ComPETability: Solving Behavior Problems In Your Multi-Cat Household Page 3

  Kitten Kindergarten

  Cats learn all their lives but are virtual sponges from two to seven weeks of age during what’s termed the prime socialization period. This narrow window during babyhood prepares kittens for the rest of their lives; however, learning the “wrong” lessons can emotionally cripple the pet. If they are not exposed to positive experiences with humans during this socialization period, kittens act similarly to wild animals unable to easily accept people as safe.

  During this time, kittens develop feline social and communication skills while learning to identify acceptable and unacceptable members of their family. Mother cats teach these skills through example. Babies learn to use a litter box by following Mom-Cat to the facilities. If the mother gets hissy around dogs, her kittens copy the behavior. This helps socialize the baby so that the kittens will later “generalize” this response and react positively to other people, too.

  Kittens separated too early from maternal and sibling interactions develop poor social bonds later in life. Kittens have more confidence when they are accompanied by Mom-cat and siblings, and socializing them with both will reduce anxiety. Littermates and the mother cat also teach claw and bite limits and how to inhibit both.

  Hand-raised kittens tend to become overly rambunctious and less inhibited with their teeth and claws. Ideally, kittens should stay with Mom and littermates at least until 12-16 weeks of age. People raising kittens must socialize them before the babies go to new homes. Once the baby arrives in her new home, owners should strive for a positive outcome in new situations and continue to provide exposure to a variety of people (men, women, children), places (home, grandma’s, the vet), and novel situations and objects to explore.

  To promote a trusting relationship and a confident cat, begin by creating a kitten kindergarten, teaching the Three T’s –Touching, Talking, and Timing.

  TOUCHING: The more you touch a kitten, the “friendlier” she will be towards humans. Studies have shown that handling furry babies for five minutes a day during their first three weeks increases the pet’s ability to learn later in life. Fifteen minutes of loving touch a day helps enormously, but about 45 minutes a day during the sensitive period is ideal. Being handled by several people (including kids) helps her be more accepting of multiple individuals. Touching the youngster not only feels good to you both, it teaches her that contact with people is pleasant, not scary, and self-rewarding. Touch also places your scent on her, so she associates your smell with good feelings. Petting comforts kittens because it hearkens back to one of the first sensations newborns feel when Mom licks and grooms them. In addition, your pleasant touch prompts a reduction in blood pressure and heart rate, causing a positive change in brain wave activity.

  TALKING: Talking to the youngster teaches her to listen and pay attention to your voice. Kittens may not understand all the words, but will recognize if you’re happy, aggravated, amused, or affectionate. Make a point of using your cats’ names when you speak to them in a positive way: “What a lovely smart Sheba! Scratching the right object, good Sheba!” That helps a cat learn to associate her name with good things related to you. The more you speak to your cats, the better they learn to understand and react to what you want.

  TIMING: Timing is the third “T” and extremely important when you understand that kittens have the attention span of a four-year-old toddler. If you find claw marks on the Persian rug, and drag Sheba to the scene of the crime, she won’t have a clue why you’re angry. You must catch her in the act—or within 30 seconds of the behavior—for her to associate your displeasure with what she’s done. When training, praise always works better than punishment and you’ll get better results by catching her in the act of scratching the RIGHT object. Reward good behaviors immediately, with praise, a treat or favorite toy. Use timing to your advantage, and your cats will look for ways to please you.

  The “Whoops” Effect

  A “whoops” experience can be happy accident or create behavior problems down the road. Kittens and cats continue to learn an incredible amount through observation, even after the prime socialization period ends. A friendly, trusting cat needs only a few positive interactions with a strange person to show positive behavior toward them, and it takes significant negative experiences to override this initial response. On the contrary, a shy cat needs LOTS of positive experiences with a stranger to overcome lack of socialization during the sensitive phase, and will react adversely toward even minor negative encounters.

  In other words, the socialized cat generalizes positive experiences quickly, but the unsocialized cat must learn gradually to trust the individual person or family and does NOT generalize later positive experiences. Instead she expects that one negative experience will apply to all new situations.

  When your current cat(s) know good manners, they serve as wonderful role models to new pets. By observing your interaction with a resident cat that meows at a certain time each day to get fed, Sheba more quickly makes that connection. Think of this as a positive “copycat” behavior. New cats also learn bad habits from a resident feline and vice versa. If you allow Sheba to get away with wild antics, the older cat also may start pushing your buttons. Adult cats learn by watching you, too. After seeing you open a door, they learn to jump up and hang on the door ‘lever’ to open it.

  Cats are experts at getting their way. They are so good at training owners, that we often don’t recognize we are being manipulated. Sheba easily trains you to fill the food bowl when she paw-pats you awake you at 5:30 a.m. It only takes one or two repetitions of this cause-and-effect for cats to remember what works in each situation. If rattling the wooden window blinds makes you let her out the door, she’ll remember and use that ploy again and again. Therefore, pay attention to not only what Sheba does, but your own resulting behavior, to get a clue how she’s training you.

