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April 17, 2021 - February 9, 2022
Cats’ source of Mojo is unquestioned ownership of their territory and having an important job to do within that territory. That job is a biological imperative that cats inherited from their wildcat ancestors, and I call it: Hunt, Catch, Kill, Eat, Groom, Sleep.
When cats spread to the Far East around 2,000 years ago, there were no local wildcats for these newcomers to interbreed with. This genetic isolation led to some mutations related to appearance, which led to several of the distinct features of the Oriental breeds—including the Siamese, Tonkinese, and Birmans. Recent DNA studies suggest about 700 years of independent breeding from other breeds, and while still the same species as other domestic cats, have a genetic profile that suggests they have a unique ancestor with origins in Southeast Asia.
Old World cats lie with their paws tucked under the body (in the “meatloaf position”), while New World cats do not. Old World cats are less likely to pluck the feathers from their small bird prey, while New World cats are inclined to thoroughly pluck before eating their birds. Old World cats bury their poop, while New World cats do not. (Imagine how different our litterbox situation might have played out had our beloved house cats descended from the New World, rather than the Old!)
Approximately 96 percent of cats still choose their own mates these days. This has made for a relatively unaltered and organic genetic through line in the majority of our modern cats. But that doesn’t mean cats haven’t changed simply by living with us. In a sense, cats have self-selected: friendlier cats, who are more tolerant of humans, may be more likely to be fed and sheltered by them, and more likely to mate with cats who have similar friendly/tolerant genes.
From this information, they were able to determine some of the key genetic changes that occurred in domesticated cats. Genetic changes that are associated with: Better ability to form memories Better ability to make associations between a stimulus and a reward (such as humans offering them food) Less rapid fear conditioning—meaning today’s cat is not as quick to go into fight-or-flight mode Physical characteristics: Smaller body Shorter jaw Smaller brain Smaller adrenals, which control fight-or-flight instinct Lengthened intestines, for adaptation to scavenging human food All cats have long
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By selecting Persians for the brachycephalic (short-nosed) appearance, we have actually made it harder for them to breathe, increased the chance of skin, dental, and eye disease, and made giving birth riskier and more difficult. Scottish Folds are used as a model for studying pain and arthritis because the mutations that cause the folds in their ears also lead to painful degeneration in their bones and cartilage. Manx cats are prone to back pain, constipation, and other elimination problems because of spinal cord deformities. Maine Coon cats are prone to heart disease, and Siamese cats have a
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1930s—U.S. production of canned cat food 1930s—Spaying and neutering of cats and dogs introduced 1940s—Meat shortage Limited meat rations in the 1940s leads to the development of dry food, which made use of livestock scraps and fish. Dry food eventually becomes the majority of cat food produced and purchased. 1947—Invention of kitty litter by Ed Lowe. Before that, people used ashes, dirt, or sand, but most people let their cats “go” outside.
1969—First low-cost spay/neuter clinic opens in Los Angeles. Before that, euthanasia numbers were off the charts. 1972—ASPCA requires adopted animals to be spayed and neutered before going home. 1970s—Change to primarily indoor-only lifestyle (especially in United States) Recommended by many veterinary and humane organizations to protect cats from danger, to protect wildlife from their hunting, and because cats are increasingly accepted as family members. 1990—TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) emerges.
In this case, I wanted them to understand the paramount importance of the “three Rs”—Routines, Rituals, and Rhythm—in their cat’s life; the three Rs are based on the hunter’s lifestyle of their ancestors. The Raw Cat, as we’ve established, needed to accomplish very specific tasks every single day in order to feel Mojo-fied. The hook that I came up with—that mnemonic sticky note—was Hunt, Catch, Kill, Eat, Groom, Sleep (HCKEGS).
Cats are extremely sensitive to touch. This is, in part, because they have skin receptors that fire continuously as long as they are being touched—meaning these cells don’t adapt to physical contact because the brain keeps getting a signal saying, “I am being touched.” This is in contrast to humans, whose sensory receptors, for example, do adapt to touch, as evidenced by the fact that we don’t consciously notice, moment by moment, that we are wearing clothes. The type of cells that cats have (Merkel cells) are ultrasensitive, more like those on your fingertips. Even their hair follicles are
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Their nose pads can detect wind direction and temperature.
They have short, stiff hairs around the mouth and wrists to detect vibration.
