Dear George,
As you already know, I celebrate my birthday on Victoria Day here in Canada because that was the day I showed up from nowhere in my human pet's garden.
This year they threw me a surprise birthday party; totally unexpected since the day started a bit rainy and grey, but by the afternoon it was sunny and nice! They invited some of my buddies but they invited some of their friends too.
George, how can I avoid unwanted attention? All their friends wanted to hold me, kiss, etc. And they all brought me colorful, little balls (as you can see in the picture).
That much for human imagination! What can I do with a dozen balls?
Do you think I should use them training the humans? Should I train them to fetch the balls?
CAT Victoria
Dear Victoria,
Your problem is a common one. Humans will harass cats. Picking us up, cuddling us, kissing us. It's good for them but some of us find it demeaning and many of us just downright hate it. What can we do about it? Well, we can wriggle. When we cats wriggle, we wriggle good. A powerful wriggle will simply extract us from this unwanted human behaviour. I called these unwanted human advances affectional harasssment.
Will giving them more to do help? Well sometimes it does. A bored human is a badly behaving human. They are terrible couch potatoes and giving them a good exercise regime will always help. Probably the best way to do this is to get their attention to a ball. They like playing games with toys. Walk up to them and look as if you are going to play fetch. When they throw the ball, you run after it but you don't pick it up. Then they will have to run after it to in order to pick it up and throw it again for you. They think they are giving you exercise but in reality you are giving them exercise. Sometimes humans are pretty dumb animals.
Training them to fetch small pieces of meat, prawns, and dried cat food is also a good idea! You are probably, without realising it, already doing this. I get their attention by rubbing round their legs,and putting on a particularly loving and expectant look on my face. I don't feel particularly loving: I often feel very impatient at their slowness to catch on to what I want. But it works
Keep up the good work. A trained human is a happier human.
George
The main problem as I see it, Victoria, is the mistaken belief that we companion animals are for the pleasure of young children. When adults see us, they turn back into children and treat us as such. Cats have claws and can make their displeasure felt.They can hiss and spit. Also, when dropped, they can land on their feet. Rabbits don't have sharp claws and if they are dropped they can break bones which are very fragile and still humans buy bunnies for children under the age of ten.
ReplyDeleteI don't think things will ever change. Cuddles and kisses and cooing sounds are the albatrosses on our shoulders. We have to put up with them as part of the deal we make with humans.
Excellent advice George! CAT see if you can "hide" few balls then...let your humans try to find them! You might have a quiet summer as humans lack imagination :-)
ReplyDeleteCayenne
Victoria, you look quite cute!
ReplyDeleteFrederico
To avoid "emotional harassment" from humans as soon as you see "company" knocking in the door ...run and hide in that tree of yours (the one you landed on when you first arrived in these people's garden)
ReplyDeleteSebastian
Victoria, count your balls :-) If you have enough to train "fetch" all your humans friends...then just do it...as a social game!
ReplyDeleteYou'll be praised!
Fluffy
Oscar Snuggles and Sweet Pea used to hide under the bed until company left. I've felt like that before as well.
ReplyDelete