Has anyone noticed if kittens that were raised completely indoors grow up to have more behavioral issues than cats that spent the first year of their life outside?
Of all the indoor only cats I've had over the last 26 years, the only ones that were naughty are the current ones I have that were raised completely indoors. I'm not sure if that caused their behavioral issues or if it's genetic.
These cats are almost 3 1/2 and they're still misfits. They've gotten better recently since my grandma moved in with me, but they're still naughty. They walk across the coffee tables and sometimes purposely knock things off, they lay on the dining room table (where the humans eat), play with various decorative items, and look in the trash can to see what they can pull out to play with (this is a new behavior).
Things are even worse at Christmas. The first Christmas I let them loose in the house (as opposed to confining them to one or two rooms), they were 1 1/2 years old. I anticipated that they would play with the Christmas decorations so I put up my old dumpy tree and bought brand new plastic ornaments from Dollar Tree. I also only put out a few decorations that I didn't think they'd bother. As expected, they kept playing with the ornaments on the tree, knocking them onto the floor and batting them around. They also pulled out the little plastic ornaments in my little lighted ceramic tree. I ended up having to hot glue them in. None of my other cats have ever done these things. I have never even worried about any of my other cats messing with the Christmas decorations.
So does anyone know what causes this behavior? Did I spoil them too much or something? They have toys that they play with and don't seem bored. They seem to enjoy watching the other animals outside (birds, squirrels and cats). None of my other cats have ever acted like this. I've had sibling cats in the house before that didn't act like this. I just don't get it. These cats do seem very, very smart as compared to all the other cats I've had. The one actually watched and studied me when she was a kitten. She often outsmarted me by figuring out how to get through the baby gates I had stacked up in the doorway. It was a real battle of wits with that cat, although I did win in the end, I think. On second thought, she knows how to push my buttons, so I guess she ultimately has won. If I don't feed her when she wants me to, she goes around eating stuff like tape, paper, cardboard, plastic, etc.
Of all the indoor only cats I've had over the last 26 years, the only ones that were naughty are the current ones I have that were raised completely indoors. I'm not sure if that caused their behavioral issues or if it's genetic.
These cats are almost 3 1/2 and they're still misfits. They've gotten better recently since my grandma moved in with me, but they're still naughty. They walk across the coffee tables and sometimes purposely knock things off, they lay on the dining room table (where the humans eat), play with various decorative items, and look in the trash can to see what they can pull out to play with (this is a new behavior).
Things are even worse at Christmas. The first Christmas I let them loose in the house (as opposed to confining them to one or two rooms), they were 1 1/2 years old. I anticipated that they would play with the Christmas decorations so I put up my old dumpy tree and bought brand new plastic ornaments from Dollar Tree. I also only put out a few decorations that I didn't think they'd bother. As expected, they kept playing with the ornaments on the tree, knocking them onto the floor and batting them around. They also pulled out the little plastic ornaments in my little lighted ceramic tree. I ended up having to hot glue them in. None of my other cats have ever done these things. I have never even worried about any of my other cats messing with the Christmas decorations.
So does anyone know what causes this behavior? Did I spoil them too much or something? They have toys that they play with and don't seem bored. They seem to enjoy watching the other animals outside (birds, squirrels and cats). None of my other cats have ever acted like this. I've had sibling cats in the house before that didn't act like this. I just don't get it. These cats do seem very, very smart as compared to all the other cats I've had. The one actually watched and studied me when she was a kitten. She often outsmarted me by figuring out how to get through the baby gates I had stacked up in the doorway. It was a real battle of wits with that cat, although I did win in the end, I think. On second thought, she knows how to push my buttons, so I guess she ultimately has won. If I don't feed her when she wants me to, she goes around eating stuff like tape, paper, cardboard, plastic, etc.