Cats with a Spontaneous Personality

Adapted from an article originally published on natusan.co.uk

Cats can be quite particular creatures, and pet parents know that their unique personalities can be very different.

Even in the same household, and from the same litter, our furry friends can vary quite a lot when it comes to their individual habits and quirks.

Researchers have found five cat personality types, and find most cats fall into one of the following categories – Neurotic, Extraverted, Dominant, Impulsive or Agreeable.

In this blog: the impulsive, or spontaneous, cat.

These cats are the most impulsive, and tend to have a lot of energy, which sometimes is released all at once.

Whilst all cats go through a “scatty” phase as kittens, some cats stay “young-at-heart” and keep their youthful exuberance. Particularly, it seems, in the middle of the night…

Top tips for spontaneous cats:

Tire them out with play – Keeping your cat amused with plenty of toys can help them spend some of their seemingly boundless energy. Consider an automatic or interactive toy for them to entertain themselves with, especially when you’re trying to sleep.

Never “scold” your cat – Shouting at a spontaneous cat will likely raise their levels of anxiety and increase any erratic behaviour as a result. Plus, it isn’t very nice and rarely works with cats, instead, try positive reinforcement for good behaviour.

Start a regimen – Scheduling feeding and playtime to the same time of day can help to instil a sense of routine that can help keep your cat calm (just be sure NEVER to be late, no one likes waiting for dinner…) 

Read your cat’s body language – Try to identify the things that set your cat off, or how they behave in the lead up to the “zoomies”. This can help single out any triggers that are causing the nervous energy, or if your cat is simply a weirdo (the best ones are, after all…)

Synchronise your time-zones – Some cats are nocturnal, preferring to run around your home in the wee small hours. Try to keep them entertained and awake throughout the day to change their body-clock. If all else fails you could always join them on the night shift, after all, compromise works both ways.

It is worth noting that most “undesirable” behaviours are just cats expressing their natural behaviours, but perhaps in a place or at a time which isn’t appealing to us as humans!