You should be able to cure this within a few to several days doing the following:
If the prescribed food is prescription diet dry food (vet recommended), stop it immediately. Provide high quality wet food only and give her for example boiled fish with some added water. Need to get water into her regularly and indefinitely.
Secondly, need to make the place less stressful for her. Incidentally female ginger tabbies are rare. If you are away all the time (understandable) it will cause stress - separation anxiety.
I am afraid you'll have to try and fix that problem (difficult). Idiopathic cystitis has 2 causes in my view: dry food + stress. Tackle both if you can. It'll work I feel pretty sure.
I see that you are tackling the stress element with a medication. Changing the environment is better and a permanent solution. Drugs aren't.
Vets tend to prescribe dry foods which are formulated to help cure cystitis but it is a misconceived policy as the cure is water to help flush the urinary tract system.
Dry foods cause mild dehydration which creates a good medium in which bacteria can develop in the bladder.
The above method should work within days.
Is she a full-time indoor cat left alone? If that is true, it is a sure-fire way to not solve the problem. Try some supervised outdoor activity. She needs to be active as well. Is she overweight? That won't help either. Sorry for being a bit tough. 😻😎
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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.
The young people of Britain, today, are 50% as likely to smoke as their parents were at the same age according to figures released recently.
I've mentioned it before because it is something which is not often mentioned; the passive smoking of domestic cats. A lot has been spoken about human passive smoking but we must think of the animals both cats and dogs who in a home occupied by a persistent smoker will be passive smoking themselves most of the time.
Passive smoking is a known risk factor for several types of cancer including throat cancer and lung cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer is classified second-hand smoke as a group 1 carcinogen. This means that it is carcinogenic to humans AND companion animals (I have added the animals into this statement because they must also suffer from this carcinogenic substance in the atmosphere inside the home).
Full-time indoor cats are particularly vulnerable as they are exposed to these carcinogens long-term. It needs to be added, too, that cigarette smoke can linger on furniture and other surfaces. The smoke particles can settle on furniture and carpets and floors. This is where domestic cat sit, and sleep and snooze. It will get on to their coat and then they will lick the carcinogenic substances off their coat and ingest them when they groom themselves.
In the news today, in The Times, it is reported that young people are already shunning cigarettes in the UK. And this might apply similarly in other countries particularly developed countries. That's why the tobacco manufacturers are targeting developing countries to maintain their businesses. It is shameful.
But in Britain, there will be a ban on young people smoking cigarettes as promised by the UK government.
But at the moment, only 13% of people aged to 16-24 smoke cigarettes. This compares very favourably with 34% of young people of that age who smoked in the mid-1990s. And compared to their grandparents, the smoking rates are less than one third.
Before cancer was linked to smoking, pre-1950s, 60% of men and 42% of women smoked. Since then, the numbers have gradually fallen to 13% of men and 10% of women in 2022.
The government will set out legislation to bring the rate of smoking by young people to zero. Smoking is still the number one cause of cancer in the UK.
We don't know how many domestic cats and dogs developed illnesses because of passive smoking. Nobody keeps those records. When these companion animals develop an illness, the cause of which cannot be identified, it is called idiopathic.
It is my contention that in many instances these idiopathic illnesses are generated through inhospitable elements in the environment in which they live inside the home one of which is cigarette smoke. Other substances would be cannabis smoke and chemicals used to preserve carpets or fire retardants in furniture. It's these kind of hidden causes of ill-health which I think people need to address more vigorously.
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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.
How to provide a suitable environment for your cat to live in (9 pointers) as per DEFRA. Image: DEFRA.
As per the advice (reproduced verbatim here) of the UK government in following the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which is based on basic principles of cat caregiving, here is how to provide a suitable environment for your cat to live in. The Animal Welfare Act 2006 is an excellent piece of legislation as it also provides guidelines on cat caregiving. It more or less says that doing the opposite to good cat caregiving can amount cat abuse/cruelty and be a crime. This list was prepared by the UK governments Canine and feline sector group.
Provide your cat with a safe,
comfortable, dry, draught-free, clean
and quiet place where it can rest
undisturbed. Ideally, there should be
a range of such places available –
the cat will choose where it is most
comfortable.
Take all reasonable steps to protect
your cat from hazards indoors and
outdoors.
