Caturday: What Cats Can Do When You Are Away

 



When I returned from ten days away, I didn’t need words to know my cats had opinions. I had evidence—both testimonial and physical.

The caretaker reported that Tissu stationed herself at the door every few hours, waiting. Kokee vanished into hiding, invisible for days. Jack meowed constantly, day and night, as if trying to summon me home by sheer vocal force. The Turkish Van twins, Simba and Pancho, usually inseparable, became sworn enemies and dragged Moo into their feud. And one anonymous cat left unmistakable commentary: poop on my desk, poop on my printer, poop under the ratapan chair on the catio. None of my cats ever poop outside the litter box—but this time, it wasn’t biological. It was emotional.

Since I’ve been back, everything has reset. No more yowling. No more fighting. No more hiding. No more door‑watching. No more poop in inappropriate places. And every morning, a joyful pigpile of fur and whiskers on top of me.

Why Cats React So Strongly to Absence

Cats are often described as independent, but independence doesn’t mean indifference. They form attachments—territorial, sensory, and relational—and when one of those anchors disappears, their world tilts.

Here’s what happens beneath the fur:

  • Predictability collapses. Cats thrive on routine. Your footsteps, your voice, your scent, your timing—all form the rhythm of their day. When that rhythm stops, their nervous systems lose calibration.

  • Scent deprivation. Cats navigate their emotional world through smell. Your scent is safety. When it fades, they experience a kind of sensory void that feels like loss.

  • Territorial confusion. You are part of their territory. When you vanish, the territory feels incomplete. Some cats guard the door to “protect” the missing piece; others hide because the territory feels unsafe.

  • Social displacement. In multi‑cat households, your presence acts as a stabilizer. You’re the referee, the resource provider, the emotional thermostat. When you’re gone, hierarchy and alliances can unravel—hence Simba and Pancho’s sudden feud.

  • Protest behavior. The poop wasn’t random. It was communication. Cats use scent marking to express distress, frustration, or protest. It’s not spite—it’s a way of saying, You left, and I didn’t know how to tell you I was upset.

How to Help Cats Cope When You’re Away

If travel is unavoidable, a few small adjustments can soften the blow:

  1. Keep your scent present. Leave worn clothing or bedding out. Cats will use it as an emotional anchor.

  2. Maintain routine through the caretaker. Feeding times, lighting, and play schedules should stay consistent. Predictability is comfort.

  3. Use familiar sounds. Record your voice or play gentle background noise similar to what they hear when you’re home.

  4. Provide vertical and enclosed spaces. Cats feel safer when they can retreat upward or into small dens.

  5. Avoid over‑handling on return. Let them re‑establish contact at their own pace. The reunion should be calm, not overwhelming.

  6. Re‑bond through shared rituals. Grooming, play, or quiet time on the catio rebuilds trust faster than forced affection.

The Emotional Intelligence of Cats

My cats didn’t just miss me—they noticed my absence, interpreted it, and responded in ways that mirrored grief, confusion, and protest. When I returned, they recalibrated instantly because the missing piece was back. The pigpile isn’t just affection; it’s restoration.

Cats may not write letters or send texts, but they communicate eloquently in behavior. Sometimes, the message is a meow. Sometimes, it’s a fight. And sometimes, it’s poop on the printer.

That’s feline love—unfiltered, expressive, and deeply personal.



Learn more about cats. See our many Caturday posts.

Be entertained. See all our posts about cats.





Be inspired. See posts by and about Sula, parish cat, and her books.


Have a chuckle. Read posts by and about Jeremy Feig's award-winning book (book of the year finalist, Kops-Fetherling Lagacy Award for Humor), How My Cat Made Me a Better Man.






Watch for Luna Norwood's forthcoming book, Raising Happy Cat Families. Now available on preorder at MSI Press Webstore. Use Coupon Code FF25 for 25% discount.







MSI Press, a veteran-owned publishing house based in California, United States
best known for turning new writers into award-winning authors,
has gained mass recognition for releasing highly acclaimed books of varying genres
that are distributed internationally. Check us out on Wikitia.


