The Way of Cats

Cat maturation is a long process. While they may be capable of reproduction below the age of one year, this alone, just as in humans, does not represent the end of their maturation process. Cats continue to grow physically until the age of three or so. They grow, mentally, even longer.

A tricky time in kitten raising is when the cat is entering late adolescence. Early adolescence is characterized by such phrases as “What was that crash?” and represent the kitten’s early exploration of their physical boundaries. Late adolescence is when the kitten seems to calm down, or even become aloof. But this is not what is happening.

moar funny pictures

The cat is now entering the mental growth part of their maturation process. They are pondering the more complicated issues that the development of their frontal lobes makes possible. While all mammals are born with frontal lobes, their full potential is not realized until after adolescence, when the abilities to draw conclusions, figure out the probable outcome of our actions, and weigh moral choices comes into its full flower.

And so it is with cats.

Being cats, they do not start reading philosophy or having long dorm room discussions about existentialism. Their mental engagement is necessarily more internal and confined by their own experience. But they are thinking.

They are considering what they have learned by interacting with their environment, and with other living creatures. They are feeling the call of their own internal nature, which is demanding more self-reliance, more assertiveness, and more dignity.

These are skills that the future solitary hunter will need to make their way in the wild world. Since they are living in our world now, these same drives will have a slightly different application.

Because they live with us, most cats will not be exercising their considerable powers of studying, trapping, and outwitting their prey. They will not be occupied with the tasks of survival. Our caretaking has changed their world so that they are free to consider the new dynamics of our survival. And that is us.

Cats are able to figure things out. They learn cause and effect. They also learn about companionship, compassion, and love. These are the thoughts that are preoccupying our growing kitten, and makes them seem withdrawn and indifferent. But they are not.

They are wondering what is expected of them and how they can respond. The calming down of the growing kitten is not just that they have learned what not to play with. They are absorbing the concept of doing what we ask; simply because we ask it.

RJ is in this stage now. Instead of constantly being around and leaping at us for cuddles and play, he is keeping to himself and staring into space. Our response has been to engage him in ways that are more appropriate to his new station in life. Instead of grabbing him and cuddling him extravagantly, we are petting him with his feet on the ground, and talking to him more.

In response, he is talking to us more. His new tendency is to hang around on the fringes of our activities, waiting for us to invite him into them. He is learning reciprocity.

Our task is to give him openings to respond. A big mistake at this stage would be to consider him less affectionate than before, simply because he is not acting as he did when he was younger. But what he is doing is demanding an adult relationship, one in which we do not take him for granted.

These tactics are paying off for us. Last night he leaped on the bed and spent a half hour purring, rubbing his head on ours, and cuddling with both of us. It was his idea, this time

And we were thrilled by it.

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When our kitten gets into early adolescence, between five and seven months, it is a distinct stage in kitten development. As they develop confidence along with more control over their growing bodies, our kittens can become busy with concerns that do not include us. Like all teenagers, they can make us feel they have either not learned anything yet, or they have forgotten what they had learned.

At this age, after almost a month with the new shower curtain, RJ once again began exploring it. It’s not torn apart like in the heedless baby stage. But there were exploratory holes, and we can’t catch him doing it. So he has become smarter. Smarter as in more devious, and smarter in that he is not destroying the shower curtain enough to keep it from serving its intended purpose.

Which is what had upset me before, right? So, to RJ, I had nothing to complain about. This is why I replaced the cheap dollar store item with another cheap one. I knew he wasn’t grown up yet.

It can seem, as we get zoomed by our Kitten on a Mission, that our kitten has not only gotten older, but gotten more indifferent. Where’s the cuddles? Why doesn’t the kitten fall asleep on our lap anymore?

more cat pictures

This is a critical stage where many people conclude the Adorable Kitten is becoming an Aloof Cat, and they stop expecting affection. This would be a great mistake.

The kitten is becoming independent, which is the goal of all cats. They want to know if we still love them, especially since they are getting into more trouble than ever. With their increased capacity to think and plan, what they seem to be thinking and planning is crazed runs, messing with things they didn’t mess with before, and eluding our attempts to reason with them.

We put up our little fiber optic Christmas tree on RJ’s first Christmas. It’s a great training tree; all the ornaments are permanently attached, it’s sturdy enough to be investigated, and cheap enough to risk it. Some have wondered why we put up our tree so early. I explain we didn’t want to spend our actual holidays saying, “Get down from there.” We want to get it out of the way early.

