You & Your Pet by Dr. Wise

Rhode Island Veterinary Medical Association 11 South Angell Street #347 · Providence, RI 02906 (877) 521-0103 (866) 277-0238 Toll-Free ·Fax

Dear Readers:  I am often asked questions about cat behavior.  This article will provide answers to some of the most popular cat behavior questions.

Personalities are strongly inherited, so if you get the chance to observe the mother of the litter or the father, (because some recent research suggests the father is the major personality factor in the offspring) it can be very helpful in choosing the right kitten for you.  Be sure to go for an outgoing, friendly kitten and avoid the timid and aggressive ones.  It's very important in cats that the litter be exposed to humans at an early age.  If they had no interaction with people from 3 to 8 weeks of age, it is much more likely that these kittens will grow up shy and unwilling to socialize.  This is why feral (or wild) cats can be so difficult to keep as pets.  Most of those kittens were never exposed to people at that critical early age.

You have probably wondered, "Why does my cat run around like crazy in the middle of the night."  Cats are particularly active around dawn and dusk.  Because we humans use artificial light, we have tended to prolong these periods in the cat's mind and have actually reset their internal clocks.  This has resulted in cats who are more active when we are trying to go to sleep.  Cats sleep up to 16 hours a day, most of which is in slow-wave (or light) sleep.  Some tricks that may help encourage your cat to be more peaceful at night include vigorous playing before bedtime to try and wear him out, and feeding your cat before you go to sleep.

Cats are scent machines.  What he is doing is marking everyone he rubs against as his personal property.  The area between the ears and the eyes and the sides of his face are loaded with scent glands in cats, and he is coating these people with his own scent every time there is a contact.  Cats tend to mark things they consider part of their territory or property and your cat's particular scent labels you as "his."

Probably the single most frustrating and common behavioral problem we see is cats that no longer use the litterbox.   Cats will urinate and defecate outside the litterbox for a variety of reasons.   Medical problems such as bladder conditions or diabetes can change a cat's litterbox habits.  We also see marking behavior in stressed and un-neutered cats who are simply (in their minds) trying to solidify their territory.  Some cats will be quite finicky about the condition of the litterbox, and if it is not clean or private enough, or not the right type of litter, they'll go elsewhere.  We also see a certain group of cats that prefer to use non-litter substances, like paper or ceramics.  Your veterinarian needs to work out a rational approach to the individual problem cat.   Sometimes simply changing the location of the box can be successful.  Other times medications are needed.

This information, prepared as a public service by the Rhode Island Veterinary Medical Association, answers problems Rhode Island veterinarians currently are seeing in their practices, as well as new developments in animal care.