Buckeye the cat snapped this photo of his pal Brutus. Purina Friskies
Purina Friskies recently undertook a brilliant study to find out what cats do all day when they're home alone. They fitted 50 indoor cats with collar cameras to get a cat's eye view of the world.
The digital cat-cams snapped a still photo every 15 minutes. By combing through the piles of photos, Purina animal behavior scientist Dr. Jill Villarreal was able to draw some surprising new conclusions about how our kitties fare when they're left to their own devices.
(You can see the photos here.)
Before the study, most of the cat's owners expected lots of pictures of beds, Villarreal told Paw Nation. After all, cats sleep all day, right? Think again. "Although they do spend 8 to 16 hours [per day] asleep, when they're active and up, they're active and up -- and seeking out sensory stimuli within the home," Villarreal said.
That wasn't the only myth that the undercover kitties debunked. "There's still that belief out there that cats are asocial and prefer to be solitary," Villarreal said. "What the cat-cam study showed was they actually have active social lives."
The cats didn't just hang out with their feline housemates. They also spent a lot of time with dogs and even bunnies. "If they grow up together, they see other animals as friends," Villarreal said.
The cats spent nearly 12 percent of their time hanging out with other animals, versus six percent sleeping and five percent playing with toys.Their hands-down favorite activity? Looking out windows -- something the cats did for more than 21 percent of their time!
Villarreal says the study offers clues about how to make your home even more stimulating for cats. "It seems like they're seeking novelty and variety," she says. "Now that we know cats like variety, we can provide it in the home."
She suggests hiding several small food bowls around the house so that the cat has to work a little to find his lunch. She also recommends mixing up his toys. Give him furry mice for a few days, then a catnip tow for a while, then maybe some bottle caps or other random objects that only a cat could love.
Villarreal also recommends giving cats a treat-dispensing ball for them to wrestle with while you're away. Change up the flavors of the food inside the ball to keep your cat guessing."There were a lot of pictures of them stalking and playing around that way," she explained. "If we gave them a treat ball, it would be a fun way for them to explore their food and have a multi-sensory experience."
"Now we have a glimpse into the cat's world," she added. "I think we underestimated what the cat was doing during the day. From a cat's perspective, they're seeing a world full of excitement."
Kinda makes us look at our furry friends a little differently.
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My cats do love their window time and luckily we have nice big windowsills in every room and lots and lots of windows. It's like kitty tv all day and since we live on a large 3 acre lot with lots of trees, we have birds in the yard all day, and squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies & who knows what else they see sitting there all day. They've also got tall cat trees in a couple of the windows with multiple levels to accomodate several kitties at once. I love to watch them in the windows chattering & calling the birds & wildlife. If I make too much noise or go up to kiss them, they give me a dirty look like "mom, you're gonna scare them off." :)
Clemifern - You sound like me! We have sliding glass doors opening to a second story balcony, and I love to hear my cats chatter when a squirrel or a bird visits the balcony. Right now one of them is rolling in their Cosmic Catnip, and she is a riot to watch when she does that! Here is to the joy that cats and dogs bring us!!
if i move my cat's food he yells at me just aweful...some cats dislike change when it comes to moving their food. but i agree with the social aspect of a cat's life, cats can be very very social... my cat is convinced he's a dog...he hangs out with the dog, drinks the dog's water, eats the dog's food, sleeps next to the dog, attacks her tail, plays with her, etc. he's about 7 or 8 months now and since he was little (before we had him), he had a dog to hang out with. if we took away the dog, i think he'd be one sad little kitty.
Please don't let your cat eat dog food. Cats need taurine for their eyesight, which is only found in cat food.
Roger
LOL-mabe there are some autistic kitties out there? (people with autism dont like change) My horse hates riding in trailers, and i honestly think its motion sickness! She gets the sweats like crazy and thats what happens to me when i get motion sick!
The link to view the pictures is no longer working. ;-(
Here's a cool trick. Put a small ball, a toy mouse, or a soda bottle lid (plastic) in your bathtub (a dry tub, of course). Your cat can have a ball batting it around and chasing it, without the toy getting lost under the bed, etc. Also, tossing some cat nip into the tub works great. The cat can wallow and roll in it, and then you can just wash the remainder down the drain later . Clean and handy and fun for the kittie. (Be sure to show the cat what's in the tub after you've put the goodies there. Otherwise, they might not notice.)
My cats love to play in the bathtub. I actually keep an extra water bowl in there for them during the day because they love it so much. I have to shoo kitties out of the tub every morning before I take a shower. They think they own the bathtub at our house.
This is really cool-i'd like to see it done for other pets!
Yes, please don't feed your kitty the dog's food. They have separate foods for a reason. Cat food isn't good for dogs and dog food doesn't have the necessary nutrients for cats.
It's great that they love each other and play together but their meals need to be separate and specifically for them.
I'm sure she is giving the cat its cat food as well; the cat is probably just adding to its diet with the dog food. My cat did this and the vet said she'd be fine as long as she ate cat food, too. She is 3 now and OK, but no longer eats dog food.
Animals are so wonderful. My cat Nikki used to get along with a hamster and was very crushed when Hammy passed away. Now Nikki is spoiled. She likes to bring her toys to bed and enjoys her view we have at our home.
Oh, you mean cats and dogs are animals? I forgot that. Sometimes, they seems like people.
I have 3 cats all about the same age 18 months. Two are part siamese sisters and one is a black male. The male in no way realizes he is a cat. He will follow us outside even in the rain or snow. He particularly likes snow. He plays in water frequently, our creek is one of his favorite places. He follows us around like he is a dog, and even usually comes when we call him. I may try getting him the treat dispenser noted above, he would probably really like it. The female cats prefer chasing each other around and stay indoors. They also stare out the window frequently. (of course all are neutered).
I never realized how much time my cat, Chester, does spend staring somewhat aimlessly out the front window. He's more of a guard dog it seems than my big black lab is. My cat enjoys watching television, too. Maybe it's just all the things moving? Regardless, cats will forever remain my favorite animal.
my cats are indoor/outdoor - outdoors more than in by their own choice....a camera on them would be pretty interesting........show them catching the mice they leave by the door
My cats do love the window. they talk to the birds and things outside. I call my one cat our Photosynithisis cat becasue he has to be in the sun. the other one does sleep alot but he's still young. they are pudggy tho so i dont think we could leave the food around or even out because they eat until the bottom of the bowl shows. even if you put a little bit in it to last the night. LOL... they play alot too which is great, they have there favs and know the names of them if you tell charlie to go get the ball ball he knows where he left it. What i find amusing is that they play with the Chinchilla aswell. the chin will talk to the cat and they will play. its truely adorable. lol
I have a cat that eats until all the food is gone from the bowl too...my vet suggested using a tray instead, with one layer of food. It has worked wonders for his ability to self-regulate. There's just one layer of food on a tray (I use a round tray that had a cheesecake on it at one time--it's about 15 inches across), and now the food lasts a whole 24 hours before I have to put out more. He sees the "bottom" right away and knows there is still more food there. No more overeating!
The link doesn't seem to work; however, I recall reading or seeing a documentary where cats "take inventory" of the house on a daily basis. I think this is true since our one cat got our one day and was missing for at least 24 hours. We found her sitting in our patio. There's no way to get in our out with the gate lock except to climb the fence, so I suspect she remembered that we have a bbq in the patio. She was sitting there with that "what took you so long to open the door?" look.
Needless to say, we got her tagged the next day at the humane society in case she decided to wander off agian.
My cat is sooooo boring. All he dose is: go outside and look for lizards,sleeps,eats and looks out the window. Also he watches tv, no joke!!!