Posted on 04/16/2005 9:31:21 AM PDT by Rakkasan1
One minute you are enjoying a tender moment petting your purring cat and then, suddenly, your lovey-dovey kitty whirls around and attacks you.
Cat lovers pull away wondering, "What just happened?"
"Most of these problems can be linked to people who acquire kittens too young in the belief that they'll develop a closer bond with the cat," explains Carolyn Osier, a breeder of cats for more than 30 years and an all-breed judge for the Cat Fancier's Association.
Having watched almost 300 litters of kittens develop, Osier notes that, just like children, certain feline social skills develop at different times. A kitten acquired at six weeks of age may be fully capable of eating from a dish and using a litter box but still needs to master social skills such as learning how to fight and play together. Kittens learn their more serious fighting and predatory skills by engaging in what look like serious tussles but actually are play battles that don't involve the use of teeth or claws. If a kitten chomps or claws too hard, the game is over, and he learns he has to control himself with family.
Given the importance of these skills for the cat's survival, missing these lessons sets the stage for problems later.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
*** She actually had to watch me do it, before she considered me trained.***
Hilarious!
: )
George, my one year old male neutered DSH, attacked me once. I gave him a negative response and George, being the intelligent cat that he is, has not done it again.
Oh, I've been outwitted. Usually, though, it's because I didn't expect the big guy to do the incredibly stupid things he chooses to do. The girl cat is another story - she uses her peanut-brain in creatively destructive ways on a daily basis...
Only thing our three Siamese gents attack is a stuffed Hillary doll. Everyone in this house finds it hilarious. Conservative kitties rock!
*************
LOL!! Thufferin Thuccotash.
That story is odd on so many levels.
ROFL!!! I laughed 'til I cried. Thanks.
Those are gorgeous!
My cat does this. I will be petting and all of a sudden bite and scratch. I think it is because he has arthritis. He only likes petting under his chin and around ears. If you stroke down his body, he bites. Then again sometimes I just walk by him and he bites. He didn't do that as a kitten but he is an old man now.
Sorry about your kittie. We are getting close to putting down ours. He does still enjoy sitting on the porch however.
I have a cat, Alexis Colby Carrington (Alex) and a child, Ashley. Alex was Ashley's cat. She'd sleep with her, lay on her homework, sit out side the bathroom door and cry, you name it.
When Ash went off to college last summer, the cat went in to hiding while she was packing her car. The child left in tears because she couldn't find the damned cat to say good bye.
After I got back Alex stayed in Ashley's room on her dresser. Everytime she saw me she hissed. This went on for an entire week. Like it was all my fault.
Now everytime Ashley comes home, Alex punishes her by not speaking to her for 24 hours. After that Alex is attached to her. Usually about and hour before Ashley leaves again, the cat goes in to hiding.
It quit being funny at spring break.
That is unbelievable,,I showered my parrot, rest his soul, because he loved it. And the cat was terrified of the parrot who lived for a confrontation with him. The parrot liked to get on the outside of his cage and sneak down, he would call the dog and when the dog held his nose up to the parrot, the parrot would bite the hell out of him. Over and over. Only happened once to the cat.
Sorry about your kitty too. I know how hard it is to put down an old kitty that has been part of your family.
Ours got to the point where she was always hungry, but couldn't eat anything. We'd open a can (or an envelope) of food, or even some chopped up $20/lb smoked salmon which used to be her favorite. But she just couldn't eat. She'd walk away after a few licks and then come back begging for more food.
In the last few weeks it was diarrhea and cat pee everywhere. She was all skin and bones, and didn't even want to cuddle anymore. Just wanted to be left alone, begging for food that she wasn't eating 20 times a day.
It was heartbreaking. But there really was no choice.
ours is always hungry, all day. And he does what yours did but drinks water like crazy, I have three water dishes and fill them twice a day. Thin as a rail and confused at times. Kind of loses it and doesn't know what he wants. But if outside, he still climbs a tree, hops onto our second floor balcony and yowls to come in, over and over, three or four times a night. Sometimes he comes in the front door and goes straight to the back door yowling.
This morning I happened to wake up for no reason at 5am, rest of the family still sleeping. Normally when that happens, I would just go lie on the couch, get cozy under a blanket, turn on the TV (Fox News) and try to doze off again for an hour or so. My cat would always come and scooch under the blanket, purring and snuggling up to me for warmth and a head squishung.
But no kitty this morning, (she's been gone for just over a week). I missed her so terribly this morning.
Absolutely amazing how much you can bond with a cat in 18 years.
LOL! Your cat sounds like mine. She is the silliest little thing. She even follows people into the bathroom to watch. Yesterday my son came in and said he saw the cat going on the toilet.
My husband and I went to NY City for a few days, I found that I couldn't sleep without my Bengal curled up next to me, kept waking and wondering where he was.
We had four kittens born on Easter Sunday morning.
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