Pets in the City: Cats

"I hear people talk to me in English, Spanish, Asian, Arabic...."
( Amy Pearl and Jennifer Hsu / WNYC )

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and to end the show every day during the membership drive, we're talking about all the animals that New Yorkers love and care for in your homes—your pets. We've talked about dogs on day one, reptiles on day two, bearded dragons and tortoises, and who knows what. Today, let's talk cats, those sometimes aloof, sometimes purring, sometimes playful, often sleeping, furry creatures. Maxwell Branch, vice president of programs at Flatbush Cats, joins us to talk about what they need to thrive. Hey, Max, welcome to WNYC.

Maxwell Branch: Hi, Brian. Thanks so much for having me on and for talking about pets.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Here's where we're going to start. What do you think is the biggest misconception about cats?

Maxwell Branch: Sure. I think one of the things that you mentioned earlier is actually a pretty big misconception about cats, and that's that they can be aloof. Sure, a cat can be a little bit more standoffish than your standard dog, but anyone who has a cat in their house knows that they can also be wonderful companions and really develop that very special bond that we look for with our pets.

Brian Lehrer: Unlike dogs that we all see on the street, all the time attached by leashes to their humans, pet cats in the city are almost indoors. Now, I know people live in the country who have both indoor cats and what they call outdoor cats, but in the city, it's almost universally indoor cats. Are the cats cool with that or would they rather get out, even on a leash, if necessary?

Maxwell Branch: Sure. New York is in particular a tough place for cats to exist outside. There's traffic, there's rat poison, there's lots of dogs. There's lots of stuff going on. We typically don't recommend to our adopters that they take their cats outside. There's a small segment of cats that wouldn't be happy with an entirely indoor lifestyle, and for those, we encourage folks to look into things like leash training for them.

Really, your average cat is perfectly happy even in a relatively small apartment. What you can do to make sure that they stay that way is provide a lot of interaction and enrichment for them. Things like wand toys, things like daily training sessions. I have a lot of fosters and adopters who've even had a lot of success training their cats to do fun tricks. Keeping their brain busy in that way is a great way to make sure that they're happy, even if they're just within the confines of your four walls on their day to day.

Brian Lehrer: If they can't get out to run around, what can you do to keep them happy with an indoor life? Are toys important or any tips that even some cat owners listening right now may not always think about?

Maxwell Branch: Sure. I hear all the time that like, oh, my cat's not interested in toys. It just kind of lies around. What I've discovered is that you really have to work with your cat to find out what their bingo toy is. For a lot of them, that's something called a wand toy. They come in all shapes and sizes, but usually it's some sort of stick with a string and then a fun little dangle on the end. Lots of cats will go wild for that. You can look online for videos that will teach you how to play with your cat with one of those, and it usually goes really well.

My cats aren't huge wand toy fanatics, but what they love are these tiny little springs that they bat around the house all day, and they think that that's great. You can go ahead to your local pet store and pick out a few options. See what your cat loves. Once you find something that they like, you end up with a drawer full of them, and you pull them out from under your couch all the time. It's nice to know that they're happy while you're away and doing human things.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, anybody want to chime in real quick with a text message on your cat's favorite toy? What's your cat's favorite toy? We don't have time for phone calls in this segment, but if you want to text, I'll read it out. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. What's your cat's favorite toy? For Maxwell Branch, vice president of programs at Flatbush Cats, is purring a sign that they're happy or can it mean different things?

Maxwell Branch: That's a great question. Purring is most often a sign that a cat is super content and happy, which is lovely because that's what we associate it with. In really rare cases, purring can be a sign that they're in pain and they're self-soothing. If your cat's not a real purr or you're noticing other things that are making you think that they might not be super comfortable, it's time for a vet visit just to get all of that checked out. Cats are really great at hiding illness, hiding discomfort. If you notice anything unusual, even if it's purring, time to give your vet a call or take them on in.

Brian Lehrer: If you follow cat owners on social media, you'll often see references to their making biscuits. That phrase, making biscuits. For the uninitiated, what does that refer to?

Maxwell Branch: Sure. It's something pretty cute. Yes, you do see it on social media a lot, where your cat will take its little paws and knead into something soft, ideally a blanket, sometimes less ideally, you, and they can get a little pointy. That's again, like a content, self-soothing behavior. We see it in particular with cats that were separated from mom too early. They're exhibiting the same kind of behavior they would when they were nursing, and that's a movement that they carry on through to adulthood.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, here they come. All these texts. You ready for a few cats' favorite toys? "Jumping up at the shadows I made on the wall." "Crumpled paper ball." "Me, the cat's favorite toy." Somebody writes me. "Tin-foil balls everywhere." "Those little sparkly pom-poms." "My cat loves the pump-- I guess it's the pump of the Jergens lotion."

[laughter]

Maxwell Branch: I can imagine that makes quite a mess.

Brian Lehrer: Somebody else wrote, "Cat video games." Is there such a thing?

Maxwell Branch: Yes, you can actually download those on your iPad or your iPhone or whatever tablet you have. I haven't been able to get my cats interested in them. I've tried a lot, but there'll be like a little fish or a mouse on the screen, and they'll bat at it. For the person who texted in and says that they're their cat's favorite toy, hopefully that's a fun experience for you, but if it's not, and they're getting a little grabby with hands or feet, there's definitely things you can do to encourage them to use something else for their hunting instincts. Again, like the rest of the visitor or texters had some great options to try to distract your cat from your [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: Of course, somebody wrote, "The empty box the toy came in." Thanks to Maxwell Branch, vice president of programs at Flatbush Cats, for all this great feline info. Awesome.

Maxwell Branch: Thanks, Brian.

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