Communication from Cats

[franciscan]

Good morning everyone!

 Let me first state that Anna (mom) and Monnet(kitten) or settling in very well. Anna has found the scratch box with nip and every morning we have a play fest! But, she has some behavior that I have never experienced before and would like to know if anyone else has.

 She communicates with me and shows me what she wants! Anna will come out of the back room and meow, relentlessly until I follow her back into the back room. She will walk right over to the food dish some times or just stand in the middle of the room. So, I am thinking she wants to be fed or she just wants me in the back room with her there to be petted.

 Once I have sat with her for a while, if I get up to leave, she will run ahead of me and cut me off and meow as if to say, "No, stay a while longer." Now, remember, this cat was dropped off, and I so want to give her the attention she needs and wants. But, being a human, some times I have things to do. Has any one had a cat do this before?

 Also, I have noticed a strange behavior with Anna (mom). No matter where she is in the house, if she hears a garbage truck go by, she runs and hides. Will this pass? She must of had some kind of trauma. I was watching Highway Thru Hell on T.V. and when she heard the big rigs and large tow trucks she became a little frightened. Will this pass to? I pet her and talk to her and tell her it is okay.

 Thank you.

~donna

 

[kittychick]

Cats are amazingly quick at figuring at how to "train" us...rarely the other way around! she's figured out that a certain type of behavior from her gets desired behavior from you (more food, more time with her, more playing, etc). It's ok if you resist sometimes-she'll learn that every time she demands, she won't always get! Although spoiling with time, attention and (to a certain point) food is perfectly fine when you can

Anna's behavior is not atypical...living outside, she likely had a very close call (or calls) with a big car, truck etc. Or she could have even been injured by one...or she could have watched a fellow cat colony mate injured or killed. For her - it's instinctual self-preservation. She may eventually let go of that fear, with enough time, but don't be hurt if it never goes away. It has nothing to do with how happy & comfortable she is with you!

 

[franciscan]

Thank you so much for the in sites. Anna will come out into the kitchen and meow and wants me to follow her. Usually to her food dish! We are still learning what each other wants. So, I follow her to see what she is trying to tell me.

I look toward the time what she is not afraid of truck sounds. I feel so bad that she is scared still. It really is heart breaking to me.

Thank you once again.

~donna

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

...

I look toward the time what she is not afraid of truck sounds. I feel so bad that she is scared still. It really is heart breaking to me.
....
~donna

This could take some time. I would keep petting, talking to her in a calm slightly-louder--than-the-other-noise voice to overcome the sound of the scary truck noise. Continue to pet and cheerfully or calmly talk all throughout the timing of the loud noise. If she needs to run off, let her hide where she wants. All cats need at least one "safe place" all their own. But if she stays by you, show her that you are unafraid yourself and can "confront" the noise by remaining where you are, and yet still remain safe and happy, calmly cooing and talking. You really are unable to know just exactly why she is scared of the sound of the trash trucks. It could be a pretty bad run-in with them and she may never completely get over her fear of the noise. But I live in an urban environment where there are many daily trash truck noises and bangs, etc., and what I have found in working with my kitten is that I go right up to the window where the sound is loudest and make calm but interested noises, and I "stand off" to the "window noise". Luckily she is young enough that all things are curious oddities to her that need exploration (plus she has not had a true bad experience with a trash truck in person, on the road), and so she follows my lead and calmly looks out the window or stays in place, all throughout the racket. This behavior took a little while to develop in her, maybe 3-4 days (there are trash trucks daily, so we had many opportunities to desensitize her).

Oddly, another thing that made her more courageous to facing any weird noises coming in through the windows from outside is that several times as I was coming home, coming back to the apartment, I called out to her from the sidewalk outside the window and she saw ME outside (where the scary, odd noises come from! holy cow!), and meowed in recognition. Shortly thereafter, I came in the door, and she saw that I was "safe and happy", just fine. Ever since then, any time a loud noise comes from that particular window, she races to it to See What's Up. Racing to that loud window seems counter intuitive, but she does it!

