Hey Twinky. I used Gatorade because I knew it had "stuff" in it to replenish, on a short time basis, certain human body minerals. I thought, if it gives a little jump start maybe it would for Sweetie Pie.
I read an article and saw the same on Animal Planet that cats learn to hunt from their mothers. If their mother doesn't teach them then they do not know how to hunt. I had never heard such!
Sweetie Pie is now 4 years old. Forget her hunting anything. We decided about a year ago she should start going outside. It was an itty bitty step by step coming of age for her. At first she sat on the window ledge and howled. A long process it was. Then after a couple of months she would lay on the ledge and watch the critterhood. Then she started laying under the bushes in front of the ledge and watching. Then she ventured out under the bushes by the fence. Then she started laying under the pecan tree near the house. She was amazed by everything. She even got to where she liked to go outside at night for long spells.
She started laying under the bird bath. The birds did not seem to care. One day Sweetie Pie was drinking from the bird bath with husband and wife Cardinal. We fully expected a preening day at the bird bath spa to be next. Animals are so instinctive.
About 6 weeks ago there was a feral cat howling in the critterhood. Sweetie Pie was outside. She has never wanted to go out since then.
To some degree, all cats will instinctively "hunt". What they learn from the mother cat is that it is part of the survival routine. (ie: eat what you kill.) That's why cats will bring you all sorts of dead mice and chipmunks. They haven't quite grasped that they are supposed to eat them to survive.
Heh, the girlies have refused to go out at all during all the snow we have had. I would open the door and they would rush to the back of the room, as far as they could from the door.
Yesterday was rubbish collection day. It was still very snowy round the access road at the rear of the house. I went up to check the rubbish bin, which hadn't been emptied. I tucked Tuxy under my arm when I went out - she didn't like this and struggled to escape. I set her down beside the garden path but on the garden, with her feet in the snow. She was shocked and scampered back down the garden path, howling as if in deep distress. You know, that yowlll-owwlll sort of wail. Crypto was standing at the kitchen door, gazing with a concerned expression on her face.
I guess they won't be building snow-cats, then, if we get any more snow.
Today all the snow has gone, many inches, disappeared overnight.
The girlies went out (a little reluctantly) - Tuxy's first call was to see if the fish was okay. He is. He is still under several inches of ice but his little white tail was visible, wiggling in his plant pot hidy-hole. I left Tuxy outside assuming the role of protector.
New baby kitty, Rocket, was a gift to my daughter but he looooooves moi. He has to sleep around my neck. I know it sounds weird. But he is such the baby and I am such a mama I can't make him move. I guess he feels safe. The first week he was with us he would try to nurse my ear lobe!!!! Okie dokie, little booger, I draw the line there. I swear, last time I checked my ear lobe in no way resembles or smells like a teat. Too funny.....
Everywhere I go, this little fella is right there with me. The computer room is the exception. He likes to play with the wires. I close the door and he stands outside clawing and sounding pitiful. By now, he has given up and probably sleeping on my pillow.
Sweetie Pie is just now warming up to him. We didn't know she could be so mean and jealous. Rocket has found a friend in Lily, the Lab. They wrestle and play together. It is so amazing how she knows he is a baby and is so gentle with him. It is hilarious to see his little claws hanging onto her snout. Lily doesn't mind.
It is odd, isn't it, how animals play gentle with baby animals of other species. They know.
Now we need a picture of Rocket. Or Rocket and Lilly. Sounds too cute. Great neck warmer - like those "fox fur" things women used to don (yeuk) only yours is so much better.
We used to have a cat (had her from a teeny kitten) and she loved my dad and rode around on his neck. Even as an adult cat, she especially liked running up his back if he had a shirt off, and perching on his shoulders. Dad didn't think this was quite as much fun.......
I have plenty of pictures on the camera. I don't know how to download it on the computer much less post it. One of these day if I can get the boy to slow down long enough he can teach his mama how to do it.
Well, "precious" baby kitty, Rocket, has lived up to his name.
How do I know when the upstairs is in serious disarray? When I hear what sounds like volumes of newspaper being shredded by a tornado. Turns out it is only one page that has been torn yet somehow spawns into a million pieces. He is so proud of himself.
He sleeps like a baby until 4 am then starts kneading my hair and scalp!! So, off he goes to the bathroom into the baby bed we bought him. He cries for a minute then he goes to sleep.
I thought there for a while Sweetie was warming up to him. All he wants to do is play but she has adopted a no tolerance attitude.
At 4am I'd be adopting a "no tolerance" stance, too!
Know what you mean about the paper. Got home one day to find my two had knocked the kitchen roll off where it stands on the microwave. They had had such fun and there was shredded paper everywhere and a look of great delight on Tuxedo's face.
Now they get to play with two toys - I stick the edge of a feather or their other playthings under the couple of sheets of kitchen roll that were more or less intact, and this is just the most fabulous toy these cats can imagine. The paper can be made to move and the edge of the feather or other item can be made to "disappear" into the scrunched-up paper.
