Understanding CAT behavior & the Benefits of SPEAKing CAT ?
Are you FRUSTRATED with your kitten or cat for always CLAWING or SCRATCHING at your furniture ??
The thought of wishing I could speak ‘CAT’ came to me a few weeks ago when our kittens began floor climbing our sofa.
“What’s ‘floor climbing’?”, you ask.
It’s when a kitten lays on the floor and plants their claws in the horizontal base of the sofa and pulls themselves along the floor.
It’s the precursor to actually climbing the furniture, which is the stage that our 3 12-13 week old kittens are at now.
And quite honestly, when it began, I thought the ‘floor climbing’ was cute, but when they started ‘practicing’ their clawing on my expensive indoor/outdoor wicker furniture and my cloth-covered sofas and chairs, the thrill soon went away.
But then I remembered a climbing unit that I built several years ago for another cat that my family first had—Yes, I actually built it.
And now, once again, was the purr-fect opportunity to take it out !!
My goal was to get them to claw this instead of my furniture or the carpet.
Well, easier said than done…
EXCEPT when I applied the new ‘cat language’ that I had learned from their Mama.
And it was while teaching these little ones that I discovered just how ‘hungry’ they are to learn.
You know, just like children, there are developmental stages that kittens and puppies…and I would logically surmise, every single animal on the planet…go through as they ‘learn how’ to be…well…cats and dogs.
They actually learn certain behaviors from their parents that help them to cope in their species.
And each of these behaviors is learned at the appropriate developmental stage.
It was really a wonderful eye opening experience for me to witness this with our kittens and their natural parents during the first 12 weeks of their life.
And they’re still learning…though not from their ‘natural’ parents.
They are learning from ME.
I’m the main teacher to the kittens in our family.
My husband is the main treat giver, but I’m the main disciplinarian, feeder, poop and peepee scooper, and teacher.
And what I discovered, as we separated them from their parents (which was super hard for me to do…:( ), was that there was a transference that happened of the parental role.
And you should be aware of that, too.
If/when you adopt a kitten, don’t assume that because they’re of a different species, that they’ll automatically ‘know’ how to be a cat and do as cats do.
No.
There are actually ‘learned’ behaviors that they can only learn from being in the company of other more mature cats.
And without those role models, they look for other sources to emulate and learn from.
That’s one of the reasons, I discovered, that we actually shouldn’t be separating kittens from their parents until perhaps as late as 12 to 14 or even 16 weeks.
Because at each stage of development and awareness, they learn new behaviors that prepare them to look after themselves properly, especially when it comes to grooming and social behaviors.
These are incredibly important, just as they are for human children, and highlight the importance of them being with their feline parents.
After all, human cannot LICK their newly adopted kittens to show affection, to comfort, to clean their little bums after they poop, to show them how to groom and clean themselves, and more.
…I see you’re still stuck on the bum-licking part…yes, the parents actually do that to their young ones.
But…the little ones only start emulating their parents regarding cleaning their own bum at the 11 to 13 week mark ?
And did you know, for example, that just like humans who wash up before bed, that’s what cats do, too, before they lay down for a nap or for the night.
They give themselves a good washing (licking) before they lay down for a nap.
Now doesn’t that help to explain why we often see cats licking themselves ?
It’s actually a sign that they’re getting ready to bed themselves down to sleep.
I observed this pattern often with the parents and their kittens.
And it’s something that the parents do to their kittens so that the kittens learn to do it to themselves.
Not just that, but when the kittens learn a new behavior, they love to try it out and repeat it in order to perfect it.
And so, once they reach the stage where they awkwardly try to start reaching and licking their own hind legs and eventually, their own bum, they also try to do this to their siblings and to other cats.
It’s a learned behavior that humans just can’t teach them.
And it’s something that you should be aware of when you adopt a young kitten.
Because just like with human children, these impressionable little souls will be looking to you with those innocent, adorable, trusting eyes, soaking in every action, every tone of voice, every taste, every smell, every sound, every texture…
All with eager enthusiasm to jump in, jump on, sniff, lick, scratch, roll on, attack, crawl under, cling to, climb up, pounce on, hide, cuddle, snuggle, even to learn to poop, pee, and even clean up.
It’s ALL a joyous learning experience for them.
As it should be.
And it’s amazing to be part of this with them.
But it can also be frustrating, especially when it comes to the instinct for them to stretch those claws.
Liken it to cracking your joints or knuckles, but for kittens and cats, that special type of clawing they do is a type of stress reliever and muscle tension reliever that they just have to do.
The key, obviously, is for us to find another venue for them to do that on…and not our furniture.
The main criteria for this clawing unit is its’ angle and texture.
(More to come on that in another post.)
And so, if you’re anything like me, you’ll desperately wish that you could speak “cat” to let them know NOT to do certain things, or to COMFORT them and let them know that they’re safe, etc.
Well, as it turns out, we CAN ‘speak cat’, or at least learn to.
And the funny thing is that it really doesn’t involve “speaking” as we humans do it.
Cats, as it turns out, actually DON’T speak vocally to each other.
Rather, their communication style is of a silent nature, done mainly with body language and certain actions, and is only occasionally supplemented with sounds.
Sounds, as it turns out, seem to be reserved more for expressing distress of one sort or another.
Think of the all-too-familiar “hiss” or “growl” to express disdain, distrust, fear, and as a warning to “stay back”.
Sounds also seem to be reserved mainly for communicating with humans, because among cats, except for the unknowing kittens, communication is done with looks, rubs, and certain other very specific body movements and positions.
Over the course of the next few weeks and months, I’ll get into the specifics of cat behavior and dynamics that I observed in the “family” of the feral Mama Sealpoint Siamese and Papa Grey & White Tabby with their 7 kittens.
It quite literally blows away almost every “urban” notion and falsely assumed belief that I’ve ever heard about cats.
It’s an eye opener !!
I look forward to sharing these insights with you.
But for those of you who are looking for something to help you NOW,
Like…NOW !
then you’re going to find the following really, REALLY HELPFUL !!
for understanding cat behavior, helping you to ‘connect’ more with your furry feline family member…
AND of course, STOPPING that darn clawing !!!
This is one of the very few “experts” that I’ve come across who truly does understand cat behavior.
And when you put into practice what you learn from him
You and your cat will enjoy a whole new dimension to your relationship.
AND…STOP THAT CLAWING !!
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