Top 5 things your cat loves

A cat needs to stay active for his physical and mental health, just like anyone else. In the wild, hunting is a matter of survival. In your house, the equivalent of hunting is playing, and here, it’s a matter of well-being. The first thing to remember is that a cat is a sprinter and not a marathon runner. So, no need to play for hours with him. 2 to 3 sessions of 10 to 15 minutes of intense play are enough if you allow him to catch the toy from time to time. Surprised that such a short period will do the job? Think about it: The cat can hunt for hours, but he spends most of his time lying in ambush and then, poof, he deploys incredible energy in a short time to catch his prey. This is the pattern that must be reproduced in your play sessions.

As you probably know, cats like to eat. As noted above, a cat spends part of its time in nature hunting. Studies show that it takes an average of 30 minutes to 3 hours for him to find and hunt prey. So why should we just serve him his food in a bowl without making him put in any effort? This is what interactive bowls are for. To be fed with these bowls, the cat must work to get his meals and it becomes a stimulating game that challenges him as his prey does in nature. Plus, by offering them food in an interactive bowl, you encourage them to spend their energy in the right place rather than climbing up your curtains or jumping on your ankles in the middle of the hallway.

After a good meal, it’s time to get down to business. The thing that cats like the most in the world and which they seem to have been designed for: Sleeping! All you have to do for your cat is to offer him different places: Preferably high up and quiet, so he doesn’t have to worry about what’s going on around him. Avoid waking the sleeping cat unnecessarily, especially if he’s dreaming. Indeed, cats do dream like us. This is what he’s doing when he wriggles his paws. A cat rarely sleeps very deeply because it represents a potential danger for him or a missed opportunity to hear prey goes by. So when he does, he feels safe and needs it.

A cat prefers to sleep in height because he feels safer. In fact, he prefers to do everything up high, for the same reasons as us. Historically, humans have always built towers to better view our environment, to see dangers, or to feel safer by being out of reach of potential enemies. On the other hand, a cat has the advantage of being “built” to climb easily and quickly, so height becomes very convenient for him.
That’s why cat trees are not luxury items, but a must-have. The perfect place to put a cat tree is near a window or in a corner of the house that allows the cat to have an overview of a large area of the house and especially, the most widely used parts.

We can’t ignore this activity, which though popular with cats, infuriates so many humans. No worry, it’s easy to indulge this pleasure while preventing him from destroying your furniture. No need to declaw him, a practice that two provinces in Canada have already banned and multiple veterinary clinics in Quebec have decided to stop allowing. The reason is simple and is due to the fact that today there are several alternatives.

The first is simply to give him access to a scratching post. If this strategy didn’t work before, it’s probably because you didn’t meet all the conditions for him to adopt his scratching post. First, it must be high enough that the cat can stretch all the way, about the height of a bedside table, and stable enough so that, even if he puts all his weight on it, the post will not fall. Finally, the main element is the location. Place the scratching post where the cat wants it. If that means the corner of the couch, well put it there. Unfortunately, you will not decide for your cat where he prefers to have his scratching post. But if you give in, he might save your furniture.

Now you know what to do for your cat to be perfectly happy in your house.

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