We still need to see some photos of Rocket at (?)work!!
A small step for cat, a giant step for cat relations.
Girlies demanded I went downstairs to play tonight and as usual wandered off. Tuxy tried to get my attention, wouldn't play properly, so I lay on the couch reading a book. After a while, bored with my inattention to her - she jumped onto my chest - first time ever! Tried to jump off just as quick, but I caught her and she lay nicely, stretched out all along my torso - I didn't realise she was such a long cat! We had a very nice cuddle then she went off to chase some Go-Cat.
So finally she is beginning to realise that this is what cats do (apart frm the usual, of which the least said, the better).
Only 2-1/4 years to get this far...
Now to get cuddling with Crypto...LOL.
I have got them a covered outdoor litter tray. This is to go outside, but currently it's in the lounge. Sprinkled the inside with catnip (only) and they love getting inside and rolling in the catnip. Idea is that they get used to it, then I'll put it in their usual litter tray location next week, then out in the garden the week after that. See how it goes. They love to explore outside in the garden, but refuse to relieve themselves out there and rush in to use the litter tray. It would be funny if it weren't so pungent.
For a long time now, Tuxedo will come to my chair when I am at the computer, and mess around, wanting her head fondled.
Crypto watches this but avoids contact.
But this evening, she's kept coming up to me, miaowing her croaky little miaow, and actually wanted me to stroke her neck and fondle her head a little. Utterly amazing.
Actually what she wants is for me to go and play with her - flick a whippy thing about or wave feathers.
Contact!!!! Maybe she's finally realised I don't eat cats, or whatever her catty little brain fears so much.
(Rather spoilt the effect by running away after a few minutes, but hey, it's a start.)
Tuxedo is as easily startled as ever but is quite affectionate and often comes to me when I'm sitting down and wants a fondle. She doesn't run off as readily and can be caught with comparitive ease. I can seize hold of her and lie on the couch and she will snuggle her head right down on my shoulder and occasionally even purr. But she gets off quick if I don't gently hold her. She eats my plants in the garden and is a diligent hunter of ...moths.
Crypto is still a scaredy-pants and slinks around, haunches down and looking wary or guilty. She has just got the two of them confined to the house or allowed out only under supervision.
Was in my kitchen two days ago and there was a sudden outcry outside and Crypto came skidding in and to the back of the room. Nothing to be seen outside but Mrs Blackbird was screaming with alarm. I went to see what Crypto was agitated about and there she had a half size fully fledged blackbird, opening its mouth but soundless. I retrieved this and took it outside, put it gently on the lawn, and shut the cats in the kitchen. I noticed the baby bird's leg was broken just above the knee but it appeared otherwise undamaged. Mrs B came and bounced around the lawn but though she saw her baby, did not try to feed it and it didn't open its mouth. Later I took it and put it on the flat roof of my neighbour's shed. It wasn't there half an hour later. I don't know if it could fly, or support itself on its one remaining useable leg, or whether I should - cut off (wince) - the dangling bit of leg which would become a nuisance to it (should it survive).
So for the time being the girlies are not allowed outside the house except under supervision. I think the next is in my next door neighbour's garden so that means Crypto has now either dared to go outside my garden, or maybe the baby bird was taking a learner flight and landed on the lawn...more likely.
Crypto spent the next couple of hours patrolling the area where I'd removed the bird from. She could smell it and wanted it. Tuxy was also quite excited/interested, not so much in the bird but more in whatever Crypto was interested in.
I know it was bound to happen some time...but I'd rather it didn't.
She needs to tackle something more her size...like those bl00dy woodpigeons that nip the growing points from the brassicas and steal the berries from my soft fruits.
Crypto is enjoying life very much now. Today she brought a friend home for lunch. It was a mouse and it was firmly held in her jaws and still moving feebly. I chased her out of the house and she vanished beneath a dense bush in the garden.
I don't so much mind her catching mice ... as having to deal with the likely consequences - ie, if she eats prey, at some stage she will get intestinal worms. The problem with that is that I have only ever held this cat twice! In 2-1/2 years! I can't imagine forcing a worm tablet down her throat, nor even squirting Frontline on the back of her neck. I think it doubtful that she will willingly eat a worm tablet or powder. She is canny and of once bitten, twice shy nature - catch her in a place once, and you'll never see her there again.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I reckon I'm going to have about three months to figure out a way to to start worming her.
I would prefer to live and emerge from the dosing experience with an unbitten and ideally unscratched skin.
Meanwhile, Tuxy was interested in this faintly wriggly creature that Crypto had and was wide-eyed with desire to share. Hard luck, Crypto wasn't in sharing mood.
I brought in three fresh catnip leaves and they went nuts..
the baby consumed all three leaves. Wouldn't let the other two have any. So I got out the grand stash, and gave the other two some while keeping baby occupied.
There is literally catnip everywhere here..
there are three or four piles of the *real* stuff, and the baby, once getting the best of each pile, is presently at my desk, wrestling me for the container of the grand stash..
LOL, Ham, your cats sound funny. I've heard the effect of catnip on cats can be a bit like that of marijuana on humans.
The little'uns can be mighty terrifyin' to the bigger ones...
A couple of months ago, my mum got a rescue cat, Dinah, very small, 2kgs, kitten sized but apparently about 5 years old. Friendly cat but very thin and tiny. Slowly and pickily putting on weight.
Mum came to visit me recently, so with some anxiety she took Dinah to my sister's. Sis has two very timid cats (only marginally less timid than my two). Dinah investigated my sis's house and her two cats did a runner. She ate all their food and pushed them out of their fave places. Sis's two sleep on her bed; Dinah also invited herself onto the bed. Dinah has sis's two firmly under her control. When she feels like it, Dinah also pushes sis's rather large dog out of its bed and curls up in the middle. The dog whimpers in the corner, but won't go near the dogbed.
Now Dinah is back with Mum and seems to have found an appetite. No more pickiness; she chows down on anything, and in large quantity.
The girlies have a new toy. It's a door. In fact, a door with a catflap.
Had a new door installed yesterday, had the catflap put in. Tuxy emerged when all went quiet. Crypto hid ALL DAY because she didn't like the noise or the workman. I smeared the catflap with catnip and got their interest but they wouldn't attempt to go out.
I managed to catch hold of Tuxedo and took her outside and showed her how to get in. Then taped the flap open. She spent the rest of the evening climbing in and out, not really sure of this new thing to do, but finding it rather interesting.
This morning, I locked both of them out before breakfast, shook the Go-Cat box. T came in cautiously followed 10 mins later by Crypto. C loves being outside and has found the in/out ability fascinating. She slinks (oils) through the door (either way) absolutely silently.
This evening, a small CATastrophe. I thought I'd got them both in, then locked the flap on the 4-way so no in and no out. An hour or so later, there's a frantic scared scream/howl followed by a crashing at the flap. Somehow Tuxy is outside. In the garden is another cat. She is afraid of it (it is rather big and very confident). She must have crashed into the flap and been terrified.
I am a little worried about other cats getting in but there is no way I'll be able to get my two to wear magnetic collars. Not that, so far as I'm aware, any other cat has ever walked in, even though I quite often leave the door wide open.
Well, I doubt anybody is watching this thread now as GSC is about to close down, but just in case:
Tuxedo is turning into a real fuss-puss, loves to be fondled and when I am using the computer, feels the need to walk up and down on the back of the adjacent couch, rubbing up against me and rubbing faces. She also eases her way onto my lap, stamps around on me, and tries typing on the keyboard. She has a lovely happy purr. She also likes to lie on my chest with her head over my shoulder and relax a little. But it's in her time.
You'd think she was nearly a normal cat. Until you realise she only does this with me. My Mum came to visit over Christmas and she hid all the time. Was captured with difficulty and held by Mum under great protest. When Mum went home after her visit, Tuxy avoided me for several days. She runs off even if people she knows well come to visit. She runs off and hides under the table or the chairs or anywhere else inaccessible, if I try to pick her up when I'm in some other location than by my computer.
Crypto meanwhile is enjoying gentle strokes along her back and head and all along her body. She shows herself quite happily to people. Dosen't come near, but shows herself. She rubs round chair legs, other furniture, and occasionally hands - never against human legs. After 3 years, I still haven't picked her up. She is getting a bit of a voice on her and will now miaow at me if she wants something (like food, or more likely, play). She plays enthusiastically with people she knows.
They love the cat flap and seem to have settled quite a lot since it was fitted and they can come and go at will during daylight hours (I don't let them out at night). They hated all the snow we had recently, refused to go out at all, and glared at me or looked "winningly" as if the snow were all my fault and I could or should make it all go away. Rain is also my fault, LOL.
In about 20 years I might have "normal" cats that can be picked up. Oh wait...cats don't usually live that long.
Ah well. I love 'em anyway and they do give me pleasure. So much better than they were.
I thought I'd resurrect this old thread and just re-read my last post on it. I could just about repeat it word for word as to how the girlies are doing now.
But there has been progress.
Tuxedo is getting more of a fuss-puss - with me, and only with me. She follows me round the house. As I move from room to room, just a few minutes later she will be there. Particularly noticeable in the evenings (I'm in and out a lot during the daytime). She yells at me to be fondled or picked up and then runs off when I reach out to her. She likes to lie on the back of the couch near my "office" chair or to walk across the keyboard. At night she has taken to yelling at me, and for an odd reason - for her. I like to lie with her and fondle her, but if I do this on the couch I fall asleep. So I take her up to bed at night sometimes. A few times now it has got near "bed time" and she yells at me and looks meaningfully at the door at the foot of the stairs, even goes upstairs pausing to glance back at me as if to say, you come too. Sleeps somewhere on the bed with me. If I don't get up when she thinks appropriate in the morning she leaps about on the bed and miaows and pats my face, and leaps off when I try to grab her.
Normal cat, you say? Yeah, until someone else comes, then you never see her.
Crypto is the Ham glutton - she loves bits of ham (sorry, Mr Squirrel). I give her a little at night, the remaindered stuff from the supermarket; now she yells very persistently at me until I give her some. She has a small thin slice torn into tiny fingernail-sized fragments. I am using this demand to my advantage. Lately, I sit on the couch and make her get up on it to get these treats. Then I fondle her with the hand not holding the treat. She gets her head, ears, neck, chest and flanks lightly fondled. She will only tolerate a little of this but the bribe makes it less scary. The hope is that she becomes used to being touched. Seems to be working. When totally besotted with the ham, she will purr (yep, a real purr) and has been known to put her front feet on my leg - I'm not sure if she realizes quite what she's doing in pursuit of her piece of ham. She's always rubbed up against chairs, furniture, etc, but lately it's also against legs, etc and she demands a nape scratch and lately a back stroke. One stroke, then she's away but back 10 seconds later for another stroke.
Better yet, she does this with other people, wants and enjoys a little fondle from people she knows.
No closer to picking her up - touching both sides of her body at once will have her away before you register you've touched her.
And it doesn't stop her hissing at me if she is startled by movement or I approach the place she sleeps or the table she's under.
She often follows Tuxedo about so at night I think sometimes I have both of them in my bedroom. She's such a stealthy mover that it's difficult to know whether she's there or not.
It's a loooooooooot of progress compared to the creatures I first acquired.
Have you tried to grab her by the scruff? This is what mama cat does when she relocates her kittens. Some cats will assume a submissive attitude if you do this. Grab her scruff, lift her and put your other hand underneath for support, simultaneously.
Tried it, yes, Not a thing you do twice with Crypto.
She moves like mercury if she senses something amiss. This is a cat that swings from lying on one side of her body to the other side with apparently no intervening positions.
She also is an extremely wary cat and once surprised/frightened/alarmed won't quickly re-visit what alarmed her.
She has a terrifying hiss and would, I suspect, attack not cower down.
I might try again grabbing her by the scruff, though. She loves to be fondled on her neck. I have just never managed to grab a handful of skin. The slightest tensing of my fingers provokes flight. Perhaps sometime when I have sprayed my hand liberally with Feliway.
Some more progress. Tuxedo has this week started to jump onto my lap and push around wanting fondles. Yep, she jumps up entirely voluntarily. And she is pushy wanting the fondles. Hasn't decided to sit or settle on my lap, but perhaps that is to come.
Other cat Crypto is still wary but does allow me to walk by the food bowl - well, 2ft from it - without taking off and hiding now. Stupid creature, she knows I put the food there! I was putting food out one day recently and without thinking really, just seized the nearest cat, which happened to be Crypto, and parked her on my lap. She didn't fight me but allowed me to stroke her. Leaped off at the first opportunity, though, and was wary of me for the next two or three days.
They must be 7 or 8 years old now (oh hello Tuxy on my lap) - you'd really think that by now they'd have got the message that I'm not going to hurt them.
They must be 7 or 8 years old now (oh hello Tuxy on my lap) - you'd really think that by now they'd have got the message that I'm not going to hurt them.
It just takes time.
We have 2 cats, both of which came from the local Animal Protection League.
Boo is about 8 now, and was appropriately named. She would RUN from anyone and anything. Now, she trusts us and actually wants to be petted. If we don't pay her attention, she will come up and push her head into our hands! She still runs from strangers - just not as quickly.
BJ was a kitten that came from one of these 'weird cat lady' homes that had something like 60 cats. When he first came, he was desperate to protect his food. He would take a mouthful out of the bowl and move a few feet away. If anyone - especially the other cat - came anywhere near him he would growl. He's almost six now and he acts totally different. He's probably the most laid-back cat I have ever known. He's so nonchalant that one of the dogs often grabs the food away from him when we give him a treat - and it is no big deal. You can almost see him shrug 'oh well' and stroll away.
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TheHighWay
Okay, I know this is a long post, but I've had probably half a dozen cats in my life and I've done the same with each of them with good success. Every time I've brought a new cat home, whether it was
Twinky
Well, the girlies are really settling well, with going out. Tuxy loves to be outside but she stays nicely in the garden, and more or less comes when called. If she want to go out she has taken to ye
leafytwiglet
Take her to the vet do not pass go do not collect 200 $ she has a urinary infection. They will give her antibiotics and she will get better (((Hugs)) to you and her poor little poppet.. Regarding t
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Ham
That's the administrator cat's brother. Fooled you, didn't he?
that wasn't a serious look. I think he was halfway through one of the slow wink things.. that's apparently how they say "we are friends" or something.
