Conference misery::feline_v1

    
    
    Hi Fred,
    
    Welcome to the wondreful world of cat training, (Your cat is training
    you:-)
    
    You didn't mention how old Diamond is but if her "kitty games" are
    from boredom, you might consider getting her a cat of her own. 
    Then she'll have some one to play with when you are not home.
    
    My Siamese trained me to keep toilet paper and kleenex boxes tucked
    away where she couldn't get tho them.  Panther has a great time
    with these items when she can get her paws on them.  If I forget
    to put the roll o toilet paper back under the vanity after company
    has left I will come home to a blizzard in the bathroom!  She must
    have a ball!  There are tiny little bits of paper ALL OVER.  Usually
    the roll is completely useless when she is through with it.
    
    He excuse, "I know i'm being bad Mummie, but I just can't help myself,
    but aren't I cute??!!"   Sigh, how can you be mad?  We just tuck
    the stuff out of sight.
    
    Feline trained,
    
    Sue, and her trainers, Panther & Spot
    
    
    

    Blue Frost has a FRENZY with toilet paper rolls.  She acts
    like a piranha (sp) that has detected blood...she attacks
    the roll, biting out chunks several layers deep and flings
    them about in an instant, bites another chunk, etc.  This
    kitty is not interested in merely unrolling the t.p...must
    be too tame for her!
    
    Some of my other cats have more fun with Kleenex boxes.  And
    the occasionally get a head stuck in the plastic slot opening,
    and then run around looking like a "hammerhead kitty."

    When the mood strikes Pip, she will take the end of the toilet paper
    roll in her mouth and run through the house with it until it tears
    off, at which point she will go back for the end and do it again.
    I guess she thinks she is putting up streamers for a party.
    
    Anyhow, when she seems to be in the mood to do this, I find that
    wrapping a face cloth around the toilet paper roll and fastening
    it with a clothspin seems to work.
    
    Deb

    
    	Yep, count our Gracie into that one too. We still miss her.
    	It used to be that we would come home to find ourselves in
    	wall to wall toilet paper. She would take GIANT bites out of
    	it and run all over the house spreading it everywhere. It
    	got to where we had to tell guests where we hid it (they thought
    	we were weird hiding toilet paper). Same deal with dish cloths,
    	kleenex, anything little and amusing. She even would grab her
    	toys and my dish cloths and we would find that she had placed
    	them to soak in CATNIPs water bowl (not her own water bowl!)!
    	Another thing she did was to take these soaked objects (I used
    	to watch her do this) and haul them out of the water dish and
    	put them on top of the nice dry IAMS catfood (of course in
    	Catnips food bowl). Then she would dip them back in the water
    	again.  She was also a thief. Coins from my pants pocket during
    	the night, contact lens case lids, earrings, etc.  Weird? Nope.
    	Bored? Yep. No problem when I started letting her run during 
    	the day and she could come and go through her little cat door.
    	When I made her stay in, plants got un-potted, and the destruction
    	started again.
    

    
    Yup, I know kitty needs some daytime activity to keep her amused.
    She's 9 months old, and still has a lotta "kitten" in her still
    (very playful, races around the house like a wild kitty).
    We're keeping the bathroom door shut all the time now, and getting
    her some toys ASAP! She hasn't discovered kleenex yet, though ;^)
    She takes big chunks out of the toilet paper, rendering it useless
    if I don't catch her in time.
    I've had cats before, but they were indoor/outdoor types, not indoor
    only. Time will tell. She's a real sweetheart, and we're happy to
    have her, sometimes she can be soooooooo naughty! But, I know, people
    train dogs (we have a dog too), and cats train people...
    Whatta kitty!!!
    
    Fred

    Mao still races around and she's 10!!  She even does the kitten-crab.
    
    They do sell devices to keep your cat out of the toilet paper.
    
    I really think you need another kitten  :-)  sometimes, two are
    easier to care for than one.
      Nancy DC
    

    
    Well, folks, purry-furry-face has her own amusement park now ;^) !
    I built her a carpeted scratching post with built-in toys. She's
    really having a ball!
    
    And we're hiding the toilet paper in the medicine cabinet...
    
    Re: .7    Who sells the stuff to keep kitty from mauling the toilet
              paper?
    
    Fred (and a happy Diamond)

    re: 8
    
    Hang the toilet paper holder as high as you can so they can't
    reach it - take some off the roll before you sit down!!!!
    