Compared to dogs, cats have a larger area of the brain dedicated to receiving signals from the muzzle area. Whiskers have receptors that communicate with the somatosensory cortex of their brain, giving them information about the ambient temperature, their balance, and the size of a space they are trying to move through. Whiskers can also detect movement and airflow, and send messages to the brain about how strong, what direction, and how quickly the air around them is moving, which could foretell potential movements of their kill.
When in hunting mode, the twelve whiskers on both sides of the nose are held forward to detect the prey’s movement, so that the cat can make fine-tuned adjustments for the killing bite.
Cats have large eyes (in proportion to both body and head size) that face forward, which is common in predatory animals. Their visual field covers about 200 degrees, including their peripheral vision. Of that field, 90 degrees is “binocular”—in which both eyes work together for depth perception (such as determining how far away a bird is). Cats’ eyes are also more responsive to fast movement, ideal for allowing our beloved hunters to catch a scurrying mouse.
If the prey is closer than a foot away, the cat’s eyes don’t even focus; at that point, the whiskers take over by pointing forward to pick up the details. That said, indoor cats are slightly nearsighted because the objects they focus on tend to be closer, while cats who go outside are usually farsighted, just like their Raw Cat ancestors.
Here’s where a major difference between cat eyes and human eyes occurs: cats have three times the number of rods as the human eye, but they have fewer cones than we do.
Cat’s eyes are slower to focus because the lens of the eye is stiff. And when the pupils are highly constricted—such as in bright daylight—it is actually more difficult for them to focus.
Behind the retina, cats have reflective cells called tapetum lucidum. These cells are like a built-in flashlight, providing cats with a signal boost under low light conditions. Incidentally, they are also what make your cat’s eyes “glow” when you take a picture of them with flash.
Cats have the broadest hearing range of the carnivores—10.5 octaves. Cats and humans have a similar range at the low end of the scale, but cats can hear much higher pitched sounds (like mouse squeaks) than we can—about 1.6 octaves above the sounds we hear.
Recent studies have shown that domestic cats, like their cougar cousins, have individual preferences for prey. Most cats are specialists—they hunt just one or two prey types—but some cats are generalists with a wider range of prey preferences (“anything that moves”).
Cats are more active at night than we are, but they are not truly nocturnal. Rather, they are crepuscular. Their natural rhythm, devoid of other influences, is to be active at dawn and dusk, just like rodents, their primary prey animal.
The Guinness World Record for loudest purr is held by Smokey, a British cat who could purr at 67.7 dB (about as loud as conversation in a typical restaurant).
One of the most important things I can tell you about keeping your cat Raw happy and Raw healthy is that play isn’t a luxury, something that is a fun diversion if and when you have time. Look at it this way: If you have a dog, you have a collar and leash and you take the dog for daily walks. And likewise, if you have a cat, you have interactive toys and you use them for daily play sessions. These things should hold equal weight because for the respective species, they are a physical and behavioral necessity.
The exhaustion that comes from hunting happens even when the cat isn’t continually moving; watching the moth on the ceiling exhausts, the stalk exhausts, those short bursts of energy exhaust. It’s the mind-body focus that exhausts your cat. This is a directed action that your cat is 100 percent engrossed in. Expecting success to look like a track-and-field event will result in both you and your cat being frustrated. Don’t set yourself up for failure: know what success looks like.
In essence, consistently challenging your cat from a dietary perspective, and opening him up to new tastes and textures, is not only good for him but, in a way, helps to prepare your cat for different life challenges and changes.
If they’re not grooming, something is wrong. Also, if your cat’s fur is oily, or she’s getting mats when she never did before, these are also warning signs. Either way, this is something you need to be vigilant about. If your cat is avoiding grooming, it can be a sign of illness or depression. It’s also sometimes a sign of obesity; note whether your cat is grooming but avoiding her back or butt.
There is simply no reason to bathe your cat. In fact, unless your cat has been skunked or has soiled himself, he will never need a bath (with the exception of the hairless breeds, who, because of their unnatural state of hairlessness, need to have a bath once a week). Cats spend all that time grooming to cover themselves with their scent, a Raw Cat staple and a source of serious mojo, and then a human steps in and bathes them, erasing their ID.
Truth is, you don’t see a lot of long-haired wildcats because it’s not really a natural look. We have come to embrace the long-haired cat look because we have bred it into the gene pool. But cats with long hair are going to be even more sensitive to touch, and to the displacement of their hair during grooming or petting. This also explains why many long-haired cats don’t like to be brushed, even though it’s often a necessary evil in order to help them avoid matting.
