How to maintain a good relationship with your cat

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Respect for an animal's personal boundaries and creating a comfortable environment for him is the key to success.

Olesya Uspenskaya, a felinologist, veterinary assistant at the Sobachye Delo UDC, talks about how to offend cats and when to expect revenge from them.

How many cats do you have and where are they from?

- There are seven cats. Their names are Kys, Lynx, Plush-Leksyush, Sir Max, Sanya Kot, Sem-Sem (Semyon Semyonovich) and Pengui. Most of them are conscientious objectors and matchmakers.

Kysenka came to me at the age of three weeks, when he still didn't really know how to eat. It was my first cat, my first pet. I got Rysyusha six months later. He's a conscript refusenik. The previous owners took it as a decoration on the sofa and returned it a week later - they say, the "decoration" does not want to decorate anything.

I started with Leksyusha as a felinologist. He came to me from very unfavorable conditions. They took him to the family as a little kitten for a girl who played enough two months later and said: "Please, take him back, mom-dad, and bring me a little one again."

The cat was not thrown away, but left in a country house. From 3 to 9 months he sat in the attic - this means a complete deprivation of communication at the age when the kitten socializes and forms its view of the world and people. When he came to me, he had a lot of problems. First, the "blockade syndrome". He ate with terrible force until vomiting in a bowl. Secondly, due to the dust in the attic, his paw pads cracked into his blood. We treated the little ones for a very long time. But the worst thing happened to his psyche. The kitten had a terrible fear of swing. I don't know what this girl was playing with him, but the kitten was afraid of hands. His nose was broken. He was afraid of people and did not know how to communicate with other animals. Sad story.

Then I worked as an assistant in a veterinary clinic and turned to colleagues for help. They said that a behavior correction specialist is needed here. As it turned out, there are many such specialists for dogs, and much less for cats. We can say that there were practically none of them 5 years ago.

One of my friends advised me to contact Yulia Islamova. She is a specialist in behavior correction for dogs and cats. I invited her for a consultation. It was 4 hours that completely changed my life and my idea of cats. And at that time I considered myself an experienced cat lover. Thanks to her, Leksyusha came to his senses.

Obviously, there are just awful owners. It also happens that people and animals get along badly with each other. Cats pee into slippers, for example. Are they so "revenge" for insults?

- People tend to attribute human qualities to cats, and often not the best ones. How many idiotic demotivators and anecdotes go about the fact that cats are vindictive and harmful? That they are not attached to the owner, but to the house?

I am especially amused by the myth of vindictiveness. In fact, developing and executing a revenge plan requires an abstract mindset that cats do not have, just like dogs. Their thinking is linear, they live in the moment - here and now. At the same time, they are very good at remembering things that entailed pain, stress - in a word, an unpleasant experience. This is only a behavioral pattern that is critical to the survival of the species.

Despite the cat's appearance, it is a creature with emotions, space and desires that must be respected. Cats do not have behavior without reason or from harm - this is always due to something.

And yet how much domestic cats are prone to antipathy?

- They are not prone to antipathy, but in general to stress. The fact is that stability is very important for cats. In general, it is important for all of us and means the same thing - clarity, predictability and safety. A place that I understand and know is safe. A predictable person who behaves logically is safe.

In other words, everything that is considered to be a manifestation of character is nothing more than a reaction to a stimulus? Can't talk about offense?

- Right. The same habit of “tagging”, in particular, is associated with the manifestation of territoriality. The cat calms itself, blocking the smell of others with its own: "It smells like me - I understand it." Something that can be mistaken for antipathy can be related either to a specific person or to a situation.

A guest came and sat down in a chair. He might not know that this is the cat's favorite chair. It turned out that she didn't like the smell of the person. It is very likely that the animal will pee on this place and block someone else's smell. If a strong negative is associated with a person - for example, he stepped on the cat last time and hurt her - she can mark his things, because the smell reminds her of the stress she experienced. He worries and annoys her. If he disappears, she will become more comfortable - everything is logical.

The cat may not like the body language, the human voice. This is the reason why cats have problems with babies. From a cat's point of view, they are not like people: children smell, move and sound differently.

Cats talk to us almost all the time using their body language. And in the same way they read our messages, which we voluntarily send them.

In fact, it all depends on the type of nervous system and behavior strategy. Most likely, a cat that does not have a pronounced territorial behavior will try to avoid an unwanted guest. If she is a pronounced "territorialist", it is very possible that she will try to attack in order to expel from her territory. But most just try to avoid the incomprehensible and unpleasant. This is what is called the “avoidance reaction”.

How else can people cause stress in a cat?

- Unfortunately, there are many ways. Cats communicate with each other and with us through body language. People don't always use it competently, but cats read our signals anyway. We are used to thinking of cats as something small and harmless, and few people would think that a cat has a personal space that needs to be respected. Therefore, cats are squeezed, disturbed by a sleeping animal, held in their arms in a way that is unpleasant for him. Also, imagine the size ratio of a cat to a person - how it feels when someone steps on it and hangs over it. It's the same with stroking. Often people put their hand from above, and most cats, even without fear of swing, are unpleasant.

Many people like to take a fluffy cat by the cheeks and kiss. And the cat thinks that the person has gone crazy and will eat him now.

Holding the animal in your arms, it is quite possible to bring your face to its muzzle. Moreover, the cat in such a situation, most likely, will rub its cheek. But at the same time, you need to turn your head a little, sideways - this way we reduce the level of anxiety.

If the cat is not allowed to rest quietly, sooner or later it will begin to avoid people. In general, high places for observation and rest are important for them. Therefore, I am horrified every time the apartments are furnished with low furniture and the animal has nowhere to go in such conditions.

Another point that makes it easy to put a cat under stress is trying to punish it. It is useless to punish cats. I will say more - it is harmful! The most common advice on the Internet is to suppress dominant behavior. Do, they say, as cats do with kittens: take by the collar and lift to the face. Or vice versa - press it to the ground. In short, to show who is in charge here. However, the only thing that the cat will understand: a person is a dangerous and unpredictable creature that must be feared.

Think about it: who does this to a cat? Enough, toss? Someone who tries to kill her, like a dog. What emotions should a cat feel after this towards a person?

Well, here's how, for example, a table for a cat is different from another raised horizontal surface? Nothing. Sometimes this is the only such "comfortable" place in the house. If people don't want a cat on the table, there are plenty of ways to make this place unwanted. However, if the owner swears, the cat will make the only conclusion - do not climb on the table with him. And accordingly, it will climb in his absence. The owners are surprised: "Well, he understands that it is impossible!". How and what does he understand? The animal understands that you do not approve of this. You are not there, there is no object of negative - it means that everything is possible.

We must not forget that by prohibiting something, we must offer the cat an alternative. If you don't want him to climb on the table, offer him a window sill.

Where is the line between attributing human qualities to domestic cats and the potential harm from this? By comparing human and feline emotions, we conclude that they are very similar

- You are absolutely right. Our emotions are almost the same. The only thing is that cats have a simplified spectrum. "Complicated" emotions, conscience or revenge, are inaccessible to them due to the absence of abstract thinking. But joy, affection, fear, negativity, aggression are their inherent reactions.

How, in this case, relationships between domestic cats are usually built and how to correct them?

- When the youngest kitten, Pingvishka, came to me, my Sir Max - a beautiful creature with an unkillable nervous system, a good-natured lump with an underground nickname "Tailed Nanny" - literally adopted him. The penguy rode on Max's tail, slept on his belly. As a rule, friendly cats have a parent-child relationship. It's funny that their roles can change: now Pengui has grown up, he still communicates very warmly with Max and cares for him - licks him or brings rare goodies.

In relation to me, cats demonstrate both childish and parental behavior in the same way - to climb under the side, to crumple with paws. In a word, care. I can wake up because everyone is washing me together or bringing something of high value to the pillow.

If cats do not have a warm relationship, they are more often neutral to each other and calmly coexist. Seals are very polite creatures, they do not like conflicts and discomfort.

The logic of my animals is this: all the best happens when we are all together. Hand-feeding the most delicious and desirable - only together. We love, we stroke, we scratch - also together. If someone starts to conflict, everyone leaves. Thus, they very quickly understand that it is not profitable for them to swear. No one will profit from this. This is not a punishment. I just don't like it when cats sort things out in front of me. I am not comfortable. I do not approve of this - I stop giving out what I want and distance myself.

What shouldn't you do to maintain a good relationship with your cat?

Do not impose your society, respect its personal space, respect the right to rest, happily respond to any initiative of contact. In addition, it is important to create a comfortable living environment for the domestic cat. Cat behavior problems are often caused by poorly positioned litter boxes and beds. As a felinologist, I help people see their apartment through the eyes of a cat. At the same time, I do not mean that you need to forget about your own convenience, but you can always find a compromise.