    E.T._speaking_from_LOTS_of_shreading_experience !!
    from_the_home_of_the_world's_best_and_fastest_SUPERSHREDDER,
    
                           Lara The Lady ZhivagoCat !!!

    re: .8  Look in the back of Cats & Cat Fancy.  that's where I've
    seen those nifty little devices.
    

    
    Diamond has acquired a new hobby. Raiding the small wastbaskets for
    things to play with (I guess the amusement park isn't good enough...)
    This morning I found in her room (yes, Diamond has her own room! :^) )
    a leaf that I had tracked inside, and some of my wife's hair that she
    picked up last night (my wife has knee-length hair, and sheds almost
    as much as fur-face).
    
    Kitty has a new habit, also. I sleep on my side, and kitty will sit
    on the side that's up and give me an earfull of purring in the morning.
    Someday I'll have my wife take a picture of this, it must look pretty
    funny from a distance (it looks weird from under kitty!)
    
    Fred and Diamond_the_purry_furry_face

    
    
    Fred,
    
    Diamond sounds like a real love to me!  Don't worry it's not that
    she doesn't appreciate all your hard work on her amewsument park,
    it's just that all the world is a toy and she will get around to
    different parts of it at different times! :-)  
    
    It sounds like she is talking on the phone with my Panther, they
    share the same tricks.  Toilet paper shredder, wastbasket inspector,
    I wonder if she will develop the fine art of sitting on whatever
    it is that you are reading or doing?  (She figures that whatever
    it is that we are engaged in, she is more important, so she plunks
    herself on top of the book, needle work, homework, even keyboard!)
    
    Also you might be careful about how you refer to your house from
    now on, our cats own the house, we get our own room, and kitchen
    priveledges.  (We can pay the mortgage too!!)
                                                       
    
    Feline owned by the Cats,
    
    Sue & Panther & Spot
    

    re:11 Diamond sounds like great fun. Our two cats tigger[1year]
    and kitkat[2years] do some of the same things, most of the time
    they pick the hours of 5am to 6am to play these games.
    Kitkat only likes to sit on me in bed if I'm on my back and
    tigger likes lay on me when I'm on my side. Both do the same to
    my wife. 
    Tigger will get paper from the waste can, and protect her selection
    as if it was food. Kitkat we call the plastic kat she loves anything
    plastic, likes to lick or chew or lay on it. A few times Tigger
    would empty the waste can, then kitkat would pull out the plasic
    liner and goto sleep on it, and tigger would goto sleep in the can.
    
    Have fun!!!
    Ron, Gina, tigger,kitkat and murphy[the dog]
    

    
    Diamond's endless search for new hobbies continues. The other day,
    she decided to pull down 3 ceiling tiles (we have a drop ceiling).
    How she did it remains a mystery to me...
    
    And she also put lotsa small holes in two of my shirts that were
    hanging on the clothes rack drying out.
    
    I never know what she'll do next (she recently opened some kitchen
    cabinets in the unused 2nd-floor kitchen she has as part of her territory
    and EMPTIED the contents on the floor).
    
    Fred and Diamond_the_lunatic_kitty

    Hey Fred - maybe its time to get her a playmate.  You could name
    the new one "Double Trouble".
    
    Seriously tho, if she has company she may not need to hunt for
    things to keep her occupied.
      Nancy DC who enjoys your stories.
    

	Well, Nancy, I took your advice and got another kitty last night. The
new "Puddy-Tat" is around 8 months old, born in the barn at the place that
it (sex unknown at present, nobody's been able to get close enough to do
that) was living. It's mother and father are living there (father was tamed
and is living as the indoor kitty there).
	 I bought a kitty-carrier, we went to the house, and after 1/2 an hour
caught the kitty with a fish net (first time I ever caught a "cat-fish" :^) ).
	 It's a BEAUTIFUL critter, coloring is sealpoint Siamese, and has thick
fur, of a cream color. Kitty did ok on the ride home (1 hour).
	 We have a room in the house just for the new kitty, complete with
litter box and food and window to look out of.
	The kitty would go near people for food, you could feed it from your
hand and pat it's head if it trusted you enough (one person in the house it
used to live outside of had accomplished this after awhile). Kitty needs
to be taught what a litter box is for (dropped it's first load on a rug
I put in there for the kitty). Has only eaten a little, but drinking fluids
though. Will growl when I come near it (I expect that), but I know it will
be quite awhile before I gain kitty's trust enough to tame it (kitty will
remain an indoor kitty, since we live on a road that people seem to like
to speed on...).

So, my question is, what suggestions if any does anyone have to help tame
the new kitty and make it feel at home (and how long did it take you to
tame your formerly-feral-feline?).

