I mentioned the seven meanings of cat yawn yesterday, so today I will talk about 8 tips to alleviate tensions between cats.
Tait shovelers who only have one cat in their family can also take a rough look. After all, the country has opened up a third child, so you should consider a second child. However, introducing a new cat requires patience and skills. Some cats take a long time to accept each other, while others seem to never be able to coexist peacefully. But what can we do to help resolve their differences and put preventing quarrels first.
However, it should be noted that cats' behavior changes, such as attacks, hiding, appetite changes, etc., may have potential causes of disease. Therefore, before assuming that the problem is entirely a behavioral problem, it is best to find out whether the cat is in a healthy state.
Let's start to talk about skills ~
Social Relations Survey
Before we solve the social problems of cats, we must first understand the social group relationship between multiple cats:
Especially for multi-cat families with more than two cats at home, there are often more than one social group between cats. We need to spend some time really seeing who is with whom most of the time (look at small groups), or whether a specific cat tends to stay in a certain area of your home.
Cats who grew up together are more likely to form small groups, and are unanimously xenophobic
When an argument occurs, are they with the same cat every time? Is it targeting the same cat every time? ("group bullying"), another cat who is not a member of his small group tries to go to the litter box or go to a meal, how will it or they behave? ("Bullying behavior and bullying frequency")
Only after understanding the social relationship between cats at home can we do a better job of relieving work in a targeted manner. For example, Xiao Huang and Xiao Hei have a good relationship, but Xiao Huang and Xiao Hei have a bad relationship. Then we can divide Xiao Huang and Xiao Hei into a team, and Xiao Bai is alone, and then when dividing the territory and allocating resources, we can better allocate.
Food placement skills
Regarding food resources, I see that many common mistakes make by shovelers are:
They prepare rice bowls for each cat, but the rice bowls are arranged in a row, or are very close. They may think that cats are willing to eat together, so they must get along well.
But in reality, cats may be very nervous, but because this is the only place for food, they are forced to eat together.
In this case, you may see a cat protecting food, constantly bullying another or multiple other cats, forcing them to stay away from the food bowl. A cat at a low level in the
level (the weaker side) may soon learn not to get close to the job before the strong eat, and endure hunger and wait until other cats finish eating before licking the plate. People may think this is a kind of humility, but in fact it may be a bullying situation.
The following picture is an example: The white cat in the picture has done a sloping behavior, which fully shows that they have a bad relationship. In the eyes of the orange cat, these three bowls are their food, and the white ones belong to the "invader". Therefore, when the white cat comes to eat, the orange cat immediately transferred its bowl and defended its food.
And the correct way should be:
① Each cat has a rice bowl
② Establish a feeding station according to small groups (dividing the feeding area):
I know that if you place the rice bowls one by one, it is actually not practical for many cat families. Then we can place them according to their small groups to establish a relatively separate and peaceful dining environment, because cats in the same small group can actually eat at the same time, at most they are a little unhappy, but there will be no bullying and stress problems.
Establish feeding stations so that cats in one group are not forced into the territory of another group to eat.
The feeding station settings are set according to the actual cat situation. For some cats, eating in the same room, but just not next to each other may be enough, but for some cats, they may need to be in a separate room on their personal territory.
PS: Tip: Cats in multiple cat families often have their own territory. If you observe where the cats often stay, you will set up a feeding station at which location.
③ Pay attention to the specific location of the feeding station you are positioning, that is, make sure that the rice bowl is placed in a place where the cat has a wide view.
Even if you place food and water bowls in multiple locations, be sure to place them where your cat feels maximum safe.
Because I found that a timid cat might prefer to hide completely while eating, or want to be on a high place, because in this way he has the greatest visual ability and has fewer chances of being ambushed later.
does not stipulate that all food bowls must be placed on the kitchen floor. Just put them in the best place for your cat.
There are tips for the location of cat litter box:
① Place the litter box in a place where the cat can see the surrounding environment and feel safe.
In nature, cats are not only predators, but also prey. Because urination and bowel movements are activities that make cats vulnerable to potential predators, the cat’s requirements for excretion are: safety.
You need to put the litter box where she feels no one will bother her.
② In families with multiple cats, make sure that the cat's route to the litter box is not blocked by the opponent.
