Topic 'Why is my roommate's cat different?' in forum 'General Questions' - dslreports.com

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:49:15 EDT

hurfy posted : Like everyone said cats are pretty varied. My old cat holds conversations with me. She knows several commands like DOWN, IN, even SHAKE! (too cute) She even obeys them occassionally, she IS a cat afterall... ;)

She likes to sit on the back of my computer chair or curl up in another chair in the room. She'll (usually) follow me around or come on command.

Why is my roommate's cat different?

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:30:33 EDT

shortckt posted :

said by signmeuptoo:

My cat refuses to break a stare. It's uncanny. She stare's at me and stares and stares and will not quit.

That's comical. One of my cats would do that, maybe not to the extent you describe. I would sit on the sofa and have a staring contest with him, but usually dozed off first. Cats are very persistent. I found I had to have the patience of a saint to wait them out.

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:44:50 EDT

Msradell posted : We have three cats that all behave like that. What's different about them for most cats is that they were all orphans as babies and hand raised and bottle fed so like somebody else mentioned they were handled a lot in their first six weeks of life! We really think that's the secret and if we ever get more cats we will certainly look for that trait.

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:37:19 EDT

psafux posted : as a prior owner of 9 cats, (long story), I can assure you there is no "cat mold". They are all different. 6 of the 9 cats grew up together, were treated very similarly and wound up with entirely different personalities.

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:44:35 EDT

Mele20 posted :

said by signmeuptoo:

nd she actually makes eye contact and stares in my eyes.

My cat refuses to break a stare. It's uncanny. She stare's at me and stares and stares and will not quit. She stares right in my eyes. My vet was absolutely amazed by this. He walked completely around the exam table and she turned her head and never broke eye contact with him. It freaked him a bit (used to freak me too). He said he had never seen a cat do this before. He finally had to break the eye contact. She treats everyone like this and everyone comments on it. They break the contact too. I have never seen her break eye contact. Only the human breaks it.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Why is my roommate's cat different?

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 01:31:04 EDT

shortckt posted :

said by signmeuptoo:

She also rubs against me, even when she is outside, such as when I am waiting outside for my ride to show up....

Marking you with her scent, because us humans must smell so weird to an animal. You're pwned now. But it's all good.

said by signmeuptoo:

She is funny about having her head petted, but likes being petted otherwise. She just ducks when you pet her head....

I have not run into that with a cat yet, but I've dealt with dogs that behaved that way at the rescues, putting their head down or wincing when someone touched their head. In every case it was a dog with a history of been beaten and abused, except I think there was one that was going blind.

said by signmeuptoo:

Spring is coming, and last spring she shedded like crazy, no matter how much I brushed her, which she likes, she shed and shed. Is there anything that can be done for that?

Not much. The warm weather and longer days trigger their biological clock and they start shedding. Long hair breeds literally become fur factories, I could get handfulls of fur off of them every day. A couple of drops of vitamin E in the food once a day helps a little but generally nothing will stop the shedding, it's a natural cycle like leaves falling off maple trees.

It is important to get the loose fur off, otherwise cats swallow it when they clean themselves, and not all of it comes up when they vomit a hairball. Over the years what stays in the stomach calcifies and turns into a mass that won't come up or go down, and can sometimes cause digestive and other problems.

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:49:47 EDT

signmeuptoo posted : She doesn't react at first, but when she swats, it is with claws exposed. But she obviously seems to adore me. Sometimes as I am watching TV on my iphone in bed, she will come up to me and rub against me and stick her butt in my face and sit down on the iPhone.

She also rubs against me, even when she is outside, such as when I am waiting outside for my ride to show up.

I actually love this cat, it is going to break my heart moving and not seeing her and her dog brother any longer in a couple months (there is hope I might get to stay here, but not too likely). Owner of the home is the mom of my roommate. She wants to sell the place.

Kitty used to come in my room to get away from doggy (they grew up together, but he loves to harass her, and honestly, she egs him on sometimes. But she will run, not walk, into my room when the door is open, hop on my bed, and curl up.

She is funny about having her head petted, but likes being petted otherwise. She just ducks when you pet her head.

On rare occasion she will poop and pee on the toilet carpet piece, but I think it is when she doesn't get out soon enough, so I try to watch out for that. She has never messed anywhere else, only in the CR (comfort room, what my fiancee calls the bathroom).

I think it started with the fact that I always feed her when she asks to be fed, she is good about letting me know if roommate forgets her bowl. She is a grazer, munches a little over the course of the day. She IS a little fat (I suppose we need to do something about that). But she is sprightly for an 5-7 year old cat, she bounds around chasing shadows sometimes, and you can see her outside the living room sliding door scooting around chasing the wind. Very cute.

