From the Mailbag: Applying Counterirritants

Dear Thera,

We've noticed similar behavior [connected with understimulation] with our humans. To help we have added some excitement to their days by peeing over the edge of the litter box. About once a day seems to be the right cadence.

- Annie and Jack


Dear Annie and Jack,

You are onto something important there: the principle of the counterirritant. The idea of a counterirritant is that you apply some mild and superficial irritant, which distracts from and helps relieve the deeper and more painful malaise that the human may be feeling. As you have observed, it can be very effective.

However, there is another principle of human behavior to watch out for: the principle of the last straw. The idea of the last straw is that a human will seem to be coping perfectly well with an increasingly large burden of stress and then suddenly lose control over a single small additional stress. The relationship of that small additional stress to the large pre-existing stress load is likely to be minimal. Thus cats--who bear no responsibility for the health and job stresses the humans are facing just now--are not as safe from creating the last straw as you might think.

So which one are you likely to provoke, the counterirritant response or the last straw response? Careful consideration and the accumulated wisdom of years' of acquaintance with your individual humans may be needed to make the right call. Cats who are newer to residing with their humans may want to take extra naps instead of taking a risk here.

- Thera

Consider carefully before you act...

or just go take another nap.

Zoom Wedding

The fact that humans are doing all kinds of things at home and online that they used to leave home to do means that we can now observe a wider range of their behaviors. 

The latest addition to my list of observed human behaviors is a wedding that I was able to attend lately via Zoom. Weddings appear to be the main way that humans create new families, so it was especially interesting to observe. I carefully prepared some confetti for the occasion, but sadly it turned out not to be needed for a Zoom wedding.

The confetti wasn't needed.

Understimulated Humans

Has your human become cranky and listless lately? Is your human failing to respond as usual to the simple pleasures of life? If so, your human may be suffering from understimulation. Understimulation due to physical and social isolation is reaching epidemic proportions in humans during this pandemic.

Your face might not be enough

Like us cats, humans are intelligent creatures who need to keep their minds active. They need to see new sights and engage with new objects. If your human has been staying home lately, he or she may be running low on novelty. Think of how much pleasure you get out of a new scratching pad, a new batch of catnip, or a special new toy. Sadly, though, humans do not get any enjoyment out of scratching pads or catnip, and their toys tend to be large and expensive. They are too large to find the interest we do in little things, like watching a bug navigate the length of the kitchen floor. So they are largely out of luck when confined at home.

Humans are also remarkably social. We cats are more social than some of us like to admit, but humans are truly and incorrigibly social, even the more introverted among them. They need to hear human voices and see human faces. Our voices and faces provide some help, but there are limits to what we can do for them in this respect.

Keep doling out affectionate cheek rubs!

So how can a cat help? To some extent we can help by playing with them. If you can make them laugh, you've won the battle of the moment, though perhaps not of the day. Also continue to show them affection, but understand that their need for others of their own species may limit your effectiveness. 


Another important but more passive thing we can do is to be more tolerant than usual of their screen time, provided it is the right kind of screen time. In general, contemporary humans are badly addicted to screens. In the current pandemic, screen use is at record levels. I still hold with a point I made recently, that obsessive news watching is a negative use of screens. However, recent observations now lead me to suggest that watching videos and playing games online may actually be good for humans in the current situation. The videos provide faces, voices, music, scenery and colors, while the games provide appropriately sized spurts of adrenaline and achievable goals. These things may be a poor substitute for social interaction in normal times, but when social interaction is unavailable, they may be very therapeutic.

Granted, it's a little hard to see quite why humans enjoy videos. How can they enjoy anything that has no smell? However, you may find that if you try watching videos along with your humans you may also find them entertaining to some extent. For myself, I enjoy movies that feature a character named Darth Vader.

You may find you enjoy some videos