✧ For All Our Fellow Cat Lovers ✧

Let’s Bust Some Common Myths & Deepen Our Understanding of Our Furry Beloveds

Cats are mystical, emotionally intelligent, and deeply attuned beings. They walk between worlds. They feel energy before words. They sense intention before action. And still, they remain among the most misunderstood companions.

Myth #1: “Cats are independent and like to be left alone.”

✧ Truth: Cats are sovereign, emotionally intelligent beings who form deep bonds and seek meaningful connection.

While cats value autonomy, they are not solitary in the way many believe. Research and lived experience both affirm that cats are highly social creatures—capable of forming secure attachments to their humans, animal companions, and even specific spaces within the home.

They follow their people from room to room, respond to their voices, and adjust their behavior to mirror the emotional tone of their environment.

Their connection style may be subtle, but it is profound. They don’t demand presence—they invite it. When a cat chooses closeness, it is a gesture of trust. And when they need solitude, it is not disconnection—it is regulation.

Understanding their relational nature allows us to meet them with more respect and presence, rather than projecting disinterest where there is quiet devotion.

Myth #2: “It’s fine to leave a cat alone for a few days with food and water.”

✧ Truth: Cats are relational creatures who can experience stress, anxiety, and behavioral disruption when left without human interaction for extended periods.

Cats form attachments to their caregivers and environments. While they may appear more independent than dogs, studies have shown that many cats rely on human presence for emotional regulation and routine.

When left alone for multiple days without interaction, they can experience elevated stress levels, decreased appetite, increased vocalization or withdrawal, and even disruptions in litter box habits.

Extended isolation can increase cortisol (the stress hormone), weaken immune function, and contribute to behavioral issues such as over-grooming, hiding, or aggression.

These effects may be subtle and easy to overlook, which is why many cats are believed to “do fine” when in reality they are quietly struggling.

Even when cats aren’t seeking constant physical contact, they find comfort in shared presence—your scent, movement, and voice are part of their daily grounding.

Having a trusted house sitter or daily visitor helps preserve this stability. It offers companionship, monitors wellbeing, and ensures continuity of care—key to maintaining their physical and emotional health in your absence.

Loving a cat well means remembering that their silence doesn’t mean they don’t need you—it means they trust you enough to suffer quietly. Let’s not ask that of them.

Myth #3: “Cats are low-maintenance pets.”

✧ Truth: Cats are richly nuanced beings.
They attune to emotional landscapes, track subtle shifts in the environment, and absorb what is unresolved. They flourish in spaces that are calm, consistent, and energetically clear. Their care asks for attunement—physical, emotional, and spiritual.

Myth #4: “Cats don’t show affection.”

✧ Truth: Cats express love through energy, trust, and embodied presence.
Every blink, nudge, gentle paw, and shared silence is a gesture of devotion. Their love is real, relational, and deeply felt—especially by those who know how to listen.

Myth #5: “Cats are nocturnal.”

✧ Truth: Cats are crepuscular beings aligned with liminal light.
Their natural rhythm peaks at dawn and dusk. These threshold times carry sacred stillness, and cats are keepers of that in-between. When life at home is steady and grounding, they naturally harmonize with the household flow.

Myth #6: “Cats don’t need routine vet care.”

✧ Truth: Cats carry ancestral instincts to conceal discomfort.
They rarely show pain in obvious ways, which means many early signs of illness go unnoticed—until they become serious. Subtle changes in behavior, appetite, grooming, or mood are often the only clues something is wrong.

Because of this, routine care is essential. Be sure your cat receives regular wellness checkups, eats high-quality, species-aligned food, and is observed daily with presence.

You are their advocate. Their bodies remember what they won’t show. Preventative care is not optional—it’s a sacred responsibility.

To love a cat well is to listen beyond the obvious and honor what they’re not saying.

Myth #7: “Declawing is just like trimming nails.”

✧ Truth: Do not declaw. Ever.
Declawing is not a nail trim—it is a partial amputation. It removes the first joint of each toe, severing tendons, nerves, and bone.

Many cats experience chronic pain, altered gait, emotional trauma, and behavior changes as a result.

A cat’s claws are vital to their well-being. Scratching is instinctual—it helps them stretch, release energy, communicate, and mark sacred territory.

If you need alternatives, offer scratching posts, soft nail caps, routine trims, and redirection—not harm.

Their body is sacred. Protect it.

Myth #8: “Cats throw up because they’re finicky.”

✧ Truth: Vomiting is not normal—it is a message from the body.
Whether due to food intolerance, stress, underlying illness, or energetic imbalance, vomiting signals something is off.

While the occasional hairball may be expected, frequent vomiting is never “just what cats do.” It deserves attention, not dismissal.

Cats speak through their bodies. Reassess their diet. Check for stress. Seek healing support. Attuned care brings balance—and prevents unnecessary suffering.

Myth #9: “Indoor cats don’t need stimulation.”

✧ Truth: Cats get bored—straight up.
Boredom leads to stress, over-grooming, overeating, nighttime zoomies, or emotional shutdown.

Every cat needs interactive, relational play. They need movement, exploration, things to chase, places to climb, and windows to peer through.

They carry the memory of the wild. Enrichment honors their instincts, restores vitality, and keeps their spirit bright.

Myth #10: “Cats act out of spite.”

✧ Truth: All feline behavior is a form of communication.
Shifts in behavior reflect the unseen—stress, grief, energy overload, or unexpressed need. Their signals ask for understanding.
When we listen without judgment, we become trustworthy allies.

Myth #11: “Cats can eat dog food or whatever’s around.”

✧ Truth: Cats are sacred carnivores with precise needs.
They require species-appropriate diets rich in high-quality animal proteins, amino acids like taurine, and specific nutrients not found in plant-based or dog food formulas. Feeding them well supports vitality, longevity, and life force.

Myth #12: “If a cat’s hungry enough, they’ll eat it.”

✧ Truth: Cats are intuitive eaters who often avoid food that makes them feel unwell.
If a cat consistently refuses a food, it’s not stubbornness—it’s wisdom. Their body may be signaling an aversion due to poor quality, chemical additives, allergic response, or energetic imbalance.

Ignoring these signals and forcing them to eat something harmful can lead to long-term health issues.

Respect their instincts. Reevaluate the food. Choose nourishment that feels right in their body.

Cats speak through subtle behaviors—listening builds trust and wellbeing.

Myth #13: “Cats don’t miss their humans.”

✧ Truth: Cats sense absence in the field.
They feel the shift when someone leaves. Their patterns change. They may search, sleep more, grow quiet, or wait by doors and windows.
They remember. And they respond to the subtle threads of connection we offer—even across distance.

✧ Let us remember: Cats are sacred companions.

They carry the medicine of presence, refinement, and mystery.
To love a cat is to listen beyond words, to attune to the subtle, and to respect the quiet truth of their being.
They ask for presence, consistency, and care that honors who they truly are.
When we slow down, soften, and show up with reverence, they reveal entire worlds.
Their silence is not emptiness—it is an invitation.
Let us meet them there.
Let us live in a way that earns their trust.
And let us remember:
they are always communicating—if only we’re willing to listen.

✧ About the Author ✧

Naomi Amaya Love is an Animal Communicator and Holistic Animal Nutritionist with over 38 years of experience caring for animals. She offers compassionate support through intuitive communication and species-aligned nutrition—helping guardians better understand their animal’s emotional needs, behaviors, and the sacred bond they share.

✧ Join the email list at the bottom of this page, to be the first to know about her upcoming book: Nourish the Wild: A Sacred Guide to Holistic Animal Care