Make sure your cat has constant
access to a variety of safe hiding
places including elevated resting
places, where it can feel safe.
If your cat does not go outside, make
sure it has plenty of activities to do and
enough space to exercise, climb and
play indoors.
Your cat should be provided with a
suitable toilet area, that is quiet, easily
accessible and kept clean.
Before you move your cat, you should
gradually get it used to a secure cat
carrier. Putting items which smell like
the cat, for instance its blanket, in the
carrier and any place you move your
cat to can help it feel at ease.
Any place where your cat is left must
be large enough and comfortable with
effective ventilation and temperature
control so that your cat is able to move
around to ensure its comfort, avoiding
becoming too hot or too cold. Never
leave your cat in an area where this is
not possible such as a car on a warm
day.
Your cat should not be routinely kept in
a cage.
If you have any concerns about
moving to a new home, or transporting
your cat, you should consult a vet
or other suitably qualified cat care
specialist.
As you can see these are fundamental pointers. Safety comes first. For me there is a pressing need for cat caregivers to do much more if they keep their cats inside all the time. Point number 4 refers to this aspect of care caregiving.
It is called 'environmental enrichment'. A term that I am sure you have heard before. It is not enough to shut the doors and windows on your cat and sit back and believe that you have done all you can to keep you cat safe.
There are many hazards in the home and if the home is stressful because it is not enriched health problems can follow. A barren home may be no safer for an indoor cat than an indoor/outdoor life depending on the location and hazards/predators outside.
This is the Reddit.com post supporting the title. What to do?
He has 3000 sq ft of house and attic to roam and play. Has a brother from same litter and both are very socialized. They sleep w us every night in our bed. He has a massive outdoor catio jungle in my backyard (50ft x 80 ft) with a 100ft tunnel that runs under Palms and leads to his lizard hunting paradise. 3 litter boxes scattered throughout the house that are always clean w fresh litter. I’ve tried just about everything… still always cleaning up cat piss from walls, carpets, couch. It’s a nightmare 😱 need advice??!!
My answer would be three possibilities on the basis that the cat has been neutered which is the default situation.
The picture is here to illustrate the page only. This is not the cat in question. Image in the public domain.
Clearly, if the cat is not neutered then there is a much higher chance that they will mark territory. But as mentioned on the presumption that the cat is neutered one possible reason is that the brothers no longer get along.
Siblings become independent
This may well happen because when siblings in the wild grow up they become independent. They leave the natal home range and go in search of their own home range. Their sibling then becomes just another individual occupying their territory. They are independent cats. They are solitary, essentially. The fact that they are siblings no longer helps to ensure that they get along.
So, this particular individual might feel stressed by the presence of his sibling and is marking territory to send a message to his brother that this is his home range and he is unwanted. Marking territory helps to calm him down because he creates his little home which smells like him.
Although siblings can get along it is not a certainty. The idea that adopting two siblings automatically gives you two cats who will keep each company and get along all their lives is a fallacy.
Separation anxiety?
Another possibility is that the owner is not around enough which is creating separation anxiety in one cat. This is happening despite the fact that the person has created a very nice cat environment with lots of things to do and to stimulate them mentally. That is irrelevant in terms of the particular problem clearly otherwise the problem would not exist.
Medical
A third possibility is that the cat who is said to be spraying is not actually spraying urine but is depositing small spots of bloody urine around the home due to cystitis. This is also heavily linked to stress. Dry cat food may exacerbate the problem.
These are three possibilities. When a cat is spraying inside the home it is invariably to do with a mental issue triggered by stress of some sort. That needs to be addressed. The source of stress needs to be found, isolated and then removed.
I have come to the decision that domestic cats prefer underfloor heating to radiators. To the best of my knowledge, underfloor heating is fairly unusual. I just happened to have it and I love it. Don't think that it is more expensive than conventional heating because it is not. The boiler runs for longer in the morning when it heats up the floor but once it is heated up the boiler is not required to work for the next 22 hours because the floor retains the heat. And it is this retention of heat which helps to maintain a very stable air temperature inside the home even during cold nights in winter. But this is not about me. It's about my cat.
Domestic cats prefer underfloor heating to radiators. Photo: MikeB.
