Do you often wonder why your cat seems to have a habit of pushing everything onto the floor? Here's why your cat likes to push things onto the floor...
It’s an all too common picture — you are sitting with your head in a book when kitty walks in and knocks one of your ornaments onto the floor. You jump up, tell kitty off, pick them up, and put them in another room while you try to salvage what’s left of your ornament.
There are rational explanations for your cat’s disruptive and rather destructive behaviours. Many cats have an indoor-only lifestyle and may lack essential environmental enrichment and stimulation. While they are no doubt well cared for, they may be bored and have a restricted ability to express their natural feline behaviours. If they are not provided with interesting things to do, they will make their own fun.
Another motivation for this could be to get your attention! If you respond to your cat when they knock something onto the floor by getting up to put them in another room or shouting at them, you will inadvertently reward this disruptive behaviour. The best thing to do is totally ignore it — easier said than done. If you respond, the behaviour will increase in frequency and intensity, and this could lead to days, weeks, or even months of disruption.
The best way to eradicate this problem is to provide your cat with an alternative but acceptable activity for them to participate in. Try introducing several daily intense play sessions prior to the time when the problem behaviour generally occurs. Fishing rod-style toys would be an excellent way of providing your cat with a distraction from your ornaments, while providing them with essential enrichment and stimulation and a necessary outlet for their natural predatory drive.
