Prior to the 60s, cats were mostly kept outdoors. There hasn't been enough evolutionary time yet for them to completely adapt to indoor only living with humans. They give up a lot of their natural behaviors for us - and this is the root of most behavior issues. Some of the survival strategies these asocial obligate carnivores deploy are;
Change their nocturnal lifestyle to match your circadian rhythms
Make do with a territory that's one ten-thousandth the size of some of their feral counterparts
Forsake mating
Other than the occasional house mouse, they give up killing, which is the activity that defines every fiber of their feline being.
While tigers confined in zoos pace, our house cats do what's called "apathetic resting". Indoor cats do interact with their guardians more, presumably because there is little else to do. According to a study entitled "Caregivers Perceptions of What Indoor Cats Do 'For Fun;", more than 80% of cats spend up to five hours a day staring out the window.
We must do all we can to mitigate this boredom with Prey Play, clicker training, harness walks and other enrichment activities - many of which are covered in the Enrichment section of this blog.
