Want to show your cat affection? Think twice before stroking it [truncated]

Daily Mail [UK] ^ | 7 October 2013 | Victoria Woollaston

[Slings and Arrows]

If you really love your cat, don’t stroke it.

Researchers say that the pets become stressed if they’re constantly petted.

Animal behaviour experts discovered that cats released hormones linked to anxiety when they were handled by humans.

In fact, the tests appeared to show that no cats enjoyed being stroked.

Some were prepared to tolerate it – but they were the individuals that showed the highest levels of distress.

The researchers concluded that genuine cat lovers should avoid constantly petting their feline friends to spare their feelings.

-snip-

The research also dispelled the popular belief that cats are solitary creatures who struggle to live happily together in groups.

[metmom]

Cat ping

[glock rocks]

I’m allergic too. I put a cat door on the garage and put his food dish and scratch post out there. He slept on top of the Vette on the car cover. Though he started off as feral, he eventually stuck in the yard, and felt warm and safe in the garage.

[ez]

I never pet my cat when he is agitated and I never hold him when he doesn’t want it. But they don’t know cats. Smudge jumps in my lap when he is ready and DEMANDS to be petted.

[Gefn]

There are ways for someone who is allergic to cats to have a cat. Ask your vet.

The other thing I was thinking, your post got buried in this - might it be better to cut and paste it to its own post? Maybe more people will see it if you title it something like loving cat needs a new home?

In the mean time I would build a cat shelter in your backyard. I’m worried that with winter coming your beloved kitty might not make it.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Start putting the cat’s food in the street. Just kidding.

[Slings and Arrows]

Hello fellow cat lovers.

I had the most traumatizing morning but will try to sum it up. I live in a neighborhood that has some stray cats. Three siblings to be exact. I have named them Josephine, Pita and Whiskers. Our family adopted Whiskers who is an incredibly friendly and awesome cat. Whiskers has a twin who is almost identical.

I went outside this morning and found a cat that had been either hit by a car, poisoned or sick. Whiskers has a collar and this cat did not. I did not know if this cat was mine because the collar was missing. For about an hour I was distraught not knowing if it was Whiskers or Pita.

I called the SPCA to come out, and just started balling as I was talking to them.

Not knowing if the cat injured cat was mine or Pita (because they are indentical) I started walking down the street calling my own cat and after an hour Whiskers emerged. I just about fainted.

Pita got taken away to be looked at by the SPCA Vet and I told them to contact me when there is a prognosis.

So much for my shortened story.

I have cat allergies and cannot keep a cat inside. The SPCA told me that (when I mentioned that I was scared MY cat WOULD eventually be hit by a car) it was not a matter of “if” but “when”.

I have two options, find a loving home for my beloved Tabby, or build a cat home in my very very small backyard.

I don’t know what to do.

diamond6 needs some advice.

[Slings and Arrows]

All cats are Slaanesh cultists.

[Monkey Face]

Knowing that cats are, by nature, “solitary,” I’ve always allowed them to come to me when they wanted to be stroked, petted or scratched.

No stress in my kittehs...!

[Spktyr]

Allergies can be treated with medication and many otherwise allergic persons find they can keep their feline friends with such. Not expensive, either.

[Slings and Arrows]

Mine are so “stressed out” by petting that they’ll wake me up to “stress” them.

[MeshugeMikey]

If you have a reasonably sized tree a treehouse might be in order.

yes Im serious

[Monkey Face]

http://www.catsofaustralia.com/cat-enclosures.htm#.UlXLEJ3n_aE

Plenty of ideas here! They look easy enough to modify, even to fit a small yard.

[Jaded]

Yeppers!

[Monkey Face]

See? I can’t stop stressing them when they want stressing...until they have had enough and just get up and walk away.

[Jaded]

When my cat was younger she used to slobber when I would scratch her ears. Now when she thinks it is time for me to go to bed so she can jump up and get petted, she stands in the hallway and squawks.

[Jaded]

When my cat was younger she used to slobber when I would scratch her ears. Now when she thinks it is time for me to go to bed so she can jump up and get petted, she stands in the hallway and squawks.

[SkyDancer]

Mine likes to play “scratch my tail section then fall over” ... I’d be scratching her tailbone then she’d fall over wanting her tummy scratched. She like a brushing with a wire brush. Gets all the itchy spots.

[EBH]

Purrfect Fence is an option depending on where they live. And even if it is someplace that gets brutal cold, heated kennels can be found online as well. Example is the K and H Outdoor Heated Kitty Cottage.

Purrfect Fence is what is used at the Hemmingway House in Key West.

[CatherineofAragon]

I’m glad your kitty is okay, but that had to be a horrible experience.

I don’t have any experience with cat allergies, nor any knowledgeable advice I could give you, but I did find these:

http://www.petfinder.com/cats/living-with-your-cat/cat-allergies/

http://cats.about.com/u/ua/allergiesandcats/allergictocats.01.htm

[Mercat]

We’ve had cats now for 40 years. They have all been indoor/outdoor cats so I don’t know whether a strictly outdoor cat is different. All but two have died of old age. Two (both Russian Blues) were we think carried off by predators. We have owls coyotes and even a raccoon can carry off a blue which are small. We’re thinking about getting a cat for our farm where we have a large shop which suffers from mice. If we get one, we’ll fit him with a collar that allows him and only him (or her) to come and go through a cat door. We’ll leave food and water and we’re out there about three times a week. There are coyotes and even bobcat but this will let him head for the shop anytime he wants. I’m thinking maybe a Maine Coon Cat. They are smart and big. So maybe if you set up a safe place for him in your garage or shop with a pet door and a radio collar. Just a thought.