Jan Leow's Press Blog


Cat Behaviour

There is no fixed rule on cat behaviour. Each cat that I had was pretty individualistic although you might spot some similarity. And between a stray-in-the-wild cats versus that of a domesticated house cat, again there will be differences in their cat behaviour as well.

Having had 4 house cats, I could give some general cat behaviour and yet each has their own idiosyncrasies. There are many books written about general cat behaviours but somehow, some don’t quite seem to match with those that I experience, while some seem to correlate. If cat could talk, we might know more about they were thinking but alas no, they can only meow, and we leave it to the social cat researchers to dig out some of those unfathomable meows.

It has also been said that their fur markings is an indicator of cat behaviour as well and it is closely related to their genetic mark up. The fur marking is also an indicator to their pedigree that is related to the cat, and like dogs, each pedigree will exhibit their own characteristics.

So far from what I can decipher from the cats that I have own to some of the cats that belonged to others as well as cats in the streets gave me a general overview of cat behaviour. It might not be an accurate observation, then again, this is just for my own understanding of what to expect if you happen to meet up with this type of cats.

Cika the ginger cat
Cika the ginger cat





Let’s start with the ginger car variety. These are the cats that have orange markings on them. However ginger cat term is rather wide and includes the bi-coloured ginger cats and the pure orange cats with or without stripes. The ginger cats that I have before were the stripe ones like that of Garfield. They tend to be very lazy and like to sleep a lot. Hence the comic strip Garfield cat is pattern after this cat behaviour. They also like to eat a lot which makes them overweight easily. So far the many Garfield types ginger cats are like that, especially if they don’t need to hunt for their food. I have seen one where you can push that fella around and he can’t even be bothered to wake up from his slumber! Oh, and they do love to be pampered, given patting and even massaged! Oh, gosh how lazy can this cat be!

The bi-coloured ginger cat, now this one is a total opposite of the pure orange ginger cat. The bi-coloured cats are very hyper active. They can’t sit still. They love to roam, and they love to hunt. You lock them in your house and they will sulk at you, maybe even bite you to get your attention to open the door. They love the thrill of the chase. They don’t really like to be patted. Sure you can pat them for a very short while, after that they say, “Enough! Don’t touch me anymore!” However if you have this cat while still a kitten they can still get attached to you and still love to have your company.

Tuxedo cats, the black and white, cow like looking cats. They are thought to be homely. I should think so. They are easy going and love your company. They are not as lazy as the pure orange ginger cats, and they are pretty good in hunting too. They are very sociable and love to be around with people.

Calico cats. Now this recent cat that came sauntered into my house is rather intriguing. I found out that calico cats are always female because of their genes. This calico cat is very sociable. She loves to have people around her. And she is rather lazy as well.

Though I have not had these other cats like the grey stripes or the Russian blacks. From what I observed, these darker coloured cats tend to be rather fierce and very strong. It is possible the darker fur is an indicator to their psychological makeup which makes them a little more aggressive.

The grey patches type cats are somewhat more gentler. However having not owned one, I’m not too sure about their personality.

As per all cats, they do have common cat behaviour. Cats are in general curious. And so far all the cats that I have were very curious creatures and tend to poke in the nose where they should not belong. If you bar the cat from entry to certain part of your house, they almost certainly want to go where you forbid them to go. It is like, “Why can’t I go in there? You can enter, so I should be able too!” Incorrigible.

Cats like boxes and even frames and would sit inside them. It is laughable, but I see they like to cosy themselves into the boxes or frames that fit their body shape; even mini drains which they will lie inside for awhile. They even clamber in to my soft guitar case and sits inside there for awhile.

Cats like to perch on high places and watch the world go by. You have a wall or ledge or even your car, cats will climber up to these high places and have a nice bird’s eye view of their surroundings. And if your cat is hyper-active like the bi-coloured ones, it is not surprising to them high up in your house roof too and how on earth did they get themselves up there in the first place?

Cats love attention. So you got your morning papers, lay them flat on your dining table to read. And the next thing you know, splat, a nice flurry creature called the cat would be sitting on the pile of newspaper. “Hey! Pay attention to me!” says the cat. You can move them away, but they will return to sit on your newspaper again. They don’t understand why you are staring at that pile of paper. They rather you stare at them and give them the attention than that incomprehensible black and white thing on the dining table.

And house cats always love company. Having been living together with us humans, they probably feel they are part human themselves. They like to be around people. You can do your activities like watch TV or do household chores; cats will just hang around near you or sleep near to whatever you are doing.

There are more cat behaviours that you may observe and they are interesting and even amusing as you learn about their idiosyncrasies and cat personality as they are revealed to you.

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