CATSCRATCHBOX.COM       OUR OBSERVATIONS OF CAT BEHAVIOR GENERAL INSIGHTS The most important thing many people need to learn about cats--is that they are not dogs. This may sound pretty silly at first but it is amazing how many people we have met DO try to treat their cat as they would a dog.  THEN, they do not understand why they have problems.  A dog is a pack animal and for the most part subservient. It may be subservient to an alpha dog or the people in the family to which it belongs. It is easy for them to learn who is boss. Cats, on the other hand, are their own unique and wonderful life-form.  Sure, they will fear and avoid an owner who is abusive but they will not associate the abuse with their own behavior.  For example, a dog will take a piece of food off the kitchen table when no one is looking but if caught and disciplined, it soon learns not to do it.  A cat on the other hand will go for your open can of tuna every time no matter how many times you yell at it because it's normal for them.  It does not ever recognize your authority nor connect your hollering with what it is doing.  The cat thinks that you're crazy or being unpleasant for no apparent reason and will only learn to fear you. The key we have found is understanding and ACCEPTING that cats are very much creatures of habit.  They'll always try to do what their instincts tell them to do and will always try to avoid doing those things that run counter to those instincts.  By understanding and working with your cat, within these instinctive behavioral patterns, it is fairly easy to achieve a harmonious relationship between the cat and you. Some examples:  Because of the coyotes and fisher cats in the nearby woods, our cat is kept inside. The few times he managed to get out out of the house (i.e. escaped), we had him back within seconds by taking advantage of a learned behavior, the overwhelming attraction to the sound of a cat food can opening.  We ran out of the house with the can, leaving the door open, and then popped the lid. We arrived behind HIM as he raced to the food bowl in the kitchen proving that old cat adage that--Fancy Chicken and Gravy is worth two birds in the bush--anytime. So while it would be impossible to train him to stay inside where he is safe, when he did escape we used his own nature to get him back in quickly.  Another example is using a squirt gun with water to keep a cat off of certain surfaces, say kitchen counter tops.  Most cats don't like water to begin with, so when they associate the water with that location their natural aversion to getting wet makes them avoid that spot. There are many good web sites dealing with feline behavior. All cat owners and especially new owners should really take time to go to them and learn as much as possible about their cat. It will make life easier and more pleasant for all. COMMUNICATING Over the years we have found all of our cats to be extraordinarily communicative.  Many of their body actions convey information. We just needed to learn to communicate in their non-verbal manner.  We think it is interesting that cats have been the ones who developed the means of communicating with us humans.  As an example, how many of us have been walked to an empty food bowl? Our cats have very patiently and over time trained us to feed them, since they know we are their source of food. When cats find that things like this work, they continue to train us. If you think about it, you and the members of your household will discover a number of things you have been taught by your cat. We think they are amazing. We know some people who complain about their cat not using the litter box. They are making a major effort to tell us something is wrong. One reason we found for this was, in several cases these people had let their cats litter box get pretty nasty. Most cats will not tolerate this, being quite fastidious, and will just go somewhere else. This is not always the reason but they are trying to tell us something. There are also times when communications break down, for what appears to be no apparent reason. Trisha was giving her favorite cat a big hug one day, and this very gentle cat turned on her with an extremely aggressive attack.  It was upsetting and scary until we found out a short time later the cat had developed arthritis.  It was pretty clear then, that the cat must have been in pain and was only defending herself.  Once we were aware of her condition and held her carefully, there was never another incident.  That is why we believe:       THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BAD CAT, ONLY BAD COMMUNICATION. SCRATCHING All cats claw and scratch on things that have a particular feel to them as part of their natural behavior. This behavior even extends to large members of the feline family like leopards. It is an instinctive response to mark their territory combined with the real need to groom their claws. From experience in our own household and from researching the subject, we don't believe cats can be trained not to claw. Even cats that go outdoors and have lots of trees to claw want to come inside and find a "favorite something" (chair, carpet, table leg or piece of woodwork) to mark THEIR PRIMARY TERRITORY. All cats will eventually shred that favorite thing so it is in your best interest to provide them with a chosen object you can mutually agree upon. The solution is to make or buy them something designed as an alternative that they will prefer over the upholstered furniture or other things that you want them to avoid. Corrugated cardboard is one item that almost all cats readily accept as an alternative. Shaped carpet or rope wrapped columns have also become very popular. We tried both over many years and many cats and neither worked out very well. The problem with store scratch boxes is that they quickly shred. They were popular with our cat only when brand new, and since they are made with a very soft cardboard filler, they were mostly ignored when they quickly disintegrated (AND what a mess). We just never had any luck with the carpeted items unless we kept them rubbed with catnip. Our cats would lick or try to eat any speck of catnip and then proceed to ignore anything verticle. We've seen lots of those expensive cat towers out at the roadside on trash collection day. One was given to us because it wasn't being used by someone else's cat and it was too big to sit in their house doing nothing. We also ended up not keeping it and it ended up roadside on trash day because we couldn't find anyone who would take it. Realizing that our cats loved the cardboard box but dissatisfied with the size, looks and quality, we started to make our own out of tougher recycled (refrigerator/appliance cartons.  