http://www.yourcat.co.uk 15“FAIR-WEATHER
KITTIES WILL SWAP THE
EXCITEMENT OF THE
OUTDOORS FOR THE
FIRESIDE AS THE AUTUMN
WINDS TURN CHILLY.”▼“He likes to set out at four in the
morning. He tends to come back for an
afternoon nap, then he goes out again.
He’s usually back again for bedtime at
ten,” says Claire. “Duke is very much his
own cat!”
Individuals like The Duke are
capable of wandering off over quite
considerable distances — up to three
miles — while others simply have
a favourite spot to just sit and watch
the world around them. Some
— perhaps those with closer
connections to a feral ancestry — insist
on being out all year round, while
the fair-weather kitties will swap the
excitement of the outdoors for the
fireside as the autumn winds turn chilly.THE LURE OF THE
DARK, DARK NIGHT
But why does the night-time have such
an allure? The outdoor environment can
be a complex mix of different smells,
sights, sounds, tastes, and textures
that constantly change. It’s particularly
stimulating and interesting for a cat’s
highly-tuned senses, no doubt offering
an important mental workout.
Birds and small mammals tend to be
most active at dawn and dusk, a key
time for feline hunting activities. Many
a cat is woken by the dawn chorus or
first sign of light through the curtains,
and slips out of the cat flap to join the
world. Many an owner, in turn, wakes to
find a ‘gift’ thoughtfully presented
for them to find.
Hilary Orme, author of
a children’s book about
a feline character,
‘Pevensey the Pirate
King’, says: “My cat,
Dotty, usually stays in
at night, as she sharesher territory with Patrick Cat, a large,
ginger male, and avoids him whenever
possible. At about five in the morning,
she goes out and hunts along the edge
of the field, and in the long grass and
reeds around the pond.
“It is very rare that she returns
without something for her ‘larder’. She
places her catch next to the garden
hose reel, knowing that I go there every
morning to water the hanging baskets.
“I am glad to say that she has only
once caught a bird. She went through
a phase of bringing live prey into the
conservatory, letting it go, and then
helping me to hunt for it. I proved
to be such a tardy pupil that,
fortunately, she gave up on ever
turning me into a hunter.
“When she was a kitten, she tried to
curry favour with Patrick Cat by taking
him gifts. This failed abysmally, and she
quickly gave up on that too.”
Cats Protection’s experts say the
hunting sequence of stalking and
catching prey is hard-wired in the
cat, and the action of chasing and
pouncing actually releases
endorphins, or ‘happy
hormones’. Hunting
behaviour is not influenced
by hunger either — many
well-fed cats will still want
to hunt.
The good news is thatthis need can be satisfied with games
(fishing rod-style toys, for example), and
cats will tend to grow out of the need to
hunt real prey. Of course, keeping
your cat inside from before dusk
and after dawn should make a big
difference, as will fitting a bell to
a safety-buckled collar.WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?
After scientists realised they knew
more about wildcats than our pets’
behaviour, there have been a number
of studies using mini GPS and
collar-mounted cameras to follow
our domestic cats.
Professor Alan Wilson, of the
University of London’s Royal
Veterinary College, one of the key
figures behind the BBC’s ‘The Secret
Life of the Cat’ series, said at the time:
“The project was fascinating for us as
we were able to learn so much about
cats and their human interactions.
Often, our findings would contradict
what owners believed their cats were
getting up to.”
This statement rings true for
owner Dylan Herbert of Penarth, Vale
of Glamorgan, who took part in a
subsequent study by Dr Sarah Perkins at
Cardiff University. He says of his tabby,
Spotlyn: “I thought he slept all night on
the bed, because he was there when
I went to sleep and there in the morning.
But he didn’t just sleep: he went out at
night for about an hour, and went up
and down gardens in Plymouth Road
where we live!”
Sarah reveals there were surprises
for many other cat owners whose cats
were fitted with GPS collars for the
zoological students’ survey into urban
cat behaviour.
“The cats that were unrestricted
in their access to the outdoors were
much more active at night than during
the day. And their ranges were much
greater than we anticipated too.”WHO WERE YOU
WITH LAST NIGHT?
An easier option for cats less
inclined to the challenges of hunting
is theft! These original cat burglars
‘break into’ homes via a cat flap or open
window, and the greedier ones think
nothing of gobbling up the food in
a resident’s bowl, and intimidating
others with claws-out attacks, spraying
in the home, or both.
Owners in the village of Shamley
Green, near Guildford, Surrey, whichDid you
know?
Cats enjoy catnaps
and can sleep for up
to 16 hours a day.Duke — sleepy after
a long and busy day.14-16 Dark Night CSAM(SW).indd 15 29/09/2017 16: