Cats add love, companionship, and a sense of comfort to our lives. They also add a lot of whimsy, silliness, and charm through their everyday behaviors and natural instincts. This article highlights five common quirky behaviors cats exhibit and explains why they do them. It also discusses one common behavior that can be harmful to your cat’s health and may require medical attention or lifestyle changes.
- Sleeping inside tiny boxes and other small spaces: Tight and enclosed spaces provide warmth, reduce visual exposure, and help cats feel protected against potential threats. Research has shown that access to boxes can reduce stress and improve adaptation when cats enter unfamiliar environments, such as shelters or new homes. This is one of the reasons CCS provides a variety of bed and hiding options for cats in our care.
- Head-butting (bunting) people and household objects: When a cat presses or rubs its face against you or objects around your home, it’s depositing facial pheromones. This scent-marking behavior helps create a familiar, safe environment and also serves as a social bonding behavior toward trusted individuals. It’s recommended to rotate cleaning your cat’s bedding and your cat’s favorite areas around the home so that some items and spaces retain the cat’s scent for continuity and to minimize stress. Bunting can also indicate that your cat wants human engagement, such as pets, treats, or other favorite interaction. Additionally, a cat’s reliance on chemical and olfactory information is why synthetic pheromone products (like Feliway) can work so well in having a calming effect for cats in stressful or unfamiliar situations.
In most areas of CCS, we spot-clean daily and deep-clean weekly to help preserve the cats’ familiar scents on bedding and furniture they’ve rubbed their faces against. This reduces stress and allows them to feel safe and comfortable.
- Bringing you “gifts”: If your cat brings you mice, toys, or other prizes, they may be trying to teach you how to hunt. Mother cats, in particular, are known to bring dead or weakened prey to their offspring so they can practice their hunting skills. When cats bring humans mice or toys, they may be practicing their instinctive social behavior and trying to teach us to hunt. Another supported explanation is that cats instinctively bring their prey to a secure location before consuming it or interacting with it, and they feel safest around you—what an honor!
- Getting “the zoomies”: While the technical term is “frenetic random activity periods” (FRAPs), most cat owners know the energetic sprints cats get after periods of rest or using the litter box simply as the zoomies. This activity helps them expend accumulated energy, similar to wild cats that experience long stretches of rest followed by brief, intense hunting intervals. Indoor cats may express this natural activity pattern, especially at dawn and dusk, when they are naturally most active. If your cat has marathon zoomies that last longer than a few minutes and interrupt your sleep, try adding more playtime in the evenings, around an hour before your bedtime, to help burn extra energy.
- Slow blinking with their humans: Slow blinking, which includes narrowing their eyes and half-way closing their eyes, is a way that cats communicate positive feelings towards a human. It’s a way for them to say, “I feel comfortable around you, and I am not a threat.” Importantly, research shows that cats are responsive when humans initiate slow blinking, which can help them relax in new or stressful situations. Although cats sometimes slow blink with other cats, they primarily rely on other body language and scents to communicate, making slow blinking extra special to the human-cat bond.
- Chewing on non-food items like plastic, hair ties, cat litter, and shoelaces: While many kittens do this and often outgrow it, some cats develop or continue their fascination and mastication of household objects into adulthood, with plastic being the most commonly reported. This condition of eating non-food items is called pica, and different factors can contribute to this potentially harmful behavior. Cats may do it out of boredom or to express their natural hunting instincts. Additionally, research shows that cats who are free-fed (vs. scheduled feeding) are less likely to develop pica. Stress, underlying gastrointestinal issues, anemia, dental pain, and genetics—including being an Oriental breed of cat—are also possible reasons a cat develops pica.
Simply chewing on these items isn’t a major concern, but accidentally or intentionally swallowing them can cause intestinal blockages which can be life threatening.To deter this behavior, switch up their feeding style, keep the non-food items out of reach, and provide alternative safer chewing treats or toys. Because pica can be caused by so many different things, it’s also recommended to consult with your veterinarian to help identify your specific cat’s potential contributing health issue.
If your cat has consumed any non-food items or you suspect they have, contact your veterinarian right away. Signs include vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, lethargy, and reduced appetite.
Every cat has their idiosyncrasies, but many of their quirks are rooted in innate behaviors that have been passed down from their ancestors, helping them to survive for thousands of years. Understanding the “why” behind these behaviors isn’t just fun trivia, it can also help you improve communication with your cat, create an environment that supports their wellbeing, and identify when a behavior may be a health concern that needs further investigation. When a cat zooms across the room, brings you a favorite toy, or gives you a little head bunt, they’re simply being themselves, and each moment is a special opportunity to strengthen the bond you share.
Check out the Behavior section of our blog to learn even more about why cats do the things they do!
About the Author: Beth Dokolasa is a volunteer for Cat Care Society and serves on the Board of Directors. She is an instructional developer for Natural Grocers and lives in Indian Hills, Colo., with her husband, daughter, and two cats, Techno and Digit.