As you can see in the photograph he loves underfloor heating. It's unusual for a cat to plonk himself down in the middle of a kitchen like this and curl up on the floor because it is a bit too exposed. Cats like to find a quiet place, preferably high up, where they feel secure. This location does not meet that requirement. However, it does meet the requirement of warmth. This floor is warm. It's hard which is not great either for him but despite those downsides he has decided to rest there and but for the fact that I photographed him, which disturbed him, I think he'd be there right now.
I realise that you can't use those radiator hammocks which are quite popular with domestic cats and which are attached to radiators which heat the air in the room. But when the whole ground floor is underfloor heated (except for the hallway) a cat has a lot of choice as to where to put themselves. It opens up some added options for a resting place for a domestic cat.
I would recommend underfloor heating if you are buying a house with it and are uncertain about its functionality. It functions very well. I can vouch for that. And the heating bill is no more than for standard heating using radiators. Further, you have all that extra wall space because radiators take wall space away from a room. The walls are completely sheer in my home. You can put furniture where ever you want to.
Your cat is skittish. You want to help. He or she is probably skittish for three main reasons (1) he is timid and shy or (2) he is in a new home and has not settled down properly or (2) the home is unsettled in terms of ambience.
Background animosity between humans and cats can make a cat skittish through anxiety. Image: MikeB
The last factor I think is a key one. It is now common knowledge that domestic cats like to live in a calm environment with solid routines and rhythms which are integrated with their human caregiver. If you add into that a home which is adapted, at least to a certain extent, to a cat's behaviour plus plenty of play a cat should not be skittish for environmental reasons. It would be hard to shake skittishness due to timidity which is inherited. The best you can do there is to once again create a very calm, friendly environment to enable a skittish cat to feel calmer and become more confident in their environment.
Skittishness is a product of anxiety or fear. This, as mentioned, can emanate from an inherently shy character. But if the cat is not inherently shy but is still skittish it's going to be environmental factors which cause this. In a multi-cat home, there may be bullying by a dominant cat or a cat might not get along that well with the other cats. It is said that at behavioural problems most often start in multi-cat homes where domestic cats are brought together in a confined space. This is especially true if they are all full-time indoor cats which is probably going to be common for the simple reason you can't let a lot of cats outside to roam freely.
The kind of person who keeps a lot of cats as pets is also the kind of person who keeps their cats indoors all the time. This can build up some anxieties in some cats if they lack confidence. It would be hard to beat this problem. What I mean is if a cat is skittish because they feel unsettled due to the other cats around them, there is no cure for that other than separating the cat from the other cats which is not going to be practical.
Play is a great way to bring a shy cat out of their shell. They forget where they are when they are playing because their instinct takes over and they chase and hunt a cat toy. It also helps to create a stronger bond between person and cat. With a stronger bond a cat is likely to feel more settled and therefore less skittish.
It all comes down to the environment. At one end of the spectrum, you might have a retired person like myself living with one cat. If that cat has a normal character i.e. neither nervous or overconfident, then they will be calm and they will not be skittish. It may occur temporarily for some extraordinary reason but in general they will be calm. At the other end of the spectrum, you might have a home where people come and go all the time, which is noisy, and where there is more than one cat. This sort of home opens up the door to a lot of potential conflicts or situations which could unnerve a domestic cat even one who is not inherently skittish.
It may be impossible to make that noisy, active and unsettled home into one which is calm and quiet for practical or functional reasons. In which case the cat will not lose their skittishness unless they are able to adapt to it. Domestic cats are very adaptable and they can get used to some extraordinary situations. I have seen a community cat in Asia sleeping at the top of an underground railway escalator at the exact point where the passengers leave the escalator. Clearly that cat is completely adapted to a noisy and active environment.
One big problem for domestic cats is ensuring that they have enough space i.e. their home-range. If they are able to enjoy their home range, which they feel they can control, it does help to calm them. And skittishness overlaps with aggression. Domestic cats who suffer intrusions into their home range can become defensively aggressive which may be perceived as agitated or even skittish by some observers. Once again it is down to the environment.
The last resort in dealing with a skittish kitty is to consider drug treatment. I'm talking about tranquilizers for domestic cats. It does happen but I think you have to be quite desperate to take this route. All the other normal steps must take place first because drugs simply mask the symptoms whereas what I discussed on this page gets to the root of the problem.
As an afterthought, if the problem is the other cats in the home, then creating a room or rooms which are for the exclusive use of the skittish kitty and their human caregiver will certainly help the cat to recover some confidence.
