Not all cats adjust well to being domesticated the cat is subject to a variety of factors that result in emotional distress, and their resulting behaviour can demonstrate this. These behaviours are not abnormal at least they are not for cats, but their owners can find them distressing. Some behaviour is not abnormal but is difficult for owners to accept.
Emotional causes can be the addition of a new family member, a child or a new spouse. This can make a cat become exceedingly territorial and it will mark its territory with urine or it will defecate outside the cat litter tray. Some cats will even react to a change of furniture in the house.
Another cat habit is to claw the furniture either the drapes or the sofa, they appear to have a natural desire to rake objects. This is a distinct behavioural need in cats, and it does stem from several reasons, it is partly territorial a desire to mark out their territory. Cats also do this to clean and also sharpen their claws. Often cats can be trained to use a scratching post. If this does not work then the claws can be surgical removed but of course, many cat lovers find this idea abhorrent and prefer to put up with the scratching.
Cats love social licking and it normally themselves or other cats but they can demonstrate this behaviour to other humans as well. Sometimes cats can suck your fingers or use a cushion or a small loose furnishing to suck. Strange as this may sound, it is often the cat’s way of regressing to kitten like tendencies. It is often found in cats that were malnourished as a kitten either because they simply were not fed the correct food for their nutritional needs or because in some cases they were weaned too early. If this was the case some cats will display compulsive cleaning or grooming habits to the point where they harm themselves.
Pica is a hunger for nonnutritive substance it may be a symptom of the need for roughage in the diet or of feline leukemia or other health problems. As with the dog, excessive eating and drinking is frequently associated with endocrine diseases such as diabetes and thyroid dysfunction.
Active and healthy cats often race through the house as though they were demented. These occur in either the evening or morning and result from the cat's rhythm of actively hunting around dawn and dusk. It is not uncommon for cats to retain this innate behaviour when domesticated, although many owners think that the cat is deranged. In the domestic environment, this normal, instinctive behaviour often still occurs, to the consternation of some owners who fear that their cat may have rabies, a brain tumour, or an unstable personality.
Changes in animals' behaviour should not be dismissed since there may be an underlying physical cause. Nevertheless, abnormal behaviour in animals often does have a nonphysical, psychological, or emotional origin, which should always be considered in the diagnosis and treatment of the ailments of domestic animals.