"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
Persia didn't mean to do it. She jumped up on the arm of the sofa. Well,
she was attempting to. She made a slight miscalculation. She landed
awkwardly, missed her mark. She extended her back claws to get traction,
digging into my shoulder. They're just scratches, not puncture wounds.
But I yelled, "OUCH!" (I also got a face full of soft belly fur when she
scrambled up.)

I've cleaned the scratches with hydrogen peroxide. She didn't mean to
scratch me. This might be why she didn't sleep with me last night. Maybe
she thought I was upset with her. I did hear her a couple of times in the
middle of the night, eating her dry Rx food.

Of course, after daylight, she joined me on the bed and gently tapped me
on my nose. Time to wake up! It's so sweet.

Jill

Boyfie accidentally scratched me once. He was well asleep on my lap,
stretched and fell off, grabbing me on the way down.
Of course, like Persia, he didn't mean to scratch me and like her he kept
away from me for a day.
Interesting. Do gentle cats know that they shouldn't scratch and if they
do, even accidentally, are afraid about having done so?
If so, why? I have never raised my voice to Boyfie, and certainly never
punished him in any way. He has no reason to worry about accidentally
scratching me, but it was obviously of some concern to him.
He just "knew" somehow that scratching meowmie was bad. How?

Tweed