And it might be easy to forget about the skittish kitty because he or she is hiding some of the time. Out of sight out of mind is the motto and this can happen with domestic cats. People are too busy and they take it for granted that cats are "independent" when they are not in truth. But leaving an anxious kitty alone without plenty of human interaction of the right kind will make her condition worse.
And of course, it goes without saying, that patience is a vital ingredient in getting a wallflower to bloom. Jackson Galaxy calls timid cats 'wallflowers' but you can get them to bloom. They have to believe that the place where they live is not hostile but is very friendly. If you achieve that he will be relaxed and come to you.
To conclude, the key to helping a skittish cat to feel calmer is to ensure that the environment is as suited as best as possible to a feline character. In the words of Jackson Galaxy, the owner needs to tap into the raw cat beneath the domestic cat to find out what makes them tick. This will allow them to find their mojo which means to behave normally in a balanced way.
This is about providing your cat with an enriched environment. Something as simple as walking your cat around the front or backyard of your home once a day for, say, 20 minutes will be something that your cat can look forward to if she/he is a full-time indoor cat.
It really doesn't have to be something exotic and clever. It's just allowing your cat to 'connect' with nature as best you can achieve it. This will be in stark contrast to being inside the home which is entirely artificial and the human world.
For a full-time indoor cat, a walk on the leash in the garden will be thoroughly enjoyed. Photo: Getty Images (harpazo_hope)
There is a good example of this on the Internet right now from The Guardian newspaper. Interestingly, it concerns a family living in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. We know how sensitive the Australian government and indeed Australian citizens are to the predation of native species by domestic cats. This man, James Shackell, decided he wanted to enrich his cat's life, so the benefits of wildlife conservation was a secondary matter.
As expected, it took a while for his cat, Monkey, to adjust to wearing a harness because they almost invariably cause a cat to flop over on their side and become totally passive and immobilised. It is as if they have been zapped with a taser. But bit-by-bit they get used to it and are able to walk fairly normally when wearing one.
And so with patience James took Monkey out to his front garden and over time Monkey learned to love it and he would encourage James to take him out. It has become a daily ritual and whenever he grabs the lead Monkey trills and purrs and runs to the front door "like an excited puppy". Great to see. You know you are doing well as a cat guardian when you see that feline behavior.
I would expect his front garden not to be an enormous 'domain' of several acres but quite small but it is large enough for a domestic cat to enjoy smelling the earth, the grass and the scents that waft in on the breeze. And to feel the earth and grass under his paws is a great experience for an indoor cat.
The point of this brief note is to say that something as simple and is easy to do as this will have great benefits to a full-time indoor cat and therefore it should be done if at all possible. I am passionate about trying to encourage people to ensure that their cat enjoys nature. It will be a compromise, as demonstrated by the arrangements of James, but this is far better than nothing at all.
One downside which he has got used to is that his neighbours think that he is eccentric. It's funny but people do see cats on leashes and cats in strollers as very strange. This is because it is still very rare and a lot of people have preconceived views about domestic gas being independent and free roaming.
Both the cat stroller and the cat leash are excellent tools to work out a compromise to allowing a cat to behave naturally while protecting them from injury and protecting nature from the predatory instinct of this beloved animal companion.
P.S. An alternative is to build a large backyard enclosure but that is far more expensive and intrusive. It is still a good idea though if you are up to the disruption. It will hard though to convert a free-roaming cat to a confined cat. Be prepared for difficulties and/or failure.
Yes, stress can make domestic cats sick. It's the same with people which clearly supports the argument that stress makes domestic cats sick. The best-known sickness arising out of stress is feline idiopathic cystitis. This is cystitis with no known or obvious cause.
Can stress make cats sick? Yes, but not in this cat. Photo: MikeB
It's ironic because the cause is often stress. The condition is better described as feline interstitial cystitis (FIC) which is a chronic pain syndrome of domestic cats. It is basically a recurring cystitis the symptom of which is peeing in small amounts around the home. Sometimes to pee is bloody. Cats with FIC have chronic, recurrent lower urinary tract signs and other associated disorders that are exacerbated by stressors.
They did a study on this in 2013. The study was entitled: Effects of stressors on the behaviour and physiology of domestic cats. They employed 10 healthy cats and 18 cats with FIC. The study was conducted at the Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Centre. They housed the cats in "enriched cages" for at least one year prior to the experiment! Comment: I don't like this experiment. It appears to be an abuse but it was done many years ago so there's no point in complaining.
All the cats were treated well in these cages with plenty of enrichment and interaction with people that they knew. They had food treats and were taken out of the cages sometimes. Then during the test days, they withheld all these pleasantries which made the cats' lives a lot worse.
They tested the effect that this had on the cats. They found that sickness behaviours including vomiting, diarrhoea, anorexia or decreased food and water intake, fever, lethargy, decreased activity and a reduction in self-grooming occurred in varying amounts in both the healthy and the FIC cats.
However, in cats suffering from FIC they found that there were changes in lymphopenia and N:L (neutrophil:lymphocyte). Lymphopenia is a condition in which there are less than the normal number of lymphocytes, a type of white blood cells in the blood. White blood cells are part of the immune system as they attack invading organisms. Therefore, a lowering of white blood cells will reduce the cat's immune system.
The neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio is a method, as I understand it, to measure stress. It is the number of neutrophils divided by the number of lymphocytes. Under physiologic stress, the number of neutrophils increases while the number of lymphocytes decreases.
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.
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.
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 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.
There are not many items of furniture that we can share with our domestic cat companion but this is one of them. What I particularly like about it is that it provides a hideaway for a timid cat. I would suggest that this item of furniture, which you can buy on Amazon in America but not the UK is ideal for a timid cat. And I think it is nice to be able to share furniture with cats. It helps to promote the concept that the human home is not only for humans but companion animals as well. Human homes should be 'catified' to use the language of Jackson Galaxy. I know that it can be difficult to do that because people are often houseproud and they want their home to look good from a human perspective but I think we need to put aside those limitations if we live with a cat or dog. Cats are particularly in need of a modified house because they enjoy vertical spaces. Any interior designs created for a cat loving family should include objects which allow vertical movements.
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.
This morning I was listening to the radio. A woman who had three children said that she had grown closer to her children during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. Before the lockdown she admitted that everything was done in a rush. She would get the kids to school after having rushed breakfast. In the evening there was more rush. She did not recognise that she was failing to give herself quality time with her children. She was trying to fit parenting her children around her work and was as far as I can tell run off her feet.
We can thank the coronavirus pandemic for more of this. Photo: public domain.
Working at home during the pandemic and having more time with herchildren flicked a switch in her brain. She realised that she needed to spend more quality time with her kids and work out a better work-family balance. She did not want the years to go by without enjoying spending time with her children.
This got me thinking. The exact same conclusion might be drawn with respect to cat companions. During lockdown, in the UK, many millions of employees are being furloughed and therefore receiving 80% of their pay. They have had a lot more time with their cats.
I've not heard any reports about this online but it must have happened. If it didn't then cat owners have failed to take advantage of a great opportunity to give their cat the interactions with them that their cats deserve. I'm convinced that in many households domestic cats are left alone too much. People can't be blamed because they have to go to work. They rush out of the house and when they come home they are perhaps too tired to want to play with their cat.
I hope that the lockdown has open the minds of cat owners - who in the past failed to be great cat owners because of work pressures - to the possibility that they can do better and try and find a better work-family balance. It is reported that many firms will be allowing their employees to work from home where suitable.
Certainly Facebook has accepted that about half of their workforce will, in the future, end up working from home. In addition, Twitter, as I understand it, is allowing almost all their workforce to stay at home to work. This will be a permanent arrangement. These are good examples of how employees of companies involved in digital media can take the advantages that the pandemic has offered to alter their lifestyles to the advantage of their domestic cat companions.
'Cat Can't Get Over The Loss Of Her Kittens And Becomes Aggressive' - is the title of the video but it looks more like a madhouse to me with the people in it dressed like monsters to the cat. They are dressed in full cycle gear with cycle helmets and to any normal cat they, I think, would look incredibly hazardous. I think this a joke video. If it is not something is terribly wrong.
These people are making things worse. It is said that the cat became aggressive after she lost her kittens and she is locked inside a room alone. This is going to make her very agitated and then when they let her out they are wearing clothes and headgear which protect them from her. This makes them look incredibly strange to a cat.
I have got to say that they look incredibly strange to me as well. It looks like a complete madhouse and a totally bizarre situation that has got fully out of hand. This cat is in a desperate situation. She is completely isolated emotionally and lost. This is not the solution. The answer is to totally normalise her life by making the home warm and friendly. She needs to be totally re-socialised. She has lost her socialisation in an entirely hostile environment devoid of emotional support.
The problem really is with the people looking after. Yes, she may have been emotionally disturbed by loss of kittens but I believe that she will overcome that in a proper friendly environment. This cat is also a full-time indoor cat so the environment is already somewhat artificial. It also looks incredibly sparse and unfriendly. Jackson Galaxy would have a field day in this place.
I feel very sad about this cat and an entirely different approach needs to be taken by these people if it is genuine and not a Mickey take.
Perhaps a good starting point is to know what kind of environment a domestic cat should live in which is ideal and within which a cat should not become stressed. If, then, the environment is not ideal, it is possible that the cat might be stressed.
An ideal environment for a domestic cat is one that is secure, calm, without too much noise and without stressful interactions from either people, strangers, other cats or other companion animals. In addition the cat should not be punished but all training should be carried out through positive reinforcement if the owner really wants to train her cat.
Shelters are stressful places for cats.
There should be no abuse, obviously. The cat should be free of pain because pain causes stress. The cat should be well fed. The cat should be healthy and free of disease and parasites etc.. The environment should be stimulating for a cat. It's what the experts called an enriched environment. This is because boredom can also cause stress and the more natural a place is in respect of normal intellectual stimulation that a cat would encounter in the wild, the more healthy and de-stressed the cat will be.
As can be seen there are quite a lot of things to think about when creating an ideal environment for the domestic cat. The classic thing that could cause a cat to be stressed is a background threat of some sort, either from another animal or a person.
A stressed cat would probably demonstrate a change in normal behaviour. In order to be aware of the change in normal behaviour the cat's owner obviously needs to know what normal behaviour is for this individual cat. There is therefore quite a lot of necessary observation required in order to know how one's cat behaves normally and then to measure any changes against that.
Specific sorts of behaviour that a cat might demonstrate when stressed would be: over-grooming, usually in easily accessible places like the belly. Hiding is another form of behaviour that indicates a cat is stressed. Incidentally, every cat needs a place to hide so the owner of the cat should ensure that such a place exists in the household. In addition it is useful even necessary to have some vertical spaces meaning places that a cat can climb to, to feel secure. Height brings security.
A stressed cat might also engage in inappropriate elimination. There are many reasons for inappropriate elimination and one of them could be a feeling of insecurity and the need to mark territory either through spraying or even defecation.
A stressed cat might also become irritable and more aggressive than usual. The form of aggression would probably be defensive aggression because the cat would feel a need to be defensive in what would seem to the cat to be a hostile environment or at least an environment that was not calm or secure.
I suppose, a stressed cat might decide to leave. It is not uncommon for a cat to leave the family home and find another home that feels better. Sometimes cats which are what I call time-share cats (sharing more than one home) eventually decide to stay at one home which may not be the original home.
A cat who is subservient to another in a household without a secure place to go to will be stressed. Problems can occur at feeding stations and at cat litter trays.
Stress can lead to ill-health. Cats at shelters are exposed to stress and contagious diseases.
The above are some initial thoughts on the matter which I have written about without reference to any web page or book. You might like to add to the list if you have time to comment.
The domestic cat sleeps no longer than a teenage person, in my opinion. In other words, the domestic cat sleeps for a total of about 8 hours daily, perhaps a little more and the rest of the time the cat is snoozing and resting. You only have to look at the cat's ears while they are “sleeping" to realise that they are not actually sleeping. The slightest noise or disturbance and the ears of a cat prick up immediately and the cat awakens almost instantly. No one can tell me that a cat is genuinely asleep under those circumstances.
F1 Savannah cats snoozing. Photo copyright A1 Savannahs
I believe that there is a lot of incorrect information on the Internet with one author copying from another ad infinitum and eventually creating fact out of fiction.
As far as I'm aware, there has only been one definitive assessment as to how long a cat sleeps and that was with respect to the lion and the lion slept for about 9 hours daily on average. There is a lot of discussion on the Internet about how long the lion sleeps, as well, and that discussion is misleading because you will see times as long as 19 hours and people claiming that the lion sleeps the longest of all the world's cats. I don't believe it. It is more or less Internet chatter.
