Play aggression is defined as the stalking, chasing, pouncing, biting, and scratching behaviors, which normally occur when cats engage in play. Problems occur when these behaviors are directed against instead of with people in the household.
Another common cause for play aggression towards humans is when owners leave a single young cat alone for most of the day. Play aggression can also be triggered and reinforced by owners who insist on letting a cat "attack" their hands and feet.
Owners must learn to recognize the postures exhibited by cats engaging in problematic, as opposed to acceptable, play aggression. The typical play aggression cat will demonstrate predatory type of behaviors.
The cat will stalk the owners and pounce on moving body parts such as hands and feet. Growling and hissing usually does not occur, however, the cat's pupils will be widely dilated. Bites and scratches inflicted during a play aggression attack are usually inhibited and not severe.
There are a lot of experts out there who say that cats are strictly independent animals. These very same experts state that cats have chosen to associate with humans due to their strategy of survival. Although many argue with this statement, there are many who agree as well – although those that agree are normally those in the percentile who don’t agree with cats.
Anyone who has owned a cat will tell you that cats are great at bonding with people, although they are very particular. Normally, a cat will choose someone in the home that he bonds with. You’ll know when a cat wants to bond with you, as he will hop on your lap seeking attention or snuggle up to you at night when you are sleeping. Purring is a strong sign of affections, especially with cats that are looking to bond.
Are you a new cat owner? If so, there will come a point in time when your cat becomes “just like one of the kids.” However, until that time arrives, it is up to you to understand your cat and the small signals that he or she may be sharing with you.
As important as it is to hear that it will be your responsibility to understand your cat and decipher the signals that he or she may be sending you, you may be wondering why. Many pet owners often respond with something like “what the heck?” If you are a new pet owner or a first-time pet owner, you may not understand just how much your cat relies and depends on you.
As for why it is important to understand your cat, doing so can be important to his or her health. We humans are able to speak and seek medical attention when we develop a cold or suffer a debilitating injury. Pets, on the other hand, cannot do so. Just because your cat doesn’t outright tell you that she needs to go the vet, it doesn’t mean that a visit isn’t in order.
Cats have been famous for hunting mice and rats for as long as cats and people have been together. As strange as it may seem to some people, cats are not born knowing how to hunt. It is a skill they learn from watching their mothers. If the mother cat is a good hunter, then her kittens will learn to be good hunters. Interestingly, kittens seem to learn the best from their mothers. They do not seem to learn as well or as quickly from watching other adult cats.
At about five or six weeks of age, a mother cat will begin teaching her kittens how to hunt. At first she brings dead mice to the kittens. She will eat some of the mice in front of the kittens. In this way she is showing them that mice are their prey and that they are good to eat. As time goes on the kittens begin to play with the dead mice their mother brings them. Before long the kittens are flinging the dead mice around and pouncing on them. It's a good idea to stand clear of them when they're at this stage. You might get smacked by a flying mouse if you don't!
Ah yes, everyone's favorite pet chore. One day you clean your cats' box and discover little white chunks of what appear to be cooked spaghetti lodged in the feces, that is, until one starts to move. You know then that it's time to deworm your cats. If your veterinarian says that your cat doesn't have anything particularly tough or nasty then he or she may recommend a regular schedule using commercial dewormers that can be found readily in any pet store. Your veterinarian even may have a good general purpose dewormer on hand for your use. Fortunately, there is a wide range of deworming medicines available on the market. Most are liquid or pill form.
If you have only one cat, your task is relatively simple. Choose a dewormer that your cat will find acceptable if not palatable. Many liquid dewormers claim to be very tasty to cats. Unfortunately, many cats would vigorously disagree with that assessment. In such a case, if you have access to a pill form of dewormer that your cat is willing to swallow, you're in luck. If your cat won't swallow pills without major mayhem breaking out and turns his nose up at every liquid dewormer you try, then you have a problem. If you have more than one cat, it can become even more of an issue. If your cats will happily take whatever you offer, then the only thing you have to worry about is keeping the greedy guts from getting more than they should. But, If each of them has a different idea as to what is acceptable (or not) for deworming medicine, then you have a major headache.
