Question about my cat behaviour!

by Jørgen Ringsby Fauske
(Bergen, Norway)

Hi my name is Jørgen!

I am a bit worried about my 5 1/2 year old cat Susie. She's been living with me since she was 2 months old and she used to be a happy little cat, doing whatever I told her, but sadly that has changed. Now she is a very independent cat and the only place she likes is the bathroom and the outsides ( we got a small garden). Also we have another pet, Lucy. She is Susie's 4 1/2 year old daughter. Lucy lived with one of my classmates grandparents for 3 years, but by march 2010 they couldn't handle her anymore, due to some illness. Around the time when Lucy got back, actually the day when she got back, Susie became a very stubborn cat. She is always proving to Lucy hat she is the boss, by hissing, boxing and biting.

So I was wondering if you could give me some tips to get the old Susie back so she would like to socialize with me and other people as well as other animals.

Answer by Kate
Hi Unfortunately we cant force or teach our cats to be social if they don't want to especially with other animals.

The behavior your cat is displaying is normal cat behavior i.e showing dominance in the house and making sure the other cats knows this. this is normal and is not a bad thing it is all about their own social hierarchy etc.

All we can do as cat owners is to make the home and out behavior towards our cats as comfortable and pleasant as possible so that they choose to spend time with us etc.

Play time is very important for bonding with your cat as is physical contact. Cats also like routine so perhaps setting up a feeding time routine along with set game times etc and sitting being stroked times would be helpful for your cat.

Cats choose to live with us and we never really own them, they are free to leave us if they wish and they only stay because they want to. It sounds to me like your cat would have been happier to be the only cat in the home, some cats are like this and all you can do is to provide a structure within the home where the two cats can exist but separately if they wish. I.e two separate sleeping areas and feeding areas etc.

I have a web page here on the site about cat bonding and also pages about cat play which you may find of further interest. Here are the pages

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/new-cat.html

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-toys-play.html

best wishes Kate

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