Cat Behavior Read

Hi,

I am a new cat owner, and I really like my cat, Sakız (Gum in English). 

There are some behaviors of her that I can't understand. I mean, sometimes she looks like she's attacking to me, but at the same time, it looks like she's playing.

The most heartbreaking part, and I think why I post this is, she ran away from me yesterday and today, as if she encountered with someone who is going to harm her, she looked scared.

But also she slept in my bed, took care of me That made me think that she might have tried to play another game with me, and I did not get that. 

So, these, and some more similar situations led me to want to learn more about cat behavior. 

I need a book, or videos or something else to learn more about this. I live in Turkey, so the book and/or videos should be reachable online. Do you people have any suggestions?

Here are a few articles to read about Cat Behavior. 

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/cat-behavior-for-beginners

As well as a link to a page with many articles on cat behavior

http://www.thecatsite.com/atype/43/Cat_Behavior

Here is a good book that might help too

If your cat is running away like it's scared of you, I've learned from my own new cat that it might be best to "retreat" and leave your cat alone. If you keep after it, that most likely will backfire and the cat will be more scared of you and it will just make it a mess possibly. If you can, give her some treats when she's scared and she'll understand you're not going to do anything to her. Also, the treats may distract her from feeling scared (unless she's hurt or ill).

My cat got all ... complaining again (out of fear) when I gave her an old leather purse strap yesterday and she loved it and seemed upset that I might be "stealing" it from her and did the same thing that got us into our first tiff. She was making complaining noises and getting in front of me while I was trying to walk to cut me off while making those noises...

I understand now it's sounds of distress and that this happens when I give her new "toys" that she loves, but I'm trying to play with her with them. She seems to be declaring ownership of them and ... complaining/afraid ... I will take them away. This time,  when she started making those noises and cutting me off from walking, I gave her some treats before leaving her alone and then everything was fine again. Last time, I kept trying to "grovel" and make her the way she was before and gave her 10 toys in a row, catnip, then treats and kept putting my hand out to get her to come to me again. It backfired and created a huge problem situation with my cat probably not knowing what was going on. Also, it was rewarding her complaining, aloof behavior with all the "presents", which is the opposite of what I wanted. Just leave the kitty be sometimes...let her come to you when she's acting like that, unless she seems hurt or ill. And, yes, learn about cats! I have to learn more too! The internet has lots of free information.

EDIT: I'll slowly be reading the links posted above by @ShadowsRescue.  

@kutubara, I forgot to say that sometimes my cat runs away from me like it's scared too. My cat is ~3.5 years old too. I think you said yours is a kitten? I just talk to her and ask her why she ran away and then ignore her. She knows everything's fine then. Sometimes they must get scared you will hurt them. Cats are very, very alert and I've noticed sudden movements or too fast movements scare my cat. I try to move slower sometimes and that seems to help.

Other times, she seems to think she will be in trouble and races off, then understands that it's fine for her to get onto the bed with the freshly laundered sheets and comes back on by herself. I just leave her be or pat the bed & call her...that seems to work best with my cat.

@ShadowsRescue

Thanks for the book recommendation. I read some reviews of it and decided to buy it. I did not find time to read it though, but I'll talk about the book here when I get time to read at least some pages of it. 

@Bonitababy

She's 3 months old now. 

I think she's reacting to something I am not aware of yet. Because just seconds after that behavior, she comes to me again, hoping for some petting and/or playing. For instance, yesterday, 10 minutes after she was 'scared' of me and ran away, she came on to my lap to sleep there. No creature would try to sleep on the lap of someone/something she's really scared of, right?

I think this kind of misunderstandings are caused by my misinterpretation of her face. 

I was just about to post that sometimes when cats do the suddenly scared/running away thing, they seem to be playacting...o_o One of my sister's cats would do this when he saw me and he wasn't really afraid of me, I don't think. He'd sit looking all relaxed afterwards and allow me to pet him just fine.

I figure maybe they are honing their skills and practicing running away if a real predator appears. They stay pretty sharp. Maybe it's just instinct sometimes or automatic reflexes to be scared & run. A couple times I've seen my cat about to dart off automatically when I'm getting out of bed and she has stopped herself from running and stayed where she was.

Please post what you read in that book. I saw it before I adopted my cat, but haven't bought it yet. I have a basic ASPCA book on cats I still have to read.

That's good you don't chase her, that reassures her you're not a predator.

I had a quick look at the book yesterday. This won't be a total review, and I can't recommend buying or not buying yet, but I wanted to give my first impressions.

It covers almost everything one should consider before adopting a cat/kitten. Making the house safe for a cat, whether you should adopt a cat, adopting a cat or kitten, how it will affect your finances etc. I read only some parts of this, and I turned out to be a good candidate to adopt a cat, but I wish I read this before I adopted my girl. It talks about some myths and how correct or wrong they are. 

It also talks about body language of the cats. Again, I did not take a good look, but it prepares a good foundation to understanding your cat's behavior better. I wouldn't expect it to make me a cat body language expert, of course. But I think it will quicken the process of getting to know her better. For instance, just by skipping the pages, I learnt that what I thought is a defense posture is not a defense posture at all, but it is a greeting posture.

While I was browsing the pages, I saw that there are medical information as well. 

Its language is simple. I'm not a native English speaker and it's easy to understand for me, at least the parts that I read.  

This is like having my first baby and getting no help for me, so I'll be taking notes while I read the book. I bought the digital version from Google Play Books. 

Great!!! Thank you!!! I guess I will buy this book now too, but from Google Play, as I'd prefer to read it that way, but didn't think of that. I'm glad I read online that cats rolling on their back and exposing their bellies actually doesn't mean to pet their bellies. That it's usually a test and if you go to pet, they'll often bite. Also, that it's the best defense position as all four claws can attack. My cat used to always do this when I came home while staring at me and has pretty much stopped. I think because I never dared to try to pet her belly so now she trusts me more.