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kimberly
Hey Twinky. I used Gatorade because I knew it had "stuff" in it to replenish, on a short time basis, certain human body minerals. I thought, if it gives a little jump start maybe it would for Sweetie Pie.
I read an article and saw the same on Animal Planet that cats learn to hunt from their mothers. If their mother doesn't teach them then they do not know how to hunt. I had never heard such!
Sweetie Pie is now 4 years old. Forget her hunting anything. We decided about a year ago she should start going outside. It was an itty bitty step by step coming of age for her. At first she sat on the window ledge and howled. A long process it was. Then after a couple of months she would lay on the ledge and watch the critterhood. Then she started laying under the bushes in front of the ledge and watching. Then she ventured out under the bushes by the fence. Then she started laying under the pecan tree near the house. She was amazed by everything. She even got to where she liked to go outside at night for long spells.
She started laying under the bird bath. The birds did not seem to care. One day Sweetie Pie was drinking from the bird bath with husband and wife Cardinal. We fully expected a preening day at the bird bath spa to be next. Animals are so instinctive.
About 6 weeks ago there was a feral cat howling in the critterhood. Sweetie Pie was outside. She has never wanted to go out since then.
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waysider
To some degree, all cats will instinctively "hunt". What they learn from the mother cat is that it is part of the survival routine. (ie: eat what you kill.) That's why cats will bring you all sorts of dead mice and chipmunks. They haven't quite grasped that they are supposed to eat them to survive.
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Twinky
Heh, the girlies have refused to go out at all during all the snow we have had. I would open the door and they would rush to the back of the room, as far as they could from the door.
Yesterday was rubbish collection day. It was still very snowy round the access road at the rear of the house. I went up to check the rubbish bin, which hadn't been emptied. I tucked Tuxy under my arm when I went out - she didn't like this and struggled to escape. I set her down beside the garden path but on the garden, with her feet in the snow. She was shocked and scampered back down the garden path, howling as if in deep distress. You know, that yowlll-owwlll sort of wail. Crypto was standing at the kitchen door, gazing with a concerned expression on her face.
I guess they won't be building snow-cats, then, if we get any more snow.
Today all the snow has gone, many inches, disappeared overnight.
The girlies went out (a little reluctantly) - Tuxy's first call was to see if the fish was okay. He is. He is still under several inches of ice but his little white tail was visible, wiggling in his plant pot hidy-hole. I left Tuxy outside assuming the role of protector.
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kimberly
New baby kitty, Rocket, was a gift to my daughter but he looooooves moi. He has to sleep around my neck. I know it sounds weird. But he is such the baby and I am such a mama I can't make him move. I guess he feels safe. The first week he was with us he would try to nurse my ear lobe!!!! Okie dokie, little booger, I draw the line there. I swear, last time I checked my ear lobe in no way resembles or smells like a teat. Too funny.....
Everywhere I go, this little fella is right there with me. The computer room is the exception. He likes to play with the wires. I close the door and he stands outside clawing and sounding pitiful. By now, he has given up and probably sleeping on my pillow.
Sweetie Pie is just now warming up to him. We didn't know she could be so mean and jealous. Rocket has found a friend in Lily, the Lab. They wrestle and play together. It is so amazing how she knows he is a baby and is so gentle with him. It is hilarious to see his little claws hanging onto her snout. Lily doesn't mind.
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Twinky
It is odd, isn't it, how animals play gentle with baby animals of other species. They know.
Now we need a picture of Rocket. Or Rocket and Lilly. Sounds too cute. Great neck warmer - like those "fox fur" things women used to don (yeuk) only yours is so much better.
We used to have a cat (had her from a teeny kitten) and she loved my dad and rode around on his neck. Even as an adult cat, she especially liked running up his back if he had a shirt off, and perching on his shoulders. Dad didn't think this was quite as much fun.......
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kimberly
I have plenty of pictures on the camera. I don't know how to download it on the computer much less post it. One of these day if I can get the boy to slow down long enough he can teach his mama how to do it.
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kimberly
Well, "precious" baby kitty, Rocket, has lived up to his name.
How do I know when the upstairs is in serious disarray? When I hear what sounds like volumes of newspaper being shredded by a tornado. Turns out it is only one page that has been torn yet somehow spawns into a million pieces. He is so proud of himself.
He sleeps like a baby until 4 am then starts kneading my hair and scalp!! So, off he goes to the bathroom into the baby bed we bought him. He cries for a minute then he goes to sleep.
I thought there for a while Sweetie was warming up to him. All he wants to do is play but she has adopted a no tolerance attitude.
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Twinky
At 4am I'd be adopting a "no tolerance" stance, too!
Know what you mean about the paper. Got home one day to find my two had knocked the kitchen roll off where it stands on the microwave. They had had such fun and there was shredded paper everywhere and a look of great delight on Tuxedo's face.
