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Effect of Environment on Feline Behaviour (view source)
Revision as of 12:48, 17 July 2014
, 12:48, 17 July 2014→Adequate Environment for Cats
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.
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.
Cats are solitary [[Feline Predatory Behaviour|hunters]] but they are able to live in groups as long as they have access to all of the things that they need. In the wild, cats eat at least 10 small meals each day, and they need to be able to patrol their [[Feline Territorial Behaviour|territory]] at certain times of day in order to leave scent marks and confront other cats.
:'''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.
As a result of this there are certain things that cats often find very hard to cope with:
* Waiting for food
* Eating at set meal times
* Queuing for the use of a litter tray
* Waiting to be let outside
* Accepting the owner’s control over their activities
This is in stark contrast to dogs, which are fully able to accept the control of other members of their group, including human beings.
So, in order to reduce stress for cats we need to make sure that they have access to what they need without conflict either with us or the other cats in the household.
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. Within a house there may be one or more [[Feline Social Behaviour#Social Structure|“factions” of cats]]. Within these groups the cats look after each other and will share access to certain resources and space. They may have their own favourite places in the house and they may be quite confrontational with cats that are not part of their group. This is normal behaviour for cats but it becomes a problem when two competing factions share a home. If these groups share a single feeding place in the kitchen then one group may monopolise the food or all the cats may be hesitant about how to gain access to it.
The answer is to give the separate factions their own places to feed, rest, drink and go to the toilet. In this way they can lead separate lives in the same home without conflict. This also means giving the cats back control over when they eat and gain access to certain parts of their territory.
General guidelines are:
* Provide access to food at all times (dried food preferably). Keep food topped up rather than having set mealtimes.
* Increase the number of feeding and drinking places, situating them in areas where the cats tend to spend most of their time.
* Increase the number of resting areas available to the cats as well as their access to three-dimensional space within each room [places to climb and hide].
* Give cats access to outdoor space without restriction (if it is safe to do so).
'''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===
===Opportunities to Perform Normal Behaviour===