Cats don’t like surprises.

Their reasoning is much the same as it is with people who don’t like surprises; they think it’s never anything good. But cat reasoning is even more supported by facts.

Out in the wild, a surprise is probably not a birthday party; it wants to eat us.

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So cats prefer not being surprised. They also take it one step further; they prefer knowing what’s going to happen way before it happens.

While cats will often surprise us, and act in a way that show they understand the principle, they are a classic example of dishing it out, but not being able to take it. Our surprises should be in the nature of puzzles, not leaping out from behind a bookcase. Any more complex or threatening surprises must be telegraphed emotionally before they will experience it happily.

Our cats enjoyment of, and expectations with, their routines is not about an unwillingness to change. Cats will amp up almost any time; as long as it is their idea.

In cats, drive, intelligence, and curiosity are all tempered with their caution. This is based on their instincts setting them up to be able to “go it alone,” even though they might not have to, and even though they really might not prefer it.

But most cats are the heroes in their own adventure movies. They must feel capable, at any time, of understanding what it going on around them. A vital part of that is being able to anticipate what the other living, and un-living, objects around them will do.

This is why cats are both fascinated, and frightened, by remote controlled objects. Moving an un-living object into the living category is a major challenge to our cat’s thinking processes. Unless, funnily enough, the object is designed to play with them. Then they find a category to put it in.

Remote controlled toys that dangle like wands and hop around like prey; become prey. And all is well again in our cat’s mind.

This is why we explain things to our cats. If it involves them, (and if they are around, they’ve decided it involves them,) they want to know about it. They recognize we are a source of information. They might not grasp the entirety of the engineering, but all cats are students of physics.

So we can reassure our cat, when they first meet something new, by putting this new thing through its paces. If it is going to move around, have it move around under supervision. If it’s going to make noise, tell the cat it’s going to make noise by crouching down, holding up our hands, or otherwise signaling the noise before it occurs. If the new thing is prone to tip over or has other vulnerabilities, gently let the thing brush with disaster, and show our distress over this occurring.

By investigating this new object with our cat, we are performing a number of cat training tasks:

So often, people set up their cat to get in trouble. They keep the new object tantalizing by trying not to let the cat get close to it. They panic, and panic the cat, when the cat is trying to satisfy their curiosity. They keep the object a point of suspense, and then fixation, when all the cat is trying to do is figure it out; so they can then safely ignore it.

Helping our cat transition through all these phases, under our supervision, is how we have our things, and our cats, living in harmony.

Then we can have nice things. And happy cats.

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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.

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