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Minor cat Qs
Aoi Tsuki
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Neither of vital importance; I have two cats, a 2-year-old girl (Mayu) and mystery-aged boy adopted as a stray from a local rescue (Kaien).
Mayu is a trillion times more intelligent than Kaien. This has been a source of amusement and not much else till recently, when I noticed she was pouncing on him with greater regularity and aggression--no damage, but he's got a tremendously fluffy and well-brushed coat, so it's hard to tell how hard she's biting unless fur comes off. He's crying uncle a lot more - literally - which I have to take with a grain of salt, as he just as frequently needs rescuing as he is ready to go back for more wrasslin'.
I've tried to play with Mayu more often to alleviate some of that boredom/frustration (they're both vet-cleared on health), but here's the catch: their rubber snake, shoelace, my old roommate's underwire (they LOVE it), twisty milk caps, my robe's ribbon, and laser pointer all belong to Kaien. I try to engage Mayu with one, and as she's watching it and figuring out how it works, Kaien literally charges in and leaps at it; Mayu looks disgusted and slinks off.
Not the biggest problem in the universe, I know. But I tried wriggling the ribbon for Mayu and the laser pointer for Kaien in each hand, and they both thought I was nuts.
I can shut Kaien out while we girls have Play Time, but here's the other problem: Mayu won't play with 98% of most cat toys because she gets bored so quickly, and what she does like, Kaien bashes his way into and "steals" soon or later anyway. Then she waits for him to get absorbed and tackles him, and he gets upset, but never catches on.
teal deer Cat toys for a really insanely smart cat, something like a dog's Kong, maybe?
Also, does anyone else have a cat that scratches the floor around her food dish as if it's litter? She even does it after snarfing down Kaien's ate-too-fast puke on the carpet. (EWWWWWWWW)
The little buggers in question:
Mayu is a trillion times more intelligent than Kaien. This has been a source of amusement and not much else till recently, when I noticed she was pouncing on him with greater regularity and aggression--no damage, but he's got a tremendously fluffy and well-brushed coat, so it's hard to tell how hard she's biting unless fur comes off. He's crying uncle a lot more - literally - which I have to take with a grain of salt, as he just as frequently needs rescuing as he is ready to go back for more wrasslin'.
I've tried to play with Mayu more often to alleviate some of that boredom/frustration (they're both vet-cleared on health), but here's the catch: their rubber snake, shoelace, my old roommate's underwire (they LOVE it), twisty milk caps, my robe's ribbon, and laser pointer all belong to Kaien. I try to engage Mayu with one, and as she's watching it and figuring out how it works, Kaien literally charges in and leaps at it; Mayu looks disgusted and slinks off.
Not the biggest problem in the universe, I know. But I tried wriggling the ribbon for Mayu and the laser pointer for Kaien in each hand, and they both thought I was nuts.
I can shut Kaien out while we girls have Play Time, but here's the other problem: Mayu won't play with 98% of most cat toys because she gets bored so quickly, and what she does like, Kaien bashes his way into and "steals" soon or later anyway. Then she waits for him to get absorbed and tackles him, and he gets upset, but never catches on.teal deer Cat toys for a really insanely smart cat, something like a dog's Kong, maybe?
Also, does anyone else have a cat that scratches the floor around her food dish as if it's litter? She even does it after snarfing down Kaien's ate-too-fast puke on the carpet. (EWWWWWWWW)
The little buggers in question:
Aoi Tsuki on
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I have found good results with actually teaching Desmond (gold star smarty pants) some additional tricks. He loves those plastic coiled springs for starters, but he will also give high-fives for treats, come when called, pick his favorite can of wet food and jump up on things when asked, we stalk each other, have conversations:
Desmond, what did you do today while I was at work?
*mrwaaaaaawwww*
Oh really? Was it fun?
*rawwwwww*
It sure sounds like it, were you good to Molly?
*purrrrrr*
He has responded really well to the additional attention and doing some extra tricks (as opposed to just chasing laser pointers around like his dumb adopted sister). I recommend this more than anything, there's no need to lock up the other cat, just give your smarty pants some time for herself and some 1:1 attention of a different kind that your other cat will probably ignore.
Simon really enjoys a good string or just wrestling around with your arm. Alex likes one of those balls in a ring monstrosities.
If Mayu enjoys more pouncing play then something that encourages that would be better. Alex pounces on that ball like crazy. But honestly with cats it's more trial-and-error than anything else.
