📣 Top Tip number 4 for multicat households: Encourage avoidance!📣
This one seems backwards I know. But once cats have fallen out, we can’t make them be friends - they want to be in control of their social relationships. 😿😿
What we can do, is help give them that control. Setting up the territory to encourage avoidance means they have all their needs met independently, and they are not forced to interact with each other when they don’t want to. 😸😸
Here are some things you can do:
🍽️ Feed them apart so they are not forced to come together at mealtimes
🚽 Provide plenty of litter trays in separate areas of your home. This will reduce one cat blocking access, and the chance of them meeting accidentally when travelling to the single tray. It can be stressful to make the journey if they could meet an unfriendly cat on the way.
🧗 Provide plenty of height in your home to unlock territory up high and make the most of the available space. Particularly in rooms where both cats want to be - usually where you are, or sunny places. It’ll help them be together but FEEL like their apart - being on different heights, out of each others eye line.
🧶 Play with them separately to avoid one cat taking over and the other leaving.
🌳 If your outside space is safe, giving them access to a garden can help expand the territory, relieving the pressure on the inside. It also gives them an escape if things get too much.
By giving your cats the opportunity to live apart, you give them control of when to be together and when to be alone. Meetings are on their own terms - rather than their hands being forced - and the pressure is off, so meetings go much better. 💕💕
In the meantime, you’ll have fewer aggressive interactions and happier cats which is better all round and of course - fewer behaviour problems to boot. 😻😻
#toptips #catbehaviour #multicathousehold
