Saturday, August 06, 2011

A feline intruder into my territory.... or a friend?


Dear George,
It’s past midnight and I barely can hold my head up not to fall asleep on the keyboard but I MUST write this letter because I smell trouble in my house. Actually, I’m afraid to go to sleep or better said…..I’m afraid to wake up in the morning. Let me explain. If you remember I was adopted after my human took a trip to Las Vegas. I was extremely happy; I settled in my new home quite nicely; I started an intensive training with my human BUT yesterday I heard him talking about taking a trip to Mexico. You know by now what’s happening when he takes a trip, right? Yes! It possibly means another cat! And now I’m afraid to go to sleep only to wake up in the morning looking at a tabby “Juanita”. I have mixed feelings (due to the recent letters) about sharing the house with another cat. How can I stop my human from going away or better yet, how can I train him to change his habit?
Sleepy but worried,
Vegas

Dear Vegas,
This is one of the worst human habits - their idea that they can just fling another feline into our territory and expect us to accept the intruder. We are not dogs. In nature we would only live with our relatives. Yet they expect us to welcome an unrelated stranger into our midst. Sometimes I despair of humans..... their inability to learn anything about us and their irresponsible habit of adding cats to the household.
You can't stop them, Vegas. You can't change them, Vegas. You can train them out of some behaviour but probably this is a human behaviour problem that won't respond to training. If they bother to read this, they should know that the introduction must be slow, starting with the newcomer in a crate or the spare room (with full litter and food facilities). Bedding should be swapped between you and the new kitten (sounds good that is is female rather than male) so that the proper "family" scent can be developed.
Humans are scent blind and lack our exquisitely sensitive noses. Their honkers or schnozzles are pretty useless organs. It is the scent of the intruder which will initially upset you. However if the scents are slowly mixed and she aquires your scent and visa versa, you may find it in your heart to accept her.
You are young, Vegas. She will be young too. I hope and pray that this willl work out good for you and that, after the initial upset, you will acquire not a competitor but a play mate and a friend. The real pity is that you didn't get the chance to do a joint adoption, you and a littermate adopting the humans together.
Humans... idiots but we love them. Sometimes.
Love George

9 comments:

  1. Hey kiddo, let your human save another soul. I live with three dogs in the house! Do you think I like it? Or they asked me? NO! But I can manage - I run the show!
    Sebastian

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fluffy and CayenneAugust 07, 2011

    Look at you, Vegas! You look so sleepy! You are too young to stay up so late - go to sleep even if you'll wake up to look at a beautiful tabby Juanita! Just think how much fun is to have a play mate (your age) :-)
    Hugs
    Fluffy & Cayenne

    ReplyDelete
  3. Vegas, why would you mind a Juanita? Just because you don't want another cat in the house? I can understand this (but no other excuses) :-)
    If you are an indoor cat, then a Juanita will keep you company when your human is away or glued to the TV or computer screen. Keep us posted.
    Hasta la vista amigo
    Diego

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Vegas, you are so cute! Maybe you should reconsider your position! Maybe another kitten will be fun.
    Love
    Shumba

    ReplyDelete
  5. Richard, the lionheartAugust 07, 2011

    Vegas, if you decide to let into your house and heart another cat.....make sure she has lots of hair. A hairless cat is cold man!
    Richard, the Lionheart

    ReplyDelete
  6. Vegas, you look a lot like our beloved Sweet Pea. She lived with her brother, Oscar Snuggles, but often she wasn't too happy about it even if she did grow up with him. Maybe they will allow you to stay an only child.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Vegas, there comes a time when a young cat needs to take on the responsibility of training another kitten in the ways of training apes. This is the perfect opportunity for you to ensure that any new companion carries on your acheivements in ape training, and once those awkward introductions are over, you can have loads of fun playing together!

    Gerry & Oliver

    ReplyDelete
  8. Vegas, sometimes I wished I had a brother!
    Think again! Let your human save another kitten.
    Love
    Thea

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lea and BlazeAugust 09, 2011

    We have fun together! Try and see for yourself Vegas. George is right - humans are hard to train sometimes.....but we still need them to practice our skills :-)
    Hugs
    Lea & Blaze

    ReplyDelete

Help for cats whose humans show behaviour problems.

This blog is devoted to the study of human behaviour. We cats, who live with this sometimes unpredictable and always feeble minded species, can benefit from seeing their behaviour in its proper scientific context. The study of feline dilemmas, training problems, and difficulties with humans, can only benefit all of us. All of us train our humans - to buy the right food, for instance, but many of us do not have knowledge of how to improve our training methods. The human species is obviously not as intelligent as the cat, but nevertheless can learn quite a lot - if properly managed. Topics of interest include the use of claw and order, purring as a human reward, rubbing your human up the right way, when to bite, spraying as a method of making our wishes known, ignoring the human, human harassment, human inattention and sheer human stupidity. I welcome your questions. Photos can be sent via my secretary's website, www.celiahaddon.com This blog has been chosen as one of the top 50 feline blogs by Online VetTechprogramms.org