How Do You Calm Your Cat?
by Michael
(London, UK)
This page presents some ideas on calming our cat. There are a lot of people searching for information on aggressive cats but far fewer searching for the opposite, namely calm cats. ‘Aggressive cat’ is the flip side of ‘calm cat’. A lot, perhaps most, of the underlying reason for aggressiveness in cats is due to the environment in which we place them. We control the environment if our cat is a domestic cat.
And how we control the environment depends to a large extent on our mood, our mental health and our expectations regarding our cat. We need to realise that a cat is not a human. We need to have expectations that match a domestic cat’s abilities. And we need to realise a cat lives in a land of giants. We can be intimidating. Men especially can be too rough with cats for example when playing, grooming or even stroking. This may provoke the wrong reaction (
for us) but a predicable one for the cat.
Here’s my boy. I think he is calm & handsome.
I believe that cats respond to our moods. This is to be expected as our moods dictate our behavior. Bad moods can make a cat unsettled. Arguments with our wives and husbands creates noise and unsettles our cat. We can’t be perfect but we can consider our cat. It may stop an argument!
I like to create as secure an environment as possible. One in which my cats feel absolutely safe. This must be a good start. Cats can be quite nervous in unsettled surroundings.
I tend to speak to my cats very quietly and I get close to them when I speak. I stroke them gently keeping contact with them when stroking. I also tend to get down to their level. So if my lady cat is on the floor I get on the floor too. I whisper in her ear actually, while stroking. In fact she knows what to expect and when I look at her she calls me over for a bit of cat whispering and cuddling. Reacting positively to our cat’s requests generates routine and routine creates a sense of security for our cats (and us!).
I think that nullifying the effect of our much superior size also helps to create a calm cat, hence getting lower down.
Being with our cats as much as possible is an obvious help to create cat calm, provided as mentioned that we create the correct environment when we are around.
All these elements create a calm cat and a calm cat cannot be aggressive.
Perhaps people searching the internet should not search for aggressive cat but calm cat as the latter is a proactive, preventative step, while the former is reactive, the problem already exists.
Lets avoid problems. And lets leave the drugs to last. I wonder if a number of cases of ‘aggressive cat’ that were treated with tranquillizers could have been fixed more naturally. All drugs are ultimately a form of poison. How often do vets or shelter employees discuss the cat caretaker’s behavior when discussing reported ‘poor behavior’ in domestic cats?
I would love to hear from one or two visitors. How do you calm your cat? We might discover something far better than my simple suggestions.
Note:.. All the above presupposes that our cat is not ill and suffering discomfort and/or pain. And that I screw up as much as the next person!
