"Is Your Cat Crazy?"

jc wrote:

: not my black cat. hes all mine. I gave away a 5 month male orange tabby.
: kept his two bros., plus my black cat.
: anyway, I told them not to declaw!

Good, you must insist that they cannot declaw "your" cat and if
necessary you will find another home for him. Also, gently try to
educate them about evils of declawing, there is so much info on the
web.

Kiran wrote:
http://pets.yahoo.com/pets/cats/bt/is_your_cat_crazy

Is Your Cat Crazy?


Does the Pope wear a big hat?

As a feline behaviorist, I get countless calls from owners claiming
that their cats aren¹t normal.

"Crazy" is normal for cats.


Scratch a Cat, Find a Feline

What about scratching the furniture? Do you feel as if your cat is bent
on total household destruction? No, he¹s not systematically demolishing
your furniture * he¹s being a normal cat. Felines have a need and
several reasons to scratch: for claw conditioning, for muscle
stretching, as an emotional outlet and for territorial security. Once
again, the species¹ territorial side needs expression and scratching
leaves a visual mark (much to your dismay) and a scent mark (through
glands in the paw pads). The reason he¹s using your sofa instead of his
scratching post is probably because the post isn¹t sturdy enough or the
right texture.

Makes sense - flimsy scratching posts may cost less money, but they suck
when it comes to fulfilling the need to scratch.

If your catch knocks the post over scratching, it's probably too flimsy.


In the wild, a cat uses a tree or a fence for
scratching.


and sometimes a human leg.

Understanding Aggression

A common aggressive behavior that owners find perplexing is called
redirected aggression. An example of this might be how your cat
suddenly lashes out at you when you innocently pet him while he¹s
looking out the window.


Mine never does that - perhaps she's crazy.

OTOH, she sometimes decides that she must attack my feet and ankles.

Moonlight Madness

Cats are nocturnal hunters, so it makes perfect sense for your kitty to
prowl around after dark. If the nightly noise gets to be too much, try
playing with him right before bed in order to work off some of his
energy and satisfy his hunting desire.

She's fine when I go to sleep - usually, the problem lies when she
awakes before me in the morning and decides that it is her goal in life
to knock everything off the desk that she can possibly knock off, making
lots of noise in the process.


Cats display lots of funny, quirky, confusing, annoying, serious and
even dangerous behavior that often leave owners scratching their head
in wonder.

I don't even wonder.

Don¹t assume your cat is weird.

No need to assume - if it's a cat, it's weird. Not that there's
anything wrong with that.

Find the cause of the
behavior, whether it¹s physical, medical, emotional or environmental,
and you¹ll find it makes sense in a strange, feline way.


Sort of like abruptly running around the house like a.......well, a cat
for no apparent reason at all. Yep - that makes sense in a strange,
feline way.

Excerpts taken from article "Is Your Cat Crazy" by Pam Johnson Bennett
in 1998 Special Issue of Pet Let Magazine