I'd be interested in knowing if any other cat owners have similar experiences.

 

[franciscan]

I LOVE IT!!! what a great idea, thank you so much for that idea. I will try it myself and hopefully Anna will over come that fear. I am hoping that at some point and time she may realize that the "noise" or the thing that makes the noise can no longer harm her. "it" is outside and she is safely inside. Guess animals have PTSD also.

~donna

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

We become the "circle of family" for our cats and kittens and though we may not realize it, we model behavior for them. It may take time with an adult cat, but I wouldn't give up! Be patient. (Yes, PTSD is all about trauma and expectations, fears, pain, etc. ... animals get it too!)

 

[franciscan]

Thank you for your insight PushPurrCatpaws. Is there a book or articles on this subject for cats? I wonder how dogs who have been in war deal with this? At least with the dogs, you know the root cause of their fear. But with stray, dropped off, or feral cats, one would have pretty close to NO clue.

~donna

 

[mollyblue]

I live in an apartment complex with a large feral cat colony and very large part of their nutrition comes from dumpster diving (eating food from the garbage).  So, she may have almost got eaten by one of those big trucks if it came while she was having breakfast... and at the very least that truck steals all the interesting smells associated with the dumpster, so it's still a bad guy.  Even my old cat who never missed a meal in her life liked to smell the dumpsters if she got outside...

But yeah, my Snowy whom we got from the shelter used to communicate with me all the time bless her little heart, and its not always about food, but like you, she wanted me to stay and play.  Made me late for work many times because she would beg me so much not to leave her and to just play one more game of red dot...  I felt so bad, we got another cat to help her occupy her time and now she doesn't hardly communicate with me at all execpt to let me know if I am 5 minutes late on dinner.  But every now and then, she will come and look at me and we will have a "special" moment where it feels like she is telling me, human, I wasn't so sure about you at first, but you're okay or she will smile at me in a way that says "I am glad you picked me".

One time, the playmate that we got for her jumped off the balcony in the middle of the night and me and my daugher went out looking for her and came home empty handed.  We went out again and took snowy with us and she was all perked up at the very edge of her stroller looking everywhere - and after searching diligently for an hour or so we came back to the apartment to find the cat sitting on our stoop... but I know Snowy was saying "Yeah... see thats what you do when a cat gets lost... you LOOK for them..." and it was just almost as if she was giving us her seal of approval.  

Just talk to her like she understands and it might surprise you how much she does understand.

 

[franciscan]

I hope she understands that her kitten is gone.. Monnet died this morning. I am in so much pain. And I want Anna to be okay with this as well as possible.

I am glad to hear your cat makes you late. My dogs use to do that. I could stay home all day and do just nothing but love my pets!!

~donna

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

The kitten Monnet has died? Oh no! I am so sorry to hear this!

 

[mollyblue]

I am sorry to hear about Monnet... what happened?!  Was Monnet sick?  Did Anna get to see her before/after she passed?  I know Anna will be sad, but I think animals seem to accept the facts of life, and death, better than we humans do and she should quickly mourn the loss and then get back to the facts of life... 

 

[franciscan]

Monnet died because she became weak from anemia due to fleas, which I did not even realize she had. I have had no fleas on me what so ever. The vet gave her fluids and antibiotics and had her wrapped up in heating blankets. When I brought her in, she was near death. Vet said she had NO body temp. at all.

Now how to help Anna! She saw Monnet before I whisked her away to the vet. I thought about brining in Monnet for her to say good bye, but thought that was not a good idea. She smelled like the vets office and I was afraid that for future vet visits, that might imprint on Anna. I keep telling Anna Monnet is gone. Then I start to ball.

Thank you all for your concerns and help thru this impossible time.

~donna

MOD NOTE:  The Crossing the Bridge thread about Monnet is here:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/304132/death