The conventional viewpoint is that the domestic cat sleeps for around 14 or 15 hours per day. As I mentioned, the domestic cat will only sleep a total of about 8 hours per day and this is made up of small sessions of sleep. It is not continuous as is the case for people.
Some domestic cats, particularly full-time indoor cats, will spend a lot more than 15 hours a day apparently sleeping when in fact they are simply killing time by resting because often there is little to do and the owner of the cat is probably too busy and preoccupied with other things to provide entertainment and stimulation.
A discussion about the most common cat behavior problems. First we must recognise the fact that cat behavior problems are problems from the point of view of people. Often a behavior problem is normal behavior for a domestic cat that a person does not like; not strictly speaking a cat behavior problem. In fact, that is the default scenario. I know that obvious fact is hard for some people to digest, but it's true.
My research indicates that it is difficult to rank cat behavior problems as there is not enough widespread available research. In any case if the true problem is about our perceptions, likes and dislikes, all we are doing is ranking what we don't like about domestic cat behavior.
In no particular order the most common cat behavior problems referred to Pet Behavior Counsellors (APBC), a UK organisation were:
Indoor marking behavior - this will be spraying urine and depositing feces. Feces are used by wild cat species to mark territories. Domestic cats can do it too from time to time for various reasons.
Aggression towards people. This is particularly unhelpful as often aggression towards a person will be defensive in nature. Accordingly it might be argued that the aggression as caused by the person.
Aggression towards other cats. This was complained about half as much as aggression towards people. Once again the root cause of this form of cat behavior problem might be traceable back to the person who looks after the cats. If he or she introduces a cat into a multi-cat household that upsets the hierarchy leading to inter cat aggression it could be said that the problem is a human one.
Self-mutilation (one cause: separation anxiety). This is often caused by stress and stress can be caused by an inappropriate environment created by a person. The point I keep making is that cat behavior problems are not free-standing but often a reaction to something we did.
Of the purebred cats the Siamese and Burmese (related cat breeds by the way) were the most represented in respect of cat behavior problems. This does not automatically mean that these breeds are the worst behaved. It might mean there are more Burmese and Siamese cats in circulation. They are popular cat breeds especially the Siamese.
A study published in 2000 and 2001 (Bradshaw et al and Casey respectively) compared:
data collected from questionnaires given to English people living in the south of England with:
a diagnostic review from the USA.
Certain cat behavior problems were "over-represented" meaning occurring more than average. These were:
House soiling which includes inappropriate elimination and marking. Inappropriate elimination is a litter box/stress problem while marking is deliberate territory marking and
Aggression towards people and other cats.
Cat behavior problems that were under-represented were scratching and fearful behavior.
The studies produced different results to the APBC referrals. This is partly put down to differences in cat caretaker knowledge of cat behavior. Also people will seek help for problems such as house soiling as it causes a lot of disruption in a person's home.
Every now and again the bird lobby produce some study that supports their objectives. They use it to promote their objectives one of which is to get rid of the cat from the outdoors anyway possible. The bird lobby people say cats slaughter birds and exterminate species of birds. They tend to exaggerate and to disseminate misrepresentations to further their cause. (see also: Domestic Cats Do Not Decimate Bird Populations). There is a battle between cat lobbyists and cat lovers. I feel a need to provide some counter arguments in defense of the cat.
A recent example is quoting a study by Shannon E. Grubbs and Paul R. Krausman called "Observations of Coyote–Cat Interactions". The abstract (summary) for this study states that in tracking 8 coyotes (yes just 8) they observed over a period of 790 hours the coyotes interacting with cats on 36 occasions. On 19 of these 36 occasions the cat was killed by the coyote. 790 hours by the way is 33 days. So, on average about one coyote over a period of about one month killed 2 cats.
The scientists say that of the 45 instances that they saw the coyotes feeding they were feeding on cats 42% of the time. That comes from the American Bird Conservancy website in quoting the study. The immediate question is how many other instances of feeding in total were there over the 33 days? And what did the coyote eat on those other occasions?
On the basis that this is an accurate representation of the hunting and feeding activities of the coyote the American Bird Conservancy say that cats should be kept in to protect cats and birds. They also argue that TNR is a failure and that is supports the decimation of birds. TNR can work if conducted widely. It really needs a large scale approach.
