Play and Exercise for Senior and Overweight Cats
How to adjust play for aging or overweight cats, shorter floor-level sessions, warm-ups for stiff joints and the warning signs that mean it's time for a vet check.
Cat Behavior
Posts tagged "Cat Behavior" · All posts
How Smart Are Cats, Actually
Cats have nearly double the cortical neurons of dogs, so the "dumb cat" idea says more about compliance than actual brainpower.
Do Cats Actually Remember Things? What We Know About Feline Memory
Cats hold onto memories of people, places and bad experiences for years, and that memory is a big part of why routine matters so much to them.
Can Cats Solve Problems? What Object Permanence Tests Actually Show
Cats generally pass object permanence tests around the level of a human toddler, and puzzle feeders prove it in everyday life.
Yes, You Can Actually Train a Cat: Here's How It Actually Works
Cats respond great to clicker training and treats, they just need short, reward-only sessions instead of the methods that work on dogs.
Why Cats Notice Movement You'd Never Catch: Feline Motion Detection Explained
Cats catch flickers and twitches that slide right past human eyes, and it's the same wiring that makes laser pointers so irresistible.
Why Do Cats' Pupils Change Size? What Dilated and Slit Eyes Really Mean
Pupil size is doing two jobs at once: controlling light, and broadcasting fear, excitement, or focus. Here's the research behind both, and why cats have slit pupils at all.
What Is the Flehmen Response? Why Cats Make That Weird "Stinky Face"
The open-mouthed grimace a cat makes after sniffing something interesting isn't disgust. It's a second scent organ at work, and it's been documented since the 1970s.
The Feline Grimace Scale: How Vets Read Pain in a Cat's Face
Cats are built to hide pain, but a validated facial scoring system, developed at the University of Montreal, can catch it without ever touching the cat.
Why Do Cats Chirp and Chatter at Birds? The Prey Frustration Theory Explained
That rapid jaw-clicking at the window has a few competing explanations, from frustrated hunting instinct to a documented case of prey mimicry in a wild relative.
Why Do Cats Yowl at Night? Common Causes in Young and Senior Cats
In a young cat it's often just attention-seeking. In a senior cat, new nighttime yowling is a recognized sign of cognitive decline or an overactive thyroid.
Why Do Cats Meow at Humans but Not at Each Other?
Adult cats rarely meow at other cats. The meow is largely a human-directed sound, and the research behind that finding goes back to a 2002 Cornell study.