RJ, like my previous Maine Coon mix, has this habit of pushing my buttons deliberately. I don’t know if this is something common to the breed, or if he is simply a wiseacre.

For RJ will sit on the little table where the tree is, look at me, and reach out for the tree.

“RJ! Get off the table. I don’t want you to play with the tree.”

This tree?

“Leave the tree alone.”

This tree? This… one… right… here?

“That tree is not for kitties.”

You… mean… this… tree?

“Don’t make me get up.”

But… I’m… making… sure… you… meant… this… tree.

The instant my posterior leaves the seat of my chair, he takes off, leaving the tree wobbling on its stand. He’s now in the kitchen, playing with the water bowl, making sure it’s full. If water slops over the side; yup, it’s full. That’s good to know.

Kittens reach a stage where the whole world opens up to them. There simply isn’t enough hours in the day to learn how everything works once it’s been pawed at, messed with, and attacked. They will play into exhaustion, then drop where they are. This is the stage where my kitten Myron, the Play Machine, would fall asleep with one paw still on his toy, so he wouldn’t waste a second.

This is where we must remember to seek out the kitten for cuddles and praise them when they are good, even if that’s only in the spaces between rowdy outbursts. They still enjoy our affection. But just as teenagers discover a world of social interaction that doesn’t include us, and get obsessed with it, our kittens are discovering how powerful they can be. We, they think, are known quantities. Time to explore other, more unknown, worlds.

They aren’t indifferent. They are simply moving into a stage of exploration and energy. They know what they are supposed to do, but they must test boundaries. So don’t make this stage a swarm of scolding and exasperation. Engage that new energy with more play using interactive toys, look for the quiet times they are too busy to stop for, and revel, with them, over their new powers.

As RJ grew more familiar with the Christmas tree, he learned how to make it rock on its table, while he is nowhere in sight. He learned that he can pull on the wire behind the table, and play with the tree, without actually playing with the tree. Surely this won’t bother me. He is, after all, not touching the tree.

Yes, he’s definitely a wiseacre.

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This was RJ between five and six months old. On the right, we see RJ’s Big Pink Dog, which is just begging to be wrestled with. On the left, his Wicker Fortress, where he retreats when something is getting the best of him. In the center, his Track Ball toy, with scratching cardboard in the middle.

Essentials, all.

My first real clue as to how much deprivation RJ had suffered was when we dangled a fake fur mouse in front of him. He just sat there.

That’s not the right kitten response.

Kittens are play machines, typical baby predator behavior. Baby rabbits don’t pretend to eat plants, they just do. Only predators (and thus, this shows we are such) have a play period in their youth. These are skills that must be practiced before they pay off.

I had to make the mouse act like a mouse; darting it across the floor, letting it peek a boo with him from behind a chair leg, make its tail wiggle across the carpet. Usually, this is not something recommended; Hands are Not Toys. But to get him started, I made the mouse alive.

Soon, he got it. Once the switch had been tripped, he was all over it. By the next day, he would take one toy, put another on top of it, and attack them both, Jet Li style.

Kittens need a variety of toys because their attention shifts once the prey has been conquered. They also develop preferences as they get older. Puffy likes crinkly little toys, while Mr. Bond is a fake mousie man, the furrier, the better. RJ has already shown a delight in big stuffed toys, so we’ve been getting him dog toys. The squeaker gets his attention, and the bigger bodies let him wrestle with them. We don’t give him regular stuffed animals, because we figured the dog toys would be sturdier and designed to be chewed.

RJ loves his Big Pink Dog, Rabbit, Hedgehog, and now, Moose and Squirrel. But he plays with them all, depending on his mood. Everyone loves the Cat Dancer, a toy attached to a thick wire that makes the “prey” flutter like an insect or skulk behind a chair. When we are part of the play, it’s important to let him bring the prey to earth and do some Death Blows on it. That’s where the satisfaction comes in.

So if kittens mess with the venetian blind cords, get them a dangly toy, and put those cords up top where they won’t be tempting. If the kitten attacks the kid’s stuffed animals, get the kitten their own stuffed animals. If the kitten is hiding in the wrong places, get them a play tunnel or even a cardboard box they can make their own.

Kittens must play. It’s the call of the wild. Which must always be answered.

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There’s more ways to care for our cat with The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See all of my posts on CAT CARE.