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#1
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Letting Eli Win
Tommy and Eli were play-fighting for a close to half an hour this evening.
Tommy laid on his back 90% of the time with Eli holding onto his head from behind, making moves like he was trying to bite Tommy's ears. Every few minutes Tommy would let out a little squeal which had a tone that seemed to be saying "I'm afraid of you, please take it easy on me, boss!" A few times they both sat up facing one another and did some fancy boxing, and Tommy would always try to walk away from it after a bit, but Eli wouldn't let him go, he would follow and keep whapping at Tommy's tail until Tommy consented to resume the wrestling match. Tommy finally escaped and now Billy has taken his place as the whapp-ee. Eli isn't giving him as much of a test because it has already been established that Eli's stature is higher than Billy's. Tommy is a very wise cat. He seems fully committed to defusing Eli's aggressive urges. This morning I found the two of them snuggled together on my bed. They looked up at me and their eyes had an expression that's very hard to describe - so many emotions. |
#2
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Letting Eli Win
Pat wrote:
Tommy and Eli were play-fighting for a close to half an hour this evening. Tommy laid on his back 90% of the time with Eli holding onto his head from behind, making moves like he was trying to bite Tommy's ears. Every few minutes Tommy would let out a little squeal which had a tone that seemed to be saying "I'm afraid of you, please take it easy on me, boss!" That's really cute. Is Tommy a much older cat than Eli? I was just reading in Temple Grandin's book "Animal Translations" about how animals play like this all the time. When an older animal plays with a young one it will let the younger one win part of the time (sounds like Tommy does it a lot more than that). This teaches the youngster how to lose *and* how to win, as well as honing their various attack and hunting (if relevant) skills. Joyce |
#3
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Letting Eli Win
I got a big kick out of our one-year-old cat Cherry teaching a kitten
(Jona, abandoned when she was three days old and raised by me with a bottle, so no experience watching cats except Cherry) how to use the litter box! Cherry would climb in, eyes on Jona all the time, and Jona would sit down next to the litter box and watch carefully. Then they'd switch places. It was really cute, especially considering that Cherry was not at all happy with this little interloper on her territory. Now Jona and Cherry are the same size and best of friends. They are the only two of mine that will actually sleep on the same surface at the same time. Cantate |
#4
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Letting Eli Win
Tommy and Eli were play-fighting for a close to half an hour this
evening. Tommy laid on his back 90% of the time with Eli holding onto his head from behind, making moves like he was trying to bite Tommy's ears. Every few minutes Tommy would let out a little squeal which had a tone that seemed to be saying "I'm afraid of you, please take it easy on me, boss!" That's really cute. Is Tommy a much older cat than Eli? He's only a couple of months older but he joined the house first so he has seniority that way. I was just reading in Temple Grandin's book "Animal Translations" about how animals play like this all the time. When an older animal plays with a young one it will let the younger one win part of the time (sounds like Tommy does it a lot more than that). This teaches the youngster how to lose *and* how to win, as well as honing their various attack and hunting (if relevant) skills. Tommy didn't teach Eli to hunt but I think he's the one who taught Eli to occasionally hunt for the younger cats. |
#5
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Letting Eli Win
On 2006-05-18, Cantate penned:
I got a big kick out of our one-year-old cat Cherry teaching a kitten (Jona, abandoned when she was three days old and raised by me with a bottle, so no experience watching cats except Cherry) how to use the litter box! Cherry would climb in, eyes on Jona all the time, and Jona would sit down next to the litter box and watch carefully. Then they'd switch places. It was really cute, especially considering that Cherry was not at all happy with this little interloper on her territory. Well, it makes sense, right? The only thing worse than a new baby taking attention away from Meowmie is a new baby who not only takes attention away from Meowmie, but also craps on the floor! -- monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca |
#6
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Letting Eli Win
Pat wrote:
Tommy and Eli were play-fighting for a close to half an hour this evening. Tommy laid on his back 90% of the time with Eli holding onto his head from behind, making moves like he was trying to bite Tommy's ears. Every few minutes Tommy would let out a little squeal which had a tone that seemed to be saying "I'm afraid of you, please take it easy on me, boss!" A few times they both sat up facing one another and did some fancy boxing, and Tommy would always try to walk away from it after a bit, but Eli wouldn't let him go, he would follow and keep whapping at Tommy's tail until Tommy consented to resume the wrestling match. Tommy finally escaped and now Billy has taken his place as the whapp-ee. Eli isn't giving him as much of a test because it has already been established that Eli's stature is higher than Billy's. Tommy is a very wise cat. He seems fully committed to defusing Eli's aggressive urges. This morning I found the two of them snuggled together on my bed. They looked up at me and their eyes had an expression that's very hard to describe - so many emotions. That's cute. Did you get any video of them playing? -- Adrian (Owned by Snoopy and Bagheera) Cats leave pawprints on your heart. http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk |
#7
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Letting Eli Win
Did you get any video of them playing?
You can rest assured that I wanted to, and would have, if the light was good enough in here at night to do it. There might be an adjustment I can make to the camera settings for low-light situations... I'll check that one of these days so I can maybe catch the next performance. |
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