Pet Health Library – Marin Pet Hospital, San Rafael, CA

An Introduction to Cat Behavior

Cats are among the easiest of animals to live with as pets, which in part accounts for their massive and ever-growing appeal. Cats are naturally quiet, clean, affectionate, and largely self-sufficient, capable of adapting to any kind of dwelling, any definition of family.

But when things go wrong . . . they go very, very wrong from the human point of view. A cat with a behavior problem such as aggression can be a source of strife and even heartbreak in your family, with the cat the eventual loser. Other cats can ruin your belongings – covering them with the hard-to-remove stench of urine, clawing them into tatters, chewing them into bits. Your furniture isn’t safe, nor are your houseplants, nor are your own hands, for some cats seem quite deranged at times, purring one minute and biting the next.

To some cat- lovers, these behaviors can seem unpredictable, unfathomable, and even spiteful, when, in fact, they’re nothing of the sort. What cat-lovers call “bad” behavior often makes complete sense to a cat, who’s just doing what comes naturally to him, coping with boredom, illness, stress, or change in the way cats have always done. What cat lovers call “problems” are natural behaviors to cats, as much a part of their genetic makeup as super-keen hearing or whisper-soft paws.