Monday, August 3, 2009

Happy Inside Cats

We had a few comments yesterday asking about what was said at the talk on keeping kitties happy when they are inside. Mum has been reading as much as she can about cat behaviour and keeping kitties happy since before we moved, to try and make the transition as easy as possible. So alot of what was said was stuff we had heard before.

Mum's current favourite source of information is her idol . She is a behaviourist from the UK who has a really level headed, basic approach to dealing with different behavioural problems. In learning about how she has dealt with problems in the past, mum hopes she can be better prepared to prevent problems in the future. She has read Vicky's book , and is just starting . Another good resource is by Christine Church.

So we thought we might write some posts about some of the big issues that come up in the books, and from what we learned at the shelter. We are by no means experts, but thought it might prompt thought and further research if people are interested. Would you be interested in reading that?

For our first post, there are some basics that everyone seems in agreement on as to what will help a kitty be comfortable inside. They are play, privacy, a place to scratch, greenery and mental stimulation.

Play: The key is to try and enable natural instincts and behaviours to be expressed. Wand toys are fabulous for this purpose, as in addition to letting a cat express natural hunting behaviours, they also facilitate bonding between kitty and human. We both love the that the kits and Tommy sent us, which looks like a little bug flying around. We go into the same hunting mode we are in when we see a fly. We are also particularly fond of toys that move and shake around on their own, so we can feel like we're really hunting real live prey! Our is a major favourite. Mum got us a today, so she will be interested to see if we have the same reaction to that. We also really like the inner tubes from paper towels, which roll around when we whack them. They make a fun sound, too! It is a good idea to test out a variety of toys with kitties. While we know most kitties go wild for the laser toy, we both look at mum like she is a weirdo when she tries to get us to use one. Fui occasionally uses the very daintily, while Suey goes bananas for it, whapping the life out of the ball, stalking it's movements and generally going nuts. Fui has a preference for toys with feathers, while Suey is less discriminating. We both have lots of fun with paper bags. The big ones you can get from Ikea are the best things ever!

Privacy: While we both like each other and our parents, we also like our quiet time. Fui is happy to hang out and nap on the end of the bed, while Suey prefers hiding up high. In our old house, Suey liked the top level of the wardrobe. So when we moved in here, mum and dad set up a spot in the wardrobe with a couple of beds and cushions, and a tent ontop of the tall cupboard. When Suey is in the cupboard, mum leaves her on her own, and Fui likes to have a couple of hours each afternoon of 'Moimoi time', when she leaves him too. It is good to know we can go and chill out on our own when we want.

A Place to Scratch: Scratching is a natural cat behaviour. It has several purposes- it sharpens the nails and sloughs off the older outer layers of nail, allows the cat to stretch out the muscles and tendons through the whole body, and is a way of leaving scent markers. We were actually a little surprised that the lady at the Cat Protection Society was advocating small posts that can be hidden away. From what we have read, the best posts have a wide base and are heavy, that feel stable for a cat scratching against it. When Fui outgrew his kitten post, he stopped using it quite quickly. We both love our , which is tall enough for even Fui to get a full stretch going on and sturdy enough that it wont wobble. We are also increasingly happy with our . We then have a cat tree, with carpet and sisal rope. Our post is made from a sisal weave while our angle has a cardboard scratching pad. Having a variety of surfaces available for scratching is a good way to get your cat scratching where you want, as different cats can prefer different surfaces. Having the posts in a thoroughfare will encourage a cat to use it, as they like to leave their scent in such areas. We have our angle in a corner at the top of the stairs, the post by the entrance to the kitchen, and our tree in between the kitchen and living room.

While we were initially taught to scratch by being moved to our post whenever we looked like we wanted to scratch, we were introduced to our new post using a technique Vicky Halls promotes, which we found very effective. Mum also used it with a lot of success with our foster kittens. Mum uses a wand toy to encourage us to play around the base of the post. She then pulls it up the sides of the post, encouraging us to swipe at it and jump at it. In doing this, we were hitting the post and getting used to the feel of it. She would also dangle the toy up the top of the post to encourage us to climb up after it. It taught us that it was ok for us to claw at the post.

Greenery: We love our greenery. The lady at the Cat Protection Society was very keen on catnip, both fresh and dried, though we have no reaction to fresh. It is our understanding that most Australian cats don't tend to react. Apparently we are more reactive to Valerian. We have fresh cat grass, catnip and cat mint in pots. They are currently outside being rehabilitated after we kind of destroyed them. Mum thinks it would have been better to let them get more established before unleashing us on them. While we kitties are obligate carnivores, it is good for us to get a bit of green in us too. It can help settle tummies, and is good for a bit of a buzz. Suey went absolutely crazy the other night, running about making kookaburra noises, and the next morning mum realised the cat mint had been chewed almost completely out. Coincidence..? We don't often react to dried catnip, but mum has found that occasionally something triggers us. The smell of the shrews that sent us drives us wild, while Suey likes the nip that came with our Angle. So again, it seems to be about testing what you like the most.