EDIT:

Spring is coming, and last spring she shedded like crazy, no matter how much I brushed her, which she likes, she shed and shed. Is there anything that can be done for that?
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Join Teams Helix and Discovery. Rest in Peace, Leonard David Smith, my best friend, you are missed badly! Rest in peace, Pop, glad our last years were good. Please pray for Colin, he has ependymoma, a brain cancer, donate to a children's Hospital.

Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:26:21 EDT

shortckt posted :

said by signmeuptoo:

when I talk to her, she mouths meow back at me, with the faintest sound....
I am still more of a dog person, dogs love to chase balls, it is like their raison d'etre....
One thing though, it seems that playing with a cat by *GENTLY*, barely tugging its tail, well, they don't have a sense of humor the way a dog does. I suppose you can play with a LASER or feather, they love that, but playful touching seems like a no go with them.

The silent meow is still a mystery to animal behavior scientists and cat owners alike.

You can train a cat to fetch. I've seen it done with movie cats, but you will very likely run out of patience long before the cat is trained.

Leaving out medical problems, an outsized response to touching or other stimuli could be caused by a couple of things:

--The cat not being touched, picked up and handled enough as it was growing up. If so, regular handling over some months will make the cat accustomed and it will respond more normally, unless it's feral. It's important not to hold the cat down or prevent it from escaping since that will make it anxious and will escalate the force it wants to use to get away. Also important to let go of the cat on your terms. If it struggles to get away, pause and then set it down slowly, so it learns that it will be handled but it will always be able to get away if it waits, without resorting to clawing you to pieces. That being said there are cats who will never get accustomed to being touched in certain places, some on their tail, some on their feet, etc. but a well adjusted cat (that knows you already) shouldn't strike out if you rub it's forehead or chin.

--The cat growing up without other cats to play-hunt with. If you watch growing kittens playing, (which is all 100% practice for hunting and killing) the aggressor will use more and more force until the recipient makes a noise or strikes back to let the aggressor know it hurts. This is how they learn to control their application of force. But kittens that grew up without another cat to play attack with don't understand control of force. Think of it as meeting Frankenstein's monster and it wants to shake your hand. Without the experience of self control it would crush your hand.

The solution is to give the cat feedback in escalating steps to let it know it is hurting you. Never hit the cat, it doesn't understand that and will come away thinking "play = bad." Instead first make a sound, (say ouch or something) next say it louder and if the cat is looking at you show your teeth, and if the cat is still being too aggressive bite it back, hard enough so it hurts but not enough to draw blood. I suggest an ear since we humans don't enjoy a mouth full of fur.

I know you're going to laugh at that third step but I've done this with numerous cats and they learned to use less force when we played, so I didn't constantly have bloody hands and arms. It gets the message across with even stubborn cats after only one or two tries. After that if they started to go out of control just putting my lips on their ear was enough to remind them to pause and take it down a notch.

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:26:08 EDT

mod_wastrel posted : Sounds like most of the cats my family has had--which we typically got at a young age (so they thought they were just part of the family).

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:59:51 EDT

signmeuptoo posted : I remember that cute thief cat that was in the news a few years (?) ago. Every night the kitty would go out into the neighborhood and swipe stuff and bring it home, they caught it on video. Really cool.

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:47:47 EDT

djdanska posted : My previous cat LOVED playing fetch outside. Just loved it! Each one is unique. Depends. No cat is the same.
The reason i got cats back home in chicago was when it's 20 below zero out, i don't want to sit outside while they "do their business". No issue with the cat! (I almost had it toilet trained. Just about got the hang of it when it fell right inside it. Won't go near the bathroom anymore!)

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:45:38 EDT

signmeuptoo posted : I am still more of a dog person, dogs love to chase balls, it is like their raison d'etre, but since I rescued (yet very sadly had to find another home for since I was facing homelessness) my cat in TN over a year back, I've warmed up to cats.

One thing though, it seems that playing with a cat by *GENTLY*, barely tugging its tail, well, they don't have a sense of humor the way a dog does. I suppose you can play with a LASER or feather, they love that, but playful touching seems like a no go with them.
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Join Teams Helix and Discovery. Rest in Peace, Leonard David Smith, my best friend, you are missed badly! Rest in peace, Pop, glad our last years were good. Please pray for Colin, he has ependymoma, a brain cancer, donate to a children's Hospital.

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:40:17 EDT

djdanska posted : Mine does something similiar. I call them silent meows. Most of the time you can't hear anything but if you look at him, you know he's doing it. My previous cat talked to me too. You would talk back and she would meow louder. Keep talking and it gets louder and louder until it screams a loud meow and runs out. All annoyed..
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The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult. The day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.
Alden Nowlan

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:38:42 EDT

signmeuptoo posted : Yeah, when I talk to her, she mouths meow back at me, with the faintest sound. Then I say something more to her and she mouths more.

