{"url":"https://www.zooplus.co.uk/magazine/cat/cat-adoption/is-my-cat-happy","title":"Is my cat happy?","mag_id":65833,"is_single":true,"cat_name":"Cat","sub_cat_id":149,"sub_cat_name":"Cat Adoption and Ownership","cat_id":138}
If we love someone, we obviously want them to be happy and will gladly do what it takes to contribute to their happiness. Of course, this particularly applies when it comes to love for our four-legged feline friends with whom we share our lives. After all, they make us very happy too. For starters, you can be sure that if you allow your cat to live a species-appropriate life that fully suits its nature and needs, you’re already doing a great deal to make it happy. On one hand, this involves appropriate activity with suitable toys that also fits with the intelligence of the breed or cat in question. A high-quality food is also very important.
Your cat also needs a big enough scratching tree in order to be happy, which allows it to sharpen its claws and spread its own individual scent along with one or more draught-free places to retreat, such as a little cat house. The breed or nature of cats determines how much outdoor access they need. And you’ve already guessed what makes most cats really happy: stroking in abundance!
If you can give your cat all of this, you can be pretty sure that it’s happy. In order to be completely convinced that you’re making your beloved cat happy, we have asked qualified cat experts for the unmistakeable signs of feline happiness. Here are their answers:
The ten sure signs that your cat is happy
1. Exuberant swishing around
Is your beloved cat suddenly swishing through the garden, house or apartment for reasons unknown to you? Congratulations! You’re doing something right and your cat evidently feels happy with you. Just like children expressing their love of life in this way, cats also do so to show their unfettered joie de vivre.
2. Highly concentrated during play
Is your cute feline housemate playing with a cat toy such as a fishing rod or a soft toy and seems completely lost in the moment and its activity? Then it’s very much certain that your cat is happy. It will particularly welcome too you dedicating as much time to it as possible, including for playing together. Depending on the breed or temperament, cats love games that stimulate them mentally. For this purpose, there are intelligence toys that keep your cat’s grey matter up to speed.
There can be numerous reasons for your cat or kitten purring, though it is generally a positive sign. Be aware though that it can very much indicate pain or fear too. However, you will be able to recognise through additional factors whether your cat is purring purely out of pleasure or if there is a negative cause.
4. It wants plenty of cuddles
Another good sign of your beloved cat being happy is obviously it coming to you in bed or on the couch for cuddles, or by it meowing on the sofa when you’re working. Some cats start the day with you by hopping into your bed, cuddling up to you and perhaps even rubbing their nose against you in their desire to communicate.
Does your feline friend rubs its little nose against yours or even different parts of your body? Then the chances are good that your cat feels so happy with you that it wishes to mark you with its scent.
6. It is talkative
Like with purring, this is mostly a very positive sign though can indicate pain in certain circumstances. Again, it’s down to you as the owner to use your empathy to correctly interpret the signs.
7. It rolls around in the garden
If you observe that your beloved cat is lolling and rolling around in the garden and showing its stomach, it’s almost certainly very happy. If you have catnip in the garden, happy cats love rolling around in it, though dried catnip in a bag can also trigger the release of endorphins.
Is there a high-quality, health-promoting cat food or an especially tasty treat to mark the occasion and your cat eats it with real pleasure? This too is an unmistakeable sign of happiness.
9. The tail is raised high
Does your cat holds its tail high with the tip rolled in to some degree? If your cat greets you in this way, perhaps also prowling around your legs, it is evidently satisfied.
10. Lively bird watching
If a domestic or outdoors cat sits in its sunlit favourite spot in winter and excitedly watches the birds outside, you can also be quite sure that your cat feels happy. This is of course the case too if it is fascinated oberserving fish in an aquarium or in the garden pond. Some cats are also happy watching football on TV, because they equate the ball to a mouse. And since they don’t have a favourite team, they can’t be sad when it loses.
It’s not just the right type of litter tray that will make your cat happy, but also the right type of cat litter. The best litters are ones that are very absorbent and ideally neutralise odours too, but finding the perfect cat litter can be no easy task with so many varieties on offer from natural clumping litter made of clay, non-clumping litter, litter made of wood or silica.
There comes a time when every kitten becomes an adult and tests boundaries. The following article explains when puberty begins with cats and what this defiant phase means for you as a cat owner.
