Welcome to The Better Behaved Feline!

I know you love your feline fur babies. They are so cute, loving, and a continual source of comfort and entertainment.  Life without them is unimaginable. They bring a smile to your face. Until they don’t!! You come home after a long day away to find that cute kitty has urinated on your bed.  Perhaps it has knocked over and broke a favorite vase or scratched the brand-new couch.

You start thinking that not too cute anymore fuzzy cat is being spiteful as a way of retaliating for leaving them alone all day.  As a cat behavior modification specialist, I have clients tell me all the time that their cat is acting spiteful. However, spite is a human trait, not a feline trait.  You need to be able to plan to do something spiteful – to plan it out ahead of time and think about the impact it is going to have.

Cats do not have the mental capacity for being spiteful or malicious. When your cat does something, you do not like, they are not getting back at you. What looks like anger is often anxiety or fear. A cat that urinates on your bed while you are away is not angry. They are very anxious. A lot of cats have varying degrees of separation anxiety when they are left alone, and the cat urinating in your personal space is a classic sign of that.  When they urine mark on something that smells like you, that reminds them of you. It is their way of trying to make something that feels uncomfortable a little more comfortable.  It’s a coping mechanism for missing you. It’s a signal they are feeling distressed rather than angry.

Sometimes a cat does something that might be misinterpreted as spiteful when all it means is you have not provided choices to act constructively on their feline impulses.  A cat scratching furniture may be that you have not given them an appropriate place (a sisal scratching post) for her to fulfil her natural instincts of scratching to keep their nails heathy and stretch their muscles. A cat that knocks things over is a bored cat. A bored cat is a mischievous cat. Perhaps you do not spend enough time playing with them. Interactive play sessions do wonders for bored cats.

Bottom line when you cat does something you do not like, it is not to teach you a lesson or show you they are angry.  It’s to cope with her environment.

If this sounds like your cat, I can help you figure out why your cat is exhibiting the bad behaviors and offer solutions. Contact me before giving up on your kitty!