To purchase copies of any MSI Press book at 25% discount,

use code FF25 at MSI Press webstore.



Want to read an MSI Press book and not have to pay for it?
(1) Ask your local library to purchase and shelve it.
(2) Ask us for a review copy; we love to have our books reviewed.


VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR AUTHORS AND TITLES.




Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter: get inside information before others see it and access to additional book content
(recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, links to precerpts/excerpts, author advice, and more)

Check out recent issues.

 

 



Follow MSI Press on Twitter, Face Book, Pinterest, and Bluesky. 



 

 


MSI Press welcomes submissions that reflect legacy and lived experience. Learn more about our publishing process on our website. We help writers become award-winning published authors, one writer at a time. We are a family, not a factory. Check our listing in Writer's Market, the most trusted guide to publishing.




Turned away by other publishers because you are a first-time author and/or do not have a strong platform yet? If you have a strong manuscript, San Juan Books, our hybrid publishing division, may be able to help. Ask us. Check out more information at www.msipress.com.

 






Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our author au pair services will mentor you through the process. See what we can do for your at www.msipress.com.






Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book in exchange for reviewing a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com.



Want an author-signed copy of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.

Julia Aziz, signing her book, Lessons of Labor, at an event at Book People in Austin, Texas.


Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our Authors' Pages.

Steven Greenebaum, author of award-winning books, An Afternoon's Discussion and One Family: Indivisible, talking to a reader at Barnes & Noble in Gilroy, California.




   
MSI Press is ranked among the top publishers in California.
Check out our rankings -- and more -- HERE.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guest Post from Dr. Dennis Ortman: Words Matter

Image
  WORDS MATTER “If I speak with human tongues and angelic as well, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong, a clanging symbol.” --I Corinthians 13: 1   My three brothers recently visited from afar. We spent a week together crammed into my small apartment. We exhausted ourselves talking about our lives and our favorite subjects--religion, psychology, and politics. I daily used up my quota of words. Many family and friends avoid talking about these subjects to avoid conflict. But we relish the give-and-take of debate. Coincidentally, the Republican National Convention was televised each night. We watched it diligently and exchanged views. Our convictions ranged across the political spectrum. So our conversations were animated, our disagreements passionate. However, at the end of the week, we learned something from each other and parted friends. Words matter. They have power. Our traditions attest to this fact. For example, God created the world with His word. He be...
Read more

Tuesday's Tip for Language Learning: Language Islands, A Shortcut to Language Fluency

Image
  If you've ever found yourself struggling mid-conversation in another language, desperately searching for words, translating in your head, and praying for a merciful topic change… you’re not alone. We've all been there. But today’s tip might just change the way you approach language learning — and save your dignity at the next international gathering. Let’s talk about language islands . What Are Language Islands? Back in the mid-1980s, Boris Shekhtman, a brilliant and wildly successful instructor at the Foreign Service Institute (and later the Specialized Language Training Center), coined the term “language islands.” His students — diplomats, international journalists, and world travelers — swore by his methods. And no wonder. A language island is a memorized chunk of speech — a little monologue, a practiced story, a polished opinion — that you know so well, you can say it without thinking. No mental translation. No stuttering. No panicked flailing for vocabulary. Just smooth...
Read more

A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: De-confusing Royalty Structure

Image
  Authors frequently confuse LIST and NET and, in this way, end up with contracts that pay lower royalties when they believe that they are getting a good deal. Often, they cannot negotiate in ways that benefit themselves because they do not understand this difference and its significance. Let's break this down. List refers to the retail price of the book. Payment on list means a percentage of the retail price of the book. If royalties are 8% of list (5-8% is typical), then on a $10 book, royalties would be 80 cents; if they are 10%, royalties are $1, on every book sold. Easy to calculate, easy to predict income, and always standardized, no surprises or overestimations. Net refers to what is leftover after expenses. Gross revenue gets adjusted by a number of expenses: printing costs, printer set-up fees, shipping costs, handling fees, distributor percentage of sales (typically, 40%-55% per book), distributors' initial and continuing catalogue listing costs (without which online ...
Read more