cat behavior – Pain In The Bud

Twix Is Making Bud Look Bad

“Why don’t you have a nice, cuddly cat?”

Twix is sweet.

Twix is a love bug. Twix will hop up onto your lap and purr up a storm while you pet her. Twix is always up for affection.

She even likes being picked up!

So sweet, she makes Bud look like a cantankerous old man cat.

Everyone in my family has now met my brother’s cat, and it’s dawned on them that not every member of the species felis catus will smack you in the face if you scratch their head too many times or offer affection when they don’t want it.

Bud will. Twix won’t.

Yes, Bud is mercurial. Yes, Bud can be a massive jerk. But he’s my jerk.

And my nieces? They love Twix.

They want to love Bud, but he often makes himself scarce when they’re around and he’s wary of them despite the fact that they’re a bit older now and no longer the lumbering, fine-motor-skills-lacking little humans they once were.

I’ll never forget the day when I saw my oldier niece bicycle kick the family dog, Cosmo, like Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat. She was very young, but still: rapid-fire kicks to the face!

Cosmo growled, Cosmo retreated, but Cosmo never fought back. He was too good for that.

But Bud? He lashed out at the girls once, several years ago now, and they haven’t forgotten about it.

Still, I look at the bright side. Twix has shown the girls that cats can be cuddly and sweet and loving. They’ve got their Twix, and I’ve got my imperious, scheming, turkey-obsessed Buddy.

“Come on, dude, I’ve only attacked like 17 people and occasionally engage in some light mauling.”

Want Your Cat To Eat More? Give Them Variety, Study Says

Like us, cats get bored with the same stuff all the time.

One good piece of advice I got before adopting was to introduce the kitten to as many different flavors and textures of food as possible.

That way you won’t have a picky cat and you won’t find yourself in a scramble if the one variety of cat food your feline master will eat is discontinued or becomes difficult to get. That became a major problem during and after the pandemic, when disrupted supply chains and shortages of packing materials meant you never knew what you’d find on store shelves.

But there’s another good reason to do it: variety keeps your cat happy.

Even if your cat has a favorite food, too much exposure to that food will have diminishing returns, a research team from Japan’s Iwate University found.

But it’s not just the type of meat, texture or brand. Smell is hugely important to cats, and the study found they have much bigger appetites when presented with a novel food odor.

This is helpful not only to help us make sure our little buddies eat, but also because most of us don’t think about olfactory stimulation with cats. We build them cat condos and catios, we provide scratchers, we rotate toys. But how often do we give our cats the opportunity to enjoy new smells?

One of Buddy’s favorite things to do is sniff around the apartment building. I wait until late at night when it’s quiet and let him walk the hallways, stopping at each door to sniff. (I always remain a few feet away because it makes him feel safe, and because I can scoop him up and bring him back if he gets frightened.)

He loves it, and I don’t do it enough. After reading this, I’ll make sure little dude gets his sniffing tour more regularly.

Video: House Cat Scares Off Bears Like It’s Nothin’!

“Scooter does not like bears,” the fearless feline’s human said.

Scooter is one brave little dude!

The tuxedo cat from Asheville, North Carolina, wasn’t even phased by a pair of young bears who unwisely entered Scooter’s territory. Sure, Scooter had the benefit of a glass door between him and the ursine invaders, but Buddy here would have ~~bravely and valiantly defended his home~~ run screaming and taken up a position behind my legs while moaning pathetically.

Plus, I mean, they’re bears. Young bears, yes, but Scooter and his human placed an awful lot of faith in the strength of that glass.

Will Jones, Scooter’s human servant, made the understatement of the year when he posted the video and said flatly “Scooter does not like bears.” Ya think?

Regardless, the little guy clearly had the big animals spooked. They flinched from his hiss-accompanied flurry of rapid paw jabs, then decided it wasn’t worth dealing with the furry lunatic behind the glass and promptly left Scooterland.

Maybe they should be grateful Scooter couldn’t break through the glass instead of the other way around.

Calling All Holy Cats And Their Human Servants!

Help us figure out the mysterious feline behavior known as “begging paws”/”praying” gesture.

Back in 2024 we published a story about cats doing the begging paws/praying gesture.

For the uninitiated, it’s a quirky behavior in which a cat sits upright on its back feet, then places the front paws together and moves them up and down as if fervently at prayer — or begging for something. (Though that’s undoubtedly our anthropomorphic interpretation of a distinctly feline quirk.)

Our post about the begging paws has become one of the most popular stories on this site, with people regularly finding us via search engines as they try to learn more about this strange behavior.

The last time we asked around, several veterinarians and behaviorists were happy to speak to us about the subject, but no one could say for sure what the begging paws motion means.

We’re going to give it another shot and hopefully get some answers by comparing notes with people whose cats engage in the behavior. If your cat does the begging paws/praying gesture, we’d love to hear from you!

Please comment here or email paininthebud at gmail along with:

The name, age and gender of your cat
How frequently your cat does the gesture
Anything patterns or related behavior you’ve noticed: does your cat “pray” at certain times or in response to something she sees? Do you reward the behavior with treats, affection or attention? Has your cat always done it, or did the behavior emerge at a particular time?

Any detail could help uncover what exactly our furry friends are doing.

If you have photos or video of your cat “praying,” we’d love to include those clips in our follow-up story as well.

Hopefully by working together we can understand this quirky behavior and finally solve the mystery of why our cats do it!

Buddy’s Sunday Afternoon Nap

Looking to recuperate after a long morning of eating and lounging in the suddenly warm weather, the little guy settled down for some shut-eye.

What’s better than a Sunday afternoon nap?

It’s been a glorious day here in Buddyland! The forecast had us breaking the 50-degree mark for the first time in at least four months, so imagine our surprise when the temperature topped out in the low 60s!

Bud decided to celebrate the balmy weather by stretching out and drifting off for a nice nap, and I couldn’t resist taking a few photos of my pal looking relaxed after a hard day of eating and lounging.

To be fair, I was out earlier and when I came home, Bud was right by the door to greet me as always, so he probably had a very demanding nap in the proximity of the front door while I was gone, then opted for a more relaxed nap after expending all that energy on his earlier nap. I had also topped off his dry food before his lunch, in case he got hungry while he was eating.

It’s not easy being a cat!