Lora Lee 
We had an interesting morning today and I woke up thinking that I was going to give my cats a time out. It started with The Gremlin Kittens trying to get to the birds in the window, which has metal mini blinds. Then, they moved to the bed, with Cactus on top and Lily underneath, attacking each other between the mattress and the footboard. Next, Lily found a toy and decided the best place to play with it was a box, which proceeded to make more noise than was necessary. And that was all before 6:00 am!
Finally, at 7:30, when they wore me down and I decided that sleeping in was not going to happen, I started to get out of bed. Zazzles had been sleeping beside me and when he jumped down, he walked by Bodie. For whatever reason, Bodie decided to literally jump on him. And we had a little fight happen. Then, Tre, one of the Cat House cats kept nipping at the back of my legs as I was trying to feed them. So, by 8:00 this morning, I started wondering “Can you give your cats a time out”? Because mine might need one.
Reasons Behind the Behaviors
I don’t have any human children, but I do have nephews and nieces. And when they have moments like my cats had, my sister does give them a “time out”. A time to sit back and think about they behavior. Unfortunately, you can’t really give your cats a “time out”. But you can be the one to think about their behavior. Because contrary to belief, cats don’t do anything without a reason behind their behaviors. They don’t do anything out of spite. So, as I was recovering from the craziness of the past couple of hours, I started to think about why they were acting the way they had.
Let’s start with Cactus and Lily’s early morning antics. Cats are crepuscular animals. Meaning that they are most active at dawn and dusk. That is the time that their big cat cousins stalk prey for meals. This innate behavior of hunting is part of our domestic cats. So, Cactus and Lily were satisfying their natural urge to hunt for their breakfast. Even though they are spoiled indoor cats who get their breakfast served on China plates.
Speaking of breakfast, cats are creatures of routine. On a normal workday, they get their breakfast roughly around 6:45, so by 7:30, they were all starting to get “hangry”. Just like us, a cat’s stomach starts to produce gastric juices to help aid in digestion. When a cat is used to being fed at a certain time each day, the buildup of these gastric juices can start to make your cat feel a little off and really hungry. Sometimes, if too much time has passed, a cat will vomit a clear liquid. So, with it being 45 minutes after their normal breakfast time, everyone was getting a little antsy about their lack of food. The explanation for The Gremlins’ crazy playing and Bodie and Zazzles’ disagreement.
And now, Tre’s nipping. The Cat House Cats are a colony that I moved from our old house to our current house. They were semi-feral, and I have been working with them on trust and love. Tre has been the most difficult to gain his complete trust. We have finally gotten to the point where I can give him some pets, but he is always cautious and will run at the slightest provocation. His little nips at the back of my legs are his way of showing me love. Thanking me for taking care of him and allowing him to move at his own pace. So, as much as it startles me when he does it, I have to smile and be grateful that he is progressing with his trust in me.
Taking a Moment
So, after all of the craziness that happened this morning in a very short period of time, my first instinct was to put all of them into “time out”. Just send them all to their rooms and start the morning over again. However, I just needed to take a moment to think about the “why”. Why were they acting this way. What were the reasons behind their behaviors. Once I took that moment, their behaviors started to make sense to me. They were not trying to annoy me or be bad cats. They were following their instincts and reacting to their environment. Although as I contemplate a nap, I do wonder if you can give your cats a time out at times.
“There is, incidently, no way of talking about cats that enables one to come off as a sane person.”
― Dan Greenberg
