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Something I’ve Learned About Cats

If you've ever tried to shut a cat in (or out) of a room, you know that they often make a break for it and escape if you're not super fast through the door. Well, I've figured out a way around this problem: Don't turn away from the cat.

Cats are predators, and they are unlikely to spring into action if they think they're being observed. In southern Asia, for example, boaters on rivers wear false faces on the back of their heads so that tigers won't leap from the banks and attack when the boaters go by.

It's the same principle with house cats. It's usually only when you turn to go through the door that they spring into action, darting for freedom. If, on the other hand, you keep your face and body turned towards the cat(s), they won't dart at all. And if they do, you can move to intercept, which almost always stops them short.

True, this does require you to open a door behind your back and then move backwards through the door, but that's a lot better than accidentally slamming the door on your cat.

Anyway, I didn't know if this was common knowledge or not, but I thought I'd share it with my fellow cat-owners. It certainly works on my cats, and has saved me a lot of grief.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 11:03 am and is filed under Default. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “Something I’ve Learned About Cats”

  1. Mike Says:
    March 11th, 2010 at 1:00 pm

    Any suggestions for how to pull this off in situations where you are trying to separate two cats in adjoining rooms?

  2. ethan Says:
    March 11th, 2010 at 4:18 pm

    Hmm, tricky. Maybe physically hold cat 1 while staring cat 2 at bay, seal off cat 1, then seal off cat 2. Or get two people on the case.