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Cat is terrified to go outdoors - UPDATE
This poor little thing has had a litany of tests over the years, she
definitely has allergies, she has had every treatement to rule out this and that over the years - I don't remember most of them, a skin biopsy which took a lump out of her lovely face which proved inconclusive- even took her many many times to the Vet of the Year here in Ireland (very long drives over several months). Kit has had the best of treatment but in the end all vets agree the picking fur off her face is psychological. We could go further with the allergy testing, but I refuse to put her through any more probing for a result that will be at best 40% accurate. She will not co-operate with any food allergy trials, preferring to starve than eat cat food. This new behaviour now with what I presume is the result of a bee sting, from the evidence, is only the latest to add to the catalogue. Anyway, the news is better, kit now has been going out every night a bit earlier, last night it was still bright when she went out ! 9pm, and now comes back around midnight and lets me pet her to sleep on my bed. For the last two days she has also worked up the courage for the morning shift, from 7:30 to 10am. Hubby does a stint of 'forced outdoors' work with her now each day. The first day 1 minute, followed by 5 minutes same day, yesterday he did18 minutes where we provide a barricade with a table and some cushions to help her feel some protection. My husband also sits with her (her great protector from dogs etc and her hero). She relaxed enough to take a sip of milk and yesterday, he says she was about to fall asleep out there before I called time. She is learning to walk, rather than run back into the house when this little stint is over and amazingly not hide under the bed afterwards other than the first minute first day. She has developed a tendency to roll over much much more on a favourite mat or carpet if she thinks there is any danger we will pick her up to take her out - very clever ! Knows we cannot resist petting her. Just a half an hour ago, after a long sleep, she came downstairs by herself and looked for her food in the normal spot before all this started (a first!) And there are now 2 dead bees on my doorstep, something I have never seen before, but I wonder if this was done by her, and could be a two-in-one i.e. revenge on the bees combined with a gift for mum and dad who have taken care of her so well for the last 10 days. I've had mice and birds as gifts before but bees are new and seem to confirm the theory. Just hope it isn't her as playing with bees is only likely to lead to further beestings ! Laura "Alison" wrote in message ... Hi Laura ,This is a very interesting case so to speak . It would be good if you could get to see the behaviourist . They usually come to your house but perhaps the one your vet recommended lives too far away. What tests have your vet done? Sometimes "behaviour" problems can have a medical cause. Allergies can cause a cat to chew its fur. http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body...granuloma.html Alison --"LC" wrote in message ... Thank you all so very much for your different ideas and thoughts. Late last night kitty left the house after 6 days. under cover of darkness......there were no flies buzzing around late at night and as she asked to go out for the umpteenth time, I decided to let her, sure that she would run back in after a few seconds.....but the little madam went out slowly at first, at 12:30am and did not return until 5:25 am, except to come back occasionally and say hello, accept a little tuna, but not to come in. We tried chasing her many times to come back in (a game where she usually eventually concedes) but she was happy enjoying a good time after many days of being cooped up and in the end we let her play, it was a warm night and we were just so relieved she went out and seemed happy and comfortable with it....little sexy catwalk parading up and down confidently......simply amazing ! Much better than the cowering, terrified little scrap of fur she was earlier. We took the decision then, as she had taken that first huge step, not to freak her out any further today by taking her to the vet (extremely traumatic experience for kitty). I saw the vet today alone without kit - the vet agreed to see me without her as she is very well acquainted with kitty, in fact Kitty represents her particular pet subject, its also hard to forget kit, she is so compelling and adorable. Where to begin ? She thinks its highly likely that the leg is probably something kitty did to herself (as my husband has said also for a while) since kitty is prone to picking out her own fur, regularly taking out the third eyelid etc. although the fur removal has been mostly confined to the head area and specifically the eyes. Kit has been doing very well with this problem for the last 12 months though, at least I thought she had. She thinks that it is most likely a bee sting or indeed with kit, it could be something she dreamed although considering the force of kit's reaction, she believes it is a real experience rather than an imaginary one. My concern, as was the vets, is how to calm her down sufficiently to allow her to begin to move on. We had the time to properly discuss kits full background as she was not there stressed, wanting to go home NOW, all strange problems related to the fact that she is hypersenstive, highly intelligent, highly strung, the vet warned me that she is highly manipulative etc etc. a whole lot of other highlys and to a great extent I have created a monster by pandering to her every whim. (Yes, we have built our lives around kitty - she is super-loved). All of these things I already knew and love kitty for. We had a long discussion where we likened her to a person with Asperger's Syndrome to try to relate to make a human comparison and the vet said that this is a case where I cannot treat her as you would another cat. I needed to encourage her and not pander too much too any new demands, for example, only feeding her upstairs for the last 6 days as she refused to come downstairs to eat.....basically if I know she can come downstairs (she can) then maintain her normal routine as much as possible, this will help relax her as she loves routine - and she really does !! Kit has eaten much cream and chicken downstairs this evening - always susceptible to bribes, kit understands the game, so long as she feels safe. Kit wanted to go out again this morning first thing (7:30am) skipped down to the door, saw a beautiful sunny day and her daughter (the cat next door) waiting on the doorstep to play with her, but this time she also saw a fly on the doorstep. This had the by now familiar reaction- she let out a simple whimper that says "I'm terrified" and retreated at fantastic speed upstairs to hide under a bed. This time when I looked under the bed she had not flopped out flat in depressed state, and back as far as possible, instead she was sitting up, only halfway back and still looking lucid and bright-eyed and interested. She hopped straight out for me with just talking to her, and went immediately to an upstairs window so the confidence is finally building. All good signs. We have waited until 6pm to bring her downstairs today, in the meantime I pampered her upstairs and let her sleep a lot....it took 3 times of collecting her and bringing her down to get her comfortable enough to stay downstairs and then she settled magically back to her favourite window complete with comfy cushion. Tonight she has asked to go out again, at 10:00pm when darkness hit, and she is still out playing right now. She refuses to come in to this moment - 00:45 and I suspect I am in for another long night. For now, I don't care, it is worth it to see that spark in her eyes and body language. So, for now, she will have to be a night cat when the flies go to sleep and the buzzing stops. In winter there will not be so many flies around and I hope in time she conquers her fear. I am sure she will with coaxing, love and where necessary, bribery. Meantime, we will put her on Prozac to help her calm down (something which I was supposed to do some time ago in relation to previous behaviours I had not associated with this.) I held off before as I was afraid of her becoming addicted, side-effects, how to wean her off etc, but the vet told me it is slightly diff. for cats in terms of addiction, I will watch closely for any adverse reaction, and we will make it a short term affair, as in 8-10 weeks to see the effects and reaction. The vet was not entirely hopeful she will overcome this one completely, due to the personality involved, but I remain confident in my little kit, she is amazing. I respect this vet a lot but I also know something of determination and willpower and kit's will to go out is STRONG. She will overcome. The vet also gave me the name of a cat behaviour specialist whom she says would be fascinated to meet with my kit and try to understand her and help her, so we may go there in the future, not for now, not until kit is more sure of herself when there are blue daylit skies about. Thank you all so much for your responses. Laura c |
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"LC" wrote in message ... This poor little thing has had a litany of tests over the years, she definitely has allergies, she has had every treatement to rule out this and that over the years - I don't remember most of them, a skin biopsy which took a lump out of her lovely face which proved inconclusive- even took her many many times to the Vet of the Year here in Ireland (very long drives over several months). Kit has had the best of treatment but in the end all vets agree the picking fur off her face is psychological. We could go further with the allergy testing, but I refuse to put her through any more probing for a result that will be at best 40% accurate. She will not co-operate with any food allergy trials, preferring to starve than eat cat food. This new behaviour now with what I presume is the result of a bee sting, from the evidence, is only the latest to add to the catalogue. Hi Laura, I read your other post about the cortisone injections. Kim gets itchy and scratches her face and sometimes she gets a swollen bottom lip (Eos. granuloma) . The vets gives her an Depo Medrone V injection and it clears up. I don't understand why your vet think that scratching her face is psychological. If she is scratching her face, she's probably itchy. The most commonist cause of scratching in cats is insect bites such as fleas. It's the saliva in the flea bite that causes the reaction and it can take only one bite to cause a severe reaction. She hid under the bed and was lethergic , this can happen when a cat has had a shock but I wonder if it was an allergic reaction to the bee sting. I'm glad to hear she is overcoming her fear of going outside. How does she get on with the other cats and her daughter? I'd be interested to know if her daughter has the same personality as her. Alison |