Catnip sprays can be bought to freshen up toys that are losing their smell. The Cat Protection lady gave one tip we thought was good, to put dried catnip in a ziplock bag with a toy to reimpregnate it. If you are going to have plants inside, we recommend having them on tile or lino flooring with a mat underneath to stop marking. We have decorated both the bathroom and dining area with dirt when we attacked plants that hadn't had a chance to grow roots yet. Mum was just glad she didn't have to try and get it out of the carpet!

Mental stimulation: This one is probably pretty obvious. It comes in many forms- from crazy play sessions with a wand toy, to having cuddle time, to talking to your kitty while you're getting dressed for the day. Making sure to rotate toys is a good way to keep cats interested. If you put one away for a few weeks, it will seem brand new all over again when you bring it back out again. Lots of indoor cats enjoy having a position to look out the window at the world outside. Fui likes to sit in his ham-mick in front of the window overlooking the entry to our complex, so he can watch people come and go. When our favourite little baby bean Lily came over to our house in Townsville, Fui used to like watching the Disney movies we'd put on. Suey watches the tv very intently when there are kittens on Animal Cops (she is less interested in the woofies, and ignores the snakes). We have not tried the dvds, but can understand how some cats would like them a lot. Vicky Halls is a great fan of getting cats to work for their food. This can be done by using a , or by hiding small amounts of dry food around a room inside things like toilet paper tubes. We weren't keen on our treat ball last time mum tried it, but we were young and silly then. Maybe it's worth another try!

We hope there was something there that you found interesting, and if not, here is us snuggling together last night.

This is mum's new mobile phone wallpaper. She was super excited to get us both!:)

12 comments:

Tama-Chan, Benny, Vidock, Violette, Ollie, Heloise, Momo, Ryu said...

What a great post! #1 says she loved reading it all, and she is going to look for those books!

Your Friends,
Tommy, Tama-Chan and Sei-Chan

Cat with a Garden said...

Thank you for sharing! When mom was reading about stuff when she got Siena she found this Swiss site: http://www.katzenfummelbrett.ch
It's about selfmade funboards! Try google translator to have a look around, there's some great inspiration! We both loves these cardboardbottoms the joghurt at the supermarket sits in. If you drop a toy in there it's mayor fun. They throw them away so it's easy and cheap to get one. Then we wanted to share a tip mom read in only two or three sources: It is closer to nature to seperate the drinking area from the food area. Cats wouldn't carry their food to the water source as residues could spoil the water. Mom has set up three water bowls, two of them at each side of a door and we do drink a lot. Hopefully this is more common knowledge elsewhere. We totally agree on the privacy thing! Lately Chilli has been using our superhigh selfmade cattree a lot for sleeping. She spends hours up there.n Oh, one last thing: With paper bags it's important to cut off the handles. This was something mom read too and she thought it was overly cautious but then Illyana got caught in a handle!!! So it does happen...
We would really like to read more about these things!
Purrs, Siena & Chilli

Poppy Q said...

They were all great tips. Mum thinks that lots of people forget to play with their kitties, so she has to remember to make time to play with me.

Teddy Westlife said...

I always have play time every single day with mum and dad so they are doing something right! That was very interesting information.

Huffle Mawson

Purr S: laughing about you being smarter than Hermione Granger :)

Cory said...

Wow that was super informative. Even though I'm social, I like my private time...I burrow under blankets or go to my special place in the closet for some "me" time!

The WriggleButts said...

Great post! Thanks for sharing your research with us :)

Ane

Whitey said...

All great tups! We all like to play, but not so much with toys anymore, even wand toys. We do like a new catnip toy once in a while. Gandalf and Grayson have a fabulous condo that Whitey hopes to be seeing and testing out in a month or so!

Angel, Kirby and Max said...

Thanks for sharing the info. Mom is saving it so she can read it again.

Daisy said...

That was a lot of really good information! I think it's great that your mom is dedicated to making your new Inside life fulfilling.

The Island Cats said...

Thanks for this info, Fui and Suey! We think this is very helpful! We knew some of this but it's always good to reinforce! We hope some of these things work for you as well. We hope you will do future posts on other topics!

And we love seeing you two snuggle together!

Reese =^..^= said...

Meowee! That's a lot of great information. Thanks for sharing it with us.

(angel) Grrreta and Fam said...

That is very excellent advice! Our mom does pretty well with everything except the greenery. Thank you for reminding her how important it is. She promised to plant some cat grass for us right away.