Cat Behaviour
The domestic cat, Felis catus, has lived with humans for thousands of years becoming domesticated and equipped to flourish in the human environment. Originally, the domestic cat worked with people to reduce the rodent population that thrived on grain and other human food sources but nowadays, most domestic cats (in the Western World) have become companion animals rather than working animals.
Because of this change in their status, their behaviour sometimes causes a problem to their human companions. The “problems” result in cats being abandoned, relinquished to rescue centres or euthanised. However, with an understanding of why cats behave the way they do, it should be possible to avert relinquishment and prevent the other unacceptable actions due to unwanted behaviour.
A cat begins to learn soon after birth when the eyes have opened and hearing is established. This happens about two weeks after birth and the very first learning should come from the mother cat who begins to teach her kittens what it is to be a cat. If left without human contact of any sort, kittens will develop as feral cats, totally wild-living and unsociable in human terms.
Human contact and experiences need to be present from two weeks after birth when the primary senses become active and from then on, in any way possible so that a kitten can become habituated to the presence of humans. Although wary at first, frequent pleasant experiences with humans will allow the kitten to learn that people are acceptable within their world.
The learning does though, need to be supported by the reaction of the Mother cat who will provide the primary stimulus to how the kitten will react. If the Mother cat spits and growls every time a human approaches, the kitten will learn that that reaction is how to behave when a human appears on the scene. Such a reaction would be unsociable in terms of a human-cat relationship.
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