Cats Common Behaviors Meaning (Part 1)

Understand your cat behavior is important for a healthy relationship with your cat

But do we, humans, really understand cats? Read on to find out what their common behaviors actually mean. We listed the top 10 here.

1) Purring and sniffing

Usually a cat purr and sniff to ask for food. Their constant purring and sniffing is just a natural behavior for them to capture your attention. Feeding your cat builds healthy relationship with them, as it shows your affection for them. So, the next time you see your cat purrs and sniff, its time for you to feed your fur friend some snacks!

Note: Do keep in mind, if your cat stops showing interest to their favorite snack, and have a lost of appetite, bring them to see a vet immediately to check it up. 

Promotes a better eating posture and reduces the strain on your cat's neck with this 15° Angled Cat Bowls

2) Burying their poops

Usually, we will associate a cat’s burying their poops is just because of cleanliness. Yes, they like to keep themselves clean, but there are more to it than just cleanliness.

Originally, cat are wild animals. In the wild, the cats cover their feces to eliminate odors. This is to hide their presence from their predators, as well as  their prey when they are hunting. Throughout generations, they still retain this behavior in their DNA, despite being domestic pets. It's like their natural survival instinct.

Do you know?

Cat’s poop or urine may all smell the same to us, but cats can tell their waste apart from another’s, thanks to their unique pheromones. 

By the way, check out this innovative cat litter box. Cats enter thru the one-way front panel, exits thru the top opening, the hollow roof panels trap any cat litter that have stuck to your cat paw's. The drawer below can be pulled out to clean.

3) Rolling over and showing their belly to you

Have you ever wonder why your cat shows you their belly when they see you? You may think they wanted a belly rub, but do they like it? Is that what they wanted?

Cats roll around and expose their belly when they felt relaxed, happy, and most importantly safe. So, when they roll and shows their belly to you, they are actually expressing their trust and happiness at seeing you, and wanted some attention.

However, exposing their belly to you does not mean they wanted a belly rub. Cats generally do not like their belly to be touched as it is very sensitive. Rubbing their head will be fine to reciprocate their feelings.

The next time you see them greeting you, why not spend some time playing with them? This Interactive Mice Bluetooth Cat Toy is just perfect for a game of cat and mice to show that you appreciate their trust and care for them.

4) Scratching

We have seen a lot of cases where pawrent's sofa was disfigured by their cat's scratching, or there are lots of scratch marks on the walls. They are not bad kitties, scratching is their natural behavior and here are the reasons why:

• To shed the dead outer layer of their claws. Nails grow, and cats scratch to remove the old layer of claws.
• To mark their territory by leaving a visual mark, or a scent mark (Their paws have scent glands)
• To flex or stretch their bodies

To prevent destructive scratchings, you just have to guide them to targeted scratching areas, like a scratching post or a sisal pad. Get something that can attract their attention and you can distract them from your sofa or walls. A simple solution to protecting your sofa can be this Anti-scratch Sofa/Furniture Protective Cover.

5) Vomiting

Cats are good at taking care of themselves, but sometimes they still fall sick. Vomiting is one of the most common illness to a cat. Cat vomits for many reasons. It can be due to eating something poisonous or something that is not meant to be eaten (i.e. strings), hairballs, infections, diabetes, and others.

Vomiting is their body's self-defense to such issues. The symptoms are usually clear to see, like drooling and abdominal heaving. Despite being their body's natural defense, vomiting can still get your cat severely dehydrated and endanger their lives. So, when you see them vomiting, collect a sample of their vomit, and bring them to see the nearest vet.

Do you know?

One of the common reason why cats vomit is because of hairball. Cats usually groom themselves by licking their fur body. Their tiny hook-like tongue then catches loose hair. These loose hairs are then swallowed into their stomach and passed out later through their digestive tract. However, sometimes the fur hairs, for some reasons, got stuck in their stomach and slowly forms a hairball over time. When the hairball is obstructing the digestive tract, the cat will then feel discomfort, and tries to vomit the hairball out.

To prevent the formation of hairballs, brush your cat once a day to help them remove the loose fur hair. Adding more fiber to their food also helps them passed out the fur hair much easier.

To remove fur, we strongly recommends the Silicone Fur Brushing Glove. It's easy to use, inexpensive, and solves the fur issue.

Note: Super Kitty Cats does not recommends using a pet hair vacuum available in the market. Their suction power are either too strong that it hurts your pet, or its too weak to effectively gather all the hair. Not mentioning that the vacuum sound will make your pet uncomfortable. Sometimes, the manual way works best!

This is the first part of our article, we hope you learned something useful here.

Stay tuned for our next article as I will list down the next 5 behavioral issues of our “furriend!”