10 Things Cats Hate

Our fellow cat members love a lot, but there are a few things that irritate them tremendously and perhaps even hate. Here are 10 of them.

Changes

They hate changes in their environment. Well we are not entirely sure if they hate them. But they do notice and register every little change. They will sniff every change in the house and rub their faces into them, claiming them to be “theirs”. Every change in territory and every new object in their territory needs to be checked out and marked for “ok” or “not ok”.

In some cases it is the changes in their environment (it can also be a new cat) that causes them to get stress. The stress then gets acted out as aggression or peeing outside the litter box.

Being Ignored

Never noticed this? When you don’t cuddle your cat when they demand it, they come to ‘help’ you. They will go right in front of you so that you HAVE TO cuddle them. They will hang around your legs when you don’t give them their food NOW or let them outside. Kira is very good at this. She will jump the doors, mew at them and even jump at them to open them! Urgh.. she even opens the front outside door, so we have to lock everything all the time.

Tiger loves to hang around your legs. So while you got the food for Tiger in your hands (cup), you nearly trip over him by every step you take. Other times they can sit right behind you while you are busy in the kitchen. You feel all sorry and your cat has a “YES” moment. Now he/she gets a cuddle.

Loud Noises

Cats hate loud noises in general. Screaming kids, screaming parents, slamming doors, things dropping on the floor with a bang or clash. Our kitties react to it with their ears turning or flat, them diving for danger or running into corners. So when me and Theresa got a misunderstanding or something else goes wrong and I feel annoyed such as game over in a computer game, they leg it.

Dirty Litter trays

This is something they say about cats that most/some cats don’t want there to be anything in the litter tray before they will do their business there. I don’t know where they got this info from, vets and other websites alike. I never noticed this as a problem, except for one cat, Tiger. But even when I just got super fresh cat litter, Tiger still won’t go on it, so I doubt it is related.

No, we do clean the cat toilets / cat litter every day to every other day, with the exception one exception. When we are gone for a weekend (usually three days incl Fridays), we don’t clean the cat litter for those three days.

Yes, if you leave the cat litter in for longer than those three days, you will notice trouble. They will start to eliminate outside the toilet somewhere else in the house. Tiger always pisses somewhere to show his annoyance, but that has nothing to do with this story.

We got one toilet that is size “huge” and one smaller one for the temporary cats (and we got a few more toilets for projects, but they are currently “offline”). The huge one gets every two days of cleaning, the smaller box every day (except for those “weekends”).

Bathing in Water

Cats hate to be in too much water. A raindrop is definitely okay. Drinking water is also fine. Playing with it they also do in most cases. But they generally are not a big fan of a bath or shower. We sort of just manage by good and efficient skills to sometime shower a cat. Bathing we won’t ever try. We once had Tabby in a shower and he nearly killed my wife Theresa.

Tiger is easy in the shower, but you still have to be with two. There are however cats that do like an occasional swim.

Veterinarian Visits

No, they are definitely not much of a fan of a veterinary visit. But I am not sure if it has to do with the veterinary or with the drive to it. I mean, most of our cats do not really mind to be at the veterinary. They just like to explore, look around and crawl in the most difficult-to-reach places in the veterinary room.

Note on the driving: They generally do not like to be transported, especially not in a box with little moving-around space. Most cats get a little car sick and can start to hyperventilate. We transport our cats only if absolutely necessary. One exception is Tiger. He loves to be on a little trip, so sometimes we find him near the road where we arrive home and take him with.

Tiger can actually be kept on your lap, but not for a long trip because also he will start hyperventilating and panicking at some point. And the worst side of transport is that they will eliminate in their box, get fear scents and similar things. They don’t like to sit with their own elimination and feel ashamed of it too. It is a humiliating experience for them.

One last word on transported by car. They hate tunnels! And we got many of them in Norway.

Boarding Catteries (cat Hotels)

Catteries are hotels for cats when you want to travel. I thought I should explain this anyway, because our Norwegian readers actually have no clue about a cattery. I have at least never seen one around here, so here is a big business opportunity for me (or not, do people care here about their cats enough to drop them off at a cattery?). I got experience with them, because they got them in my home country The Netherlands and they exist in many other countries including the US and UK.

I am not sure if they hate boarding catteries, because my previous cat Rover did all sorts of naughty stuff when he was staying there. But they definitely hate you (for a short while) when you come back to pick them up again. “Why you %&#$@ did you leave me behind here with these %&#$@!!!”.
Also do they hate to travel by car in some cases, especially the tunnels.

They neither like new environments and routines for their daily life. The cat toilet is now on a different spot, there sleep area as well and their food routine is different. Also they are staying among many other cats. This can cause a lot of stress and anxiety to your cat.

Being stared at

Unless you slow-blink at them, staring at them is a big no-no. It is a sign of dominance and they don’t like to be dominated. The reaction will be either fear or some form of hate or annoyance. If you ignore your cat, your cat will come to you.

Medicine pills

If you got the right technique, this is a quick job done. But just telling your cat that you are going to give them a nice tasty tablet against worms for example, will make them run off. Unfortunately pills need to be given sometimes, especially against worms. Worm medicine needs to be applied for at least every three months.

Low temperature outside

Cats like it warm as desert animals. Low temperatures and especially accompanied by snow and ice are a big no-no. It is even harmful to them, as their coat does not protect them from the cold. To some degree they got protection on the outer layer, until that gets wet and freezes. Their fur is meant for protection against extreme heat, as they got a very delicate skin.