly like the desk with a computer because this is where their owner has been working and of course the computer gives off some heat which they also like.

The cats are simply not going to understand it. It will take some time for them to settle down and revert back to the old routine. In the meantime, I would guess that some of them will suffer from separation anxiety. There will be a few cases of cats being a bit naughty because if they become stressed it can be manifested in what people describe as 'bad behaviour' such as spraying urine or perhaps scratching and even perhaps becoming a little more aggressive because they are irritated.

Their owners will be distressed too because they will miss their cats. There is a big argument that people should be allowed to take their pets to their workplace. Apple, as I recall, allow dogs or is it Google? I think it's actually Google who allow this. Google has a very open attitude towards the workplace which is very evident. Everything within a Google office is untypical but geared up to creative thinking and productivity. The presence of a companion dog arguably improves productivity. There may even be a study on the topic which supports this.

It is much harder for cats to be brought to the office for obvious reasons although it does happen. The Foreign Office of the UK government used to have an office cat called Palmerston but he didn't really like it and he was pensioned off. Larry at Number 10 Downing Street is more at home and he's been there for quite a long time. It's worked out well and I'm sure he contributes. These are high profile examples of working cats and offices. There should be more but the complication is that a person or persons need to look after the cat and these will be volunteers. That's what happens at Number 10 Downing Street. And I recall they even use their own money for the purpose because there is no official funding for Larry. Larry was spraying when Dilyn the PM's dog was adopted.

A lot of animal rescue organisations are particularly concerned about dogs because they foresee a lot of abandonments of newly adopted dogs by inexperienced people who haven't really researched what dog ownership entails because they've hastily bought into the idea of adopting a sweet flat-based puppy such as a French Bulldog during lockdown. 

They discover that dog ownership is unviable when they return to the office which is happening right now. So, they offer the dog for sale online. They have to sell because their cute puppy cost them £3,500 which is a lot more than they normally cost due to market forces. And if you sell a companion animal online you generate some problems, at least potentially. 

And the dog, of course, is then being pushed around from pillar to post which is unhelpful particularly when they are young and going through those developmental years. It could result in the dog becoming badly behaved i.e. developing bad habits which lead to the possibility of the new owner passing on the dog. These are the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic in respect of companion animals.

My parents' cat hates me. Any advice?

A visitor to the website stated that their parents' cat, Luna, has been raised in the family since she was a kitten and is now eight years old. Luna loves the person's mother, is ambivalent about the father but positively hates the person asking the question i.e. the child of the parents who we've not named.

This is not the cat in question. Barney was labelled inherently aggressive when he was not. Photo in public domain with words added.

The cat hisses and scratches at this person who thinks Luna hates her. But I think this is a bad attitude because domestic cats don't hate certain people for no reason. There would have to be a genuine and identifiable reason. Rather than 'hate' it is far more likely to be 'fear'. Luna is fearful of this person and become defensively aggressive. 

I think there are two possible reasons. The first one is that Luna is perhaps not that well socialised because judging by the description of Luna she is not entirely friendly because she doesn't care about "my dad" but she's not that bad with "my mum" and she hisses and scratches the child who appears to be an adult child by the way. So, Luna is not great within the family anyway. 

Secondly, cats can get very used to one or two people and it is possible that the person asking the question is not always at home and therefore the cat is not too familiar with that person and treats them somewhat as a stranger and is therefore fractious with them and slightly defensive which results in scratching and hissing.

To expand on that idea: sometimes cats do form an attachment to a person and they have difficulty interacting with or bonding with anybody else. That may be a factor in this instance. The person mentioned that Luna was raised since she was a kitten in the same home. Luna may be attached to the person who was most involved in that process. That particular person might not be around anymore leaving Luna in effect in an alien home which would be stressful leading to defensive aggression and the odd swipe in his as described.

The point though is that all domestic cats who are defensively aggressive can be eased into a state which is much calmer through allowing the cat to become familiarised with you. I'm suggesting that you can socialise yourself to this cat very gradually and the best way to achieve that is to play with the cat gently and for quite a long time and to do this regularly and routinely. Gradually you will find Luna becoming less nervous and less defensive. Play is the best way to socialise a cat to a person if they are at the other end of the cat tease.

I think this is a lot to do with socialisation as much as it is to do with chemistry between a particular cat i.e. Luna and a particular person, the father. I would work on socialisation through patient play until the cat becomes entirely familiar with the person asking the question and for advice. That individual needs to be socialised to Luna in the fullest extent and I feel that would resolve the matter. This is of course presuming that all the boxes have been ticked regarding mental and physical health.

Finally, the home environment may not be to the cat's liking. It should be calm and reassuring. Perhaps something is a barrier to creating that state of affairs.

Agitated cat owner - agitated cat

You can't have a calm and contented domestic cat companion if the owner, or to put that in a better way, the cat's guardian, is agitated and anxious. If the owner's mind is restless and incessantly worried it is very hard for that person to achieve a calm environment and an ambience within the home which is conducive to contentment in their domestic cat. 

And that is not in any way to criticise anybody. I know, like anybody else, how easy it is to have a mind which is not restful but overly anxious and racing sometimes. Panic attacks are on the horizon.

John Butler. Photo: His website.

I do believe that many people have anxiety problems because of the pressures of life. Life has become more complicated with the Internet compared to the relatively innocent days of the 1970s. Life is speeding up with technology, particularly artificial intelligence. The world is more febrile, I feel, particularly so with Donald Trump. 

It is calmer now under Biden but I sense that there is tension in the world, between on the one hand Russia and China and on the other hand America and her allies. A war is not unimaginable and it may be playing out already as a cyberwar. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has made matters considerably worse for many. Job and financial problems have been exacerbated. We are not out of it and will have to learn to live with it and any other new virus,

This background undermines stability and a settled mind. A lot of people have panic attacks and their lives are quite difficult to manage. Many people simply don't cope and succumb to alcoholism or drug abuse. Once again, I fully understand and am highly sympathetic to their mental health problems. It almost seems like the world is driving people to these problems.

But, set against this background, cat owners need to do their best to maintain a calm and balanced mind which feeds through to the ambience in which both they and their cat lives. Quiet calmness and stability backed up by great routines between the human cat caretaker and their cat fosters, very strongly, a happy cat.

And it is the ultimate goal of all cat owners to ensure that their cat is happy. Of course, there are many aspects to achieving this goal such as ensuring the cat is in good health and safe from injury and in the worst-case premature death. That's why people keep their cats indoors full-time and why that mode of cat caretaking is becoming more popular. It is also a lifestyle which emphasises the need to make the home environment enriched and calm.

But in this article, I would like to focus on the calm cat owner and how to achieve it. Each person will have their own way and many of them are already calm enough but if you suffer from anxieties and it is manifested in your behaviour it's going to be felt by your cat and in the environment generally.

I'll get to the point now: there's an old guy, a retired British farmer, John Butler, 84, has a YouTube channel in which he talks about meditation and how to calm the restless mind. He's become quite famous and was featured in The Times today which is why I am mentioning him here. I immediately felt the importance of what he says in the modern world which, I guess, is why he has become popular.

I do believe, too, that the default position for a domestic cat's state of mind tends towards being anxious for two reasons, (1) they are living in the human world which is inherently alien despite 10,000 years of domestication because the domestic cat is barely domesticated and (2) they have acute senses and are acutely aware of hostility and the need to survive which can ramp up the agitation levels.

The agitated cat owner is likely to have an agitated cat and in opposition to that the calm and balanced cat owner is likely to be living with a cat who feels the same way. Everyone can find their own way to calmness but it may be useful to take a look at this elderly man's YouTube channel to see whether you can glean one or two tips from his words.

Cat owners should aspire to creating a calm ambience for their cat packed with reassuring routines and interactions. John Butler's views may help.

Below are three rather obtuse quotes from him and below that is a video from his channel. Stay calm.

Butler's words of wisdom:

"Feel your feet on the ground-listen and look."

"In order to be what we are, we have to come out of what we are not."

"What is it like when a carrot is pulled from the ground? The ground is left behind. And the carrot is lifted into another realm. All the teaching is left behind."

P.S. It goes without saying that the human-to-human relationship can have a big impact on the home environment. Our relationships are vital to the wellbeing of our cat.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Domestic cat bites off the end of her tail. Why?

The owner of this cat, Cleo, suggests that she plays with her tail because she was raised with dogs. The problem has deteriorated to the point where she growls and is more aggressive with her tail. She actually bit off the end off, which is self-mutilation and this cannot be normal. 

Kitten plays with tail. Photo: Warren Photographic published her with his express permission.

Perhaps a domestic cat might get into a habit of playing with their tail more often than normal and it may go wrong but I don't think a domestic cat can bite off the end of her tail unless something is wrong. I would suggest, therefore, that she has a mental health problem or she feels pain in her tail.

MENTAL CONFLICT

Firstly, she is in mental conflict or in a state of anxiety and is engaged in displacement activity. Displacement activity is when a cat does something which displaces their emotional state which is uncomfortable. The classic example of it is when a cat licks their nose. Humans do it when they bite their fingernails. Over grooming is also a form of displacement activity.

Sometimes the cat's owner may intervene in the wrong way, perhaps in an indelicate way which exacerbates the situation. And if a tail has been damaged in this way it may also exacerbate the situation because there would be pain. The tail may have to be amputated. The underlying mental condition would remain, however. They would need to be an assessment of the cat's mental state i.e. mental conflict causing this 'compulsive disorder'. And the pain would have to be managed. 

A barrier to biting the tail would have to be introduced e.g. a collar.

A veterinarian might prescribe mind altering drugs to calm the cat and also the owner can do a lot by creating regular routines and providing daily interactions. I think a lot of this sort of problem is due to anxieties which are difficult to detect.

BEHAVIOURAL

A second possibility but one which is probably much less likely would be that a cat has become too aggressive when playing with their tail. It is commonplace for a cat to play with their tail. I think that it can often be due to boredom and they have this natural hunting instinct so they hunt their own tail. It might develop into something which is too aggressive causing self-mutilation. If this is the cause then it is relatively harmless but once again a way out of it would be for the human guardian to engage with their cat more often in play and to ensure that their cat was fully stimulated.

PAIN

A third possibility would be pain in her tail. There should be an attempt to alleviate it. There would have to be a full veterinary assessment to look for conditions such as neurologic diseases and dermatologic disorders. Animals do try and resolve pain by nibbling and biting and when it gets worse, they may end up self-mutilating. Along that way of thinking, there appears to be three overall possibilities. 

CONCLUSION

In conclusion the three possibilities are (1) mental conflict (2) overaggressive play (3) disease causing pain and discomfort.

P.S. I am not a vet just a concerned cat owner.