Now they get to play with two toys - I stick the edge of a feather or their other playthings under the couple of sheets of kitchen roll that were more or less intact, and this is just the most fabulous toy these cats can imagine. The paper can be made to move and the edge of the feather or other item can be made to "disappear" into the scrunched-up paper.
We still need to see some photos of Rocket at (?)work!!
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bulwinkl
Thanks to Jonathan Turley
http://jonathanturley.org/2010/03/28/feline-fatality-or-frame-up/#comments
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Twinky
A small step for cat, a giant step for cat relations.
Girlies demanded I went downstairs to play tonight and as usual wandered off. Tuxy tried to get my attention, wouldn't play properly, so I lay on the couch reading a book. After a while, bored with my inattention to her - she jumped onto my chest - first time ever! Tried to jump off just as quick, but I caught her and she lay nicely, stretched out all along my torso - I didn't realise she was such a long cat! We had a very nice cuddle then she went off to chase some Go-Cat.
So finally she is beginning to realise that this is what cats do (apart frm the usual, of which the least said, the better).
Only 2-1/4 years to get this far...
Now to get cuddling with Crypto...LOL.
I have got them a covered outdoor litter tray. This is to go outside, but currently it's in the lounge. Sprinkled the inside with catnip (only) and they love getting inside and rolling in the catnip. Idea is that they get used to it, then I'll put it in their usual litter tray location next week, then out in the garden the week after that. See how it goes. They love to explore outside in the garden, but refuse to relieve themselves out there and rush in to use the litter tray. It would be funny if it weren't so pungent.
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Twinky
And now another advance...this time Crypto.
For a long time now, Tuxedo will come to my chair when I am at the computer, and mess around, wanting her head fondled.
Crypto watches this but avoids contact.
But this evening, she's kept coming up to me, miaowing her croaky little miaow, and actually wanted me to stroke her neck and fondle her head a little. Utterly amazing.
Actually what she wants is for me to go and play with her - flick a whippy thing about or wave feathers.
Contact!!!! Maybe she's finally realised I don't eat cats, or whatever her catty little brain fears so much.
(Rather spoilt the effect by running away after a few minutes, but hey, it's a start.)
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Twinky
An update on these two mischievous critters.
Tuxedo is as easily startled as ever but is quite affectionate and often comes to me when I'm sitting down and wants a fondle. She doesn't run off as readily and can be caught with comparitive ease. I can seize hold of her and lie on the couch and she will snuggle her head right down on my shoulder and occasionally even purr. But she gets off quick if I don't gently hold her. She eats my plants in the garden and is a diligent hunter of ...moths.
Crypto is still a scaredy-pants and slinks around, haunches down and looking wary or guilty. She has just got the two of them confined to the house or allowed out only under supervision.
Was in my kitchen two days ago and there was a sudden outcry outside and Crypto came skidding in and to the back of the room. Nothing to be seen outside but Mrs Blackbird was screaming with alarm. I went to see what Crypto was agitated about and there she had a half size fully fledged blackbird, opening its mouth but soundless. I retrieved this and took it outside, put it gently on the lawn, and shut the cats in the kitchen. I noticed the baby bird's leg was broken just above the knee but it appeared otherwise undamaged. Mrs B came and bounced around the lawn but though she saw her baby, did not try to feed it and it didn't open its mouth. Later I took it and put it on the flat roof of my neighbour's shed. It wasn't there half an hour later. I don't know if it could fly, or support itself on its one remaining useable leg, or whether I should - cut off (wince) - the dangling bit of leg which would become a nuisance to it (should it survive).
So for the time being the girlies are not allowed outside the house except under supervision. I think the next is in my next door neighbour's garden so that means Crypto has now either dared to go outside my garden, or maybe the baby bird was taking a learner flight and landed on the lawn...more likely.
Crypto spent the next couple of hours patrolling the area where I'd removed the bird from. She could smell it and wanted it. Tuxy was also quite excited/interested, not so much in the bird but more in whatever Crypto was interested in.
I know it was bound to happen some time...but I'd rather it didn't.
She needs to tackle something more her size...like those bl00dy woodpigeons that nip the growing points from the brassicas and steal the berries from my soft fruits.
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Twinky
Crypto is enjoying life very much now. Today she brought a friend home for lunch. It was a mouse and it was firmly held in her jaws and still moving feebly. I chased her out of the house and she vanished beneath a dense bush in the garden.
I don't so much mind her catching mice ... as having to deal with the likely consequences - ie, if she eats prey, at some stage she will get intestinal worms. The problem with that is that I have only ever held this cat twice! In 2-1/2 years! I can't imagine forcing a worm tablet down her throat, nor even squirting Frontline on the back of her neck. I think it doubtful that she will willingly eat a worm tablet or powder. She is canny and of once bitten, twice shy nature - catch her in a place once, and you'll never see her there again.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I reckon I'm going to have about three months to figure out a way to to start worming her.