However, other studies conflict with the one conducted by Shannon E. Grubbs and Paul R. Krausman and used by the American Bird Conservancy.
Studies by Gerht 2006, Gerht and Riley 2010 and Morey et al. 2007 concluded that the feral and domestic cat made up 1-2% of the coyote diet. In some studies about 8% of coyote scats (feces) contained cat remains. It is probably fair to say that these other studies are more accurate as the sample size in the Grubbs and Krausman study is very small, I would argue.
Also it has to be pointed out that the coyote will eat birds and attack ground nesting birds. What percentage of the coyote's diet is birds? It would be interesting to make a comparison with cats. Also it may be the case that the coyote attacks cats when preferred prey is absent. The absence of some prey may be due to human activity. If that is the case the bird lobbyists' arguments are self-serving and distortions of what is really happening.
The American Bird Conservancy don't mention these things. They give the impression that the cat is the prime prey for the coyote when this is far from the truth. Rabbits and rodents probably top the list of prey items.
There is no doubt that the domestic and feral cat is at risk of being killed by a coyote in the USA. This must be a factor for the cat's caretaker. A secure outdoor enclosure is probably the best compromise.
However, the bird lobby really should try and strike a more balanced approach to promoting its cause. They will not achieve much by exaggerating and misrepresenting information.
My cat has never had the privilege of using the cat wheel. These are becoming more and more popular particularly in North America. I guess they are an excellent way for an active cat that might be a permanent indoor cat to get some exercise. And the domestic cat needs exercise because Mr Domestic Cat is becoming obese. There is an increase in feline diabetes that appears to be linked to obesity and there is an increase in overweight domestic cats with all the encumbant health issues that excess weight brings with it.
We don't tend to play with our cat enough. Cats are very independent minded and we think that they are OK. They might not be. They might need some input from us as we can distort the natural life of a cat. The cat wheel is an innovative way to make life more natural for the domestic cat.
I don't have personal experience of using one (err..I mean my cat..) but I would guess that if you put a cat on it he or she will run instinctively if she is naturally active and inquisitive. Not all cats are like that so some cats will need encouragement or training. That is probably an obstacle to purchasing one.
Savannah cats are ideal candidates for the cat wheel because they are smart, athletic and active. Any wildcat hybrid cat will probably like the cat wheel (Bengal for example). Apparently the Sphynx also likes it. Sphynx cats are athletic and very smart so no surprise. Here is a video of Zuri (human companion: Paige) on a cat wheel bought from the Cat Wheel Company:
Zuri was born and raised at A1 Savannahs, the best in the business. I know as I have been there and lived there and played with the kittens - gorgeous.
Some tips on getting a cat to use the cat wheel by the Cat Wheel Company:
use a laser light toy for your cat to chase. Make sure the wheel is static before using the laser light.
place your cat's favorite toy on the wheel and gently rotate the wheel to stimulate activity (this a modified version of the advice given by the Cat Wheel Company).
Can you buy these in the UK? Yes, there are several businesses selling cat wheels. This is one: http://www.thecatwheelcompany.co.uk/
I have a dream but it's about cats and how we should tailor our houses to accommodate our domestic cat companions. They are, after all, family members. When a new house is built no consideration is given to that little family member that gives us so much joy.
Is there a reason why house builders cannot integrate into house design the facility to add a cat enclosure at a later date or at the time of build? The cat enclosure need not be there at the time of build but an allowance within the design of the house should make it easy to add one. In fact such a design feature should be obligatory under house building regulations. Think of the impact it would have on reducing homeless cats. Something would be done about the so called feral cat problem. Feral cats start out as stray domestic cats or the offspring of them, on way or another. I think we have to think out of the box a bit more in dealing with homeless cats.
A good cat enclosure provides safety and stimulation for the cat and peace of mind for the person. It's a win, win situation.
In the photograph below we can see how one family has built a very substantial and effective modification to their house to let their cat have some safe fun outside. The exit and entrance to the cat enclosure goes through a window. What the house builder could have done is to provide a removable panel in the side of the house to which could be affixed a tunnel of standard design leading to a cat enclosure if and when the house owner wanted to avail themselves of that facility.
This walkway was commissioned by Pamela J Forlines and the white cat is called Mr Snowman. Gosh, he will love that. It actually looks pretty attractive too.
