Considerate kitty

[wnylib]

Ember is 5 years old and very playful. She's an only cat
and was separated from her littermates very early, so she never learned how to "play nice." She's rough and tumble in her favorite game of ambushing me.

She always left her claws out when she tagged my legs during an ambush. I tried acting hurt to teach her to pull in the claws but it never worked ...until ...

One day Ember rushed out of her tunnel as I walked by and swatted my legs as usual. I was wearing capris and loafers, no socks. Her claws caught a surface vein in my ankle and it bled a LOT for a small vein. Ember froze in place and stared at the blood running down into my shoe.

I hobbled to the battroom to clean up. Used up a lot of paper towels staunching the blood flow. The whole time, Ember sat in the doorway staring at me. When the bleeding stopped, I put on anesthetic and a Band-aid, washed out my shoe, and sat down in the living room. Ember followed me, sniffed the Band-aid, and looked into my face. Then she disappeared.

About an hour later, I went to the kitchen, passing her tunnel on the way. She rushed out at me as usual, then paused suddenly and gently tapped my leg with her claws held in.

She still ambushes me, but now she always holds her claws in and taps gently instead of swatting. She's an indoor cat and has never hunted. It's as if she suddenly realized what lethal weapons her claws are and is afraid of hurting me again. So she self-adjusted her play habits.

What a sweety.

[brer cat]

1. Sweet story.

I rescued a large white male (neutered) cat some years ago who had a rough life in the past. He is a biter. I take Plavix so I bleed freely, but it makes no impression on him. I wish I knew how to make him stop.

[femmedem]

7. He's a lucky boy to be rescued by you. I hope this article can help with the biting.

https://vethelpdirect.com/vetblog/2020/07/09/why-does-my-cat-bite-me-unprovoked/

I have a stray that I've been feeding for about a year. He used to hiss and grumble even when I fed him, then he gradually started letting me pet him but would suddenly move to bite me if I wasn't on guard for the warning signs. Now he rolls around on his back for belly rubs. Mr. Femmedem and I used to call him Mr. Rogers as a joke because he was such a snarly, mean cat, but now the name suits him without being ironic. I hope things eventually turn out that well for your guy.

[brewens]

2. I had to go to wearing slippers all the time when I first got my cat. She would attack my feet

without warning when I was on the couch. She mellowed out a little and stopped that, so I'm back in my stocking feet. She's a good balance of wild and sweet.

[wnylib]

22. Oh yeah. Kittens and human feet.

When Ember was little, she couldn't resist attacking my feet in bed whenever she saw the sheet move. I used to hold my feet very still to avoid attracting her attention, and carry a toy to bed so I could toss it to distract her.

[Haggard Celine]

3. That is so cool!

I just got my cat recently. He came from a family with a dog but now he's on his own. He accidentally claws me sometimes when I'm reclining and he digs into my shirt. I've finally got him started using the scratching post. Hope I can save my couch and my walls.

[Ocelot II]

4. What a sweetie!

I suspect that a lot of indoor cats kind of like drawing a little blood once in awhile since they can't actually kill anything.

[wnylib]

8. Ember is actually squeamish about

blood and seeing things get hurt. She has very good hunting instincts and behavior, but it's alll just a game to her. I have a cat video for her and she is fascinated by the rats and birds in it. So I thought she would like my National Geographic video of animals in the wild.

She was fascinated by the tigers, until a hunting scene when a tiger took down a zebra. Turned her head away. Every time a predator caught its prey, she got agitated and finally went into the bedroom to crawl under the bed.

Once, when she saw a movie scene where a guy knocked a woman to the ground, Ember rushed to the screen to touch the woman.

I think I've got a bleeding heart kitty. Very liberal of her.

[Ocelot II]

9. A squeamish cat has to be a rarity.

Have you never told her that she's an apex predator?

[wnylib]

15. I would not want to encourage her.

Last edited Sat Apr 10, 2021, 04:46 AM - Edit history (1)

She stalks toys quite well. She used to have a stuffed cat that was bigger than her when she was just a few months old. First it was her "companion" that she dragged everywhere. But by the time she was 6 months old, it became her prey. She stalked it, hid behind furniture, and then pounced, grabbing the neck and giving it a snapping jerk that would have killed a real animal. She's got all the instincts and skills, but she's just playacting since she has never actually hunted or needed to.

