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- Apr 6, 2006
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So you guys know Tiny. He's my lovey cat, he understands me and I understand him.
He's a tamed feral. I adopted him when he was 9 months old. He's shy around other humans, but he likes me well enough.
I didn't have any huge problems integrating Tiny with Christy; there was some hissing at first, but I kept them away from each other until they got used to the concept of being housemates. The trouble was that, even after they got used to each other, Tiny really wanted to play with Christy and Christy just did not want to play, so he'd chase her and pounce, and she'd take it as an attack.
Christy's history is significant here, too. She's a shelter rescue who was going downhill due to stress when I picked her up. She was hiding in her litter box, poor girl! But she's happy here, and she loves high perches and hidey-holes, which I've provided plenty of for her.
So with the Tiny versus Christy situation--I've partly solved it. First of all, I put lots of hidey-holes and high places in for Christy, so that she can always find an escape when Tiny wants to play and she doesn't. Secondly, I started playing with Tiny a lot, so he had a playmate that wasn't a shy little calico girl who'd think he was attacking.
The trouble with Tiny is that he started out really unable to figure out what toys were. He caught on to small, prey-type toys quickly enough, chasing paper wads I threw. But he really wanted to wrestle with something and Christy just wasn't up for it, and he had absolutely no idea what to do with bigger toys--Kickaroo type things, stuffed animals, whatever; he just didn't know they could be wrestled with. He'd never play with anything bigger than mouse-sized.
So eventually, I started wrestling with him myself. Anytime he bit down or used claws, I'd stop the game. Nowadays, he never bites down, never uses his claws, and never hurts me. It took me a while to give in, because I generally have a policy of never ever letting cats play with my hands, but eventually I just realized that this little guy was going to wrestle with *something*, and if it wasn't me, it would be Christy, and she'd be traumatized.
Lately I've had a financial scare that very nearly ended up with me losing my apartment. They don't allow cats in homeless shelters, and if I have to find another place for Tiny, I don't want him to seem like he's aggressive. I want to teach Tiny to wrestle with something other than my hands.
Tiny is not actually aggressive. He doesn't bite down. He doesn't hurt me. He's not angry. But he might seem that way to someone who didn't know him. Not playing with hands might be the difference between life and death for him if the worst happens.
Right now I'm not in danger of losing my home anymore; I've got a job and I'm starting next Monday--thank God--but... if this happens again, if Tiny has to stay with someone who isn't me, who doesn't understand that he won't hurt them...
How do I teach an ex-feral kitty how to wrestle with a toy instead of with my hand?
He's a tamed feral. I adopted him when he was 9 months old. He's shy around other humans, but he likes me well enough.
I didn't have any huge problems integrating Tiny with Christy; there was some hissing at first, but I kept them away from each other until they got used to the concept of being housemates. The trouble was that, even after they got used to each other, Tiny really wanted to play with Christy and Christy just did not want to play, so he'd chase her and pounce, and she'd take it as an attack.
Christy's history is significant here, too. She's a shelter rescue who was going downhill due to stress when I picked her up. She was hiding in her litter box, poor girl! But she's happy here, and she loves high perches and hidey-holes, which I've provided plenty of for her.
So with the Tiny versus Christy situation--I've partly solved it. First of all, I put lots of hidey-holes and high places in for Christy, so that she can always find an escape when Tiny wants to play and she doesn't. Secondly, I started playing with Tiny a lot, so he had a playmate that wasn't a shy little calico girl who'd think he was attacking.
The trouble with Tiny is that he started out really unable to figure out what toys were. He caught on to small, prey-type toys quickly enough, chasing paper wads I threw. But he really wanted to wrestle with something and Christy just wasn't up for it, and he had absolutely no idea what to do with bigger toys--Kickaroo type things, stuffed animals, whatever; he just didn't know they could be wrestled with. He'd never play with anything bigger than mouse-sized.
So eventually, I started wrestling with him myself. Anytime he bit down or used claws, I'd stop the game. Nowadays, he never bites down, never uses his claws, and never hurts me. It took me a while to give in, because I generally have a policy of never ever letting cats play with my hands, but eventually I just realized that this little guy was going to wrestle with *something*, and if it wasn't me, it would be Christy, and she'd be traumatized.
Lately I've had a financial scare that very nearly ended up with me losing my apartment. They don't allow cats in homeless shelters, and if I have to find another place for Tiny, I don't want him to seem like he's aggressive. I want to teach Tiny to wrestle with something other than my hands.
Tiny is not actually aggressive. He doesn't bite down. He doesn't hurt me. He's not angry. But he might seem that way to someone who didn't know him. Not playing with hands might be the difference between life and death for him if the worst happens.
Right now I'm not in danger of losing my home anymore; I've got a job and I'm starting next Monday--thank God--but... if this happens again, if Tiny has to stay with someone who isn't me, who doesn't understand that he won't hurt them...
How do I teach an ex-feral kitty how to wrestle with a toy instead of with my hand?