I have a theory. I think domestic cats will normally like being with their human caregiver if they can go outside to their backyard, which hopefully has a lawn of some sort, lie on the lawn and let their cat join them. In doing this the normal interrelationship between human and cat is dramatically altered to one which is, I believe, more acceptable to a domestic cat.
Firstly, the human has shrunk their size down to the same height as their cat. The human is no longer the giant towering over them. The default position is clearly more intimidating than the interaction I am recommending. Therefore, the cat should be more relaxed if you are lying down outside.
Secondly, domestic cats live in an entirely human-made environment when they are most often with their caregiver. To the wild cat within, it is an unnatural world. This, too, can be slightly unsettling under certain circumstances.
Being outside in the backyard (back garden in the UK) on grass with the sun and wind and hopefully some nature around such as trees, a cat is going to be more at home and therefore more relaxed.
On the two counts mentioned above, under my proposal a domestic cat is likely to be more relaxed and in being more relaxed they will be more content and in being more content their ‘raw cat mojo’, as Jackson Galaxy refers to it, is more likely to flower.
It is worth a try. I know for a fact that my cat absolutely loves it but you’ve got to stay there for about fifteen or twenty minutes. But all of a sudden, I am in his world and at his height and he connects with that strongly. It reverses to a certain extent the roles that we both play.
In a better world for cats where they would be allowed outside without being criticised, what they would like their human to do is to be with them but not towering above them. My cat constantly asks me to go out with him and can’t understand why I don’t want to go hunting from dusk till dawn. He is delighted that I allow him to come with me at 6 am to buy the newspaper from the local petrol station.
I think that we owe our cat our best efforts to make their life as enjoyable as possible which can only be done through allowing them to live as naturally as possible with us. My suggestions temporarily take them to a more natural place in my view.