She reminds me of Ilse (or is it Elsa?) the lion in Born Free. The ability is there, but her life has been safe and well fed.

[Karadeniz]

5. I've never known a cat to put cause and effect together like that... or care! Ember's a special girl

[wnylib]

6. I think cats are pretty good at figuring out cause and effect.

It's part of their reputation for being curious. Ever see the You Tube video of Gizmo the cat? He flushes a toilet over and over trying to figure out where the water goes. He knows enough cause/effect to know that pushing the lever makes the toilet flush. He goes about it very methodically, looking from one side to the other of the toilet when he flushes it.

Ember tries to figure out where the suds in the sink go after I finish dishes (just me, no need for a dishwasher).

She is a little better at cause-effect than other cats I've known and has been ever since she was a kitten. She loves challenges to figure out. And she observes everything. When she hears the DVD tray slide in, she looks at the blank TV screen because she knows that tray sound causes movies to appear.

[Karadeniz]

10. She's a genius!

[wnylib]

13. Not quite. She also thinks she can hide behind semi sheer

curtains to watch me without me seeing her.

But, she is pretty smart. She's not a pedigree, but her mother was half Egyptian Mau and her father was 1/4 Mau. They're supposed to be clever cats.

She drove me nuts as a kitten, dragging out storage containers from my lower cupboards. So, when she was napping, I taped them shut with masking tape.

When the cupboard door would not flip open for her, she sat down and stared at it. Then she leaped at the tape, tore a corner loose with her claws, grabbed the corner in her mouth, and tore the tape off. Flipped the door open and crawled inside the cupboard. She was 4 months old. I was flabbergasted, but she looked quite pleased with her accomplishment.

[George McGovern]

11. Ember Empathy. Very nice story wnylib. Thank You.

[TomSlick]

12. I have two rescued strays - almost certainly litter mates - who just walked in one day.

One of the brothers learned very quickly when to use soft paws. The other - who is really the more loving cat - just cannot grasp the concept.

[soldierant]

19. Don't write me off as crazy immediately, but

have you tried asking the soft pawed one to explain to his brother?

I have no cats now, but during my lifetime I have had up to a dozen at a time, some litter mates, most no relation, and it seemed there was always at least one I could ask for help communicating.

[wnylib]

24. Some cats are more aware of situations

than others, and more responsive to mood and tone of voice. They don't know what you are saying, but they respond to the mood expressed in your tone. That's what makes some people "cat whisperers."

[3catwoman3]

14. What a sweet story.

Give Ember some between-the-ears and chin scratches from me, please.

[BobTheSubgenius]

16. That is incredible!

What a great story! I just love the kittehs.

[wnylib]

21. Some of the things she does are pretty

unusual, but real.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

17. That's an amazing story.

My cat, one that I adopted last summer, is a bit of a biter. She came to the shelter as a stray, so I don't know her history. I suspect there are various things happening with her. One is that her first human family may have let her do that. Another is that she will sometimes suddenly decide she doesn't want to be touched.

Nonetheless, she's a sweet cat most of the time.

[Lithos]

18. No surprises for me

While cats have their own level of intellect. They are definitely aware and able to understand and able to learn. To judge them on a human scale of intelligence is unfair. But they definitely are intelligent and will surprise you if given a chance.

L-

[wnylib]

23. I agree completely. They process more than

we realize, and then when we notice an example of it, we are surprised. Not great intellects on a par with human intelligence, but more aware than we realize.

Ember is the most unusual cat that I've known. Some of her behavior is almost doglike, e.g. loyalty, protectiveness, possessiveness about her toys, fetching, learning word meanings, and even occasional empathy. She learns things very quickly. She has some Mau in her background, so I looked up the Mau breed since I knew nothing about them before getting Ember. Her behaviors are in the Mau breed description, which I found reassurring because I was beginning to doubt my own observations and experiences with her.

[KT2000]

20. What a smart kitty

and a really sweet story. Thanks!