Cat Behavior 101,  Cats,  Feline Fine Art,  Secrets of Cats

Cats Are Furry Waterfalls of Grace

February 5, 2013 / 23 Comments
If you love cats, sharing makes us purrrr :-)

Cats have inspired writers, poets and artists for thousands of years (present company included). Every day my cats amuse and beguile. They make me smile or scratch my head in wonder.

Admit it: no one who lives with a cat ever gets bored by them. To me they are ever-changing furry waterfalls of grace. Every cat is beautiful and every cat perfect even when they are imperfect or behaving badly. Perhaps more so. Cats embody grace, naturally, freely and Divinely. And what is bad behavior?

There are lots of books about cats behaving badly and how to change them or their behavior. The longer I spend time working with cats, the more I realize it’s never the cat’s “fault”. After all, they don’t judge us. If they did, most of us would be committed to looney bins. No, cats simply act, react or respond. If all is well physically and their behavior doesn’t suit us, it can be modified but before calling a behaviorist, I’d recommend looking within.

As holistic cat behaviorist, I take into consideration the whole cat and situation, physically, emotionally and spiritually. It appears to be a more complicated or layered approach but ultimately simpler. It doesn’t appeal to left-brain, results-oriented people who’d rather clicker-train their cats to behave or those who want a quick fix, or “just fix it” attitude.

Everything is connected and nothing happens in a vacuum. Take for instance, a middle-aged woman who liked her job but is suddenly fired. Her husband is struggling to cope with an aging parent. His wife feels she needs to be strong and not burden him. She internalizes her anger and helplessness. They have two cats. They all feel the unspoken tension. One cat begins peeing out of the box. The husband feels triggered and guilty. The wife finally expresses her anger at being fired by yelling at the cat. As you probably know, yelling not only doesn’t work but reinforces the negative behavior. Hey, it’s attention and the cats haven’t been getting much since their humans have been distracted. And so it goes.

It doesn’t take much to upset the balance. Cats naturally want to maintain a state of harmony and balance on every level.

In the same way a cat rights itself while falling to prevent falling on its head, a cat wants to “right” the energy in a household. The pissed off cat was sending a message. Another cat in another situation might have taken the “pissed off” energy and turned it into one of several types of aggression or shift the energy inward to other types of behavior i.e. over-grooming (licking a patch of fur raw) or nibbling on plastic grocery bags (pica). And that’s only a few of the possibilities.

This composite of real people has a happy ending but was a result of communication and insights between the humans first and the cats second.

Spending an hour observing a cat and nothing else is a meditation, a lesson and a gift all rolled into one. Look and learn.

cat-quote-art

If you are blessed to have two or more cats, the possibilities for interactions and dynamics are infinite and in a constant state of flux. You could call it grace.

Notice who is napping with who and where today. Notice how X passes Y. Notice how A is playing with B and not with C. Every hour of every day is different. Notice what’s different. Nothing stays the same. When we change, our cats change. They can reflect our moods, reveal hidden truths and take us to a deeper place of understanding of ourselves and the world.

If you like the above image, it will be available in our Cat Wisdom 101 Etsy shop opening soon. It’s inspired by two of my every day muses Merlin and Odin.

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23 Comments

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  • Oui Oui

    February 5, 2013 at 11:01 PM Reply

    I love watching my cats. I love their smell, and I love listening to their purr. When the purr winds done, I give them a couple more scratches to wind them back up. Just the look of contentment on their faces when they turn to look at me when they’re scratched is satisfying.

  • meowmeowmans

    February 5, 2013 at 9:45 PM Reply

    “Spending an hour observing a cat and nothing else is a meditation, a lesson and a gift all rolled into one.” So true, so beautiful! Thank you, Layla, for this wonderful post!

  • Skeeter and Izzy

    February 5, 2013 at 6:55 PM Reply

    Oh we cats are indeed the windows to the cosmic world! We both absorb and reflect the energy around us. Mom has been stressed about our feral brethern because they have gotten a respiratory infection. She is trying to give them extra care and attention and medication and it sort of upsets us a bit but she always tries to make it up to us with xtra love and attention. We usually forgive her pretty fast when she explains that the ferals think of her as mom too and they need her help and love and care too.Lie is good if you only take time to “see” what is going on around you. Luv and purrs Skeeter and Izzy >^..^<

  • Eric and Flynn

    February 5, 2013 at 6:46 PM Reply

    I love to watch the boys, even if they are just sleeping. Flynn has always been graceful. Eric on the other hand is the original elephant from THoE. Even when he used to climb trees he managed to look like a camel coming down, and more than once I had to climb part way up for him to walk down my arm and jump off my back. Good job he doesn’t climb trees any more as my tree climbing days are definitely over.

    • boomermuse

      February 5, 2013 at 4:32 PM Reply

      You can. Still your mind and ask him. All of my boys spray but only outside to mark territory and relay other messages. Can you take him outdoors on a leash to spray? You often post photos of him looking longingly outdoors.

      • Abby

        February 5, 2013 at 4:47 PM

        I can try.
        Ping is very insecure, whatever the folks who had him before us did to him, it has never left him. I believe he is the reason that Boo, and Jinx and him were all “dropped” off at my house. As a kitten he must have really been a handful, as now he is nearly 9 and he is still a dynamo.

      • boomermuse

        February 5, 2013 at 6:10 PM

        You’re right about his past leaving a mark, sometimes permanently. You can see traces of it in his beautiful eyes. Astro-Kitty is tomorrow which might explain something. I write about astrology tongue-in-cheek but it often fits. Odin is text book Gemini, restless and always into something.

  • da tabbies o trout towne

    February 5, 2013 at 9:52 AM Reply

    doods !!! we iz LOVIN this pick sure…. spesh a lee sinz ya pozed in: sea pea ah mode 🙂

    hay, if we may, sum thin that can helps a stressed kitty household be harp mewsic…..

    trooly N reely N noe buzinezz made by a bull 🙂

    tons oh trout ta ewe twoozday 🙂

  • Sparkle

    February 5, 2013 at 3:24 AM Reply

    Hmmm… I don’t know if I agree. Take Binga – she is happiest when she is being disruptive and causing trouble! She seems to enjoy “wronging” the energy here! I, on the other hand, am perfect and well-behaved. So maybe she is just the exception that proves the rule.

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