What should I do to make my Maine Coon cat happy?

Every cat owner wants to make their Maine Coon cat happy; as happy as possible because it is their second duty after the first which is to ensure that their Maine Coon (MC) cat is safe and secure. But the starting point of the process in making your MC happy is to observe her behaviour as in that way you can find out!

All domestic cats including MCs are generally undemonstrative. This means that they don't tell us very clearly through their behaviour and the sounds they make what they like; what makes them happy. We have to do work at it a little bit to find out.

Image: MikeB

And we do that by being observant. My belief is that good cat caregivers are observant people. And it means observing their cat's behaviour, their rhythms and their routines, their likes and dislikes, 24/7 for the entire time that they are the owner of that cat. It is a permanent state of affairs because cat caregivers can always learn.

And in observing their Maine Coon, they learn about cat behaviour generally. Each Maine Coon cat has their own character just as is the case in the general domestic cat population. This is something that the Internet has taught people I believe. The Internet has been a wonderful source of education for cat owners.

Food preferences

And in having their own character they have their own preferences in so many areas of their lives. For example, they will prefer one cat food over another. How do you find out? You observe. You buy various wet cat foods of high quality and you gauge their reaction. You then provide the food that they prefer the most, most often. I don't think you should provide it all the time because they will normalise this preference and it won't become something to be desired anymore.

But certainly, a cat owner should provide their cat with the cat food they prefer most of the time but they can throw in some variety with other cat foods. Domestic cats generally like decent quality dry cat food because it is covered in appetising smells and tastes which is sprayed onto the cat food to make it palatable. It can almost become addictive to some cats.

Sleeping preferences

But there are so many other areas of a cat's life which can be observed and from the cat owner's perspective their environment can be fine-tuned on the basis of those observations. What about where a MC likes to sleep? They might sleep at the top of a cat tree which you bought them. You've done that and done nothing else which is entirely understandable but there may be something better which you can learn about by trial and error.

I'm a great believer in trial and error; sucking and seeing. You're not going to find out what a cat likes until you try it out. You have to put something in place and watch your cat's reaction to it because they're not going to tell you what they want and what they like and what makes them happy.

But the starting point, as mentioned, is observing your cat. And this is exactly what the well-known American cat behaviourist, Jackson Galaxy advises. He asks people to play detective with their cat. Find out what's going on. Take notes if you need to.

RELATED: The Cat Sundial: a Jackson Galaxy tip.

Independence

It isn't only the undemonstrative behaviour of domestic cat which can be a barrier to making them happy, it is that cats tend to do what they want to do in a slightly independent way. They might just go away and disappear. You don't know where they are. They are sleeping somewhere; but where? 

Can you make that place better for them by adding a modified cardboard box so they sleep more soundly? Customising and modifying their environment can add small incremental improvements to it and each improvement can make them happier. You get there through critical observation.

Note: this is a cross-post from two others along similar lines. I do this when the topic is important.