If you're concerned about the one-sided play-fighting, try breaking it up. Just come between them, then favour the weaker one. Playing with cats can get kinda rough, but more you should watch for it going back and forth. Mine hiss at each other occasionally, but they change roles a lot while playing so I don't worry about it.
Oh, and mine totally scratch at the water dish. I have no idea what that's about.
We have sort of this same problem also - our smaller girl gets regularly wrestled when our large boy gets annoyed that she doesn't want to play. I haven't really found a perfect solution, just breaking them up if need be, and/or giving him a time-out for a few minutes.
Our cats absolutely love the squids with a fur/feather ball in the middle....they get "killed" and batted and carried and tossed all through our place on a daily basis - and we got several of them, so they can both play with one at the same time if need be. I'd also recommend the "wand" toys you can get with string & a feather toy attached - you can whip them around unpredictably and they seem to love that.
Yeah, one of ours does this too, around his food dish and the water fountain. Sometimes he'll eat. scratch, eat more, scratch more, etc., so I have no idea what his little kitty brain is thinking.
Nikki (orange one) and Tasha -
They are "burying" their food for later. Some cats will also pull bags/paper towels over their bowl.
Desmond does this with his wet food (special treat not every day) even though the other cat will never even touch it (hates the stuff) and nobody has ever taken away his food. It's just a psychological instinct for them to mark/scent the area and pretend bury the leftovers.
O_O Mayu will pull any fabric thing - a hand towel, small rug, my goddamn empty book satchel - over her water bowl. Obsessively. I didn't think cats buried their food like canines; bigger ones like leopards will cache food in trees...but who am I to say "nuh-uh" if it explains why we had to remove our laundry-room rugs entirely?
She won't play with stuff-on-a-stick or ball-in-a-ring.
How do you go about teaching kitty tricks? Like a dog, but on the cat's terms?
This is too funny, did you have any luck leaving something like a hand towel for her personal use there? I know some cats will go to any lengths just to be annoying but it's worth seeing if she'll be happy if you give her something to actually use for the purpose. LOL, seriously, I'm still laughing this is so, so hilarious (sorry!).
We also have the octopus, and Desmond loves these:
http://www.amazon.com/Colorful-Springs-Cat-Toy-Wide/dp/B000CMKHDG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1229714644&sr=8-1
But feel free to try stalking her yourself too, or if you do use any string-style games, have you tried making the string go around the corner out of sight? Desmond will only play with things that look as if they are about to disappear out of his reach, then he pounces. I just usually play on the stairs with him.
Pretty much. To come when called I just started calling his name while shaking the treat bag, usually when he was already in the room. Then I eventually could cut out the treat bag and call him down from upstairs just for a chin scratch too. I do have to use a certain tone, if I'm frustrated after a long day's work he won't come down, he can hear it in my voice. He'll only come when it's a happy call.
For the high five, we got kinda lucky, he would get SO EXCITED by treats that he would flail his arms around and jump already. However, holding the treat above his head and forcing him to 'stand' on 2 legs is a good start. If you bump her paw with your other hand in this position she's instictively going to start moving it. Just go slow and see what's achievable.
We used treats for the jumping onto things behavior too. Just patted the area we wanted him to jump and shook the treat bag. Now he'll do it just when he hears the patting noise, even if its clearly to get him up on the couch for a petting.
Keep sessions super short, basically only try something a couple of times a day.
Cats do really well with routine, in my experience. If you want the cat to do something routinely, be consistent yourself with the time of day and place and they will get used to the expectation.
Another good option for a smart cat is cardboard box forts. I recommend them for all cats but creating tunnels and levels with cardboard boxes and throwing an old comforter over the top, even leaving surprises in there occasionally will help keep your girl's mind sharp.
My dad didn't believe me, so I dropped a scrap of shirt we used for holding the guinea pig. Within five minutes, I was right.
She gets bored with following strings--eirger *CAT CHARGING OVER KEYBOARDS FTW* she anticipates and lies in wait for it, or attacks your hand, the source of its power. :x I'll try some tricks; I talk to her a lot as it is. She's a total sponge for affection.
I make an effort to play with the older cat, but every time the kitten jumps in with all her energy and just overwhelms the adult. While the adult is still trying to get a bead on whatever toy I'm dragging around, the kitten just comes in with full momentum and takes over.
So what I do now is I just play with them separately, in a room with a closed door. That's really the only thing I've found that works.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.