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I have four female cats, ages four through seven. My alpha cat, Sadie, will come up to me and sit right next to me wherever I am, and cry LOUDLY until I pet her. She is very affectionate (all my "girls" are,) but she thinks I must touch her all the time, and protests if I don't. Why is that? (more) |
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Sometimes my Siamese cat will be sitting with me and she will take her paw and touch my face gently on my cheek. Is there any special reason a cat will do that? (more) |
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I have a cat which I think is a Maine coon, He has the large paws and dew claws. He's about 35 inches long from nose to tip of tail. I had him neutered when he was a kitten. After that he wouldn't have anything to do with me. Before he would cuddle with me and come to me. So to make matters worse I got another kitten. Now two years later he hisses at me if I try to pet him and cries likes he's hurt if I try to pet him. What can I do to get him to like me again? (more) |
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Our cat Jiminey is a three year old male that recently ran into an unknown health complication. Jiminey was temporarily being cared for at Grandma's house, where one day he was found completely unresponsive to light in both eyes and without muscle control. After running him to the animal hospital immediately and two weeks of tender love and care combined with the help of antibiotics and medicine, Jiminey had made a miraculous turn-around. The cause for his condition is still unknown. The vet said Jiminey could have: eaten a blood-pressure capsule or been bitten by a mosquito carrying a disease that attacked his central nervous system. Jiminey now has limited hearing and no vision on the left side of his face. Miraculously, he eats, drinks, plays and uses the litter box regularly. From the time I've cared for Jiminey as a little kitten and through his recent recovery he's always had a very loud and prominent purr. Now that things have fallen back into more of a regular schedule, I've noticed Jiminey has almost entirely stopped purring. I've read in other questions you've answered that purring can be sign of happiness, confidence, a form of reassurance, and also a form of submission. Although it's obviously amazing this critter is even still with us, I wanted to know if the absence of Jiminey's purr had direct correlation to the traumatic experience. Is his loss of hearing and vision making him unsure of his surroundings and making him unhappy? (more) |
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Why does my four month old kitten cry when I leave and why is she so aggressive to me and sweet to my boyfriend? She has been with me for four months and with him for four days. I raised her and I don't understand her behavior or emotions. (more) |
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Q: I have four female cats, ages four through seven. My alpha cat, Sadie, will come up to me and sit right next to me wherever I am, and cry LOUDLY until I pet her. She is very affectionate (all my "girls" are,) but she thinks I must touch her all the time, and protests if I don't. Why is that?
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Answer:
I hate to say this but--she does this because she can. She has you trained! And you’ve rewarded her for the behavior time after time. She cries, you pet her. She cries and you wait--and wait--and wait--(she’s still crying) and you FINALLY pet, and she’s been taught that the louder and longer she cries, the better chance she’ll get her way. If you’ve rewarded her almost every time with petting when she cries, the odds are in her favor. Sadie is a very smart, savvy cat and knows how to get her way. (Who said cats can’t be trained?!) Some cats simply are more needy than others and want nonstop attention. |
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Q: Sometimes my Siamese cat will be sitting with me and she will take her paw and touch my face gently on my cheek. Is there any special reason a cat will do that?
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Answer:
How sweet! A cat’s paw is quite sensitive. They use paw-pats to touch and test surfaces. She may simply enjoy the touch of your soft skin. How you react also may have bearing. If you give her extra attention when she does this, she may have learned to use the gesture for more of these special times. |
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Q: I have a cat which I think is a Maine coon, He has the large paws and dew claws. He's about 35 inches long from nose to tip of tail. I had him neutered when he was a kitten. After that he wouldn't have anything to do with me. Before he would cuddle with me and come to me. So to make matters worse I got another kitten. Now two years later he hisses at me if I try to pet him and cries likes he's hurt if I try to pet him. What can I do to get him to like me again?
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Answer:
Certainly the experience of being neutered can make an indelible impression on a cat. If it’s a scary memory (going into the unfamiliar clinic, weird smells and sounds, and some discomfort after waking) cats sometimes then “generalize” this uncomfortable feeling toward the people associated with the experience. In other words, he remembers feeling badly (for whatever reasons) and that you were there--hence, feeling badly has become linked to you.
