Talk:Cat behavior

Ambiguous statement?

The sentences: "In the case of a family having two or more cats, one cat may become dominant over the other cats. Usually the case being a female." seem ambiguous to me. It isn't clear whether this is suggesting a female becomes dominant, or becomes dominated (apart from the citation needed).

--81.98.34.141 (talk) 21:58, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Lol at the [citation needed]s

And how do you expect us to get citations? Ask a cat? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.88.21.105 (talk) 18:04, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

...or, y'know, find some peer-reviewed studies on cat behaviour. That said, I do not agree with the outright deletion of chunks of this article which fall under "common knowledge" (e.g. that cats knead soft surfaces) but are not yet cited, since they are clearly marked as unreliable and their removal denies them from attracting supporting (or contradicting) citation. If you delete all uncited information from this page there's barely enough content left for a stub.—LionsPhil (talk) 17:56, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

Cats' ability to return from relatively far distances

I think it would be complimentary if an article is written about the notable orientation abilities of cats. I think that's the only common feline behaviour pattern that does not yet have an article.

This is harder than 'Cat Intelligence'.B katt 500 03:55, 25 December 2006 (UTC)—

Anthropomorphism, anyone? How about some reliable references? --Joelmills 22:53, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Obligate Carnivore? I think not. House cats do eat small amounts of grass and even house plants. Most often to the chagrin of their owners. Sometimes to sooth the digestive track and sometimes just because they like it. Apparently the author has never owned a cat with live plants in the home. :/

Cats are obligate carnivores because they must eat meat in order to survive, unlike an omnivore which can survive on a vegetarian diet if circumstances dictate. Unless you are saying your cat lives entirely on grass and house plants. 91.109.136.82 (talk) 22:24, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Purring

Rewrote this part, but it needs work so I'll just put it here, see if someone else can put it better.

Purring — Purring is normally a sign of contentment, though not always. Purring communicates a desire for attention, and while this is usually due to enjoyment of that attention, it is used in other circumstances as well. Some cats purr when they are in extreme pain, scared, or in labour. Purring means desire for attention, and the emotional content of the purr has further meaning. The familiar warm soft purring shows pleasure, while a more empty purr indicates absence of pleasure, and thus fear or pain. This is why cats do not respond to human purring, as the emotional content is usually wrong. Scientists have not yet been able to discover how purring works, but it is suspected that it is caused by minute vibrations in the voice box. Purring gets louder as cats grow up, kittens can purr so quietly its sometimes hard to hear. Tabby (talk) 00:52, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Why is Purring<>Happy cat? Young kittens often don't purr until after they have started suckling from their mother, and cats often don't purr until after they have started being petted by someone. If it were a desire for attention, wouldn't the purring always happen prior to these events? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.116.45.7 (talk) 06:26, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Cleanup and copyedit

I have made some basic formatting changes and taken out text that is not encyclopaedic. The page needs more cleaning and sources for many of these behaviors, rather than observation. Beechhouse (talk) 14:25, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Lead section

I've tried to rewrite the lead section, though may need some help with it. I'm doing my best, but I'm not the best at expanding on a subject. I currently have my hands full with some tasks and can't do it all at once, and this article upsets me with the number of issues at hand. I'll try my best to at least keep this article in mind, but can anyone else contribute? ♦Leo-Roy 04:38, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Other communication behavior

Tail high and tail motion of gently or slowly waving back and forth: Cat is thinking and/or problem solving.

Sitting with back turned: A show of trust. Generally cats face toward any potential danger.

Note that in the "Body language"/"Interest/rejection" section it is incorrect when it says that ears back always means rejection or disgust. Ears pinned all the way back often indicates fear, and when the cat is facing away from someone, ears halfway back is the cat listening/paying attention to someone/something it is facing away from.

Yawn: If not sleepyness, can be a pretence of casualness.

Licking self after mistake: Embarrassment and/or an attempt to direct attention elsewhere.

--User:Anonymous 23:10, 25 March 2009 (PDT)

Vocal calls

This section is a bit vague, if anyone can, put some links for an audio file or video displaying these sounds.66.41.44.102 (talk) 07:41, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Plenty on YouTube. Viriditas (talk) 09:11, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

Then find them and link them to the descriptions of these cat vocals.66.41.44.102 (talk) 23:52, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

I'm sure you can do that yourself now that you know where to find them. Viriditas (talk) 12:41, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

Slight problem, I came here to find out what those calls are (despite having 3 cats I've never heard many of them) and what they mean. Thus, I can't put them up because I can't tell the difference. Also, it's pretty hard to find a reference to cat vocal sounds that is an audio or video descripiton, usually just written.66.41.44.102 (talk) 15:39, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Good friends?

