He behavior of the cats It is diametrically different from that of dogs. From their socialization, both with people and other animals, to their ways of playing, these pets present particularities that distinguish them.
When adopting a cat, you must, first of all, understand how your mind works. The importance of play, the appropriate conditioning of the place where they will live, whether it is convenient for them to be raised only inside the home or if they are allowed access to outdoors, among other fundamental aspects.
In a new chapter of Animal Datathe veterinary doctor and specialist in animal behavior, Ricardo Brunoexplains the way felines think, their needs, and emphasizes the importance of education on this topic to prevent misunderstandings or behaviors that may be harmful to cats. “I believe that dogs live with us and cats let us live with them”, he commented.
In this sense, the expert points out that it is essential to understand that a cat is not going to respond in the same way as a dog, since that is usually a source of frustration for many people who decide to adopt a feline for the first time. “The issue is education. Outside of what one wants, one has to prepare as much as possible for what one wants. You want to start with computing, you have to know something, and with this it is the same, so as not to feel disappointed”, highlighted the veterinarian.
Furthermore, he clarified that in reality there are not so many things that should be taken into account: “They have to be allowed, if it is a small cat, to have a few months of active play, hunting game, because it is the only playful aspect they have. Understand that the cat is not a social animal. I’m not saying it’s asocial, but it doesn’t have the same social structure as humans, which happens with dogs; and that’s why we have the affinity we have. And the cat, one of the characteristics it has, is that it has to be respect their times”.
-Can cats that are called “feral” adapt to living in a house?
Ricardo Bruno: -Well, we have to look at it in more detail. It depends on the age, what type of feral cat it is. But yes, I think you give me the opportunity to say something that I always say and that sometimes doesn’t go over very well. Sometimes, by wanting to do good, one does evil, since they ruin the life of the poor cat that adapted to living on the street. The loss of your freedom and from their behavior patterns, to which they are accustomed, they suffer a lot. I take care of many, because I am dedicated to taking care of pets and it is difficult to explain to people. Many still feel that they saved a life.
In that tone, he also added that this “rescue” can not only mean a inconvenient for the animal, but also for the people who make up the home: “Many of these animals, they channel that stress through aggressiveness. So, the day one of the family ends up hurt, that cat has a different direction.”
In relation to cats that live on the streets, the veterinarian stated that the controls that are possible in continents like Europe, in Latin America are more difficult to carry out, both because of the lack of inputs as well as the lack of will on the part of state authorities to address the problem. “In many European countries it is already it is forbidden to take cats off the street. Precisely, the other day I was doing a report, I talk about legislation for 2023, and the domestic animals that are on the street are responsibility of the community. Afterwards, there is a procedure in which you have to go to the municipality to say: ‘I want that animal.’ But that goes hand in hand with the fact that they also have chips. Although it is something else,” said Bruno
-Can the cat leave the house, inspect, return? What is the quality of life of indoor and outdoor cats?
Ricardo Bruno: -I have not the slightest doubt that the better life quality It is that of the outdoor cat. In fact, they have practically no behavioral problems, something that appears in indoor ones. Now, statistically, An indoor cat lives twice as long as an outdoor one. Or rather, an outdoor person lives exactly half as long as an indoor person statistically. Because? Because dogs kill them, because they get hit by a car, because they get retroviral diseases at night, after fighting with other cats. I understand the anguish of those who have a cat and do not want anything to happen to it, plus they know that they will live fewer years.
However, for those who want to keep the cat indoors, or simply do not have the possibility of providing it with an outside space, there are certain alternatives that can improve the quality of life of the feline: “I have experienced it with a German shelter that hired me, with whom I worked for a long time going to dog shelters in Turkey and all over Europe, but it also had cat shelters. It is what is now known as environmental enrichment or gatification, an action that, all in all, helps a lot. The Germans went to the extreme of excellence, by specifying different places that were always in high areas, and they allowed the felines to walk through acrylic tubes, or they put trees in them.
“The truth is that if an owner, at this moment in Buenos Aires or wherever in Argentina and the world, pays attention to the issue of environmental enrichment, which some call environmental gatification, that helps the cat have a better life. But for me, the outdoor cat has a better quality of life, at a behavioral level,” Bruno highlighted.
-If I already have a kitten and I am going to bring another rescued one to my house, how can I do it?
Ricardo Bruno: -It’s complex. The thing is that, like everything in animal behavior, one has to learn to see the forest and not the tree. It depends on whether the two kittens are the same age, the same sex and the life each one has had. To tell you extreme things: if you have a seven-year-old kitten, that you caught as a child and it grew up in an apartment all its life, without contact with another cat, and you find one from the street, two or three years old, it’s going to be complex. But there are techniques, such as progressive approach with cages, so that they get used to it. Afterwards, as happens to humans and all living beings, a skin issue. There are animals that get along well from the start, even if the conditions are not optimal, and others that you prepare everything, but they get along badly anyway. In general terms, you have to use the common sense. And you also have to think about the example I gave you, you have a cat that has lived more than half of its life with a rhythm of life: alone and accustomed to people, but not to other cats. The truth is that he complicates her life.
Likewise, the veterinarian explains that the purpose of the shelters’ recommendation to adopt kittens in pairs may be for this same reason: “I don’t believe in that much, but maybe it is also for to locate two cats. Protectionism has a lot of passion and its goal is to relocate animals, and that animals have a home”.
Although adopting two cats together can have advantages, if aspects such as having different sex. This increases the chances that they will get along well and that aggressive situations will not arise. Once they finish developing, they can be neutered.
A major problem is the return of cats to shelters, due to doctors’ recommendations to pregnant women that they do not live with them. “It has been a struggle with human doctors since I graduated as a veterinarian. The toxoplasmosis, In reality, and more so in South American countries and Argentina, it is more problematic with poorly washed lettuce than with cat. But it is still a reality that it is a disease that does affect the first third of a woman’s pregnancy. can cause serious problems for the fetus“said Bruno.
In that tone, he explained that toxoplasmosis is transmitted through cysts that are released in the cat’s fecal matter and can be aspirated, not because of the presence of the feline itself. This is why it is recommended that pregnant women, whose blood test Sabin Fieldman to detect antibodies of the disease is negative, do not come into contact with the cat litter box. If they present antibodies against toxoplasmosis, no problem occurs since the parasite “no longer passes the placental barrier.”
“A woman who is pregnant can have a cat, but let the husband or whoever be in charge of cleaning the litter box with the pebbles, as that is when the pathogen can be inhaled. It is still an important issue, but the human doctors They have a particular idea of it and that appreciation is passed from generation to generation of doctors,” he declared.
To avoid the return of cats due to this problem, Bruno assures that the best way is to educationsince “it solves 70-80% of the problems” when it comes to animal behavior.
-The Vital Can question: give us three tips for people who want to enrich their animal’s environment at home.
Ricardo Bruno: -Cats need a high place that generates peace of mind and security. In fact, most cats, without anyone doing anything in the apartment, stay on top of the refrigerator. Now there are many things, but the most economical is a shelf. A place where the cat can reach and be in the center of the house, but where it feels safe. And then, another very important issue is that the cat has a place where it can hide. Large plants, or sometimes making holes in large boxes, the cat goes in one side, comes out the other. There are some tunnels that they sell now, they are like those for babies. The shelves are the most economical, as long as the cat can access them alone, not so that they have to go up there.
Finally, the expert highlighted that a dog does not play in the same way as a cat, and that one must understand how the feline mind works so as not to feel disappointed and to be able to provide it with the best living conditions. That is why he recommended, above all, play activities that stimulate hunting behavior.
“There is one called ‘fishing rod’, which is a stick with a feather. I don’t like it because it frustrates the animal. What I advise people, instead of colored pens, is some teddy, a matter of playing with it and letting him hunt it down. “Let him catch it with his paws in the cloth, bite him and hit him with his hind legs,” he described. Bruno,
This method of play is extremely important, since “that is something that is very good for cats and relieves them a lot. Above all, prevents them from having aggressive attacks towards people or animals.”
