Cats Behavior: What Is The Norm?

A cat’s behavior can be aloof or very loving, eccentric to boring, and all variations in between, also size, color, and appearance differences provide the reasons there are so many cat lovers in the world.

Growing up in a crazy cat household (at one point we had up to thirteen indoor cats) their differences in personality made life interesting. Pansy, a beautiful long-hair tricolor cat (one of the first we got) was shy and quiet. Her affinity was for encyclopedias and she spent most of her time sitting on our old Britannica.

Eric, a short-haired marmalade, made up for his occasional lapses in litter box training by being the cat that was always there with you if you were sick or upset. Tinker, the smartest, was able to open a step-on garbage can effortlessly and, whenever he found my guitar lying around, would lay there happily plinking out tunes by the hour.

Cats have individual personalities and some can be quite eccentric! It is important for cat owners to recognize what is “normal” for their cat. For example, it might be normal for your cat to insanely run up and down the hallway at night, however in a more placid cat could indicate a problem. Changes in your cats behavior could be caused by anything from feeling slightly off to resenting your favorite Aunt’s visit.

Stability and safety are important to cats - a sudden change in circumstances might cause typical unexpected cat behavior such as missing the litter box. Or, as was the case with one of mine, deciding out of nowhere that she no longer liked the litter we were using. Her only effective way to communicate this was by no longer using her box. Eventually we figured out what she was trying to get at and, after some trial and error, found out that what she wanted was torn-up newspaper. Everything has been fine since.

Cats behavior patterns can be as different among cats, as they are among humans. Therefore, the more knowledgeable you are about basic cat behavior, and the more you know your cat, the quicker you will be able to determine any kind of changes, whether positive or negative.

Cat behavior ranges from loving to distant, lazy to hyperactive, and shy to bold. This spectrum is normal, but if your cat is suddenly doing something unusual for her, it may signal a problem. Cats need to feel safe, and shifts in routine may cause unusual behavior. Changing the type of litterbox fill, for example, may result in a cat that refuses to use the litterbox at all. Realize that cats behavior is as varied as human behavior. Cat lovers need to know what’s baseline “normal” for their cat to pick up on behavioral variations that are trying to tell them something.

- Paul Proctor