Cat Behaviour/Handling Flashcards
What are the territorial behaviours of cats?
They display their territorial behaviour a little less obvious than dogs. Cats will have their territory and they will spend the
the whole day marking it out as theirs and defending it.
What’s important to remember about cats and routines?
They love routine and if there
are any disruptions to it they
become really stressed. These disruptions/changes can include new people, friends coming to stay, a new piece of furniture, change in your routine
How are cat senses?
• Their sense of smell or olfactory is event better that what dogs have but dogs are
easier to train.
• They have fantastic eyesight and can see in the dark better than dogs
• They have fantastic hearing
• They are fantastic predators –natural born hunters even after domestication
What is important to remember about about cat’s predatory behaviour?
- Due to domestication and those cats that live indoors a lot of this predatory behaviour can only be expressed through play.
- It’s vital to a cats mental health and happiness that they are able to stalk and chase down and catch their prey and they do this indoors with their toys.
What are some things in a clinic that cats don’t like?
- Loud noises
- Change in daily routine
- Cats don’t like being dirty
- Cats don’t like being stared at
What are some things that cats do like?
- Being in a warm and cosy, quiet place
- They love to be up high
What is important to remember about about cat’s body language?
Cats use a combination of different parts of the body to convey how they are feeling and most of the time they are very subtle and most of thetime it goes unnoticed by us. It is important to pay attention, to know what to look out for.
How can aggression occur?
Most cats will avoid confrontation at all costs and will only resort to aggression when they have given all the ques they an with their body language and those ques have been ignored
What body language parts do cats use?
• ear position • eyes/pupils • whiskers • tail • fur • posture • vocalizations • Cannot tell a cats mood by looking at just one of these • We have to look at each of the and put them together, put all the pieces in place
What does a calm cat look like?
The ears are forward, pupils are normal size and whisker and facial muscles are even. Just nice and relaxed.
What does a worried cat look like?
When he becomes worried his ear begin to flatten out. Pupils will start to
dilate a little, whiskers and facial muscles tense up a little bit. Ears are back, might have heard a sound behind him, trying to pick up what that sound is. You can tell by his facial muscle that he is a little bit tense.
His neck is hunched into his body, he is a bit worried, a bit nervous.
What does a ready-to-attack cat look like?
When they are ready to attack they can either pupils can fully dilate the whiskers can be more tense as well as the facial muscles more tense. Or will be growling hissing and the ears completely flatten back to the head.
What does a reconsidering a attack cat look like?
When they are reconsidering the attack everything starts to relax a little.
Ok then they have backed off so I don’t need to bump this up further. If
they are considering an attack there will be some vocalization – a warning
growl
What does a happy alert cat look like?
Interested in something, alert, ears normal position, pupils of normal size, whiskers and facial muscles relaxed.
What does a ready-to-bite cat look like?
fully dilated pupils, his whiskers are
splayed out as wide as they can
be to make himself look as
imposing as possible. Showing you his teeth, most likely growling or hissing. Bringing out all the big guns to make you stop what you are doing then I am really going to bite you and attack you.
