This reminded me of a rant that people need to hear: The cats are not okay. 1/? https://twitter.com/ellle_em/status/1249734680473030656

Much of the behaviour you think of as normal cat behaviour is NOT normal cat behaviour. Or rather, traumatized cats are so common in our society that trauma behaviour is considered normal.

For example, people come over and comment on the fact that my cat comes over to greet them. “He’s so friendly!” Yeah. Because he was socialized. A cat who hides when strangers come is an unsocialized cat.

It is NORMAL cat behaviour to come check out strangers who enter the home and greet them. But most kittens don’t get socialized and end up being terrified of the universe.

Cats have socialization periods like puppies do, but much shorter. If kittens aren’t exposed to a lot of things during this short but crucial time, they end up the frightened, flighty things that people think of as normal house cats.

Some vets are even starting to hold kitten kindergarten classes to combat that. The kittens can play with each other, meet strangers, and get exposed to common vet equipment.

The average house cat is also chronically undersocialized and under stimulated. Many people, on coming home from work, don’t think of spending some time playing with their cat. Even though those same people might take their dog for a walk first thing.

I’m not arguing for letting cats outside either. My relatives in England report that it’s normal for cats to be allowed outside. That’s nice. You guys killed off your wildlife eons ago. I live in British Columbia. We have mountain lions and coyotes and bears oh my.

My housing complex has a bylaw against outdoor cats but we still get idiots who let their cats out. Directly across the street is a wooded area filled with coyotes. Hungry urban coyotes.

I had some neighbours who moved in with their cats. Nice cats. One of them, sweet pea, was beautifully socialized as outdoor cats often are and was so friendly. He even hopped in my car once lol.

I warned them about the coyotes. I told them the local cats were their go to snack especially in wintertime. I begged them to keep sweet pea inside. Build a catio or something. But they said he was very street smart and always came home before dark.

It took three months. Then “have you seen sweet pea?” No. But I heard the coyotes howling over a kill last night. I wished them luck in finding him. You never know. But he never did come home.

My vet rescued a bengal. They came to our clinic wanting to put her down because she had eaten their couch and had leather impacted in her stomach. This was her second foreign body ingestion and they were done. Guys. They kept her in a CRATE while they were at work and at night.

There is a happy medium between these two extremes. Don’t let your at get eaten by coyotes. Don’t keep your BENGAL locked up in a CAGE 24/7.

My boss rescued the cat and gave her a proper life for a bengal. A big house to roam. A dog to torture. Play time. Companionship. But sadly my boss made the mistake of letting Eeta out on her deck. She thought it was a safe way of letting her roam a bit and watch the birds.

We think it was an eagle that got her. No coyote could have got up on that deck. A cougar could have though. We have them in e area and we know a cougar ate one of our yorkie patients out of the backyard. But we think an eagle is more likely. She was a small bengal.

But there is a happy medium. You can have a stimulated, emotionally health indoor cat who is not eaten by cougars or going so bonkers that they eat your furniture.

First of al socialize your kitten. If you rescue an older kitten or adult cat there’s nothing you can do about their socialization period. All you can do is try to give them a safe and quality environment.

Don’t get a kitten who is too young either. A five week old kitten is not ready to leave its mother. This can result in lifelong trauma behaviours like wool sucking.

Give your cat a cat-friendly environment. They like to be up high. Your cat’s dream environment would be moving through your house without ever needing to go on the floor. Cat shelves and cat trees are cat havens.

Give your cat stuff to watch. They like watching things. A bird feeder outside the window is great cat TV. And spend time with your cat. They want your companionship. They are NOT solitary animals. If you’ve ever seen barn cats you will know this. They form societies.

If you can, give them a catio. With chicken wire roof so eagles can’t sweep them away! My poor vet. She felt so guilty.