Posts Tagged: Cat Behavior

If you have watched an episode of Animal Planet’s My Cat from Hell by cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy, you probably have heard the term bush dweller or tree dweller. These distinct terms describe those cats that prefer being high in the air or those who want to be close to the ground and hidden. In the wild, your typical tree dwelling cat, such as leopards and cheetahs, want to hang out in trees and bush dwellers, like bobcats, need to be in dens, bushes, and other low lying places.

So, if you are curious about your favorite furry friend, you are in luck! The team at Leon Valley Veterinary Hospital is here to answer your questions about whether your cat is a bush or tree dweller. 

Cats with access to the great outdoors may have more feline fun, but this freedom can come at a high price. The potential for serious falls, car accidents, and fights with other animals leads many owners to keep their fluffy buddies strictly indoors. Many cats are content to hang around the house, but depend on their indoor environment to keep them busy, engaged and entertained. However, without daily physical and mental stimulation, owners can possibly expect some destructive cat behavior.

Cats are already cute to the max, but what if you added an extra furry toe or two? Without a doubt, polydactyl cats take adorableness to a whole new level, but their extra toes deliver more than looks. A cat with “kitty mitties” has even better balance, greater climbing capabilities, and finer predatory skills. If you have a polydactyl cat, our team at Leon Valley Veterinary Hospital is ready to serve their unique cat wellness needs.

Thanks to their wider, larger paws, polydactyl cats come equipped to handle life’s challenges!

It’s reasonable to assume that training your cat to do tricks could result in the ultimate feline takeover, but that’s not an excuse, is it?

Of course not!

Cats are smart, clever, and resourceful problem solvers. Teaching them how to do certain things that aren’t exactly “cattish” is not only fun but giving them new skills expands their mental capacity. 

Delightfully Feline Skills

Who wouldn’t want a high five from a fluffy, adorable cat? Being on the receiving end of a delightfully feline “trick” is guaranteed to make you swoon. Even better than a cat that does tricks is the one that blinks innocently at you as if whatever they did was just invented by them. 

Most of us know that large wild cats, such as tigers, lions, jaguars, and leopards, can definitely roar. But did you know that because they can roar, they lack the ability to purr? Conversely, the domestic cats we know and love purr their hearts out, but they cannot roar. 

The fact that our feline friends purr is one more reason to love them, but that doesn’t mean the mechanism is fully understood. A closer look at why cats purr, and how they do it, may generate an even greater appreciation for these amazing animals.

People depend on verbal communication to understand each other, but body language is a huge part of eye-to-eye conversations. Even though we constantly process and synthesize information from others, confusion and miscommunications occur all the time. So, if we aren’t that great at understanding other humans, how can we expect to learn verbal and nonverbal cues from a whole separate species?

Felines, for example, use various vocalizations to communicate, but amazingly, cat tails are equally helpful indicators.

Cats are remarkably clean creatures. Sure, they groom their own private parts and paws (and those belonging to other animals), but they do it well, don’t they? To be sure, cats are clean by nature – certainly not like some other pets they know and tolerate.

The feline behavior known as “dirt bathing” directly contradicts their otherwise meticulous methods. While this is a normal and natural thing to do, it does raise questions about why Fluffy would display such odd, “dog-like” behavior.

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