A cat's behavior can be aloof or very loving, eccentric to boring, and all variations in between, also size, color, and appearance differences provide the reasons there are so many cat lovers in the world.

Growing up in a crazy cat household (at one point we had up to thirteen indoor cats) their differences in personality made life interesting. Pansy, a beautiful long-hair tricolor cat (one of the first we got) was shy and quiet. Her affinity was for encyclopedias and she spent most of her time sitting on our old Britannica.

Eric the short-haired orange tabby did not have the best litter box habits, but this was countered by his loyalty and presence when one was ill mentally or physically. Tinker was the most intelligent. He could open a step-on rubbish bin with ease, and would make music for half a day if the strings of my guitar were available.

Cats have individual personalities and some can be quite eccentric! It is important for cat owners to recognize what is "normal" for their cat. For example, it might be normal for your cat to insanely run up and down the hallway at night, however in a more placid cat could indicate a problem. Changes in your cats behavior could be caused by anything from feeling slightly off to resenting your favorite Aunt's visit.

Stability and safety are important to cats - a sudden change in circumstances might cause typical unexpected cat behavior such as missing the litter box. Or, as was the case with one of mine, deciding out of nowhere that she no longer liked the litter we were using. Her only effective way to communicate this was by no longer using her box. Eventually we figured out what she was trying to get at and, after some trial and error, found out that what she wanted was torn-up newspaper. Everything has been fine since.

Generally speaking cats behavior, like humans, can be varied. If you are aware of which behavior is "normal" for your cat, it will be easier for you to pick up on behavioral variations that indicate something is wrong.