Fred (owned by Diamond_the_hellcat and now "Catfish?")

    Just be calm and move slowly around the kitty.  Keep feeding it
    and talking to and patting it when its eating.  You could try playing
    with it with peacock feather or "kitty tease" both of which will
    let you play with the cat from a distance.  
      As time passes the kitty will associate you with good things like
    food and play.  Gradually work up to petting its whole body and
    then lifting it a few inches off the floor and then putting it back
    down - all the time telling it what a good kitty it is.  Gradually
    you can work into picking it up and holding it.  
      There's a good chance the kitty will never like being held and
    cuddled, but you have to get it used to being handled to get it
    to the vet, which should be a high priority.
      That's basically what we did with Jesse and its worked out quite
    nicely.  He still hates to be picked up, but is a real doll with
    the vet and almost NEVER growls any more.
      Good luck and thanks for caring.
      Nancy DC
    

    Slow and easy is the name of the game. ..and I have never found
    anything that works better on a cat than praise and admiration.
    It seems every time I tell a cat how handsome and smart they are
    ....their opinion of my intelligence goes up!
    
    Enjoy!
    
    Linda  :^)

Spend as much time just being in the room with the kitten as you can.  Sit
down and read a book or whatever you can do to stay still.  Talk to the
cat so he/she gets used to your smell AND your voice.  As soon as you
can, touch.....as often as you can.  Pick this one up and pet, scratch
behind the ears, under the chin, etc.  Although the cat will want to
get away, hold gently, but firmly, until the cats stops struggling so
much - talk gently and continue petting.  Don't let the cat think that
struggling will get him/her released....if you set that precedence, you
will have a cat that won't be held without a fight - a problem with
vet care for sure.

Until the cat tames down a bit, choose one person to feed, water, pet,
etc..  Too many people at a time can cause confusion and delay the
bonding that you are seeking.

For awhile, replace the kitty litter with dirt - he/she is more likely
to recognize that as a place to deposit offal.  You can then begin
to introduce the litter, mixing more in each day, etc.  

Be patient - Sam and Nick took 8 weeks to decide I was safe to turn
their back on...it was 4 weeks before they stopped hissing and growling.

You can expect some personality traits to remain forever - Nick is
extremely shy of strangers, very jumpy at any unexpected sound, and
prone to back into corners to feel "safe".  Hannah loves to be petted,
will be cuddled for a short time, but will NOT sit in my lap.  Sam
will lay next to a person to be petted, will NOT be cuddled nor sit
in a lap....and Sam is, except for moments of total distress/fear,
silent - he never calls or talks to us.  Sam stays hidden all day
and NEVER comes out when people other than Marge, myself, or my 
mother are around.

all three of my "wild" rescues are deeply loved and appreciated...but
I accept them as they are.  You cannot expect your little one to be
like the totally tame kittens you've seen.

    re: .19 - I don't agree with refusing to put a struggling cat down.
    Jesse hates to be held and will struggle when I pick him up, so
    I put him down.  However, he knows when he must be handled - e.g.
    for vets visits - and is very good about that.  We even trimmed
    his nails last night.
      When we M*U*S*T handle him we do and if he struggles it does him
    no good.  However, if I just pick him up for a cuddle and he says
    he wants to get down, I put him down.
    
    The message then is, "If I insist on holding you it is for a reason"
    and the cats seem to accept that.  I am a firm believer in letting
    the cats tell me what they do and do not like.  I give them the
    option to say "I don't feel like being cuddled right now".  I only
    force them when there is a real need and they seem to understand
    that.  I don't force them to do something just because I want it.
      
    Just my experience with a "semi-feral" cat.
      Nancy DC
    

	Well, "Catfish?" seems to be doin' ok, is eating well, still growls
if I get too close (but improving), and I put the catbox in the exact location
that the loads were dropped, and now kitty's going in the box instead of on
the rug. I spend time talking to kitty, trying to get close (food in my hand)
but it will take time. Diamond is in the next room, and sometimes they talk
to each other while I'm in with "Catfish?" (they're probably saying "hey,
are you in this prison too? What're you in for? The food's ok here, I guess,
who are you over there?").

Fred and Diamond_the_hellcat and "Catfish?" (for lack of a better name?)

    Nothing wrong with the name Catfish.  You seem to be handling the
    situation very well.  I have enjoyed reading this note and its replys. 
    Keep letting us know how Diamond and Catfish are getting along.  
    
    Sandi Mom to 3 cats and 1 dog