Alice White
The advice of a renowned veterinarian will teach you to understand your cat and make her life healthy and happy.
Anthony Buffington
A veterinarian with 25 years of experience, a professor at Ohio State University.
Professor Buffington has been studying the causes of interstitial cystitis, an inflammation of the bladder, in cats for many years. In his research, he found that this condition can cause stressful environments in the home. Therefore, it is very important to learn to listen to your pet, give him a choice and reduce the influence of external factors that cause stress in the animal.
Create a Comfortable Environment
You prevent your cat from feeling comfortable by placing the bowl next to the refrigerator and the tray next to the automatic dryer. You may not hear the noise of the refrigerator and dryer, and the cat will think this sound is the growl of a monster. Place the food bowl and litter box in a calm, quiet place where the cat will not feel vulnerable.
It’s not just sounds that cause stress. Although cats are curious about other animals, if there is no barrier between your pet and another animal (even if it is outside), the cat will feel threatened. Cats do not understand when there is glass in front of them, but they understand what height is.
Let your cat have someplace from where she can calmly observe everything from a height.
Eliminate Aggression
Imagine this situation: you hear that the cat sharpens its claws on the sofa, gets annoyed, screams, or even throws a pillow at it. But everything is useless, after a while she again takes up her own. “Your cat doesn’t ignore you,” Buffington says. “She just doesn’t know how to connect the punishment to her behavior. Cats have always been solitary hunters, they don’t need to be able to read social signals from other individuals. ”
Unable to combine your outburst of anger with an attempt to sharpen its claws, the cat in your behavior will see only an act of unexpected aggression.
From the point of view of a cat, you are an unbalanced primate who, for no reason at all, attacks her.
Instead of weaning your pet off of unwanted behavior, we just scare him. The cat gets frustrated and stressed because we constantly interrupt it during natural activities. “Cats get sick when they can’t behave naturally,” Buffington explains. “They will still do what you scold them for behind your back.”
You can train your cat to do something by changing its environment. Cover the corner of the sofa with double-sided tape, and put a more attractive option next to it: a scratching post or a special cat tree. When the cat does what you wanted her to do, reward her with something delicious.
Don’t Pet Your Cat Without Permission
Cats, like humans, want to decide for themselves how others should treat them. Would you like it if you were lifted, touched, and held in an uncomfortable position all the time? Let the cat decide when it wants to be petted. If she rubs some part of her body against you, it means that she wants to be petted.
But if the cat substitutes the belly, this is not an invitation at all. A cat’s belly is the most vulnerable part of the body. By rolling over on her back, she shows that she trusts you. But if you start stroking your belly, you may be bitten or scratched.
Do not stroke the cat at the base of the tail either. There are many nerve endings in this place. Patting him is about the same as tickling a person.
If the cat is curled up in your lap, this does not mean that she is asking to be taken into her arms. The posture in which you usually hold the cat, as if rocking it, is unnatural for animals.
Don’t Force Your Cat to be Friends with Others
Do not rush to make friends with several cats. Accustom them to each other gradually. Start by rubbing them one at a time with one dry towel to get used to someone else’s smell. Before introducing two cats, make sure that both feel comfortable: they eat, go to the toilet, and get some petting from their owners. Don’t force the animals to play together, and be sure to provide your pet with an escape route.
If cats are not interested in companionship, do not force them. For some reason, it seems to us that cats want to be with their relatives, but this is not so. In the wild, they hunt alone and do not share their prey. And other cats are not considered friends, but rivals.
Strengthen Your Relationship with Your Pet
The cat is not indifferent to you. The best ways to strengthen your relationship with your pet is by petting, eating, and playing together. If your cat doesn’t like to play, you may be doing something wrong.
If you pick up a laser pointer, don’t wave it like crazy. Move the laser beam at a natural speed and let the cat catch it. The same applies to different toys on a string.
Develop a ritual of goodbye and greeting. Before leaving the house, call your cat, pet it and make it clear that you are saying goodbye. Repeat the same when you return in the evening.
“Some married couples communicate no more than an hour a day and manage to save the marriage. And a relationship with a cat can be maintained in just 10 minutes a day, ”Buffington jokes.
