Cat Chat (please go to cat chat 2)

[Lonin]

:c Jack's figured out how to open the little feeding door on the fish tank. It's not hard to flip it up but she hadn't noticed it before. We've had to tape it down to stop her from going fishing.

[notactive]

Do you guys have any tips for soothing a spooked kitty? We brought in our black lab, Molly, and my cat isn't used to her. I'd try playing with her, but I think she's too nervous.

She's a kitten, and probably isn't accustomed to large dogs. It's going to take time for her to get used to Molly. I got Esper when he was 8 weeks old on Oct 27th, and it took until recently for him to get used to Rune. They just have to get used to each other and the kitty is going to have to learn boundaries with Molly. The best way to sooth the kitten though would be when she spooks to pick her up, and tell her she's a good kitty and everything is going to be alright. I would do this with Esper (but he's a lover, and loves being held and coddled though doesn't do well with strangers). Every kitten is different though, so it all depends on them. I wouldn't push either the kitten or Molly to 'get along' because that never ends up good. I hope this helped you out a little. (:

Yep, she's getting much braver, I know for a fact she can smell the dog from where she's been, but she went almost all the way down stairs at one point. [She's hiding up in the bathroom, I set some food, water and cat litter up there for the cats who stayed up there.] That's what I try to do, picking her up or trying to calm her down. I can tell she's trying to ease up, but she usually tenses up again. She even lifts her head to up to stare at the door. But like I said she's getting braver, so maybe soon she'll be at least staying down stairs a little while.

[Canis2954]

so my aunt's five month old kitten keeps trying to nurse the bedsheets...
how could this be prevented ?

[notactive]

You can try giving the kitten a little tap on the nose, or distracting him/her with food, or playing with the kitten. I know that tapping his/her nose every time the kitten tries to nurse may work.

[Dream~]

Well... He is around 6-7 years old and we already have 2 young cats and his grandmother... He is acting as if he is jealous and keeps trying to be more dominant then the other cats when I go to walk away from him he simply follows me. If it's lovebites (I looked up why he was nipping and I found that as well) then would he ever like draw blood or will be always be gentle?

How old are the younger ones and his grandmother?
(From personal experience from volunteering in shelter care) I found that grandmas usually are the boss and not be messed with so that would exclude her as a playmate
Depending on age, cats have different play patterns (sorry, English isn't my native language, might not be able to explain properly)...kittens are playing wilder than older ones, males playing differently than females and so on...does it look like as if he's annoyed by the younger ones? So maybe that's why he chooses you as a playmate
In cat groups, domination is something that can change on daily base, and he sure has a higher rank than the young cats and he needs to remind them (are hey really fighting or is more like a play/fight?) And of course it's always worth a try and dominate grandma, but let me guess he's not succesfull;)
Anyway, it's hard to evaluate cat behaviour if you don't know the cats (or the whole group), so i'm only guessing here and only telling you from my experience...

He's drawing blood because he doesn't realize that your skin is more vulnerable than cat fur, i see this with my two cats too, it usually helps when i say "ouch" louder than usual, the next time they are more gentle with me

But he sure is a beauty

Thank you His mother Callie went wild but actually his brother who went missing was actually his HALF brother... Anyways the grandmother is about 8-9 years old which means he is 6-7 years old and the younger cats are 1 or 2 years old. He is trying to be the dominate one... He gets really jealous when I pet any other cats. Sometimes he will like run against them and hiss or something and other times lash out at them they are all outdoor cats (I wish otherwise) but it's because my family doesn't like indoor cats and my brother is allergic.

[Lonin]

It seems a little bit mean to tap a kitten's nose when it's pretend nursing. It's a comfort thing and often means the kitten was rehomed a bit early. It can also be a sign of stress. They sometimes grow out of it, our cat used to do it all the time but she hardly ever does it now.
Distracting it with toys would be the kinder option c:

[eleutheromania]

My cat never grew out of it but I don't mind he'll be five march 10th. Joining in on the conversation finally. Here's a picture of Caesar, he's cuddling with our beagle

[Saracirce]

It seems a little bit mean to tap a kitten's nose when it's pretend nursing. It's a comfort thing and often means the kitten was rehomed a bit early. It can also be a sign of stress. They sometimes grow out of it, our cat used to do it all the time but she hardly ever does it now.
Distracting it with toys would be the kinder option c:

I don't really get how tapping on the nose has become the go-to answer for just about every behavior. Nor do I see why trying to nurse is a problem. None of my cats have ever done it but my dad's ex owned one who did it. It never really bothered me when I stayed with them.

[notactive]

[size=85]Can you please not team up on me? It doesn't make me abusive >~> I was just trying to help and now I'm being treated like I do that to my cats every five seconds.

I made an honest mistake, we aren't perfect. But I would tap my cat's nose if she bit me too hard for example, that isn't abusive.[/size]

[Lonin]

No one said it was abusive or anything? Sorry if it came off that way. It just seems a bit iffy and unnecessary to us when there are plenty of other ways to discourage unwanted behaviours in cats, especially behaviours that aren't harmful c: