Imagine a life where you could sleep or doze for up to 16 hours per day, have prepared meals placed in front of you and be waited on hand and foot. Sounds like paradise?
It is actually the life of the average household cat.
Cats sleep for around three-quarters of the day, much of the time relatively lightly, hence the term ‘cat napping’. Cats can go from a deep sleep to being fully awake in a matter of seconds.
Although so much of its day is spent asleep, cats do become bored.
Parents are aware that children need toys and dog owners know that without walks, games and toys their dog will become bored but few people recognise that the cat has the same needs – perhaps because 8 out of 10 times they check, the cat is asleep.
Cat owner or non-cat owners alike will know exactly what is meant by ‘playful as a kitten’ and most owners provide kittens with toys and spend time playing games but as Puss grows up he is left to provide his own entertainment. If he has access to outdoor areas he can climb trees, chase leaves and go on safari through the garden but due to legislation or owner concerns for the cat’s safety many cats today are confined.
Cats are much safer living indoors- they are not exposed to the dangers of infectious diseases, predators or motor vehicles. Plus,our precious wildlife are protected.
Confining a cat is not cruel, cats are quite happy to live indoors permanently especially if trained to indoor life from kittenhood. Most outdoor cats will happily adapt to indoor life once they recognise all the home comforts that go with it – and there is nothing a cat likes more than comfort.
Ask a cat to design a house and he would choose rooms with a view, windows with morning sun, a heater for the cooler months and a few high spots where he can survey his domain.
He would furnish his home with climbing towers and scratching poles that can be purchased at pet stores or inexpensively made by the home handyman/woman from scraps of timber and carpet, and tunnels and boxes to play in.
He would decorate with cat toys – furry ones, coloured ones, jingly ones, dangly ones and rolling ones.
He would bring the outdoors indoors with a pot of ‘cat grass’ available at most nurseries.
About fifty percent of cats are attracted to catnip or catmint and if he is one of them he would have a bowl of Common Catnip (Nepeta cataria). To ensure year round pleasure he would make sure some was harvested and dried and stuffed in cat toys.
The cat that has everything might consider his own DVD player and a DVD produced just for cats – he can have his choice of watching bugs or birds!
http://kittyshow.com/