I would prefer to live and emerge from the dosing experience with an unbitten and ideally unscratched skin.
Meanwhile, Tuxy was interested in this faintly wriggly creature that Crypto had and was wide-eyed with desire to share. Hard luck, Crypto wasn't in sharing mood.
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Twinky
And another mouse today.
That's right after she'd just had a good nosh of Go-Cat.
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Ham
I'm glad they are doing well..
the three cats here tonight, it was bedlam..
I brought in three fresh catnip leaves and they went nuts..
the baby consumed all three leaves. Wouldn't let the other two have any. So I got out the grand stash, and gave the other two some while keeping baby occupied.
There is literally catnip everywhere here..
there are three or four piles of the *real* stuff, and the baby, once getting the best of each pile, is presently at my desk, wrestling me for the container of the grand stash..
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Twinky
LOL, Ham, your cats sound funny. I've heard the effect of catnip on cats can be a bit like that of marijuana on humans.
The little'uns can be mighty terrifyin' to the bigger ones...
A couple of months ago, my mum got a rescue cat, Dinah, very small, 2kgs, kitten sized but apparently about 5 years old. Friendly cat but very thin and tiny. Slowly and pickily putting on weight.
Mum came to visit me recently, so with some anxiety she took Dinah to my sister's. Sis has two very timid cats (only marginally less timid than my two). Dinah investigated my sis's house and her two cats did a runner. She ate all their food and pushed them out of their fave places. Sis's two sleep on her bed; Dinah also invited herself onto the bed. Dinah has sis's two firmly under her control. When she feels like it, Dinah also pushes sis's rather large dog out of its bed and curls up in the middle. The dog whimpers in the corner, but won't go near the dogbed.
Now Dinah is back with Mum and seems to have found an appetite. No more pickiness; she chows down on anything, and in large quantity.
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Twinky
The girlies have a new toy. It's a door. In fact, a door with a catflap.
Had a new door installed yesterday, had the catflap put in. Tuxy emerged when all went quiet. Crypto hid ALL DAY because she didn't like the noise or the workman. I smeared the catflap with catnip and got their interest but they wouldn't attempt to go out.
I managed to catch hold of Tuxedo and took her outside and showed her how to get in. Then taped the flap open. She spent the rest of the evening climbing in and out, not really sure of this new thing to do, but finding it rather interesting.
This morning, I locked both of them out before breakfast, shook the Go-Cat box. T came in cautiously followed 10 mins later by Crypto. C loves being outside and has found the in/out ability fascinating. She slinks (oils) through the door (either way) absolutely silently.
This evening, a small CATastrophe. I thought I'd got them both in, then locked the flap on the 4-way so no in and no out. An hour or so later, there's a frantic scared scream/howl followed by a crashing at the flap. Somehow Tuxy is outside. In the garden is another cat. She is afraid of it (it is rather big and very confident). She must have crashed into the flap and been terrified.
I am a little worried about other cats getting in but there is no way I'll be able to get my two to wear magnetic collars. Not that, so far as I'm aware, any other cat has ever walked in, even though I quite often leave the door wide open.
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Twinky
Well, I doubt anybody is watching this thread now as GSC is about to close down, but just in case:
Tuxedo is turning into a real fuss-puss, loves to be fondled and when I am using the computer, feels the need to walk up and down on the back of the adjacent couch, rubbing up against me and rubbing faces. She also eases her way onto my lap, stamps around on me, and tries typing on the keyboard. She has a lovely happy purr. She also likes to lie on my chest with her head over my shoulder and relax a little. But it's in her time.
You'd think she was nearly a normal cat. Until you realise she only does this with me. My Mum came to visit over Christmas and she hid all the time. Was captured with difficulty and held by Mum under great protest. When Mum went home after her visit, Tuxy avoided me for several days. She runs off even if people she knows well come to visit. She runs off and hides under the table or the chairs or anywhere else inaccessible, if I try to pick her up when I'm in some other location than by my computer.
Crypto meanwhile is enjoying gentle strokes along her back and head and all along her body. She shows herself quite happily to people. Dosen't come near, but shows herself. She rubs round chair legs, other furniture, and occasionally hands - never against human legs. After 3 years, I still haven't picked her up. She is getting a bit of a voice on her and will now miaow at me if she wants something (like food, or more likely, play). She plays enthusiastically with people she knows.
They love the cat flap and seem to have settled quite a lot since it was fitted and they can come and go at will during daylight hours (I don't let them out at night). They hated all the snow we had recently, refused to go out at all, and glared at me or looked "winningly" as if the snow were all my fault and I could or should make it all go away. Rain is also my fault, LOL.
In about 20 years I might have "normal" cats that can be picked up. Oh wait...cats don't usually live that long.
Ah well. I love 'em anyway and they do give me pleasure. So much better than they were.
Over and out, then, on this thread.
