Saturday, September 10, 2011

a new trick and a gift


I'm a bit flummoxed as to what to do with Minerva.  She is such a smart kitty but she has no impulse control.  She can understand me and gets frustrated that I don't understand her and give her what she wants.  She's has lashed out a few more times at me, not causing any damage - heck not even close - but I'm not sure if that is because I'm that good at watching her and correcting her before she really gets started or if she has no interest in hurting anyone.  Not that I'm going to try to figure that out any time soon - because I have no interest in being bitten.

Just to show you how little I trust her, I still won't pick her up... but I have put both hands on her at one time.

So last night I wasn't sure what she was going to do when I went to feed her.  She doesn't want me to walk over to the other side of the room to get the can of cat food, she wants me to just put the food in the dish (no, logic is not her strong suit) and would start to get that "I'm going to smack you" look when I moved in any direction other then her dish, so I wanted her distracted so I could get to the other side of the room.  I figured if she was laying down it might give me a few moments and so I patted the floor and said "down"  So she sat down.  :)

So I patted her and gave a slight push, and said "lay down" and then patted the floor.  She went under the couch.  so I praised her highly and attempted to get to the other side of the room, but she came right out.

so I kept patting the floor, and after a few moments she laid down.  Even flipped her head over to give me her chin.  So I praised the living daylights out of her, and patted her and tried to get across the room, but she stood right up.  So I said "lay down" and patted the floor and she laid down again.  I tried to give her a kitten in hopes of distracting her, but the kitten was too busy playing,

so I put her through a few "ups" and "sits" and "down" "sit" etc.  and we got across the room and got food put out.

But I was highly impressed that she learned "lay down" so quickly.

Yesterday also brought me a gift from one of the crew.  I'm assuming it is Muffin since this is her favorite type of toy and her favorite sleeping spot (my side of the bed)
I got one the day before as well, and I dismissed it as she was playing with it and it just ended up there.  but this one was in the exact same spot when just seemed too much like she wanted me to have it to not take it that way

3 comments:

  1. It sounds like she's training you to play with her!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think the best thing to do is to wait for her to come to you and not try to force her to do anything. Is she a feral kitty?? How long have you had her?? She doesn't sound wild.
    Maybe put the food on the other side of the room.
    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was not forcing her to do anything. I manually showed her what I wanted when I gave her a "slight push" in no way was she restrained or kept from leaving. She's not feral as she wants attention, but she is highly under socialized so she has no idea that smacking me with her claws out or biting is inappropriate. She thinks that it is perfectly OK to do lash out when ever she feels the need. Just as it is with in a cloweder of cats.

    I generally keep the food near the dishes, but she doesn't understand the need to get the can of food first. she thinks I should just have the ability to dispense food like she does for her kittens.

    I've had her for a few weeks, in that time I've been working with her to learn tricks because it helps her understand what I want her to do. getting "up" on the couch gives me time to move closer to the food bowl. getting "down" then "up" on the carrier also gets me a few steps closer. I'm hoping that "lay down" will morph into helping her relax when something overstimulates her (like the removal of the recycling)

    Being neutered should help her from reacting so quickly. Hormones have a lot to do cats being so edgy.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...