Herd your cats here

[FishProf]

She has never taken to Orestes*.   She seemed almost giddy in her affection over the last few days, as if celebrating his absence.  She really seems put out that he is back.

* She bullied him when he was littler, but he is a Maine Coon and has outgrown her.  Lucky for her, he just wants to play.

Was Nox part of the family before the other two? Does she wish to be an only kitty?

Nox and Elektra are sisters.   When they moved in, the late Bunga was the undisputed master of the the house.  Elektra learned and bonded....Nox not so much.  Even when Bunga held her down (by body weight alone) and groomed her - she would just growl. 

Orestes is in the line of succession and Nox has not yet come to grips with that.

[smallcleanrat]

A sharp, short little tap on the nose, with a quick, "No!" can help deter unwanted behavior.

It has to be right after the biting for them to "get it" and make the associations, and substitute the toy anyway, even if he's disdainful of it, to re-direct.

M.

Maybe I'm not doing it quite right, but when I try the bop and the "no!" it just seems to rile him up. His ears turn aside in annoyance, his expression becomes fierce (whereas before it may have been playful), and he attacks again and again with ever increasing vigor.

I've been experimenting with dropping a blanket or scarf over him when he lunges for me, forcing him to abort the attack in favor of disentangling himself. Sometimes that takes the fight out of him (or he decides "Hey, this is nice material" and has himself a lie down). Sometimes all it does is delay his attacks for 20 seconds.

SO favors a time-out method. Maestro either is banished to an empty room (which is no fun without people to pester) for 5-10 minutes or is put in Kitty Jail (an upside-down laundry basket). Again, results have been mixed.

I've been trying to find out whether it's possible to use clicker training to teach a cat something like "Back Off!"

Question: would you also discipline a kitty for nipping at you due to annoyance at being disturbed? If I miss his signals that he doesn't feel like being petted or played with and he bites out of frustration, would that not be more a transgression on my part? Or is it important for kitties to learn that, even when their human servants are being annoying, biting is not an acceptable form of chastisement?

[mamselle]

Or is it important for kitties to learn that, even when their human servants are being annoying, biting is not an acceptable form of chastisement?

You have successfully passed Human Ownership by Kitties 101.01

You have accurately described the directions of relational hierarchy.

;--}

M.

[mythbuster]

Maestro will likely grow out of the nipping. Plump cat, when she was just 3 pounds, used to love to lick my toes when I was in bed. Given the raspy tongue, it was quite a way to wake up! I think it was a young kitten thing. She grew out of it and then I missed it.
   Also in terms of toys- have you tried a laser pointer? The "dot" can magically disappear and so can maintain interested kitties more than physical toys.

[OneMoreYear]

I agree that Maestro will likely outgrow the biting/nipping stage (though Ninja likes to attack and bite toes under the covers, which was much cuter when she was 2 pound baby than now as a 10 pound panther).

Some of the generally accepted recommendations for cat biting are (and anyone correct me if I'm wrong):
1. Make sure he is getting lots of play time in his preferred mode of stalking (does he like laser pointers, wand toys, milk rings, crinkle toys etc). Reward him with a treat for stalking the toys rather than you.
2. Try to have a consistent response from both you and SO to the biting (which it's generally recommended that you say No, remove attention, and give him an alternative)
3. Try not to use your hand as a toy, so he doesn't see it as one (e.g., do you wiggle your fingers at him or tickle him, so he thinks that  your hand is part of the fun?)
4. It's not generally recommended to use punishment (bopping on nose, water squirting) for this type of behavior. I think that you are seeing his riled up reaction to this, which may indicate that this might be an ineffective strategy for him, since what you want him to do is calm down and/or redirect attention to something else
5. Get him a kitty friend :)

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Cat wars.

Elder cat, who seems to be feeling MUCH better after his surgery, attacked Eldest cat just a few minutes ago and would not let up. We had to break out the water bottle and squirt him so that he would stop.

Fur was flying!

I suspect it started as a turf war over a water bowl. Let me just say that we have TWO in the kitchen.

I knew things were going downhill when he started giving her the 'forehead.' Eldest cat is shaken, but ok.

We have removed him from the kitchen and he is protesting by yodeling.

Sigh, can I just have a peaceful Sunday?

[FishProf]

The Return of Orestes (Book 3 of the Lord of the Living Room Trilogy) has become the tale of two sisters who have been deposed from their (they believe rightful) ruler-ship over their human subjects.  Orestes now owns the first floor, and the girls have been reduced to slinking, growling, and forcefully attempting to extract skritches from any exposed hands up on the 2nd floor.  We cannot get any sleep until we either love them into submission or evict them from the room.

[mamselle]

Kitteh Rules...

;--》

Glad they're all back to "feisty" on the Kitteh-o-meter...

And at least they're not playing pranks like this:

   https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/cat-owner-sets-up-pet-22252534.amp


M.

[sprout]

And at least they're not playing pranks like this:

   https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/cat-owner-sets-up-pet-22252534.amp


M.

I could totally see something like this happening in our house.  We have at least two cats who are natural burrowers, maybe three.  They'll push their way under covers, into comforters, under paper/blanket/cushion/cat bed/etc.  I've seen them try to burrow under a blanket that had another cat on top of it.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

And at least they're not playing pranks like this:

   https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/cat-owner-sets-up-pet-22252534.amp


M.

I could totally see something like this happening in our house.  We have at least two cats who are natural burrowers, maybe three.  They'll push their way under covers, into comforters, under paper/blanket/cushion/cat bed/etc.  I've seen them try to burrow under a blanket that had another cat on top of it.

2 out of 3 here are burrowers. Elder Evil cat used to 'burrito' himself in the sheets on the bed. Youngest Evil cat burrows under the electric blanket.

[OneMoreYear]

And at least they're not playing pranks like this:

   https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/cat-owner-sets-up-pet-22252534.amp


M.

I could totally see something like this happening in our house.  We have at least two cats who are natural burrowers, maybe three.  They'll push their way under covers, into comforters, under paper/blanket/cushion/cat bed/etc.  I've seen them try to burrow under a blanket that had another cat on top of it.

2 out of 3 here are burrowers. Elder Evil cat used to 'burrito' himself in the sheets on the bed. Youngest Evil cat burrows under the electric blanket.

Ninja occasionally attempts to burrow under my laptop.  Ricochet is a confused burrower. she'll burrow under the covers, then freak out and bolt off the bed.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

And at least they're not playing pranks like this:

   https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/cat-owner-sets-up-pet-22252534.amp


M.

I could totally see something like this happening in our house.  We have at least two cats who are natural burrowers, maybe three.  They'll push their way under covers, into comforters, under paper/blanket/cushion/cat bed/etc.  I've seen them try to burrow under a blanket that had another cat on top of it.

2 out of 3 here are burrowers. Elder Evil cat used to 'burrito' himself in the sheets on the bed. Youngest Evil cat burrows under the electric blanket.

Ninja occasionally attempts to burrow under my laptop.  Ricochet is a confused burrower. she'll burrow under the covers, then freak out and bolt off the bed.

Funny. I think all cats take a course in 'How to Act Like an Invisible Zombie Ghost is Chasing You.' And there's always the 'Learn How to Stare at the Wall and Freak Your Humans Out', which is usually a prerequisite course.

[smallcleanrat]

Maestro ate a bug!

He wouldn't let us get close enough to see exactly what kind of bug it was.

There was...crunching. After every couple of chomps he would spit it out to look at the state of it. He ate it in pieces, leaving no remains.

On the one hand, free pest control! On the other, ewwwwww...

[mamselle]

Yep. I remember the first time one of my kitties did that.

First, the sounds of a fly buzzing around the window.

A sort of peripheral awareness of kitty batting at it, but I didn't figure she'd catch it....

Then the silence.

Then came the crunching...

Ewww sums it up...!

M.

[Larimar]

Full agreement with Ewwww here. My late calico Harlequin used to eat camel crickets in the apartment we used to live in. I would afterward have to clean up... what she didn't eat. Harlequin was not the brightest of kitties. She was, however, very loving and quite funny.


Larimar