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Alison, thank you for your thoughts and the info.....you could well be right
with the allergic reaction to the beesting. I will mull this over...I guess we never really will know what happened this time because I did not want to take the terrified little scrap out of the house to the vet to freak her out any further but my money is on beesting. Every day now she makes more progress, although right now she is fast alseep - she went out last night at 8:30pm, but would not come in until 6am. I am exhausted as I woke up and went out to look for her at 1am, 2am, 4am and finally 6am when she stretched up as tall as she could on two paws and practically made love to my kitchen door in an effort to get it to open, in the cutest "I'm starving" display I have ever seen from her. Very loud erps when the fridge door opened. I think that is her longest stint ever outdoors without food, she normally snacks every couple of hours, not a big eater in one sitting. Getting on with other cats That's very simple. She absolutely HATES them with a vengeance, apart from her daughter. She plays with her daughter and it is as if our cat 'owns' the territory of both our house and the house next door where her daughter lives, and gives her daughter protection. She will happily chase away ANY Tom cat, despite that she is actually a very small girl cat and normally toms will not attack females, sis leaves no doubt - this is mine - paws off. We leave her at a country cattery when we go away for a week or two, and the man there always jokes when we return....one thing is for certain, she really doesn't like other cats.....i.e. no cat particularly likes other cats, except perhaps two siblings raised together, but she is rather extreme in this regard. He has diff. cats in and out of there every week but she stands out in this matter. Once, as we were leaving her off, she even went up to the wire mesh divide between their little gardens, and she punched another cat in the face who was admiring her as a new arrival - I was so embarrassed. After her last visit earlier this year something changed.....it is like she finally became a little more used to having other cats around....she no longer arches her back into a triangle if another cat so much as dares to put a paw within 3 houses of our garden, used to launch war cries and demand to be let out instantly to deal with the 'intruder'. Now can even continue eating, while simply keeping a close eye that they do not enter sacred territory (her garden). Seems to be getting a little more mature in that regard, but hatred with a passion of other cats before. Very, very upsetting to have them come around her area. Personality As for personality comparisons with her daughter, they are nothing at all like each other. My cat's name is sister, I will call her daughter 'Apple' here, as 'Apple' is not my cat. Sister is very gentle and friendly, Apple tries to be friendly but she bites and scrapes if you pet her despite that she wanted and invited you to pet her, even put her claws right through my husband's fingers and out the other side (ouch !!!) some years ago, when she took a fright mid-petting. Our 80 year old neighbours call Sister "the good cat" and Apple "the bad cat", so that is an independent person's views of the two personalities who visit them from time to time. Sis is super-intelligent, Apple is not. I guess this means that sis knows how to ingratiate herself better with people - she plays a blinder with my parents anyways...and she succeeded to get the people next door to shelter her when she was pregnant and then for us to take her when she wanted to leave home. Sister lived on the streets while pregnant before she found the house next door as a shelter to give birth, Apple (one of four of her kittens) was born in the house next door where she now lives as an only cat for the past 5 years. Sister is a fantastic little hunter, but Apple is useless, despite all the lessons that Sister gave her as we watched quietly from an upstairs window. Sister left home to live here with us, several months after her kittens were born, Apple tried to follow her mom but Sister does not allow her in the house, only in the garden. Sister has all the signs of chronic herpes, Apple, fortunately, has none. (Sister is kept indoors and babysat when she flares up with this, despite this making her depressed to be stuck indoors.) Sister had pneumonia and almost died shortly after giving birth to the kittens (probably when the chronic herpes developed). Apple appears to have had more behavioural problems in settling with her family i.e. relieving herself on their carpet, whereas we have never had any such problem with Sister....we can even take her kitty litter to my parent's house when we visit and she accepts that is where the kitty litter is in their house, so she is quite adaptable in that respect.) With the scratching of her eyes, if sister has obvious symptoms, such as when you can see odema in her eye, i.e. genuine itchiness which I treat with eyedrops which contain antibiotic etc, I can tell her to stop scratching until the cows come home, but she will not - she is genuinely itchy. However, 99 times out of 100, when there are no such symptoms present and I tell her to stop scratching her eyes, with