Mary Allen
Everything is allowed, what pleases? Even cats find that boring. Because as a forest-and-meadow cat you are clearly set limits. Sofa cats want it to be just as interesting.
Penelope seemed obsessed with paper. Her owners would often crumple up pieces of paper for her, which she then kicked around. But her favorite game quickly became a bad habit, not a piece of paper was safe from her anymore, newspapers were shredded, letters nibbled on, and toilet paper rolls completely devastated. Called in by the distraught owners, cat psychologist Pam Johnson quickly found the diagnosis: boredom.
To cure Penelope’s boredom, she suggested that the Bouchards, both working, get a second cat. She also recommended regular playtime: “At least two playtimes a day, each 15 minutes long.” She brushed off the objection that she didn’t have time with the suggestion: “Take the half-hour you need a day to put away the paper that Penelope shredded.”
There is simply no better therapy for bored cats than playing. When they don’t have the opportunity to hunt mice, they need to be able to release their pent-up appetite with prey-catching games: lurking, sneaking, pouncing, paw-slapping, holding, and snout-grabbing.
Rough Games Bring Variety And Fun
That’s why cats need hiding places such as newspaper roofs, baskets, and boxes, climbing facilities, rolling toys, or something with a human being at the other end. Rough games also bring variety and fun to the cat’s everyday life, in which the human hand – which knocks the cat over, turns it on its back, and lets itself be attacked – replaces a fellow cat.
Play is absolutely vital for young animals, explains cat researcher Mircea Pfleiderer: “They not only have to keep busy or develop maturing drives and movement patterns, but they also learn a lot about the properties of small and large objects, what you can do with them and what don’t and what surprises you can get with them if you do it clumsily.”
The key stimulus that the inexperienced kitten is waiting for, coming from the prey, is to move as straightforwardly as possible. Whether it’s a ball or a mouse running away, it just has to follow. Crackling noises also encourage prey catching.
But no game without rules, not even for cats. The most important: Not everything that pleases is allowed. It would be a mistake not to set limits for the cat. She needs forbidden zones to replace her territory boundaries. “The dining table, a new sofa, the kitchen sideboard, the bedroom or the living room can be taboo,” says Dr. Mircea Pfleiderer: “For example, a bedroom that is closed to the cat during the day is an all the more desirable place to stay at night, precisely because it is otherwise not allowed in.”
Rules Can Be Made Clear In A Cat’s Way
Incidentally, it is not necessary to be as consistent as it is with dog training. How do you make your darling understand such rules of the game? One could take Professor Leyhausen as an example, as he describes it in his book “Katzenseele”: “Tomcat Sandor, otherwise well behaved, sometimes violated the prohibition to lie on the bed. If he was still within sight, one could speak to him in cat make it easy to understand that one disapproved of his act. Cats sniff extensively at places where other cats have lain or sat. In the same way, Sandor’s human sniffed at the tomcat’s illegally used berth and then stared at it sternly. Sandor started back briefly and left, mortifying the room.”
Of course, your cat will break your rules. And she will, for example, cross the “territorial boundaries” by jumping on the forbidden chair in front of your eyes and boldly looking at you. If you don’t want to frustrate your cat, you should respond to this provocation from time to time. Stare back, or better yet, withdraw your attention from your cat by standing up without comment and leaving the room for a moment. Every cat understands that. Communication is always better than boredom.