Lots of problems attributing human behavior to animals. The caption in the photo at the bottom says "Cats can be very good friends with other cats. Here, two cats are sleeping together", but from experience, I can tell those cats are cold and are huddling for warmth. I don't think you can find a photograph of two cats doing that in warm climates, because when a cat is warm, it will sleep on its side or on its back with its legs spread out, away from other animals, in order to keep cool. Show me a photograph of two cats sleeping together at high noon in the tropics. It's impossible. With that said, cats are highly social, and can often be found in organized groups (clowders?) in feral cat colonies. The literature says that most cats live alone, so why do they form these groups in urban settings? Viriditas (talk) 09:44, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

I've waited six months for a response, so I've now gone ahead and made the change. Viriditas (talk) 02:08, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Merge this with Cat Communication or Cat

All written here are within the context of those two articles. I say we do that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.96.109.48 (talk) 16:07, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

The suggestion on the template is to merge with Cat behavior, and I wholly support that merge proposal.--otherlleft 00:18, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Perching?

There is no happier cat than a cat that is perched up high. I'm surprised that this isn't covered in the article. Viriditas (talk) 01:52, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Cats like being in high places for two basic reasons: (1) higher up tends to be safer from danger, (2) cats are highly visual animals, and being higher up usually gives them a better view of their surroundings in order to see prey or danger. Obankston (talk) 12:32, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

(Non) loyalty of cats

In the Socialization section, there should be mention of the cat behavior of changing owners or having multiple owners. Pet cats do not have the same master-slave relationship and loyalty that pet dogs show. Cats act like they are in business for themselves, treat humans like equals, and do not allow themselves to be named by a human. Some of the aloofness and uncooperativeness that some people see in cats is really just their expression of independence and rejection of a master-slave relationship. Humans consider that we "own" a cat, but from the cat's point of view, it is more like the cat "owns" the human. If a cat does not like the human "owners", a cat may go looking for a new human "owner", and if it likes several human "owners", may even have multiple human "owners" in multiple locations. Because of this independence, pet cats are able to "disown" a human and to survive in the wild, and find new human "owners". Obankston (talk) 12:01, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

Eh? My cat responds to his name.

Yep, mine all know their names . . . but they also can ignore their names. That's the independence!--~TPW 19:57, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

This is all so much wishy-washy nonsense. 81.105.111.230 (talk) 23:43, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

merge kneading

The kneading article should be merged with cat behavior T-man 2nd (talk) 19:41, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

• Support - it has a lot of information but no sources, so this seems like a good plan.--~TPW 19:56, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

You merged the page, but didn't transfer any of the information! 24.107.90.92 (talk) 17:43, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I just copy-pasted the old content over since User:Active Banana just trampled it with a redirect. :/ There's also duplication with Cat communication that needs resolving.—LionsPhil (talk) 17:47, 23 May 2011 (UTC)

Kneading is in ROUGH shape right now. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Andythechef (talk • contribs) 07:00, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

Criticism

This thing was put together by committee. Even the "postures" paragraph doesn't talk about the two most easily-recognized cat postures, the defensive sideways posture (the Halloween cat) and the stalking-prey posture.

I move for deletion. This article is a soup-sandwich. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pnbarbee (talk • contribs) 03:52, 12 October 2012‎

See WP:NOTCLEANUP. —Quiddity (talk) 04:14, 12 October 2012 (UTC)

Predatory Behavior

A significant element of cat behavior is that they thrive on engaging their predatory instincts. When kept as an indoor pet, due to high-density living, traffic, or predators such as coyotes, they are essentially captives, like zoo animals. Understanding an indoor cat's personality can go a long way to satisfy their instincts and avoid potential schizophrenic behavior (such as suddenly biting and clawing people, dashing around the house, or climbing the curtains). While there may not be common rules for providing a stable environment it appears that the following should be present:

• A good-sized cat tree, with scratching posts.
• Toys that provide a release for their predatory instincts (a length of string dragged around is very popular).
• A well kept litter box or toilet (a few cats can be trained to use the loo!)
• Fresh water and dry cat food.
• Social interaction.

See Feline Focus, from Ohio State University.