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Effect of Environment on Feline Behaviour (view source)
Revision as of 16:15, 16 June 2014
, 16:15, 16 June 2014→Adequate Environment for Cats
The cat’s basic needs are for:
The cat’s basic needs are for:
#Space (including access to height)
#Resources
#Opportunities to perform '''normal behaviour''' (hunting, clawing etc.)
#Privacy
#Choice (the need to have alternative places to eat, rest, play and go to the toilet)
===Space===
Cats should be provided with lots of opportunity to climb and explore. For example shelves at different heights, cat furniture and access to the tops of cupboards and wardrobes.
'''Resources'''
:Each cat needs several places to eat, drink, and rest. This gives them choice and means that cats that don’t get along do not have to compete for the same toilet or food bowl. Enabling the cats to live separate lives actually increases the chances that they will live happily with each other.
:'''Food''' provision: Cats in the wild spend a large amount of time [[Feline Predatory Behaviour|hunting and foraging]]. To keep them happy, it is useful to provide not only multiple food bowls in different locations but also more challenging ways of obtaining food, for example using play or food dispensing balls.
:'''Water''' provision: Cats often don’t drink enough water to keep their [[Kidney - Anatomy & Physiology|kidneys]] and [[:Category:Lower Urinary Tract - Anatomy & Physiology|urinary system]] healthy. They can be encouraged to drink more healthy amounts by providing them with a recirculating-type water fountain. These are available commercially and include a filter to remove impurities that cats don’t like to taste. This makes the water more like rainwater. The water movement and provision of a running water slope make it much easier for the cat to drink.
:'''Resting places''': Choice over resting places is particularly important because cats move from one place to another every few days so that they can avoid parasites like fleas.
:'''[[Cat Latrines|Latrines]]''': Typically cats should be provided with one toilet per cat plus one extra. This is because in the wild cats do not share toilets and they prefer to have separate ones for urination and defecation. Fortunately, it is possible to provide outdoor toilets for cats so that fewer indoor litter trays are needed.
===Opportunities to Perform Normal Behaviour===
'''Clawing''' is often a problem because it is destructive and annoying for owners. It is important to give cats opportunities to claw so that it does not become a problem in the first place. Cats will tend to claw when they need to stretch back muscles after waking, [[Feline Communication Behaviour#Claw Marks|mark]] boundaries of territory, sharpen claws or gain attention from their owners. Sensible places to position clawing posts are therefore close to where cats rest, near to cat doors and at the edges of the garden and in living rooms close to furniture or the television (where the cat may claw to get attention or a reaction from its owner). Cats have preferences for particular kinds of material to claw. Upholstered furniture is often used for claw sharpening and stretching. Soft wood is often scratched to leave a scent mark at a boundary. Owners need to experiment with providing the right surfaces to satisfy the cat’s clawing needs and encourage clawing by taking notice and praising the cat when it claws on an appropriate object.
'''Hunting and play''' are important for cats, especially in the early [[Timing of Feline Activity|morning and evening]]. These are times when it is important to encourage interactive games using fishing toys, laser pointers and lightweight toys that can be rolled on the floor. Cats should never be encouraged to play with people’s feet or hands because this can create problems of [[Misdirected Feline Predatory Behaviour Towards People|aggression]] especially for cats that are kept indoors. At other times, the cat should be provided with a continually-changing selection of small lightweight toys to play with. It is useful to keep a selection of feathers, decorated ping pong balls, furry mouse toys and similar small items in a box and scatter a selection of these toys around the house daily. Real fur toys are particularly good because they act as a focus for [[Feline Predatory Behaviour|cat’s predatory behaviour]].
Certain features of toys are very important:
*Noise: toys that twitter or squeak when touched
*Movement: toys that move rapidly and unpredictably when they roll
*Texture, size and colour: bright colours, feathers, parts that sparkle or dangle, or toys that mimic real prey
Typically cats get bored with play after about 10 minutes unless the toys or games are changed every few minutes. In the wild, cats spend more than six hours every day [[Feline Predatory Behaviour|hunting]] for, catching and eating their prey. In the domestic environment, all of this activity may be absent, especially for indoor cats. It is also known that well-fed cats continue to hunt wildlife but when they catch a bird or mouse they will take more time to kill it. This means that the wild animal’s suffering is prolonged. One way to replace this lost activity and reduce boredom is to provide cats' food through activity feeding. Activity feeders force the cat to play in order to get food, and help reduce obesity and frustration, especially for indoor cats but they also reduce the outdoor cat’s interest in [[Feline Predatory Behaviour|predatory behaviour]], and can therefore save local wildlife from being killed.
Activity feeders include:
:Delidome: An electronic cat feeder that throws out small balls full of food every 1-2 hours for the cat to play with.
:Empty plastic drinks bottles perforated with food-pellet sized holes and part filled with dried cat food. The food falls out as the toy rolls along.
:Food bowls placed high on shelves for the cat to find.
:Activity box filled with crumpled newspaper, small toys and hidden small dried food treats for the cat to rummage and find (freeze-dried prawns and smelly fish treats work well).
===Privacy and Choice===
:Privacy is partly provided by giving cats plenty of choice. If cats can choose to feed or rest away from each other they are more likely to get along well. Some cats, especially those which are elderly or infirm, also like to have ground-level hiding places where they can run in and hide. Empty cat baskets or cardboard boxes are perfectly suitable.
:Privacy is partly provided by giving cats plenty of choice. If cats can choose to feed or rest away from each other they are more likely to get along well. Some cats, especially those which are elderly or infirm, also like to have ground-level hiding places where they can run in and hide. Empty cat baskets or cardboard boxes are perfectly suitable.
==Indoor Environment==
==Indoor Environment==