Reading your feline for a better understanding of their wellbeing and needs: feline behaviours

19th December 2022

Have you ever observed your cat spray-marking or scratching surfaces? Cats have a natural need for feeding, drinking, hunting and toileting as well as for safety and territory. Naturally they’ll try to ensure that their resources don’t get claimed by another cat and will respond to perceived threats with a range of behaviours to keep the competition at bay.

Besides sounds and body language, cats use visual cues and scents to communicate with other cats. Being territorial but also non-confrontational creatures, they’ll use scents and scratch marks to show that something is of significance to them over greater distances and when they’re not around.

Your home is the core of your cat’s territory and a place where they want to feel safe from the threat posed by other cats. Therefore, they’ll start showing more of these behaviours if they feel a cat from the neighbourhood is getting too close for comfort.

Scratching

Although a common feline behaviour, scratching inside your home can be problematic if your cat chooses to rake their claws across your treasured furniture. To prevent this from happening, you can set up a scratching post in the place where your cat has chosen to scratch. When cats scratch vertical surfaces, they are not trying to destroy something. It is to maintain their claws whilst at the same time leaving visual marks and scents produced by the glands. With this behaviour, your cat just signals that this spot is of significance to her.

Scent marking

Spray marking is a normal behaviour that cats use to mark the edge of their territory. If you see your cat spray marking in the garden it is nothing to worry about. However, if you find your cat has started spray marking very close to the house it could mean that neighbourhood cats are pressing into your cat’s territory. Likewise, if you find your cat spending a lot of time looking out through the cat door being indecisive about going out.

These are indications that you need to help your cat with some modifications to the garden and increased household security. For example, set up some sheltered spots where your cat can sit outside to watch and defend the garden in comfort, and put pots and plants around the garden to give your cat more cover to move around (cats don’t like crossing open spaces), and install a microchip pet door to stop neighbourhood cats getting inside the house.

When cats spray mark indoors it means that things have gone too far, and they are stressed or unhappy. It could mean that there is tension with another cat in the household, or it could be that other cats in the neighbourhood are encroaching on their territory or even getting inside. Be aware that in struggles over territory cats will even enter each other’s homes to spray mark as a way of taking its territory, so the spraying you find in your house may be from other cats.

To reduce the risk of your cat, or other people’s cats, marking inside your home, you should make sure that no other cat can enter your home and that they’re hindered from having visual contact with your cat inside the home. You can achieve this by using a microchip pet door, which is selective and only allows those pets to enter, that have been registered before. Window stickers can also help providing your cat with more privacy. Making the previously mentioned garden changes can also help.

Did you know that your cat’s behaviour can also tell you more about their health and wellbeing? The Sure Petcare range of connected pet products helps you monitoring your cat’s behaviour, so you’ll find it easier to spot unusual changes in their routine and wellbeing.

You can read more about feline behaviour here.

If you’d like to share your own pet care tips with us, why not send us a message on social media, get involved in the conversation using the hashtag #DoYouSpeakCat or give @SurePetcare a mention.

Always make sure to consult your vet, should you have concerns about your cat's wellbeing.