a simple kissing noise, she will stop scratching immediately. (I have told more about behaviour than personality because I do not know so much about the personality of the cat next door - I try to avoid the cat as much as possible to be honest, as Sister used to get jealous if we gave it attention and she does not want it to come into our house, so I don't let it in any more. It is jealous of Sister, it wants to be her and it wants to live in her home, it is like having something stalk us constantly for access.) Their looks are also different, Sister is pure black, every bit of her, her daughter is a tabby. Any good ? Laura "Alison" wrote in message ... "LC" wrote in message ... This poor little thing has had a litany of tests over the years, she definitely has allergies, she has had every treatement to rule out this and that over the years - I don't remember most of them, a skin biopsy which took a lump out of her lovely face which proved inconclusive- even took her many many times to the Vet of the Year here in Ireland (very long drives over several months). Kit has had the best of treatment but in the end all vets agree the picking fur off her face is psychological. We could go further with the allergy testing, but I refuse to put her through any more probing for a result that will be at best 40% accurate. She will not co-operate with any food allergy trials, preferring to starve than eat cat food. This new behaviour now with what I presume is the result of a bee sting, from the evidence, is only the latest to add to the catalogue. Hi Laura, I read your other post about the cortisone injections. Kim gets itchy and scratches her face and sometimes she gets a swollen bottom lip (Eos. granuloma) . The vets gives her an Depo Medrone V injection and it clears up. I don't understand why your vet think that scratching her face is psychological. If she is scratching her face, she's probably itchy. The most commonist cause of scratching in cats is insect bites such as fleas. It's the saliva in the flea bite that causes the reaction and it can take only one bite to cause a severe reaction. She hid under the bed and was lethergic , this can happen when a cat has had a shock but I wonder if it was an allergic reaction to the bee sting. I'm glad to hear she is overcoming her fear of going outside. How does she get on with the other cats and her daughter? I'd be interested to know if her daughter has the same personality as her. Alison |
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Hi Laura,
Sounds like sister had a bad start in life but you have more than made up for that. My cat had a bad start too. She was a stray and she is also aggressive to other cats and chases them out of the garden. Sister and Apple sound very different. I just wondered if the daughter was like her mother but obviously not so. Do you think you will still go ahead and give her Prozac? To be honest if she is getting over the shock of what ever scared her, I don't think she would need it. Alison "LC" wrote in message ... Alison, thank you for your thoughts and the info.....you could well be right with the allergic reaction to the beesting. I will mull this over...I guess we never really will know what happened this time because I did not want to take the terrified little scrap out of the house to the vet to freak her out any further but my money is on beesting. Every day now she makes more progress, although right now she is fast alseep - she went out last night at 8:30pm, but would not come in until 6am. I am exhausted as I woke up and went out to look for her at 1am, 2am, 4am and finally 6am when she stretched up as tall as she could on two paws and practically made love to my kitchen door in an effort to get it to open, in the cutest "I'm starving" display I have ever seen from her. Very loud erps when the fridge door opened. I think that is her longest stint ever outdoors without food, she normally snacks every couple of hours, not a big eater in one sitting. Getting on with other cats That's very simple. She absolutely HATES them with a vengeance, apart from her daughter. She plays with her daughter and it is as if our cat 'owns' the territory of both our house and the house next door where her daughter lives, and gives her daughter protection. She will happily chase away ANY Tom cat, despite that she is actually a very small girl cat and normally toms will not attack females, sis leaves no doubt - this is mine - paws off. We leave her at a country cattery when we go away for a week or two, and the man there always jokes when we return....one thing is for certain, she really doesn't like other cats.....i.e. no cat particularly likes other cats, except perhaps two siblings raised together, but she is rather extreme in this regard. He has diff. cats in and out of there every week but she stands out in this matter. Once, as we were leaving her off, she even went up to the wire mesh divide between their little gardens, and she punched another cat in the face who was admiring her as a new arrival - I was so embarrassed. After her last visit earlier this year something changed.....it is like she finally became a little more used to having other cats around....she no longer arches her back into a triangle if another cat so much as dares to put a paw within 3 houses of our garden, used to launch war cries and demand to be let out instantly to deal with the 'intruder'. Now can even continue eating, while simply keeping a close eye that they do not enter sacred territory (her garden). Seems to be getting a little more mature in that regard, but hatred with a passion of other cats before. Very, very upsetting to have them come around her area. Personality As for personality comparisons with her daughter, they are nothing at all like each other. My cat's name is sister, I will call her daughter 'Apple' here, as 'Apple' is not my cat. Sister is very gentle and friendly, Apple tries to be friendly but she bites and scrapes if you pet her despite that she wanted and invited you to pet her, even put her claws right through my husband's fingers and out the other side (ouch !!!) some years ago, when she took a fright mid-petting. Our 80 year old neighbours call Sister "the good cat" and Apple "the bad cat", so that is an independent person's views of the two personalities who visit them from time to time. Sis is super-intelligent, Apple is not. I guess this means that sis knows how to ingratiate herself better with people - she plays a blinder with my parents anyways...and she succeeded to get the people next door to shelter her when she was pregnant and then for us to take her when she wanted to leave home. Sister lived on the streets while pregnant before she found the house next door as a shelter to give birth, Apple (one of four of her kittens) was born in the house next door where she now lives as an only cat for the past 5 years. Sister is a fantastic little hunter, but Apple is useless, despite all the lessons that Sister gave her as we watched quietly from an upstairs window. Sister left home to live here with us, several months after her kittens were born, Apple tried to follow her mom but Sister does not allow her in the house, only in the garden. Sister has all the signs of chronic herpes, Apple, fortunately, has none. (Sister is kept indoors and babysat when she flares up with this, despite this making her depressed to be stuck indoors.) Sister had pneumonia and almost died shortly after giving birth to the kittens (probably when the chronic herpes developed). Apple appears to have had more behavioural problems in settling with her family i.e. relieving herself on their carpet, whereas we have never had any such problem with Sister....we can even take her kitty litter to my parent's house when we visit and she accepts that is where the kitty litter is in their house, so she is quite adaptable in that respect.) With the scratching of her eyes, if sister has obvious symptoms, such as when you can see odema in her eye, i.e. genuine itchiness which I treat with eyedrops which contain antibiotic etc, I can tell her to stop scratching until the cows come home, but she will not - she is genuinely itchy. However, 99 times out of 100, when there are no such symptoms present and I tell her to stop scratching her eyes, with a simple kissing noise, she will stop scratching immediately. (I have told more about behaviour than personality because I do not know so much about the personality of the cat next door - I try to avoid the cat as much as possible to be honest, as Sister used to get jealous if we gave it attention and she does not want it to come into our house, so I don't let it in any more. It is jealous of Sister, it wants to be her and it wants to live in her home, it is like having something stalk us constantly for access.) Their looks are also different, Sister is pure black, every bit of her, her daughter is a tabby. Any good ? Laura |
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Alison, I am smiling at the thought of your cat chasing away bigger cats
I think it is because once they have found a home that suits them very well, they are literally prepared to defend it to the death if necessary - they are not going to surrender it to any comers. Then the other cats see a determined little hopping mad thing coming at them, and scarper rather than take a chance. I bet you have a fantastic relationship with your cat. No, I will definitely not give her that Prozac - she has made all this wonderful progress without it. I gave her catnip the first few evenings that she went out which someone suggested on here was a hallucinogenic and I will use any tool I can that does not seem to have risks attached. Prozac was when I was desperate and before she got the courage to do the morning stints and it was breaking my heart to see her so distressed, wanting out but not able to face it at the last second. Now she has voluntary morning and evening stints, and is settling well during the 'forced' afternoon sun stints.....She managed an hour yesterday and settled very well - even took a few strolls down to the end of the back garden and back again. (V. brave as lots of trees and buzzy things down there.) So, the Prozac will remain locked away firmly - she doesn't need the added, very real, problems that taking it may bring. Thanks so much Alison for everything ! Laura "Alison" wrote in message ... Hi Laura, Sounds like sister had a bad start in life but you have more than made up for that. My cat had a bad start too. She was a stray and she is also aggressive to other cats and chases them out of the garden. Sister and Apple sound very different. I just wondered if the daughter was like her mother but obviously not so. Do you think you will still go ahead and give her Prozac? To be honest if she is getting over the shock of what ever scared her, I don't think she would need it. Alison "LC" wrote in message ... Alison, thank you for your