- Joined
- May 11, 2006
- Messages
- 8,028
- Purraise
- 22
So last night I am playing with the kitties after getting home from work. I decided to play with Da Bird, which they all love.
Normally they are cooperative, and every kitty gets some time with getting to play with it, but last night was very different.
Ferris has been getting better and better at catching Da Bird in mid-air in his mouth, and last night he was spot-on, catching it almost immediately.
His little routine is normally to catch it, start growling at me and the other kits as he tries to back out of the room with his "prey." Then he'll let go because he realizes that I'm not letting him budge, and the whole time I'm talking to him (and giggling) telling him he doesn't get to keep it and he needs to let the others play, too.
But last night, he caught it in his mouth right away, and stayed put, growling up a storm, flattening his ears back, his pupils huge pools of black, his tail swishing madly back and forth, back and forth. He absolutely refused to let go, and growled louder if I came near him - I was actually a little tiny bit scared of him!
Knowing he was feral born, and seeing this instinct come out in him made me a little bit afraid that he might lash out at me, so I wisely kept my distance.
Unsure how to handle this without causing him to attack, I lowered the point of the wand to the floor so that the string went slack. That seemed to be what he wanted, because THAT is when he started to back out of the room with the feathers in his mouth, and then we reverted to what normally happens, and I was able to get it away from him.
Thing is, I got Da Bird first and foremost to play with the bengals with, to get them leaping and jumping and burning off that ton of energy they have - yet here is little (well, ok, HUGE) Ferris going all crazy territorial over the feathers!
So the rest of the time playing, I actually played more "keep-away" with Ferris than I normally would, and as long as another cat had "custody" of the feathers, he was ok - would watch, but wasn't getting cazy.
This was the first time I ever saw Ferris become truly aggressive, and it really WAS intimidating to me! I gave him lots of praise and told him what a big scary lion he is, and later on last night he came in for a cuddle, his personality back to the sweet, gentle lovebug that he is.
So from now on, I really have to watch how we play!
Does anyone else have a former feral that exhibits this type of play aggression? Anything I should be watching out for, specifically? I don't want playtime to turn into something dangerous for any of them!
Normally they are cooperative, and every kitty gets some time with getting to play with it, but last night was very different.
Ferris has been getting better and better at catching Da Bird in mid-air in his mouth, and last night he was spot-on, catching it almost immediately.
His little routine is normally to catch it, start growling at me and the other kits as he tries to back out of the room with his "prey." Then he'll let go because he realizes that I'm not letting him budge, and the whole time I'm talking to him (and giggling) telling him he doesn't get to keep it and he needs to let the others play, too.
But last night, he caught it in his mouth right away, and stayed put, growling up a storm, flattening his ears back, his pupils huge pools of black, his tail swishing madly back and forth, back and forth. He absolutely refused to let go, and growled louder if I came near him - I was actually a little tiny bit scared of him!
Knowing he was feral born, and seeing this instinct come out in him made me a little bit afraid that he might lash out at me, so I wisely kept my distance.
Unsure how to handle this without causing him to attack, I lowered the point of the wand to the floor so that the string went slack. That seemed to be what he wanted, because THAT is when he started to back out of the room with the feathers in his mouth, and then we reverted to what normally happens, and I was able to get it away from him.
Thing is, I got Da Bird first and foremost to play with the bengals with, to get them leaping and jumping and burning off that ton of energy they have - yet here is little (well, ok, HUGE) Ferris going all crazy territorial over the feathers!
So the rest of the time playing, I actually played more "keep-away" with Ferris than I normally would, and as long as another cat had "custody" of the feathers, he was ok - would watch, but wasn't getting cazy.
This was the first time I ever saw Ferris become truly aggressive, and it really WAS intimidating to me! I gave him lots of praise and told him what a big scary lion he is, and later on last night he came in for a cuddle, his personality back to the sweet, gentle lovebug that he is.
So from now on, I really have to watch how we play!
Does anyone else have a former feral that exhibits this type of play aggression? Anything I should be watching out for, specifically? I don't want playtime to turn into something dangerous for any of them!