Is it possible to train a cat to walk with you? Yes it is and not hard to do. Patience, practice, time, and you will be walking with your cat soon.
The best time to start to train a cat to walk with a leash is when it is a kitten. When a kitten is small, needs to be taught the correct behaviors. Molding a kitten’s behaviors is just as if we would do with children. They are new to the behaviors and do not really know what is right and wrong.
An older cat could be harder to train as it is set in some of its ways. With patience from both you and your cat, you will be able to train the cat to walk with a leash.
Let us get started with first you will need to purchase a leash for the cat. One thing you will want to do is search out the leash that will be suitable for both you and your cat. There are many different leashes on the market to day. Some are retract able with a setting on the holder to be able to allow just enough leash out for the cat. On the other hand, you can just let the cat have as much as they would like. This is nice for walking and for letting the cat to play, with control that they do not run off or get in to much trouble. More on How To Train Your Cat On A Leash
Spraying is a behavior in cats, mainly males, which many owners confuse with urinating outside the litter box. The difference between the two is that a cat will urinate on a flat horizontal surface. Spraying is most often done on a vertical surface. Female cats will spray on horizontal surfaces, but it is rare.
The primary reason a cat sprays is because felines are very territorial animals and like to mark their turf by spraying urine to let other cats know who owns that little piece of the world. If you notice things being marked near windows or screen doors where your cat can see outside it’s a pretty good chance there is a cat hanging around your house or passing by frequently.
Did you know that you can control when a cat has to go to the bathroom and when they don't have to go? It is called feeding time. One of the first things in training a cat is do not feed the cat anything unless you are going to be home for a time after they have eaten. This is a good example of feeding the cat after you get home from work and preparing dinner for the family. By the time you and your family have sat down and enjoyed your dinner, the cat should be ready to go out or go to the litter box to go potty.
Making sure the litter box is clean at all times so that the cat can have a nice smelling comfortable place to go potty at. There are plenty of different types of litter to get for the litter box. From plain to good smelling when they scratch at it or dig to sand to soft pellets. There is not a particular type that will help with the training of the cat. It is totally up to you and your cat. Some cats do not like smells and so this would be a consideration that you might want to find out if your cat will use the box with these types of litter. They have scoopers out that you can purchase to help clean up the litter box when the cat uses it so that they have a clean environment to go to when they need to. Another thing is that you would want to have a clean environment for this for your family too. Family member can get sick off of cat litter, clean and dirty.
Cats cannot be discipline as you would a dog. With a dog they are social dominant that can be trained to have you as the dominant one. The reason that cats will not react as a dog is that cats have social groups only by respect and social groups.
Physical punishment on cat will only result in the cat fearing you. So never, hit your cat or any physical punishment.
Train your cat to have appropriate behaviors and that they cannot do the inappropriate behaviors as you will not tolerate this type of behavior. Cats do not like surprises; an advantage that you will have on the cat, in order to be able to train by using surprise noises. Use clapping, firm voice “NO”, hissing, or water bottle to have your cat stop the unwanted behaviors. For these to be effective you must do a surprising sound immediately when the unwanted behaviors are being done. Seconds later or even when you come home and find the unwanted behavior done is not going to be effective as doing it as soon as the cat starts the unwanted behavior.
Kitty litter, litter pan, catnip, catnip toys, cat mats, plays mice, scratching tree or post collars, leashes, Supplements, door entrances, treats, and food are all cat-training supplies. All these items plus more can be found in pet stores on the Internet, in the local vets office, and local store that carry a line of pet supplies. In addition, just about anything that you may need to help you train your cat can be found.
Another way to get very inexpensive and maybe free supplies is check out different articles to come up with homemade remedies and items that will help you with the training of a cat. Cats are not really a fussy pet. We can make them that way, cats do not know that you made the item or purchased it. This is another good way to get the whole family involved with training the cat. Have them help make the item or come up with some ideas to help train a cat. Children love to make things and this is a good teaching tool for the children. Teaching children that their pet cat needs also to have training in areas that will help the family have a good healthy relationship with the pet cat.