But for cats, scratching is not a luxury (or a pathology). Repeat after me: scratching is not a luxury for cats. It’s how they stretch their back and chest muscles, how they exercise and de-stress, and how they shed loose nail sheaths. But scratching serves two even more important and Mojo-rific functions for your cat: Scratch marks are proof of ownership. Scratching allows cats to mingle their scent with ours (and one another’s).
Your cat is trying to comingle her scent with yours to show the ultimate in cat sharing: co-ownership of territory.
So, I repeat: location, location, location! There’s just no way around this, in my experience: the box should be located where it works best for your cat, not you. Think of it as the lesser of two evils. It’s either a litterbox where you don’t want it, or pee where you definitely don’t want it.
In most cases, try starting with just an inch or two of litter and adjust from there. But the lesson here is that everything about litterboxes, down to the amount of litter in the box, needs to be a conscious choice on your part.
Ideally, the length of the litterbox should be at least 1.5 times the body length of your cat. He should be able to turn around, do plenty of digging, and find a clean place to go without coming face-to-face with the wall of the box.
The idea that a cat needs privacy when peeing or pooping is classic human projection; it’s what we want when we go to the bathroom, so you think it’s what your cat wants. Wrong.
Some cats might be fine with a lid, but lids can lead to ambush zones and dead ends, especially in a home with dogs, kids, or other cats. Covers can get pretty nasty after repeated use and are hard to clean. Also, long-haired or larger cats can get a static shock from touching the sides of the hood as they enter or exit.
This may not be the most popular stance, but I feel strongly that the more you sanitize the litterbox, the more you’re doing a disservice to your cat.
Cats want and need to smell themselves. Pee and poop are heavy-duty territorial signifiers, ways of going around saying “I own this.”
All you have to do is scoop the clumps every day—you don’t have to go crazy. You can completely empty the box out once a month or so, and rinse it with hot water. This should suffice for most cats (and for you as well).
There is no successful relationship that comes down to establishing dominance. This book is about positioning yourself as a Mojo enabler, not a Mojo disabler. Invisible fencing, scat mats, shock collars, declawing, and, yes, even the ubiquitous spray bottle should all be thrown into the “things we used to do” pile.
When your cat goes into fight or flight, has redirected aggression episodes, or has freaked out on somebody or something, you can lead him to a small, confined environment, with lights down low, no sounds, no stimulation, no nothing.
Remember, a time-out is there for your cat’s benefit, not for yours. That’s the distinction between a time-out and Kitty Jail.
The experiment showed that dogs weren’t experiencing guilty feelings about eating that treat, but that they likely experienced fear and anxiety when scolded by their human.
Clicker training is based on the ideas of operant conditioning put forth by B. F. Skinner. In the 1940s, two of his students, Marian and Keller Breland, took these ideas and ran with them, training animal actors in their “IQ Zoo.”
The Brelands trained thousands of animals using these methods: chickens played baseball, pigs saved money in piggy banks, and pigeons were trained to guide missiles (I wish I was kidding).
But in general, cats are communal animals who have been victimized by the stereotype of being asocial, aloof loners. The Raw Cat lives in colonies, as we’ve seen with feral cats. They problem solve as members of a whole community. The only thing they do solo is hunt. That being said, there are some cats who really don’t mind being alone; it’s about individuals.
I’ve found that these kinds of age/gender parameters are simply too broad, not to mention that they limit your ability to make a connection with a cat who falls outside of those parameters once you get to the shelter. Also, at least when it comes to gender, the fact is that most cats are neutered at an early age, so the effects of hormones and sex on cat relationships are nominal.
In my opinion, the main criterion to factor in to matchmaking is to match cats by energy level. Even the cat’s history should have less of an impact on your decision. I’d say that the first thing to do before even going to the shelter is to think about what personality type best complements your cat’s.
The cat’s social world is based around family. Dr. Sharon Crowell-Davis’s studies of feral cat colonies have demonstrated that their social lives are much more complex than anyone had given them credit for. The assumption that cats were asocial led scientists to completely neglect studying how cats interact with each other for years, and has led us to commonly segregate kittens from other cats as an adoption norm.
As I said, I always prefer, for the sake of Cat Mojo, for cats to feel like they are making the decisions. If that decision, however, is looking like it’s going to be a messy one, and if you need to pick up one of the cats and bring him into another room before the cats take action on that decision, then that’s what you do.
