Living With The Gods
Helping Cats To Adapt To Life With Us Mortals
By Margot K. Vahrenwald, DVM, ASVJ
“Cats are killers by nature – solitary, antisocial hunters who bristle at being cooped up.” That quote just appeared recently in a review of a new, insightful book on cats in the Wall Street Journal. To put it in context, the rest of the pullout finished, “But training can help our feline companions to adapt to the demands we put on them.”
The book, The Trainable Cat: A Practical Guide to Making Life Happier for You and Your Cat, by Dr. John Bradshaw and Dr. Sarah Ellis, will publish this month, on Sept. 13. Just like our dogs’ emotional and social health is enhanced by training, so can cats. I’ve already pre-ordered the book, but the recent preview adapted into the Wall Street Journal is fascinating (weblink: http://www.wsj.com/articles/yes-you-can-train-your-cat-1471016655).
I have always though that cats had been a domesticated part of human life since dynastic Egypt. But, Bradshaw and Ellis’s research found that while cats have coexisted with mankind for more than 10,000 years, they really did not become domesticated pets until the past 50 years. It seems that cats lived in and around human settlements – taking advantage of the easy hunting created by the transition to village life from mobile hunter-gather society, but keeping their distance.
While revered by the Egyptians, the cat didn’t really move in to our homes and hearts until the late 1800s. It took a while to get rid of the stigma of being associated with witchcraft to allow cats to move indoors, but they were still primarily prized for their ability to hunt household vermin. Then in the 1950s, chemical rodenticides meant a decrease in household rodent residents and cats, willing or unwilling, could move in to a role as a true pet.
More than 36 million US households own one or more cats. But we haven’t changed the nature of cats from “primal killers to domesticated darlings.” Cats are particular creatures and their need to hunt is related to their nutritional need as strict carnivores. Cats’ special dietary needs have only been elucidated in the past 40 years – so while commercial diets can meet all their nutritional needs, the behavioral drive to hunt has not changed.
Bradshaw and Ellis note that modern domesticity has created issues for the cat. For instance, most cat homes have more than one – contrary to their solitary nature. When forced to live with another cat, they may develop détente and ignore each other well, but for a percentage of cats, this living situation can lead to mental and medical issues from chronic stress.
A big thing for owners (and veterinarians) to realize is that “Cats’ solitary, territorial nature means they more strongly bonded to the place where they live than with any of the people with whom they share it.” Meaning, they hate to move, hate to go to the vet and won’t be happy when you add another cat to the mix.
So what’s a pet owner to do? Look at how you can meet your cat’s needs and your needs with training – often behavioral modification. Here are a few pointers:
The cat carrier should be a part of the daily environment – as a bed or a cozy place to eat. It shouldn’t be something that only comes out for the cat to be shoved into for a move or a trip to the vet’s office.
If you want to add another cat, introduce them in a very slow fashion with scent first.
Enrich your cat’s life with play and “hunting” for their food with toys that go to those instincts.
Dr. Margot can be reached at parkhillvet.com.