Or,
everything your benevolent dictator requires you to
know
1. Cats are obligate
carnivores. This means they are obligated to eat meat – they need high
quality protein to satisfy their metabolic processes. That’s why cats eating
primarily dry food {which is obligatorily full of carbohydrates} tend to get
fat. They just don’t need, and can’t use, carbs as an energy source.
2. Cats are fastidiously clean
creatures – {you may have noticed the extraordinary amount of time your kitty
devotes to his or her personal hygiene}.
In the wild, cats use faeces and urine to claim their territory, so we
should be infinitely grateful that they have deigned to use the litterboxes we
provide. As such, it falls to us to maintain
that toilet space in an attractive a state as possible – which means being
proportionately fastidious about keeping the box clean. When pondering how often to clean the
litterbox, ask yourself – “How would I feel about frequenting a toilet that had
been used regularly but not flushed for a couple of days?”
3. A cat’s world is ruled by its
sense of smell. Rubbing and/or
scratching on things is their way of both rendering an item (or person)
familiar and claiming it theirs. Familiar
= good, comfy, happy. Unfamiliar = this needs scratching/rubbing on until it is
good, comfy, happy. In addition to their generosity in the use of litterboxes,
cats are also quite inclined to use appropriate surfaces for scratching other
than your new leather sofa or pine end-tables.
However, they require you to provide such objects – in the preferred
texture and orientation – and place them in the very near vicinity of the
off-limits item (s). The best scratching post in the world will be meaningless
to your cat if it isn’t the right type or in the right place.
4. Cats are, historically, desert
creatures. Given that there isn’t much water in the desert, they are uniquely
designed to extract most of their water requirements from food. This translates
to a lack of instinct to drink in
sufficient quantity. Knowing this, it’s not hard to see how eating only dried
kibble is chronically dehydrating.
5. Cats don’t like change. What
would seem to us as a minor aberration from the norm – new furniture, dinner
guests, rearranging the furniture, different food/litter – these things can rock a cat’s world on its
axis. The stress of change may manifest
in such things as lack of appetite, vomiting/diarrhea, over-grooming and,
everyone’s favourite – inappropriate elimination. Some cats are more sensitive
to change than others, so if you share your life with a particularly emotional
type, be mindful of how you integrate change; any change.
6. Indoor cats do NOT have
super-feline abilities rendering them immune from illness and disease simply
because they never set foot outdoors. They need annual health examinations just
the same as their neighbourhood-roaming counterparts.
7. Cats who have allergies
generally don’t suffer from sneezing or runny eyes. Instead, they get itchy
skin – especially around the face and on the paws.
8. Most cats really don’t like
other cats. They’re solitary creatures by nature and so don’t think of other
cats as potential fun-times just waiting to happen in the way that dogs do. Now
that you know this, you won’t want to encourage your cat to say “hello” to
another cat. It might also explain why
the neighbour’s cat staring in your patio doors drives your kitty around the
bend. {see #5}
9. Aging cats don’t “just slow
down”. What is slowing them down is very likely the pain of osteoarthritis. What
you might look like your older kitty preferring to nap rather than play, may
very well be a kitty whose joints are stiff and painful.
10. Cats rule. This is the most
important thing you’ll ever need to know. Once you’ve accepted that your cat is
ultimately in charge of things, life will become so much easier. Your task is
to work within the preset limits of your kitty’s agenda in order to achieve the
highest level of comfort, health and convenience for him or her.
But don’t worry.
We’re here to help.
© 2012, M. Leavey & the Cat
Hospital of Burlington, reprint with permission
