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need a little more Cat Parenting advice...
Hi,
You guys (especially kaeli) have given me such great advice before...it's all worked, really well. Now we're entering Phase 3, I guess. For those who didn't catch it earlier, I'm going through the transition from having an elderly, clingy, and very mild cat to having the cat equivalent of a 2-year old child. I adopted Buster from the shelter last month. As far as we can tell, he went stray (no one knows why, there isn't much evidence that he was physically abused [beaten or kicked] other than to wind up having to live on his own - no small thing) before he turned 1. He seems to have spent last winter living off the land, as it were - in Wisconsin, no less - so this guy is a SURVIVOR. Last spring he was picked up after he got hit by a car, had major Vet Foo Patch Up Work, spent months in foster care, etc. and has now come home to live with me. He doesn't have ongoing medical problems and is remarkably well-socialized for a cat that has been through what he has. Earlier posts had to do with his tendency to engage in very aggressive and occasionally inappropriate play behaviors. ....so I have determined that the "wait til I'm watching, then flatten down and flee under the bed as if having seen The Scariest Thing In The World" thing he does is actually an invitation to play. If I can, I do. If I'm busy or out the door on the way to work, he has to wait. We're still going through the feather-toys at the rate of one per week, but I cut a deal with the pet supply store to supply them to us in bulk. If I shriek at him when he starts in with the groom, groom, groom, pounce, wrestle, and chew stuff on my arm, he'll stop. Also, I recognize when he's near his limits of Good Behavior, and try to leave him scrupulously alone until he gets it back under control, or (if possible) I bring out the feather-toy and let him attack that for a while. So that advice has been great. Now he's learning to be affectionate. He comes after me to get petted, not just to play. Last night he crawled onto my lap and went to sleep (a first!). He wants to sleep with me, too, which is great with me for the most part. He's definitely got the sweet cuddly side, and this is what I want to really encourage since I got him for companionship. So here's the problem. He comes in at bedtime and curls up against me and goes to sleep. Until 5 or 6 am, when he wakes up. And, being Buster, being awake means it's PLAYTIME, baby! He wakes up, moves next to my face, and then uses it (my face) to stretch his paws over. Then he starts licking me - and it doesn't go anywhere good from there... the grooming is clearly some kind of precursor to Trouble. The other morning (soon after he started getting cuddly) he tried beating up my arm while I was asleep. I howled and rolled over. So he attached himself to the back of my head - groom, groom on my hair, followed by the unmistakeable feeling of him trying to grab my head, pull it in, and beat it up. I dislodged him and pulled the covers over my head, which was evidently a signal to play Blanket Mice. This has gone on for several mornings, and I'm afraid it's starting to develop a pattern. I know that the most effective thing to do when he's got Extra Play Energy is to play with him, but I need my sleep, dang it. I can't be getting up in the middle of the night to play with the feather toy. He's got tons of other toys and likes them, but none so neat as my leg, my arm, my ear, my face, my head. He starts this stuff up in the early morning, and so far it's been disruptive enough that I've wound up getting up an hour or two early. I don't play with him or feed him when I get up like that because I don't want to reinforce this arrangement. He gets fed and played with on his normal schedule, as if I haven't been up for a couple of hours. Is this a phase and he'll grow out of it? Do I need to make him stop sleeping with me? I hope not, because 80% of the night he's really great (and this issue is a recent development). What I'm doing now is trying to ignore him, and if that fails, I eject him from the Nest. I'd like to get to some phase where my sleep is not interrupted by the pat-pat-pat of attacking little paws on my body. Any ideas? Thanks!!! TG |
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In article ,
Tiger Girl wrote: Is this a phase and he'll grow out of it Yes. Well, probably :-) |
#3
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In article ,
Tiger Girl wrote: Is this a phase and he'll grow out of it Yes. Well, probably :-) |
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