She is also an in and out cat, constantly going in and out except when in my room, where she is right now. She likes to sleep with me sometimes, at the foot of my bed, like a dog.

Maybe she isn't part dog, but those aren't behaviors I am used to seeing.

Just now she and I just talked. She is watching me as I type this.
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Join Teams Helix and Discovery. Rest in Peace, Leonard David Smith, my best friend, you are missed badly! Rest in peace, Pop, glad our last years were good. Please pray for Colin, he has ependymoma, a brain cancer, donate to a children's Hospital.

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:37:10 EDT

djdanska posted :

said by signmeuptoo:

What does it mean when they swish their tails a lot? I thought it meant agitation, but she does it even when she isn't obviously agitated.

If she's smacking it down, it means its getting agitated, or annoyed. Keep up what your doing and your gonna get a response from it! Sometimes a quick smack of the paw, othertimes.. well.. depends! ;)

They are all different. My current cat LOVES going for baths, and swimming in general. When we get a good snowstorm (Back home in chicago) it would dig tunnels all in the front yard. Just loves the very hot sauce from wingstop and even jerky. Bizarre. but, all cats are different.
--
The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult. The day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.
Alden Nowlan

Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:29:58 EDT

shortckt posted : People expect housecats to be indifferent, aloof and ignore everyone but they do bond strongly with people. Think of it as the cat considering you to be a weird looking, weird smelling, (from the cat's point of observation) two-legged member of it's group. If that cat is licking you it is probably grooming you which cats do to each other. Or you might have handled some food and the cat is picking up the scent.

What gets a response from another cat won't work on a human, so cats will learn by observation what gets a response from you and do those things in an attempt to communicate what it wants. One example of this is that housecats rarely get vocal with each other, relying more on smell and body language. But they soon find that vocalizing gets a human's attention so they "talk" to us where they usually won't with each other.

Because a cat's brain is wired to chase and attack moving objects it's not unusual to see the cat following something that you are moving around in front of her, at least until she determines that it is neither predator nor prey.

Who knows why this cat didn't click with your roommate, but if the cat likes you then don't worry about it. Everything you've stated seems like normal behavior from what I know.

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:13:34 EDT

signmeuptoo posted : She is adorable. I have to move since they are selling the house and they asked me if I wanted to take her, and I said yes I do, but being a renter and having a pet is such a problem, especially when you don't have a car. Therefore, I declined, but I feel bad.

He also has this amazing dog, most of the time the dog is at his mom's, but he stays with us and I watch him and play with him. They're both great animals.

What does it mean when they swish their tails a lot? I thought it meant agitation, but she does it even when she isn't obviously agitated.

Another thing she does that is dog like: She goes outside and rolls in the dirt. She's very dirty for a cat, you can see the dirt on her sometimes. Since she's not mine, and since I know what happens when you try to, I am not bathing her.

I saw a show with some cat expert, cat from hell or something. Guy seems like a real goof ball, the show just doesn't have the appeal of the dog whisperer, but I saw that cats have twice the neurons that dogs have.

It does seem true that they pick you.
--
Join Teams Helix and Discovery. Rest in Peace, Leonard David Smith, my best friend, you are missed badly! Rest in peace, Pop, glad our last years were good. Please pray for Colin, he has ependymoma, a brain cancer, donate to a children's Hospital.

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:51:37 EDT

anon posted : This cat was probably handled a lot by people in the first 6 weeks of its life.

Re: Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:43:26 EDT

djdanska posted : All of my cats have been very different. My first used to be able to jump from the floor to the top of the door, and sit there. Beyond weird.

They all have their unique personality. Not surprised. Remember, you don't pick a cat. They pick you.
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The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult. The day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.
Alden Nowlan

Why is my roommate's cat different?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:41:04 EDT

signmeuptoo posted : My roommate's cat and I have bonded over the last several months. She is affectionate and almost dog like. She licks me to show affection (I think), and she actually makes eye contact and stares in my eyes. I can hold something interesting and move it around in the air and she will attentively follow it with her eyes and head for half a minute.

I am used to cats being pretty non-plussed, and was wondering if she is just an unusual cat or if for some reason in life she learned different behavior? Roommate isn't to crazy about her but as cats go, she is pretty darned cool. Admittedly I like her a lot partly because she shows me so much affection.
--
Join Teams Helix and Discovery. Rest in Peace, Leonard David Smith, my best friend, you are missed badly! Rest in peace, Pop, glad our last years were good. Please pray for Colin, he has ependymoma, a brain cancer, donate to a children's Hospital.