Things I never knew about Cats

This is Clover. She is inspecting me before allowing me into out Daughter’s Kitchen

Have you ever thought about ditching work, networking, being professional, speaking to people, be positive and instead just getting a cat?

I was intrigued by the idea so a interviewed a “Cat Whisper.”

There is an old story about a 4th grader who was assigned a book about penguins for a book report. She took a few days and then came back with this report: “This book told me more about penguins than I care to know.”

I had the exact opposite experience when I interviewed Molly DeVoss a few days ago. There is much about cats that I don’t know that I found amazing.

If you are an animal advocate, Molly DeVoss is a Santa Fe (and Dallas) treasure. She is a straight-talking, passionate champion for cats. She began her work in Dallas at one of the country's largest shelters, where seventy-five percent of the cats brought into the shelter were euthanized.

She set out on a lifelong mission to help, primarily by educating cat guardians on cat behavior and, in her words, "How to make cats happy" at home. (No peeing on the bed or shredding curtains.)

She is also prolific! She has great resources for cat guardians; a podcast, "Cat Talk Radio," and a website, "catbehaviorsolutions.org."

I talked to her because, except for a few interactions with my daughter's cat Clover (not all necessarily friendly, but getting better!), I know next to nothing about cats.

I was also afflicted with the misunderstanding that cats are kind of like dogs: social, devoted to their guardians, and low maintenance.

Hah!

First, and let's get this out of the way: cats are beautiful, they have that feline grace, and are endlessly just fascinating to watch. Cat lovers are EXTREMELY devoted to their charges. The argument about who is a better pet, cats or dogs, that has probably been going on for 10,000 years since cats joined human households, is unwinnable.

Let it go.

Next, the numbers. There are approximately 80 million cats in 49 million households in the USA. According to The National Feline Research Council, the country also has nearly 32 million "feral" or stray cats. (A discussion of feral cats would take up an entire column.)

Molly led me through the science of cat behavior. First, and vitally, cats evolved as solo predators. Unlike dogs, they are not pack animals. Molly also makes the distinction that dogs are domesticated; they evolved with a variety of roles around the home. Cats are socialized and comfortable living with humans. Dogs evolved to care about their humans, cats not so much.

However, there is a myth that cats are not "trainable." Molly has clicker-trained her cat to sit, lie down, and come.

Cats, Molly explained, are experts at being manipulative. If you don't get up in the morning to feed them, they will bop you on the head. They understand cause and effect. If I knock this framed picture off the shelf, the human will pay attention to me, which, in the cat's mind, is the whole point of being human.

But there is always counterpoint. My daughter, Brynne’s cat, Clover is devoted to Brynne in a cat-like way. Once when Brynne and her husband Luke were dancing in their living room, they both fell down. Clover, sensing trouble jumped on Luke’s back claws out to defend Brynne.

When Brynne’s and Luke’s kids were toddlers, Clover put up with what must of felt like annoying behavior, grabbing her, her tail and crawling over her. When the kids were older, and they also understood “cause and effect” Clover would bop them for bad behavior. Now the kids are seven and four and Clover allows them to cuddle with her. The point is that Clover is not just the disinterested cat, but an evolving member of the family.

Like dogs, the individual cat has a personality that is as much a function of “nurture” as it is nature. Clover is well loved and in a safe environment. She reciprocates by being friendly and approachable. (Well, not yet to me. Still a work in progress.)

Next, how cats prefer to eat is radically different from dogs. In the wild, cats spend sixty percent of their awake time hunting. They "snack," eating 10-20 small meals a day — their stomachs are small compared to other animals their size, about as big as a ping-pong ball.

Molly said making a cat wait twelve hours to eat will give you an irritable cat. She feeds her feline four times daily, including a 300AM small snack—set with a timer. She recommended three steps to help a human compromise with their cat. 1) Aim for four meals a day, including that middle-of-the-night meal. 2) Ignore your cat's protestations about wanting to be fed now. 3) Be patient and work with them to get them on your schedule.

Bowing to the Cat God

Next, cats, like dogs, need stimulation. Some good-hearted folks see a bored cat and consider getting a "buddy." That is not what your perfectly-content-being-the-only- cat wants. What they want is to play with you. And not just any play, but predator and prey play. They need to stalk, chase, and, importantly, bite. Molly mentioned that when a cat goes in for a "kill bite," their serotonin levels spike. I watched this happen in real time when Brynne’s family and Clover visited for a week. I came home late one night, and as I stepped into the house, I noticed that Clover had a mouse trapped. In the blink of an eye, she bit and killed that mouse. It was the circle of life, but I think Clover felt something akin to pride. She did give me a look of disdain, as in what does a human know about hunting and killing, but I let that pass.

In our house, we muse about adopting a cat, but we have two dogs. Our Great Pyrenees, Toby, is prey-driven, and Maisie, our half-chihuahua, is, to be honest, xenophobic. But who knows? If our dogs calm down and the stars align, there may be a cat in our future, and that would be an adventure.

And lastly, if you are interested in a cat, “Adopt don’t shop.” The shelters are overrun with great animals who need permanent homes.