DECODE YOUR MOGGIE’S MOODS
By cat behaviourist Marjan debevere
■ SLOW-BLINKS are known as ‘cat-kisses’ — they are a way of your pet letting you know they feel the cat equivalent of love for you. Although most animals view excessive eye contact as confrontational, domestic cats also connect with their human families with their eyes and will hold your gaze if they feel at ease with you.
■ BRINGING live or dead prey into the home is either a gift — just as feral cats living in a group bring prey back to share — or the cat is ‘caching’ the food in order to save it for later. You might sometimes find a dead mouse in or next to a food bowl. This is not a complaint about the service!
■ SCRATCHING the furniture is important for stretching, claw conditioning and scenting. If you do not have a large, solid scratching post that a cat can brace itself against, it will use something large and heavy, like an armchair. If you don’t want your cats scratching your furniture, get a sturdy scratching post.
■ RAPIDLY licking over one shoulder, but not as part of a grooming routine, can be a self-soothing action. Cats sometimes do this after a period of intense play, an interaction with a dog or another thrilling activity.
■ GOING to the toilet in strange places in the house is a sign of great stress in a cat. Things that stress out cats include being picked up or handled too much and feeling under threat, for example from a new puppy or unwanted visits from a stray cat.