I beat my cats for fun.
 

(the subject line is a troll)

When he first arrived, my new male cat was hurt and weak. After months of
good food and rest, he has become very playful, very healthy looking, and
huge! Before I started playing with him, he played with his tail all day.
Taking from prior experience with Kiki (my resident female) I took the
inner stiff paper role from used up aluminum foil and began beating him
with it (not on the head area). I started very gently and payed close
attention to how he responded. Naturally, at the very first he acted like
it was a bad thing. As he became unfrightened of the "beating" it became a
play thing. It takes days to introduce them to it, you don't get immediate
gratification. Now it is total fun. Now I can say "Here boy! Here boy!" and
throw the stiff paper role across the room and he chases it down. No, he
doesn't bring it back in his mouth. But I got him to do the fake out thing
once, when you just pretend to throw the object and they run for it anyway,
heheh. Sorry, I couldn't resist trying that one. Cats really like
posturing, assertive sort of play.

Cats might not be overtly effectionate as dogs, but they love attention and
love to play.

Fun pets.





--
Kiki is getting more used to Kitty, I think someday she will even play with
him. I think one of the problems has been that his size is very
intimidating.

On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 20:38:36 GMT, Happy Camper wrote:

(the subject line is a troll)

When he first arrived, my new male cat was hurt and weak. After months of
good food and rest, he has become very playful, very healthy looking, and
huge! Before I started playing with him, he played with his tail all day.
Taking from prior experience with Kiki (my resident female) I took the
inner stiff paper role from used up aluminum foil and began beating him
with it (not on the head area). I started very gently and payed close
attention to how he responded. Naturally, at the very first he acted like
it was a bad thing. As he became unfrightened of the "beating" it became a
play thing. It takes days to introduce them to it, you don't get immediate
gratification. Now it is total fun. Now I can say "Here boy! Here boy!" and
throw the stiff paper role across the room and he chases it down. No, he
doesn't bring it back in his mouth. But I got him to do the fake out thing
once, when you just pretend to throw the object and they run for it anyway,
heheh. Sorry, I couldn't resist trying that one. Cats really like
posturing, assertive sort of play.

Cats might not be overtly effectionate as dogs, but they love attention and
love to play.

Fun pets.

Why don't you call it "fake fencing" -- mightg make a better first
impression.

On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 20:38:36 GMT, Happy Camper wrote:

(the subject line is a troll)

When he first arrived, my new male cat was hurt and weak. After months of
good food and rest, he has become very playful, very healthy looking, and
huge! Before I started playing with him, he played with his tail all day.
Taking from prior experience with Kiki (my resident female) I took the
inner stiff paper role from used up aluminum foil and began beating him
with it (not on the head area). I started very gently and payed close
attention to how he responded. Naturally, at the very first he acted like
it was a bad thing. As he became unfrightened of the "beating" it became a
play thing. It takes days to introduce them to it, you don't get immediate
gratification. Now it is total fun. Now I can say "Here boy! Here boy!" and
throw the stiff paper role across the room and he chases it down. No, he
doesn't bring it back in his mouth. But I got him to do the fake out thing
once, when you just pretend to throw the object and they run for it anyway,
heheh. Sorry, I couldn't resist trying that one. Cats really like
posturing, assertive sort of play.

Cats might not be overtly effectionate as dogs, but they love attention and
love to play.

Fun pets.

Why don't you call it "fake fencing" -- mightg make a better first
impression.

m. L. Briggs wrote:
Happy Camper wrote:

I took the
inner stiff paper roll from used up aluminum foil and began beating him
with it (not on the head area). I started very gently and payed close
attention to how he responded. Naturally, at the very first he acted like
it was a bad thing. As he became unfrightened of the "beating" it became a
play thing. It takes days to introduce them to it, you don't get immediate
gratification. Now it is total fun.

Why don't you call it "fake fencing" -- mightg make a better first
impression.

Usually, it is a pursuit sort of thing. I might make a pretend
threatening sound like a growel or heavy laughing of some sort and whack
him (or her) as he takes off. Then he gets ready for more play. Also while he is lying
down. I usually aim for the hind quarters. The paper roll is so light
weight, it hardly risks injury when he claws at it. I need to start
buying the 25' rolls instead of 75' since he probably will tear them up
with his powerful claws (this cat is about 14 lbs). When we do the fetch thing, he runs and
sometimes jumps on it, and does the rear foot pushing thing like it is a
big toy.

m. L. Briggs wrote:
Happy Camper wrote:

I took the
inner stiff paper roll from used up aluminum foil and began beating him
with it (not on the head area). I started very gently and payed close
attention to how he responded. Naturally, at the very first he acted like
it was a bad thing. As he became unfrightened of the "beating" it became a
play thing. It takes days to introduce them to it, you don't get immediate
gratification. Now it is total fun.

Why don't you call it "fake fencing" -- mightg make a better first
impression.

Usually, it is a pursuit sort of thing. I might make a pretend
threatening sound like a growel or heavy laughing of some sort and whack
him (or her) as he takes off. Then he gets ready for more play. Also while he is lying
down. I usually aim for the hind quarters. The paper roll is so light
weight, it hardly risks injury when he claws at it. I need to start
buying the 25' rolls instead of 75' since he probably will tear them up
with his powerful claws (this cat is about 14 lbs). When we do the fetch thing, he runs and
sometimes jumps on it, and does the rear foot pushing thing like it is a
big toy.