One mistake we are prone to make is to ignore the cat's territorial consciousness. You may have enough litter box, but it is not the number of litter box that causes the pressure, but the relationship between cats.
In a multi-cat home, cats may have to endure overlapping individual territory. If the relationship between them is tense, it will cause them to be reluctant to go through the area that other cats like to go to the litter box. If they have to go through that area, it will only make the relationship even more tense.
For a lower-ranking cat or a scared cat, instead of taking the risk of encountering confrontation or ambush, it is better to excrete on the carpet of your own territory, and the pressure may be less.
So what we need to do is to spread the litter box in the room according to the cat's territory and cover each cat's favorite place so that the relationship between the cat will not continue to be tense due to excretion problems.
Other resource issues
In addition to eating and pulling, other resource configuration is also important: for example, cat scratching boards, cat crawlers, cat toys, cat beds, etc.
If the only cat crawler in a multi-cat family is located in a room controlled by a specific cat, consider adding corresponding equipment in other areas.
Catched by cats occupied by small groups
One of the keys to peaceful coexistence in the world is the supply of resources.
Don't put the resources and equipment needed by cats in the same position. Even if you have prepared n copies, but putting them in the same area is equivalent to invalid delivery. They must bully cats who are not their own team and defend their own resources. What resources each cat wants to have will lead to increasingly tense relationships and even a fight.
Correctly introduce new cats
Many cats with tense relationships did not do well when introducing work, which led to their relationships being tense and severe later, so the work of introducing new cats is very important.
We need to take time to make progressive and positive introductions. Minimize stress, fear and threat.
Remember that when a new cat enters a completely unfamiliar territory, it is necessary to let the cat know about people and animals he has never seen before. Because of the new environment, the unfamiliar smell forced him to worry about whether he would be attacked.
And for the indigenous people, having an invader at home could threaten their territory, grab resources, and threaten security.
The first unsuccessful meeting
So the bottom line of the new cat introduction is: give the cat a reason to like the other party.
I will write a separate issue. Here I will briefly talk about the following keywords:
① Isolation
② Odor exchange and exchange
③ Sight communication
④ Actively connect
to increase vertical area
Cats need personal space. The best way to reduce conflict is to have undisturbed territory
and one of the best ways to increase the territory area within multiple families is to increase vertical space.
We as humans live in a horizontal world, and cats see their world in a vertical way.
We can add cat trees, cat stairs, cat windowsills, celestial pillars, etc. to double and triple the area of each cat.
Multi-permanent cat trees are a great way for cats to share space in windows, while still feeling that they are kept enough distance because they are not just adjacent.
The interlaced cat shelves also allow the cat to choose its own height. If designed correctly, the cat can go up and down freely without having to contact another cat.
Reduce contact naturally reduces friction
Increase the richness of the environment
Cats are naturally energetic and curious, as if they are born to like to have fun and hunt.
When a cat has nothing to do, one cat may try to seek some social games, but the other cat may be misunderstood as an unfriendly, resulting in the deterioration and tension of the relationship due to the misunderstanding.
Especially between cats of different personalities and ages, due to the generation gap, misunderstandings often occur.
Increasing environmental richness includes:
① Increase interactive game time: usually spend more time with the cats, and be sure to get evenly with rain and dew.
② Set up some toys that cats can play with. For example, some cats like to hold simulated mice and sway around for self-entertainment, while others like to play table tennis, etc.
③ Set up some interesting equipment. In addition to conventional cat climbing racks, there are also some equipment such as cat tunnels
④ Let cats observe the world outside the window
Don't punish your cats if your cat is not in harmony, it may be because the cat feels threatened, afraid, or the environment has not been established and has not provided sufficient resource allocation.
In short, don't punish cats, any punishment, such as yelling at cats, spraying with water, spanking or head, will only increase their disgust for each other. Punishment can also cause cats to become afraid of you.
There is another side effect of punishment. The punished cat may divert anger, which may divert anger to another cat, and secretly bully you on your back.
If the cat has a bad relationship, what we need to do is to patiently find out the cause and solve it. At worst, we can separate a few days apart, and then follow the steps of reintroduction to start over. At worst, we can be permanently isolated and raised, one cat and one room.