That’s something that can happen--I don’t know that it actually did. It’s far more likely for cats to have behavior/personality changes as they grow up from kitten into mature cats and this timeline corresponds to neuter surgery. So owners often blame the surgery when it may well have happened anyway. Kittens like to cuddle--many fewer adults enjoy this.
Very likely he still does feel affection toward you. He just expresses it differently than you might wish. For some cats, touching can be incredibly stimulating and downright uncomfortable. Try this experiment--uncover your arm, and pet the skin over and over and over, same spot, about twenty times. Now think about having somebody else do that. After about five or six times, don’t you wish they’d stop? Cats tell us to “stop that!” with a hiss. It’s not that he doesn’t like YOU, but he’s learned that hissing stops the uncomfortable behavior. If he is as big as you say, there might actually be some issues with joints (hip dysplasia) that might explain discomfort when patted or touched in some ways. You might check that with your vet.
Figure out some things that this cat absolutely loves to do. Maybe that’s chasing a toy, or eating a special treat. Try sitting on the floor and luring him to you with a long distance fishing pole toy so he doesn’t have to come too close. Also instead of you petting him, simply hold out your hand (or your closed fist) and let him come and rub against you. For some reason, cats often like to head-bump a closed fist (maybe it reminds them of another cat’s face?). |
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Q: Our cat Jiminey is a three year old male that recently ran into an unknown health complication. Jiminey was temporarily being cared for at Grandma's house, where one day he was found completely unresponsive to light in both eyes and without muscle control. After running him to the animal hospital immediately and two weeks of tender love and care combined with the help of antibiotics and medicine, Jiminey had made a miraculous turn-around. The cause for his condition is still unknown. The vet said Jiminey could have: eaten a blood-pressure capsule or been bitten by a mosquito carrying a disease that attacked his central nervous system. Jiminey now has limited hearing and no vision on the left side of his face. Miraculously, he eats, drinks, plays and uses the litter box regularly. From the time I've cared for Jiminey as a little kitten and through his recent recovery he's always had a very loud and prominent purr. Now that things have fallen back into more of a regular schedule, I've noticed Jiminey has almost entirely stopped purring. I've read in other questions you've answered that purring can be sign of happiness, confidence, a form of reassurance, and also a form of submission. Although it's obviously amazing this critter is even still with us, I wanted to know if the absence of Jiminey's purr had direct correlation to the traumatic experience. Is his loss of hearing and vision making him unsure of his surroundings and making him unhappy?
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Answer:
Wow, what an incredible story. Kudos to you and your vet for nursing this special kitty back to life. I’d be interested to learn the cause of Jiminey’s illness, too. Eating human prescription medicine too often poisons our pets so that’s a good cautionary tale for others reading this note. I haven’t a clue what sort of mosquito-borne disease causes neurological problems, either, although heartworms from mosquitoes can cause devastating illness in cats.
As for the purr, you’re correct that it can help the cat reassure himself. The purr also has healing properties particularly of broken bones. I can only speculate that since he’s now feeling better, Jiminey no longer needs to purr and comfort himself. He’s happy without the purr. And secondly, his loss of hearing may have contributed to reduction in purrs. If he can’t hear his own purr, there may not be as much incentive to make the sound. |
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Q: Why does my four month old kitten cry when I leave and why is she so aggressive to me and sweet to my boyfriend? She has been with me for four months and with him for four days. I raised her and I don't understand her behavior or emotions.
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Answer:
Babies seem to often act out more with their “mom” than with strangers, don’t you think? She knows you. She’s become confident in her relationship and actions with you and knows what to expect. Your boyfriend is still a stranger so she must be more cautious in how she interacts with him. If you don’t wish her to act aggressively with you, then stop all play and attention (even speaking!) when she bites or plays rough. Give her a five-minute “time out” in a room alone. Let her out afterwards, and if she plays roughly again, give another time out. Do this consistently and she’ll learn that rough play makes the games and attention go away. |
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| To keep your cat from climbing the curtains, try using tension rods. The tension rods will simply fall down on top of the cat if it tries to climb them. |
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