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Friends for Life Animal Outreach
Caring for Your Cat

Understanding Your Cat's Behavior

Coming When Called

Cats respond best to positive reinforcement, not punishment. Food and a loving voice are excellent positive reinforcement as well as food. Begin at mealtime; call out your cat's name. Then add, "Come." The cat should be hungry and will respond simply in hopes of a meal. If you do this at every mealtime for a week, your cat will automatically come when you call even when it isn't mealtime.

Using a Litter Box

Have your cat start using the litter box as soon as you arrive home the first time. Pick the cat up and place it in the litter box, then gently scratch at the litter with your fingers. Your cat will imitate this behavior. Leave it alone in a separate room until it uses the litter box for both urination and defecation at least once. This will reinforce appropriate litter box behavior. When you see the box has been used, praise and pet it. Usually just one or two lessons will do the trick. Never punish your cat for inappropriate behavior, reward it for doing it right!

A cat's chronic need to eliminate outside the litter box should cause you concern. Check to make sure the litter box is clean and accessible. Also, if you have a hood on the litter box, remove it. Even if a cat has used a hooded box for years, they can suddenly have an aversion to it. If the problem persists, there may be an underlying health problem; therefore a veterinarian should see the cat immediately.

Playtime

Kittens love to play four types of games: Play Fighting, Scooping Fish, Prey Pounce and Bird Swat.

In Play Fighting, kittens wrestle with one another. Even when they become strong enough to hurt each other, they almost never do. If you want to join in, do so only while wearing a heavy leather glove or an oven mitt. Kittens eventually outgrow these games and it's just as well since grown cats can do a great deal of damage to one another.

Scooping Fish is a game a kitten or cat can play all by itself. It finds a small object on the floor, scoops it over its shoulder, turns and pounces.

In Prey Pounce, your cat stalks an imaginary prey, comes to a stop, and then pounces on it. "It" may be mother cat's tail, another kitten, or your shoe.

Closely related to Prey Pounce is Bird Swat in which the kitten administers a swat with one paw before finishing off the prey. This game is best for people participation; just dangle a rubber mouse or other object on the end of a string. Your cat will swat at it and you'll be safe.

Aggressive Behavior

If you observe aggressive behavior in your cat, you should schedule an appointment with your veterinarian for a thorough physical examination to rule out any medical causes. Any sudden behavior change could mean that your cat is ill and should be taken seriously. Some common symptoms of sickness are aggressiveness, hiding, and eliminating outside the litter box.

If your cats are fighting, don't allow the fighting to continue. The more often cats fight, the worse the problem is likely to become. To stop a fight in progress, make a loud noise, such as blowing a whistle, or squirt the cats with water. As with children, give them time away from one another. Don't try to pull them apart during the skirmish since you might get hurt. To prevent future fights, you may need to separate them from each other while you're working on the problem.

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Friends for Life Animal Outreach
P.O. Box 60082
Sacramento, CA 95860

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FFLAO is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization