Cats and Behavior

In the past 3 years, I've had the opportunity to evaluate how 5 cats behave in a home atmosphere. There is a mom cat, dad cat, son cat, daughter cat and stray cat. When I speak about the cats to people, they begin to believe that I am speaking about children. In a sense they are like children. They all have different personalities. They behave like a family unit and have accepted the stray into their family but at a distance.

The Mom Cat is very feminine white cat with green eyes. She speaks to my husband. She doesn't speak to me. He calls her and she responds to him immediately. If he fails to give her the attention he normally gives her, she calls him with a loud meow but doesn't respond like with anyone else. She teases my daughter so they could play tag, she calls her husband when she can't find him and discipline and teaches her children. When the kittens were growing up, she taught them to use the litter boxes and when they didn't cover up their mess, she would nudge them back to the box until they did.

The Dad Cat is a huge 20lb cat that looks like a tiger also with green eyes. He's very laid back kind of guy almost as he was stoned or drunk yet he he's very alert and very smart. When the mom cat has a difficult time disciplining the kittens, he takes care of business and they quiet down. He teaches kittens to climb and play fights with them to make them tough. The unique thing about this cat is every morning, he knows what time I wake up to go to work and as soon as the alarm goes off, if I don't get out of bed, he begins to meow near my side of the bed, lightly scratch my arm or lastly, get on top of me and sniffs my face. Not because he wants me up but because he likes to drink water from the faucet of the bathroom sink because he's too lazy to go downstairs to drink from the bowl.

The Daughter Cat is a prima donna. She's white, fluffy, green eyes, petite and picky. She doesn't like to be touched, has to have her own litter box, and if you touch her, she cleans herself right away. Noise bothers her and she will only come out when our family are the only people in the house.

The Son cat, has many different qualities. He's as big as his dad but as white as his mom with green eyes. He stays by the front door when the bell rings as if he was a dog ready to attack. He doesn't meow unless one of the cats is in trouble or he's sick. He has a favorite green ball which he fetches and brings back to you if you throw it. If he wants to play, he'll find the ball and bring it to you and drop it at your feet. The weird thing is, if you give him a red, blue or purple ball he won't play with it. He actually knows the green color ball.

The stray cat has 7 toes on one front paw and 8 toes on the other front paw. He's like a tiger color with green eyes. He's the youngest of the cats and loves to play all of the time.

The other cats know he's not family but tolerate him. When they are in the house, the stray cat stays by himself quite often knowing he's not family and giving them their space. Sometimes, he annoys the family and they end up fighting. What's so unique about this cat is the kind of affection he gives you as if he knew we saved him. When you come into the house, he will run past you and throw himself in front of your feet with his belly up so you can rub him. When you go to sleep, he lays next to your body to feel your heartbeat.

The best part of all of these cats is when one cat is in trouble, all of the other cats will find a way to let you know. For instance, if one cat is sick, the mom or dad will meow at our door continuously and circle the bed until you realize something is wrong. If a cat is stuck in a room, they will all sit in front of the door to the room to let us know one of them is in there. If one of the cats get sick and need to stay overnight at the hospital, you can actually see the sadness in their behavior at home. Upon their return from the doctor's office, all of the cats wait by the door in anticipation of their homecoming.

Maybe it is my imagination, but you can see and feel the love they have for each other. Often I wonder, if the mom and dad tell the kids to leave them alone and stay downstairs so they have their private time because I find them hugging each other on my bed and licking each other.

If you begin to watch and evaluate your pets, you will see they almost have human reactions and tendencies. The cats are amazing.