Pet care: Handling your cat's 'inner savage'
Q: Three months ago we adopted a spayed 5-year-old cat. She's very loving and we adore her, but lately she gets these wild streaks and has scratched and bitten our legs, even drawing blood. It's usually preceded by meowing and sometimes yowling. We spray water on her and scold her. In a few minutes, she's loving and sweet again. We're retired homebodies so she gets lots of attention.
Dr. Nichol: Springtime can bring out the call of the wild. There are risks to life in the great outdoors, but that is your cat's innate habitat. Her natural prey skulks on the other side of your windows. Besides the helpless varmints she needs to stalk and kill, there may also be predators out there that scare the @#%& out of her! She lives in a fishbowl.
Our cats are domestic pets who belong with us, but they have essential feline-specific requirements. In some ways your girl is a wild animal. If she lived on her own she'd escape and hide out sometimes, then stalk and hunt to survive. Indoors at your house, she still needs to engage her inner savage. Your predator-in-residence desperately needs prey. She treats you like rats, not because you have long tails and pointed faces but because you move and have a pulse.
Just before dusk, every evening, tie a 3-to-4-foot string to your ankle with a couple of feathers glued to the end. As you walk, the flipping and flopping, reminiscent of a wounded bird, will direct your kitty's murderous intent to this healthy, non-human target.
Go for the gold. Naturalize your house with simulated pussycat behavioral opportunities. You'll find a good list of feline environmental enrichments at drjeffnichol.com. Of great importance are floor-to-ceiling cat trees against at least two windows. Multiple hide boxes at various heights in different rooms will be equally cherished by your sweet kitty, the marauding beast.
You may already have noticed that punishers like water sprays, verbal assaults and Tasers treat only the symptom of the real problem: unmet behavioral needs. Repeated soakings would teach your snuggle bunny to associate you with fear and a cold, wet feeling. Only squirt her if she catches fire.
鈥� For help with behavior problems, you can sign up for a Zoom group conference at drjeffnichol.com.
Dr. Jeff Nichol is a residency-trained veterinary behaviorist in sa国际传媒官网网页入口. He provides consultations by Zoom group and individually/in-person. Sign up for his weekly blog or post questions (drjeffnichol.com) or mail to 4000 Montgomery NE, sa国际传媒官网网页入口, NM, 87109.