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Twinky
I thought I'd resurrect this old thread and just re-read my last post on it. I could just about repeat it word for word as to how the girlies are doing now.
But there has been progress.
Tuxedo is getting more of a fuss-puss - with me, and only with me. She follows me round the house. As I move from room to room, just a few minutes later she will be there. Particularly noticeable in the evenings (I'm in and out a lot during the daytime). She yells at me to be fondled or picked up and then runs off when I reach out to her. She likes to lie on the back of the couch near my "office" chair or to walk across the keyboard. At night she has taken to yelling at me, and for an odd reason - for her. I like to lie with her and fondle her, but if I do this on the couch I fall asleep. So I take her up to bed at night sometimes. A few times now it has got near "bed time" and she yells at me and looks meaningfully at the door at the foot of the stairs, even goes upstairs pausing to glance back at me as if to say, you come too. Sleeps somewhere on the bed with me. If I don't get up when she thinks appropriate in the morning she leaps about on the bed and miaows and pats my face, and leaps off when I try to grab her.
Normal cat, you say? Yeah, until someone else comes, then you never see her.
Crypto is the Ham glutton - she loves bits of ham (sorry, Mr Squirrel). I give her a little at night, the remaindered stuff from the supermarket; now she yells very persistently at me until I give her some. She has a small thin slice torn into tiny fingernail-sized fragments. I am using this demand to my advantage. Lately, I sit on the couch and make her get up on it to get these treats. Then I fondle her with the hand not holding the treat. She gets her head, ears, neck, chest and flanks lightly fondled. She will only tolerate a little of this but the bribe makes it less scary. The hope is that she becomes used to being touched. Seems to be working. When totally besotted with the ham, she will purr (yep, a real purr) and has been known to put her front feet on my leg - I'm not sure if she realizes quite what she's doing in pursuit of her piece of ham. She's always rubbed up against chairs, furniture, etc, but lately it's also against legs, etc and she demands a nape scratch and lately a back stroke. One stroke, then she's away but back 10 seconds later for another stroke.
Better yet, she does this with other people, wants and enjoys a little fondle from people she knows.
No closer to picking her up - touching both sides of her body at once will have her away before you register you've touched her.
And it doesn't stop her hissing at me if she is startled by movement or I approach the place she sleeps or the table she's under.
She often follows Tuxedo about so at night I think sometimes I have both of them in my bedroom. She's such a stealthy mover that it's difficult to know whether she's there or not.
It's a loooooooooot of progress compared to the creatures I first acquired.
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waysider
Have you tried to grab her by the scruff? This is what mama cat does when she relocates her kittens. Some cats will assume a submissive attitude if you do this. Grab her scruff, lift her and put your other hand underneath for support, simultaneously.
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Twinky
Tried it, yes, Not a thing you do twice with Crypto.
She moves like mercury if she senses something amiss. This is a cat that swings from lying on one side of her body to the other side with apparently no intervening positions.
She also is an extremely wary cat and once surprised/frightened/alarmed won't quickly re-visit what alarmed her.
She has a terrifying hiss and would, I suspect, attack not cower down.
I might try again grabbing her by the scruff, though. She loves to be fondled on her neck. I have just never managed to grab a handful of skin. The slightest tensing of my fingers provokes flight. Perhaps sometime when I have sprayed my hand liberally with Feliway.
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Twinky
Here I am, back on this really old thread now.
Some more progress. Tuxedo has this week started to jump onto my lap and push around wanting fondles. Yep, she jumps up entirely voluntarily. And she is pushy wanting the fondles. Hasn't decided to sit or settle on my lap, but perhaps that is to come.
Other cat Crypto is still wary but does allow me to walk by the food bowl - well, 2ft from it - without taking off and hiding now. Stupid creature, she knows I put the food there! I was putting food out one day recently and without thinking really, just seized the nearest cat, which happened to be Crypto, and parked her on my lap. She didn't fight me but allowed me to stroke her. Leaped off at the first opportunity, though, and was wary of me for the next two or three days.
They must be 7 or 8 years old now (oh hello Tuxy on my lap) - you'd really think that by now they'd have got the message that I'm not going to hurt them.
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Kevin Fallon
It just takes time.
We have 2 cats, both of which came from the local Animal Protection League.
Boo is about 8 now, and was appropriately named. She would RUN from anyone and anything. Now, she trusts us and actually wants to be petted. If we don't pay her attention, she will come up and push her head into our hands! She still runs from strangers - just not as quickly.
BJ was a kitten that came from one of these 'weird cat lady' homes that had something like 60 cats. When he first came, he was desperate to protect his food. He would take a mouthful out of the bowl and move a few feet away. If anyone - especially the other cat - came anywhere near him he would growl. He's almost six now and he acts totally different. He's probably the most laid-back cat I have ever known. He's so nonchalant that one of the dogs often grabs the food away from him when we give him a treat - and it is no big deal. You can almost see him shrug 'oh well' and stroll away.
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