How to understand and make your cat happy?

Mark Twain said that if “we could cross man and cat, it would improve man but degrade the cat”. Like the great American writer, many of you love, cuddle and revere your cat.

And then many of you are also wondering what these feline lovers find in cats, which remain the most loved pets in real life and on social networks… Whether or not they are in love with males, we often remain perplexed by their behavior and their reactions. Our perplexity is commensurate with a “almost infinite repertoire of behaviors”as one of our guests, Claude Béata, reminds us.

Cats that are not fully domesticated and have powerful wild reflexes do not cease to fascinate even those who love them moderately. We will therefore try to understand what is happening in a cat’s head without anthropomorphism, and based on the most reliable ethological and veterinary research.

We will try to lift the veil on the apparent contradictions of this animal that probably appeared 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent and “who knows much about man”as Jules Supervielle wrote.

Cats, a French passion

Today there are 15 million cats for 7 million dogs. So the cats have won this battle, the battle of popularity. They have actually invaded houses, apartments and social networks.

Throughout history, they have either been loved or hated. Claude Béata, veterinarian and behaviorist, explains that they were indeed deified in ancient Egypt. Offerings were made to them. But in the Middle Ages they become the companions of witches and we will burn them, we will nail them to the doors. No doubt because they challenge humans to the fact that they are not immediate, much less immediate to understand than dogs, for example.

Claude Béata adds it this current passion for cats is very French. The fact that there are twice as many dogs as cats is specific to France. That for him is due to the RTT and having two and a half day, three day weekend possibilities. You can’t leave a dog for three days, but you can leave a cat with a kibble dispenser. And then, think that, fundamentally, there is an adherence to values ​​that the cat carries much more than those of the dog.

But how to make these furry little creatures happy?

Five pillars for cat happiness

According to Claude Béata, when living with a cat, it is essential to organize a safe place to live that allows it to express its natural behavior of exploration, observation and hunting. These are essential elements for their balance.

Three pillars concern his “prey side”, i.e. three fields of safety: where he sleeps, where he eats, where he eliminates.

They must have one or more places where they feel safe to sleep.

When we eat, we are also vulnerable. That’s why cats eat many small meals. Ideally it is 10 to 15 meals, but at least 5 or 6 meals a day because they make small meals and therefore after small naps. It’s their rhythm.

Uncleanness is the number one cause of consultation, because it also has this reputation of being a clean animal. Claude Béata tells us: a chest must be clean. I fix a series of cases that sometimes could have led to the abandonment of the cat, simply by remembering that there is a study that has shown that one in two cats, when you put plastic poop in their bed, no longer goes there. The fact of seeing his dirty case, he doesn’t go there anymore. There may also be causes of anxiety, unadaptation to one’s environment.

If these three fields (sleep, litter and food) are of good quality, it can develop other things, namely solitary actions, activities and interactions with humans or other animals.

• Actions, solitary activities

If the cat lives indoors, it is good that he has a view from the outside, for example, because he can observe what is happening outside for hours.

• Interactions with living beings (other animals and humans)

Sometimes it’s easier for him to interact with humans than with other cats.

🎧 To find out more, listen to the show…

The guests

Jessica Serraresearcher in ethology

Author of Inside a cat’s head in comics (January 2023, HumenSciences)

Claudius Blessedveterinarian, specialist in behavioral medicine

Author of feline madness, foreword by Boris Cyrulnik Odile (Odile Jacob, October 2022)

Yolaine de La Bignefounder of the Summer University for Animals and World Animal Intelligence Day

Author of The animal doctor under the direction of Yolaine de La Bigne (Alisia Sciences January 2023)

Julien Bissoneditor-in-chief of the weekly Le 1 for La Chronicle of my life as a parent

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