Behaviour
“We don’t own cats, cats own us.”
“Dogs worship their owners, and human worship cats.”
These English sayings precisely describe the human- cat relationship!
Cats are not small dogs. They are loners, not pack animals like dogs. Cats are usually independent. Apart from mating and the rearing of offspring, and cats of the same household, most cats do not like to socialize with other cats. There are some cats who are social butterflies with human and cats alike. But, in general, cats are creatures of habit who want tomorrow to be the same as today.
Purring:
Often vets receive calls from new cat owners worried about their cat making a strange noise:- this noise is often just the cat purring.
Purring is the vibrating, throaty noises cats make when they are happy. Some cats purr when they see their owners, some cats purr as loud as mini engines, some cats salivate as they purr on their owners’ laps.
Purring is one of the most endearing features of cats but sadly there is no equivalent noun in Chinese.
Scratching and De-clawing
In some countries owners elect to have their cats de-clawed to prevent them from scratching the furniture. This is a drastic procedure which involves removing part of the last bone of the all the toes, on both front feet.
We do not recommend de-clawing because of the pain and suffering associated with the surgery. In addition, outdoor cats will not be able to defend themselves after declawing.
To prevent any scratching related problems we recommend you to gradually train your kittens to accept nail trimming. Other options include the use of Soft Claws.
The provision of different scratching posts will also help encourage your cat to scratch in an acceptable area instead of your favorite furniture.
Cat toilets
Having enough toilets is important to keep your house clean and keep your cats stress levels low.
Ideally, we should provide 1 tray for each cat plus one extra. That is, 2 cats need 3 litter trays, 3 cats need 4 litter trays, so that one litter tray is almost always clean. This is not always easy to achieve in Hong Kong, but for several cats we would always like to have at least 2 trays.
Cats do bully each other in subtle ways and take control over a litter tray!
Keep litter trays clean by scooping out faeces and urine daily. The whole litter tray should be washed weekly. Once your cats are used to a type of litter material, do not change it abruptly.
For very clean and fastidious cats, you may want to consider lining the litter trays with newspaper and putting in only small amounts of litter materials each day AND completely empty and change the litter tray material daily.
Kittens can even be trained to use a human toilet around 8 to 12 weeks of age, please discuss this with your vet and do extensive research before starting!
Urine Off, an enzymatic cleanser, can be used to neutralize urine smells in areas where your cat may have had an accident!
Outings and Play dates
DO NOT take your cats out to play dates, pet shop tours nor invite other cats to come into your house to play. Most cats do not enjoy entertaining strange cats in their territories i.e. their homes!
Multi-cat households
Cats are not very social to strange cats when adult, and many cats (older than a year) will not readily accept another strange cat. It is much easier to introduce young kittens to each other, than introducing older cats into a household of adult cats.
In the wild, cats have very large territories. Confining many cats together in small spaces will often lead to stress and fighting. Assess your cats’ personalities before taking new cats home!
In multi-cat households, provision of several litter trays, water and food containers in different areas of the house will help to reduce tension and stress.
Provision of hiding places help to reduce stress in a multi-cat household. These hiding places should be secure, quiet and preferably high, so that cats can watch out of a window. The entrance of these hiding places should not face the same room or direction, so that the cats do not have to glare at each other all day long.
Reducing stress is important because chronic stress will lead to many diseases including cystitis and skin diseases.
If you have a multi-cat household it may also be worth considering running a ‘Feliway’ diffuser in order to help decrease stress in your cats.