Over many years of changing material, tweaking this or that, and adding features it has evolved into its current state. The cat scratch box we now use appeals to our cat's nature, it is long lasting, and it is handsome enough to sit in the living room where he likes to sit with us. Even one of our old models, an early one-sided box made about four years ago is still in use at our neighbors house despite being used by two cats. The wooden frame looks as good as new since the cats only seem interested in scratching the corrugated top. We have had some of our users report that once they got our cat box their cat stopped clawing their furniture without having to do anything else, but let's face it, it is usually not that easy with a serious scratcher. If your cat is shredding your home, try temporarily placing double faced tape on the spots you do not want your cat to claw.  Make sure our cat box is placed close by, as cats go to the same spots to claw and will avoid the covered areas when they go there, they intensely dislike the touch of the tape. When you get the sense an established pattern has developed between the cat and the box, try very slowly removing the tape a bit at a time. If you catch a relapse at a certain point put your covering back on that spot and temporarily stop any removal. Wait, watch, and repeat the slow removal process. With an item that is very small or very valuable you might want to hide the object, replace it with the scratch box, and later re-introduce it with the tape method. Aluminum foil also works well but is unsightly in certain locations. We have success stories of cats with bad scratching habits, moving to a new house with our cat box, and no longer scratching up anything. Obviously, this is not a solution for many but it is useful to know.  It is working with a cats habitual nature that makes all of these ways work. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We cannot emphasize enough the good sense it makes to get a scratch box BEFORE you bring a new cat into the house or your old cat into a new house.  Doing this habituates the cat to using the scratch box before it finds some other place to claw, which will be a place you don't want it to scratch. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INTER-ACTING When our cat has been separated from us for a period of time sometimes as briefly as a few minutes, he will seek to reestablish the relationship by entering the room and brushing up against each of us in turn, usually on the leg, marking us.  This is the feline equivalent of "Honey, I'm home!" or "Hello" and the polite response for a human is a brief pat or touch to acknowledge the return.  If the separation has been fairly brief the cat will often go on about its usual business but if it has been a prolonged separation some serious patting may be demanded.  This is also something lions do with other lions when returning to their pride from a hunting trip or other absence and perhaps something all cats do in social settings. "GOOD SIDE DOWN" RULE We've noticed that if our cat is lying down to one side and we attempt to pat him on the side facing up, especially around his head he lets it be known he doesn't like it.  If we pat or scratch him as if trying to get the hand between the floor and his neck; the "down" side, he really enjoys it and REALLY pushes into it.  We think that the cat feels threatened when a hand is on top of him when he is lying down.  He seems to feel perfectly safe when the hand is at floor level or, better yet, under him. It may be so he can get up and run if he felt he had to.  It also seems to allow him a better view of any possible approaching danger which may also be part of the appeal. CAT PEOPLE Many people wonder why when there is a group of people, in a room with a cat, the cat will often go to the one person who doesn't like cats.  We think we have an explanation.  When a cat enters the room, many cat lovers look right at the cat, start making "Here kitty, kitty" or other strange noises and make movements toward the cat. All of these are perceived as hostile acts by the cat and especially the staring.  Those people who don't especially like cats (what's the matter with them?) make no such moves and avoid looking at the cat, erroneously thinking that by so doing the cat will also ignore them.  Of course, this is completely non-hostile cat friendly behavior! Cats go right to those people and rub them up thinking that they are kindred spirits. You might offer this information to those friends who either don't like cats or who are allergic to cats. MAKING EYES Cats communicate their sense of comfort and ease with other cats and humans with their eyes.  As we stated previously, staring into the eyes of a cat is a very hostile act and generally proceeds a fight between two cats. This is fairly common in many parts of the animal kingdom. When a cat is around someone friendly, someone with whom it is familiar, and their eyes meet, the cat will invariably either look away or blink and almost close it's eyes. We feel this is saying "I trust you not to attack me so I don't have to keep my eyes wide open". The proper and polite human (or feline) response is to blink and either almost close your eyes or close them for a brief moment before again glancing briefly into the cat's eyes. After you both get used to communicating with one another in this fashion, you'll soon notice when you peek back that the cat will be looking straight at your closed eyes. You then have to close your eyes again so that you are not becoming threatening before slightly opening them again. This can go on for a few minutes with each of you alternately blinking or closing your eyes and then peeking at each other. It's really nice to connect with your cat in a fashion that he/she really understands, sort of like learning a foreign language . . . and since everyone who knows you realizes that you are cat crazy anyway, no one will think this is strange. "KNOCK" BEFORE ENTERING, or GOOD MANNERS AT HOME Cats often find the oddest spots to be the most irresistible napping places and frequently run the risk of being stepped on. When a human makes a sudden and unexpected entrance into the room the cat will often leap up and head for the nearest safe place.  You can avoid this fright by softly speaking to them to announce your arrival, like "knocking on the door" before entering his or her "bedroom".  This lets them know you are aware of their presence and will be careful.   It seems amazing that even when seemingly sound asleep, cats always seem to have some part of their brain on alert for danger. They often take a quick peek at you when you do speak softly to them in this manner, and then go right back to sleep.  This also lets you know they have become very trusting of you.  It is a nice feeling. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEXT:  CAT BEHAVIOR PART TWO: THE FUNNY PAGES GO DIRECTLY TO: REVIEWS AND FEEDBACK KEEP YOUR CAT INSIDE DO NOT DECLAW RETURN TO: HOME CAT BOX SUMMARY ORDER, SHIPPING AND RETURNS CAT BEHAVIOR PART ONE