thoughts and the info.....you could well be right with the allergic reaction to the beesting. I will mull this over...I guess we never really will know what happened this time because I did not want to take the terrified little scrap out of the house to the vet to freak her out any further but my money is on beesting. Every day now she makes more progress, although right now she is fast alseep - she went out last night at 8:30pm, but would not come in until 6am. I am exhausted as I woke up and went out to look for her at 1am, 2am, 4am and finally 6am when she stretched up as tall as she could on two paws and practically made love to my kitchen door in an effort to get it to open, in the cutest "I'm starving" display I have ever seen from her. Very loud erps when the fridge door opened. I think that is her longest stint ever outdoors without food, she normally snacks every couple of hours, not a big eater in one sitting. Getting on with other cats That's very simple. She absolutely HATES them with a vengeance, apart from her daughter. She plays with her daughter and it is as if our cat 'owns' the territory of both our house and the house next door where her daughter lives, and gives her daughter protection. She will happily chase away ANY Tom cat, despite that she is actually a very small girl cat and normally toms will not attack females, sis leaves no doubt - this is mine - paws off. We leave her at a country cattery when we go away for a week or two, and the man there always jokes when we return....one thing is for certain, she really doesn't like other cats.....i.e. no cat particularly likes other cats, except perhaps two siblings raised together, but she is rather extreme in this regard. He has diff. cats in and out of there every week but she stands out in this matter. Once, as we were leaving her off, she even went up to the wire mesh divide between their little gardens, and she punched another cat in the face who was admiring her as a new arrival - I was so embarrassed. After her last visit earlier this year something changed.....it is like she finally became a little more used to having other cats around....she no longer arches her back into a triangle if another cat so much as dares to put a paw within 3 houses of our garden, used to launch war cries and demand to be let out instantly to deal with the 'intruder'. Now can even continue eating, while simply keeping a close eye that they do not enter sacred territory (her garden). Seems to be getting a little more mature in that regard, but hatred with a passion of other cats before. Very, very upsetting to have them come around her area. Personality As for personality comparisons with her daughter, they are nothing at all like each other. My cat's name is sister, I will call her daughter 'Apple' here, as 'Apple' is not my cat. Sister is very gentle and friendly, Apple tries to be friendly but she bites and scrapes if you pet her despite that she wanted and invited you to pet her, even put her claws right through my husband's fingers and out the other side (ouch !!!) some years ago, when she took a fright mid-petting. Our 80 year old neighbours call Sister "the good cat" and Apple "the bad cat", so that is an independent person's views of the two personalities who visit them from time to time. Sis is super-intelligent, Apple is not. I guess this means that sis knows how to ingratiate herself better with people - she plays a blinder with my parents anyways...and she succeeded to get the people next door to shelter her when she was pregnant and then for us to take her when she wanted to leave home. Sister lived on the streets while pregnant before she found the house next door as a shelter to give birth, Apple (one of four of her kittens) was born in the house next door where she now lives as an only cat for the past 5 years. Sister is a fantastic little hunter, but Apple is useless, despite all the lessons that Sister gave her as we watched quietly from an upstairs window. Sister left home to live here with us, several months after her kittens were born, Apple tried to follow her mom but Sister does not allow her in the house, only in the garden. Sister has all the signs of chronic herpes, Apple, fortunately, has none. (Sister is kept indoors and babysat when she flares up with this, despite this making her depressed to be stuck indoors.) Sister had pneumonia and almost died shortly after giving birth to the kittens (probably when the chronic herpes developed). Apple appears to have had more behavioural problems in settling with her family i.e. relieving herself on their carpet, whereas we have never had any such problem with Sister....we can even take her kitty litter to my parent's house when we visit and she accepts that is where the kitty litter is in their house, so she is quite adaptable in that respect.) With the scratching of her eyes, if sister has obvious symptoms, such as when you can see odema in her eye, i.e. genuine itchiness which I treat with eyedrops which contain antibiotic etc, I can tell her to stop scratching until the cows come home, but she will not - she is genuinely itchy. However, 99 times out of 100, when there are no such symptoms present and I tell her to stop scratching her eyes, with a simple kissing noise, she will stop scratching immediately. (I have told more about behaviour than personality because I do not know so much about the personality of the cat next door - I try to avoid the cat as much as possible to be honest, as Sister used to get jealous if we gave it attention and she does not want it to come into our house, so I don't let it in any more. It is jealous of Sister, it wants to be her and it wants to live in her home, it is like having something stalk us constantly for access.) Their looks are also different, Sister is pure black, every bit of her, her daughter is a tabby. Any good ? Laura |
