Cats and Their Security Objects

In a way, cats view the entire house as their security blanket. The places, the routines, and the beings in it are all part of what cats feel responsible for.

Keeping them predictable makes for a happy cat.

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Different cat types have different security needs. A curious Alpha will find a change will trip their curiosity switch, while a cautious Gamma will find a change will trip their uncertainty switch. Betas will find changes in their routines or people more upsetting than furniture rearrangement, which they will usually take in stride.

To understand a cat’s reaction to changes in the home, we must remember that cats are terraformers. Not only do they keep track of every path through their territory, and every behavior in it, they will also try to change the objects around them to suit them better.

With a Gamma, it’s examining a vacuumed pillow to know if it has changed in any important way. With an Alpha, it can be moving as many things as they can shove.

Cats, above all, want to know what to expect. In any given situation. Smooth running routines, spots that haven’t changed since they’ve last been visited, and our predictable responses to what they do is all part of the territory/security package.

Cats in the home perform a delicate balancing act that will both fulfill their instinctual desires for territory control, and keep us happy when their views on where the vase wants to be does not meet with agreement. It is always a process of negotiation; and cats are quietly aware that this is our territory, and we have the final say.

Making a show of consulting them, warning them that changes are coming, and showing them their spots which have not changed may seem, to us, like exercises in pretending and in stating the obvious. That is exactly what they are. But doing it communicates respect to the cat about their security and comfort.

Subjects they feel as strongly about as we do.

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There’s more ways to understand our cat with The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See all of my posts on WHY CATS DO THAT.