Letters to the Editor
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cats can be trained!!!!
I have been a cat owner all of my life and have trained each successive cat I have owned. I do not have children and they are like my babies, but I wont tolerate bad behavior ( I would never put one down or get rid of them, water pistols work well) just try to change the bad behavior. When I got Rocky and Bullwinkle, Rocky was only 10 weeks old and Bullwinkle was already 11 months old, both from the same breeder (both Siamese but 2 different types) and the home they came from was a nightmare. Cats everywhere and all over the place, on tables, counters and so on. Bullwinkle was a bit of a grump and Rocky was just scared all the time. Rocky wanted to sleep on my back and after trying it and being removed, trying it again and being removed, he didn't try it again. He also liked to chase toes under the blanket. That didn't last too long either. It was always fun to watch my previous cat, Snowball chase your hand under the blanket but realizing that it was not a good idea with Rocky, we didn't let it get started to begin with even though he was just a kitten. Bullwinkle didn't like to be held...at all! After picking him up everyday, a few times a day for a short period of time, Bullwinkle got used to being held and grew to like it.
After 13 wonderful years, Bullwinkle passed away but not before I had brought in a 3rd cat, Natasha who was about 6 months old. It was a rough 2 weeks in the beginning but the boys were so well behaved with her and she has such a great personality that they got along great, although I needed to train her what was not allowed in the house. She is twice the size of the boys and never used it to her advantage with them and has always allowed them to be "Kings of the Castle". She did try to climb on everything she could but after being told "No" when she was not to do something and being told "Good Girl" when she used the scratching post instead of the couch, she learned. Both Rocky and Natasha are well behaved and affectionate cats and I don't know what I would do without them. They don't bite or scratch (but I do get it sometimes when I play rough with them) they never intend to injure. I love my babies and cats can be trained!!!
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Thompson
Kirsten, sorry, but I could have diagnosed Thompson's problems from ONE word in your article: dog. Of course Thompson bites if there's a dog around. For more insights into Thompson's behavior, go to www.theworldisyourlitterbox.com. -- Although I really think Thompson needs to read it for insights into YOUR behavior. Yes, I am a cat.
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The problem is cat owners
Many cat owners think that if they provide any behavior controls to their cats, this somehow restricts their "freedom to be a cat" , and crap like that. This goes as far as letting their cats roam the neighborhood, kill songbirds, and the like, because "that is what cats naturally do".
Of course, cats take full advantage of it. Wouldn't you?
People comment on the pleasant personalities of our two cats. I don't think it is completely by accident. They also get along brilliantly with our dog, which dispels another myth.
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Da Death Throes
Da Bird is absolutely the most ingenious cat toy to ever come down the pike. A friend introduced me to it years ago, and I can never thank her enough. It mimics bird movement with a whirring, fluttering sound that holds my cat's attention like nothing else; when we play with Da Bird, she morphs into a jungle huntress.
Wonderful article, Ms. Weir. For more fascinating insights into feline behavior, I recommend the book The Tribe of Tiger: Cats and Their Culture by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas.
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All different
My cat, who I got as a six-month-old, used to bite. I never put up with it, not for a second. Whenever she did it, I would yell NO, grab her by the scruff of the neck and give her a few light, open-handed slaps on top of the head. She learned not to do it, alright. Now on the rare occasions when she's annoyed enough, she'll grab my hand very lightly with her teeth, and then run away. Oddly enough, this has not made her neurotic or anything else of the kind. She's the same curious, energetic, affectionate cat. She just doesn't bite anymore.
A couple of other techniques I've used: She used to meow VERY LOUDLY whenever she expected her meals. So I started reacting to her VERY LOUD meows by petting and rubbing her whenever she meowed. Feeding took about 15 minutes for a couple of days, as I would stop every movement at each meow in order to pet her. But it worked, because of course petting is not what she was after. Took about three days, but she finally realized that in order to get fed as quickly as possible, she had to ask politely. Now she meows in a reasonable tone of voice, and stands quietly by her dish while I'm getting her food.
Also, for minor misbehaviors, i.e. things that aren't nasty but that I don't want her to do, I blow air in her face. She hates that. Gets what I can only call an incredibly insulted look on her face, and stops what she was doing. For things like grabbing, jumping up on furniture, etc., never underestimate the value of simple annoyance. Find something that just irks your cat (as opposed to hurts), and it'll work wonders. Cats really hate to lose their dignity; it's a personality flaw you can exploit with great success.
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Living With Cats
My three cats range from a 14-year-old British Blue "grande dame" who deigns to be petted but cries if she's ignored, a 6-year-old boy the color of summer sunshine who greets me at the door when I come home with meows, purrs and head-butts and a 2-year-old buff and white little boy who can leap nearly seven feet straight up, from the floor to the top of the TV credenza, but prefers sitting in my lap as I watch TV.
They are also little four-legged, fur-faced terrorists who will use my leg for a scratching post, will open every door and drawer in the kitchen when bored, will dunk a paw in my coffee when my back is turned and then lick that paw, will kill for a bite of whatever I am eating..whatEVER I'm eating, will sleep on the pillow next to my head all night long, purring furiously, have dozens of cat-toys but prefer a grocery-store paper bag or one of my socks and who alternately kiss each other on the tops of their heads and wrestle each other with assorted wild growls and hearty hisses.
They say that God gave cats to man so he could caress the tiger. I couldn't argue with that at all.