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"LC" wrote in message ... Alison, I am smiling at the thought of your cat chasing away bigger cats I think it is because once they have found a home that suits them very well, they are literally prepared to defend it to the death if necessary - they are not going to surrender it to any comers. Actually it is nothing so romantic. Even if they live in the worst dump imaginable, or are kept outside so that they are forced to defend themselves as they are at Alisons, cats are territorial and so will defend whatever they think is their territory. |
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"Mary" wrote in message ... "LC" wrote in message ... Alison, I am smiling at the thought of your cat chasing away bigger cats I think it is because once they have found a home that suits them very well, they are literally prepared to defend it to the death if necessary - they are not going to surrender it to any comers. Actually it is nothing so romantic. Even if they live in the worst dump imaginable, or are kept outside so that they are forced to defend themselves as they are at Alisons, cats are territorial and so will defend whatever they think is their territory. That's very true, cats moreso than any other animal. Once they stake claim to a place they will defend it to their death. You may find this book interesting by Ashley Montaqu "Nature of Human Aggression" It discusses the fight or flight syndrome and references varies animals to support or disprove theories. |
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"Trish" wrote in message
... " That's very true, cats moreso than any other animal. Once they stake claim to a place they will defend it to their death. That's not actually correct. Cats are very territorial and will defend their home range but if an aggressor is too strong and persistant then they will leave the area and move on.(flight) The name of the game is survival: a cat need its territory to survive but there's no point in fighting if it's going to end up badly hurt or dead. You may find this book interesting by Ashley Montaqu "Nature of Human Aggression" It discusses the fight or flight syndrome and references varies animals to support or disprove theories.. That's sounds a very interesting book. I'll have a look on Amazon. Did he give the references he used to support his theory re cats ? Alison |
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"Alison" wrote in message ... "Trish" wrote in message ... " That's very true, cats moreso than any other animal. Once they stake claim to a place they will defend it to their death. That's not actually correct. Cats are very territorial and will defend their home range but if an aggressor is too strong and persistant then they will leave the area and move on.(flight) The name of the game is survival: a cat need its territory to survive but there's no point in fighting if it's going to end up badly hurt or dead. You may find this book interesting by Ashley Montaqu "Nature of Human Aggression" It discusses the fight or flight syndrome and references varies animals to support or disprove theories.. That's sounds a very interesting book. I'll have a look on Amazon. Did he give the references he used to support his theory re cats ? Alison If I remember correctly he did, its been a few years since I've read the book. I wrote a presentation on the book for one of my human evolution courses in university. It's easy reading, however it was written in the 60's and as times change so do theories. |
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"Trish" wrote in message
... That's sounds a very interesting book. I'll have a look on Amazon. Did he give the references he used to support his theory re cats ? Alison If I remember correctly he did, its been a few years since I've read the book. I wrote a presentation on the book for one of my human evolution courses in university. It's easy reading, however it was written in the 60's and as times change so do theories.. I have to say I'm impressed. Did you enjoy the course? I had a quick look on the internet and his theory is that aggression is not a natural human drive , a sort of nature verses nurture and enviroment ? Knowledge about cat behaviour has come on leaps and bounds since the time he wrote the book but its true that cats are territorial and more than some other species. There's also Freeze and Faff about (fiddle about) along side Flight and Fight ( The fours F's ). Did you have to read Desmond Morris's The Human Ape on your course? He also wrote Cat Watching which was light weight but I remember The Human Ape took the world by storm, so to speak. It's interesting that you (one)compare humans to animals when studying humans. On animal behaviour courses you compare animals to humans G Some advance courses you have to study Thorndykes and BF Skinners works and compare breed specific behaviour to Maslows ladder and whether they can achieve self actualisation in a home enviroment . Alison |
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