I am running two campaigns at the moment and they overlap. One is to promote domestic cat happiness. Sounds childish almost but it’s not. It’s about remembering our responsibilities towards our cat companions. After providing security, warmth and sustenance it is down to cat caregivers to make their cat happy! Of course, the owner has to be happy or at least not unhappy. It is difficult to want to behave altruistically when one is unhappy.
A lot of cat owners are older people, some elderly. With old age there is ill-health. On average people over 75 suffer from a chronic illness of some sort and take five pills daily! For the elderly health is the number one priority. Being healthy it is much easier to be happy and even tempered. This is important in cat caregiving.
- RELATED: Infographic on 8 habits that could add 24 years to your life (and improve cat caregiving)
- Be a better cat caregiver by being healthier in consuming olive oil and going vegetarian for 6 months
The discarded cardboard box
Click on the top 2 thumbnails to see larger versions if you wish.
This is a discarded cardboard box that contained a bread bin that I bought from Amazon. I threw the box away and retrieved it. Cut the flaps off the end and placed it on the floor in an empty bedroom my cat was using for sleeping. Only he was out in the open. I knew that if I placed the box in the room, he’d use it and he did the next day.
The reason is one we all know about: cats like the feeling of security that a ‘roof’ brings to their ‘bedroom’. And with three walls as well he found a near ideal bedroom that was free.
It is a nothing tip. A nothing job for the cat caregiver but a big difference to the life of a cat as they are happier.
My cat is pretty confident so his love of boxes is not down to a desire to hide due to timidity. It is a simple wildcat ancestor response. This is the kind of den that a wild cat would sleep in. For example, below is a picture bobcats sleeping in the hollowed-out trunk of a fallen tree. Same thing. Of course, the bobcat is not the wild cat ancestor of the domestic cat but the same emotional needs apply to the North African wildcat.
And below is another tree den for a bobcat cub:
Making a cat happy need not be expensive. It does take a little thought and time however. And an attitude that says a cat owner needs to think about ways to make their cat happy.
I don’t believe that it is enough to feed a cat and ignore them a lot of the time. A lot of people think domestic cats are independent which is why they disappear but sometimes they disappear for hours because the connection between owner and cat is loose. They are not bonded. It is about how to create a bond with your cat which is part of making your cat happy. The link below goes to a page which discusses this.
