The Scratch Post
Real cat science. Behavior research. Honest food advice. Owner stories. One new article every week — written for people who take their cat's wellbeing seriously.
Research Shows Some Cats Share the Same Personality Traits as Therapy Dogs
You're Probably Misreading Your Cat's Emotions. Science Just Confirmed It.
665 participants, 12 cats, AI-generated indoor and outdoor backgrounds. What Oregon State researchers found changed how we think about cat perception entirely.
Increased purring in cats with chronic inflammatory disease is a request for help — not contentment.
Wet vs. Dry Food: What Vets Are Actually Recommending in 2026
The wet vs. dry debate comes down to feline biology — and the answer is less ambiguous than the pet food industry would have you believe.
Taurine: The One Amino Acid That Separates Cat Food From Dog Food — And Why It Matters More Than You Think
Cats cannot synthesize taurine — they must consume it. This single biological fact has enormous consequences for what you feed them.
Age 7: The Cognitive Window Every Cat Owner Is Missing
Most cat owners don't think about cognitive health until symptoms appear. By then, the changes have been building for years.
Cat science that actually changes something.
One research-backed article every Tuesday morning. Behavior, health, food, and real cat news — in plain English, not vet-speak.
The 5-Stage Predatory Sequence: Why Interrupting Any Stage Leaves the Whole Cycle Unfinished
What looks like aggression, furniture destruction, or restless energy is almost always the same thing — a predatory sequence that never finished.
How to Read a Cat Food Label Without Getting Fooled by the Marketing
Complete and balanced sounds reassuring. But what does it actually require? What is an AAFCO statement, and why does chicken flavor mean something completely...
Japan's Cat Island Has Six Times More Cats Than People — And Now It Has a Tourism Problem
Aoshima Island has fewer than 20 human residents and over 120 cats. The ferries are overwhelmed. The cats are handling it exactly as you'd expect.
Indoor vs. Outdoor Cats: The Research Is More Complicated Than Either Side Admits
Indoor-only safety and outdoor enrichment both matter. The hard part is understanding which risks are real, which are overstated, and what cats actually need.
Your Cat's Purr Can Mean the Opposite of What You Think — Here's When to Take It Seriously
Purring is universally associated with contentment. New research suggests the reality is considerably more nuanced — and more important to understand.