Purrfectly Happy: The Five Pillars to a Cat’s Well-Adjusted Life

Developed by the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) and the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM), the five pillars of feline environmental needs are guidelines for what research and professional experience have said cats need to be satisfied living as pets.

There are several common-but-troubling behaviors that tend to appear when these Five Pillars are not accounted for such as: tension between pets, eliminating outside the litterbox, scratching furniture, biting humans, and even waking humans up at night. Continue reading to learn more about cat needs and how to prevent these unwanted behaviors.

Provide a safe place

You might think “My cat has four walls protecting her and a warm place to sleep at night. What else could she need to feel safe?.” But this line of thinking uses our human idea of safety, not a cat’s idea of safety. To understand what makes a cat feel safe, we have to think about what their wildcat ancestors needed. Cats were domesticated much more recently than other pets like dogs, and their wildcat biology still dictates a lot of their behavior today. Existing as both a predator and prey to other animals, cats feel safe when they have elevated places to watch the world around them, as well as places to hide when they are scared. 

Here are some things you can add to your home to make your cat feel safe:

• cardboard boxes,

• covered beds,

• cat trees,

• wall shelves made for cats, and

• cat hammocks.

Tight on space? Clear off some of the existing surfaces in your home to allow your cat to perch there. This could be dressers, coffee tables, or end tables. Wall-mounted perches are also a good way to save space. If you live in a rental, opt for window-mounted hammocks.

Provide multiple and separated key environmental resources

One of the most commonly misunderstood parts of living with a cat is the quantity and distribution of resources needed in cat households. If you have a multicat household or even a single cat who is exhibiting behavior issues, it’s very likely that you are missing the mark on at least one of these environmental resources.

Key environmental resources include food, water, toileting areas, scratching areas,

play areas, and resting or sleeping areas. Not only do each of these resources need to be distributed throughout the home in a minimum of 4ft from each other, they also need to exist in the right quantities. If you have more than one cat, you need at least as many food, water, scratching, play, and rest areas as you have cats. Putting resources right next to each other is usually the same as only having one in your cat’s eyes.

For toileting areas (litter boxes) the rule of thumb is one box per cat PLUS one more. And it is still important for these to be in separate areas. You may require more or fewer boxes depending on the specific relationship dynamic of your cats. If you have just one cat, it is still wise to provide two boxes, especially if your cat is having problems with house soiling. It is also still wise to spread out the resources for a single cat.

Provide opportunity for play and predatory behavior

As mentioned earlier, cats were only domesticated fairly recently, and as a result have retained a large amount of their wildcat biology. One of the strongest parts of this biology is their predatory behavior. If you’ve spent any time around cats or watching cat videos, you have likely seen this in action. The cat sees a feather wand shake in the distance, gets low to the ground and starts to wiggle her bottom. When she pounces and catches the feather, it seems like she really thinks she caught a bird! While it’s unlikely cats really think they’ve caught a living animal, we know that performing this predatory sequence is incredibly fulfilling for the cat. 

Cats who get daily opportunities to act out their predation through active play tend to experience less stress and frustration, and thus fewer behavior problems. This is why it is recommended that cats get 5-10 minutes of play at least twice a day. You can use automated toys, but we see the most success when a human is on the other end of the toy keeping it unpredictable and engaging for the cat.

Provide positive, consistent and predictable human–cat social interaction

The most prominent piece of feline behavior that changed when cats became domesticated is without a doubt their willingness to be around humans. Unlike their wildcat ancestors, domesticated cats are not only willing to get close enough to us to eat food, but they actively enjoy our company if they have been properly socialized. This is commonly misunderstood by people who have not had the chance to be chosen for a cuddle session by a cat.

One study showed that when given the choice between food, toys, interesting

scents, and human interaction, 50% of cats preferred human interaction (Vitale-Shreve, et. al, 2017) . It’s important to have an understanding of cat body language so you know when your cat is saying “no thanks” and when she’s saying “more please!” Generally, however, you should be aiming to provide your cat with one-on-one time every day. 

Provide an environment that respects the importance of the cat’s sense of smell

Cats pay a lot of attention to the smells in their environment. You could say that their sense of smell is as important to them as eyesight is to us. It is the primary way they interact with their environment. A cat with low confidence will deposit their scent even more than the average cat through types of marking because smelling their own scent is comforting. A large part of cat-cat communication is performed through smell.

The creators of the Five Pillars framework list several ways to respect your cat’s keen sense of smell. Some examples are:

• Avoid using strong chemicals in the areas they spend time

• Do not use scented litter

• Provide plenty of scratching areas for the cat to deposit their scent

• Don’t wash all of your cat’s bedding at once. Leave a couple items with their scent and rotate them out so there is always an item with their scent.

• Use artificial pheromones to reduce anxiety for a nervous/stressed cat

There are a variety of ways our cats may feel out of place in our homes due to their lasting connection to their wild ancestors’ biology. But by modifying your home with them in mind, you can maximize your cat’s happiness and prevent common behavior problems from happening.

So start looking around with a feline lens- your cat will thank you!

Sources

Ellis, S. L., Rodan, I., Carney, H. C., Heath, S., Rochlitz, I., Shearburn, L. D., Sundahl, E., & Westropp, J. L. (2013). AAFP and ISFM feline environmental needs guidelines. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, 15(3), 219–230. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098612x13477537 

Kristyn R. Vitale Shreve, Lindsay R. Mehrkam, Monique A.R. Udell, Social interaction, food, scent or toys? A formal assessment of domestic pet and shelter cat (Felis silvestris catus) preferences, Behavioural Processes, Volume 141, Part 3, 2017, Pages 322-328