  There are times when our patience runs out, and owners may be tempted to react with anger. To be blunt, corporeal punishment doesn’t work. Hitting, yelling, or using force not only is inhumane, it almost always makes the bad behavior worse. Dr. Lansberg explains that any strong arousal interferes with Sheba’s ability to learn because that portion of the brain must deal with the emotional fallout instead. Instead of thinking, these cats react out of instinct (the fight-or-flight response) and typically either attack, or hide. You’ll teach a lesson you don’t want Sheba to learn—to fear or dislike you.

  SPEAKING FELINESE

  Cat language consists of a complex system of vocalization, scent signals, and body postures, which define and reinforce the cat's social position within the family group. While we can’t “read” the odiferous messages, cats give us clear postures and vocal signals about their intentions, and ignoring these warnings can get you bit.

  Signals can be divided into those that seek to decrease the distance between individuals or that warn you to increase the distance. Cats use their ears, tail, fur, eyes, and every part of their body to “talk.” To understand felinese, pay attention not only to the individual body parts, but to the entire repertoire, or you risk misunderstanding Sheba’s message. In multiple cat homes, understanding what your pets tell you—and what your own body language and vocal tone tells them—means the difference between a happy home and chaos. Learn the basics to translate cat language into people-speak.

  Cat Calls

  Cats are one of the most vocal of carnivore species, says Sharon L. Crowell-Davis, DVM, a behaviorist at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia. Behaviorists describe sixteen distinct feline vocal patterns that fall under four general categories: murmur patterns include purrs and trills; vowel patterns are meows in all their variations (cats can produce several diphthongs, too); articulated patterns are chirps and chattering that express frustration; and strained intensity patterns are warnings such as hisses and growls, or shrieks of pain. Both males and females use strained intensity patterns in sexual communication. The abruptness or volume of the pain shriek may also be designed to shock o
r startle the attacker to loosen the grip. Experts also speculate that some cat vocalizations may be so subtle, or pitched at such a frequency, that only cats can hear these “silent meows.”

  Cat communication begins early in life. Kittens less than three weeks old vocalize a defensive spit, contented purr, and distress call (similar to adult meow) if the baby becomes isolated, cold, or trapped. Interestingly, the call for “cold” sounds much higher pitched and disappears from the repertoire once the kitten can self-regulate body temperature at about four weeks of age. Cats rarely meow at each other. They learn to direct meows at humans because we reward them with attention. Each cat learns by association that meowing prompts feeding, access to locations, and other resources provided by humans. Some cats learn to produce unique meows for each circumstance.

  The purr, on the other hand, is more complex and something that we still don’t completely understand. Kittens purr almost from birth, causing some experts to speculate that the infant’s purr tells the mother all is well with the baby, or solicits contact/care, and that adult cats retain this infantile trait once they grow up.

  Purrs arise on both inhale and exhale of breath in a continuous unbroken sound. The sudden build-up and release of pressure creates the sound as the glottis alternately opens and closes to cause a sudden separation of the vocal folds. The laryngeal muscles move the glottis to generate this cycle every 30 to 40 milliseconds. Purring almost always takes place in the presence of another person or cat, and another theory suggests that purring acts as a calming signal to declare to others, “I am no threat.” While we usually associate purring with contentment, cats also purr when in pain or frightened, and some purr as they die. The vibrations associated with purring have been shown to help speed healing, and may function as a unique self-healing benefit.

  Kitty Post-It Notes

  The ancestral cat hunted and lived alone, and like other animals that don’t routinely meet face to face, modern cats still communicate with scent. Scent messages allow a delay of hours to days between a cat’s deposit of the scent and another feline’s sniffing of it, so encounters with rivals can be avoided based on scent signals.

  “The cat’s sense of smell is 1000 times stronger than ours,” says Bruce D. Elsey, DVM, a feline practice veterinarian, and because today pet cats don’t live the same lifestyle as wild cousins, feline scent communication may have modified through domestication. Evidence of this lies in the theory that cats living in groups produce colony or group specific odors.

  These group odors develop when cats groom each other, cheek- body-rub one another (called allorubbing) and sleep together, says Dr. Crowell-Davis. Skin glands located on the chin, lips, cheeks, forehead, tail and paws produce the “name tag” scent that individually identifies one cat from another. Friendly cats rub their tails against each other’s bodies and twine their tails together. Face rubbing (bunting) not only marks the target as “owned” by the kitty, it may be a subtle sign of deference with the subordinate feline approaching and bunting the more dominant pet or person.

  Grooming Behavior

  Grooming not only keeps cats looking spiffy, it spreads the individual cat’s scent throughout the fur and helps maintain healthy skin. The massage action of cat tongues stimulates the production of sebum, an oily secretion produced by sebaceous glands at the base of each hair, and licking spreads sebum over the hair coat to lubricate and waterproof the fur, and make it shine. It also removes loose hair and prevents mats, and removes dirt and parasites like fleas.

  Grooming is a barometer of feline health. Emotional or physical illness may trigger excessive grooming behavior such as licking a painful area bald.

  Displacement Grooming

  Cats also groom as an emotional release. Behaviors that seem inappropriate to the situation are termed "displacement" behaviors. Cats use grooming in this function more than any other behavior. Your kitty may suddenly groom herself when feeling fearful, to relieve tension, or when uncertain how to react to a situation.

  For example, an aggressive interaction may be followed with a bout of frantic self-grooming to sooth the stress. A classic example of displacement grooming appears when a cat misjudges a leap and falls—and then begins to furiously groom as though embarrassed.

  Self-grooming as a displacement behavior helps the cat deal with conflict. Perhaps the touch-sensation has a direct effect on the brain chemistry or neurologic impulses that make the distressed cat feel better. In other words, self-grooming may be self-medicating with a feline form of Prozac. It may also serve to lower body temperature that elevates due to stress. Or maybe it's just an unconscious way for the cat to distract herself, the way some people bite their nails to relieve tension.

  Mutual Grooming

  Grooming each other (allogrooming) not only spreads communal scent, it also serves as a clue about which cat rules the roost, and how your cats prefer to be petted by you. Mutual grooming targets the head and neck, and the recipient usually cooperates with head tilts and purring. Dominant cats to groom less dominant ones more often and allogrooming can sometimes be a form of redirected aggression or dominance behavior.

  Besides helping a cat buddy with a hard-to-reach spot, mutual grooming demonstrates a friendly relationship between cats. Mutual grooming is more of a social activity than a hygienic one. Grooming another cat expresses comfort, companionship, and even love. Cats that groom an owner's hair, lick your arm, and accept the owner's petting actually are engaging in mutual grooming that expresses utmost trust and affection.

  Pheromone Communication

  Other kitty Post-It Notes arise from the scent glands located between the pads of the paws. Sheba deposits scent when she scratches and this doubles as a visual marker that communicates to other felines the property is owned. Notice where your cat prefers to scratch to figure out the best position for cat trees and other legal scratch objects you provide. Cats target scratch sites distributed along regularly used routes—the path between the front window and the food bowl—rather than at the periphery of the territory or home range. That’s why Sheba ignores the post hidden away in a back room.

  In addition to smells, cats detect and react to pheromones, species-specific chemicals that animals naturally produce. “Pheromones are a type of chemical communication between animals,” says Marie-Laure Loubiere, DVM, a veterinarian involved in pheromone research with CEVA Sante Animal S.A., in France.

  Researcher Daniel Mills, BVSc, PhD, says scent detection is very different from pheromone communications. Odors must be analyzed in the cortex, the “thinking” portion of the brain. “That’s what we call cognition,” he says. The cat learns what an individual scent means, and associates the tuna odor with a memory of its taste.

  Pheromones have nothing to do with learned memory. The limbic system of the brain perceives pheromone information directly, and no thinking takes place—the brain automatically recognizes the message.

  “Pheromones change the behavior without having to involve the cortex,” says Dr. Mills. Kittens understand the meaning from birth, even before their eyes or ears open. Cats rely on this specialized natural pheromone communication all their lives, using the pheromones produced in skin glands and urine to understand what other kitties mean.

  Urine contains pheromones used in marking/territorial communication (sort of a “pee-mail” message), and also announces the sexual status of the cat who sprays. Spraying of an intact male cat helps suppress the sexual behavior of less dominant cats that venture in that territory, while intact female cats spray to announce their breeding receptivity. Pheromones that arise from the cats’ cheeks also serve as marking tools to “label” territory as known and safe, as well as identify individuals as friendly/no threat. Pheromones also have been identified that are produced from mammary tissue that serves to reduce fearfulness in kittens during nursing.

  Body Talk

  Cats have a wide range of body postures used as visual signals primarily to regulate aggressive behavior. Determining the
meaning of a signal or group of signals depends on context, and what the rest of the body says. Rolling, for example, is a component of female sexual behavior, usually accompanied by purring, stretching, and kneading interspersed with object-rubbing bouts. But when an immature male cat rolls in the presence of a dominant male, the behavior signals appeasement, and says, “I’m no threat, treat me nice.” Neutered cats (both male and female) use rolling behavior toward humans as an appeasement gesture, and sometimes as an invitation to interact or play.

  Similarly, the tail can be an important indicator of a cat’s mood. Kittens greet mom-cat with tail-up posture, and adult cats use “tail up” directed at humans or other cats to say, “I come in friendship.” One cat may signal from across the room and then approach when the other kitty returns the friendly gesture. Conversely, the tail wrapped around the body is a distance-increasing gesture that tells others to stay away.

  In any situation (offensive, defensive, or relaxed), cats control space from a distance with stares. During the preliminary stages of tense encounters, they may avoid looking at each other, but eventually the dominant cats will use long-distance stares to keep other cats away from owned property (such as a litter box).

  As aggression increase, more overt signs develop. An aggressive cat fluffs her fur (piloerection) and stands at full height. Ears are barometers of kitty mood. Erect, forward-facing ears indicate interest, but the more of the backs of the ears she shows, the greater her agitation and threat to attack. Lashing of the tail from side to side also indicates arousal. “Cats don’t do submission,” says Dr. Pryor. They communicate fear or non-contest by crouching on ground, flattening ears and withdrawing head into the shoulders. Gauge kitty fearfulness by the degree to which the ears flatten.