Stalking

Question
Hi Ali,

Our Cat is around 2 years of age,
growing into an adult. She was
very friendly, usually purring cat
until now. She has been stalking
under our couch-24/7. This happened
yesterday, and she won't eat or stay
on your lap, she just wants to stalk.


She is always crouched down when she walks
around the house now, her eyes big and tail
swishing. We are trying to nip this in the
bud.(Shaking pennies, picking her up and
carrying her away.)


What are some ways to end this? I understand
stalking is a cats natural instinct, but there
is nothing under the couch, and it is really
unhealthy. Secondly, why is she doing this?
I read it may be boredom, but she receives alot
of attention, and she is played with daily.


Thank you,

Faith

Answer
Faith,

This sounds like awfully odd behavior - have you checked to see if there is anything under the couch that might be attracting your cat's attention? Perhaps what you're looking for might be in the walls if you live in an older home, not necessarily right out in the open (rodents can find their way into wall spaces through the tiniest openings). If you don't find anything obvious under the couch that she may be focused on and she still isn't eating I would strongly suggest having her assessed by your vet to make sure that there isn't some sort of medical issue causing her to act this way... It's always a good idea with behavioral changes to have your cat assessed by a vet just to be on the safe side - some cats show signs of illness in strange ways.

My general feeling is that this might be a behavioral issue either related to getting frightened near the couch or an obsessive manifestation of play type aggression. Rather than using behavioral modification techniques to frighten her (shaking pennies in a container) or removing her from the situation ideally redirecting her is a much healthier option. If your cat is bored she may have created games to entertain herself and providing things like puzzle toys that dispense food and treats to occupy her time may change her behavior over time. I would also suggest using wand type toys like Da Bird or Neko Flies to play with your kitty until she is tired (on her side, panting and absolutely done), then feed her a nice meal. She should then groom herself and go off to nap somewhere because she has followed her instinctive drive to stalk, hunt, catch, kill and eat her prey.

If you have your cat medically assessed and find that there is nothing concerning to the vet and you follow the behavioral advice I've given here without seeing any change over the course of the next few weeks it may be worth speaking to your vet about the possibility that your cat has obsessive compulsive disorder. Since our cat's brains are quite similar to ours in many ways they have been known to develop psychiatric disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder. If your cat does have OCD then you can choose whether or not to treat her using medication.

I wish you the best of luck - this definitely is odd behavior! If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me again at any time - I'm more than happy to help in any way that I can.

Kind regards,

Ali