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My friend who has 4 cats thinks he may still be acting out from being abandoned and that it will take time before he is fully comfortable with me. I can understand that, but his outbursts seems to be getting more frequent, even though all I do is mainly pet him when he's around unless I'm picking him up off the table from trying to get into my food.
My neighbor feels that that's why the cats are abandoned, rather than that they're "acting out." People dump them because of biting and scratching and health and litterpan issues. Almost every stray what has shown up here has had some behavior or health issue. Who knows, she may be right.......
I watched an episode of it for the first time a couple of months ago and the first case I could tell right off what the problem was. The cat was aggressive but one of the women showed fear when he acted out instead of letting him know she was in charge, lol.
I watched an episode of it for the first time a couple of months ago and the first case I could tell right off what the problem was. The cat was aggressive but one of the women showed fear when he acted out instead of letting him know she was in charge, lol.
In so many of the cases the owners approach the cats like they are loaded grenades and make a lot of fast hand movements around them. Like they'll go to pet them, but keep backing off/wrenching their hand away. I do have sympathy that they're afraid, but that kind of approach is just asking to get scratched.
Actually my mother does this with JJ and it drives me crazy. He always hangs out in the kitchen in hopes of tidbits. Ever since he bit her, she keeps 'dancing' around him and backing away very quickly when he's behind her. For one, he bit her because she stepped on him- it wasn't a situation where he just chomped out of the blue, but she acts like she expects him to. But those quick, sudden steps are going to drive him to bite her anyway. He's blind, but she's brushing against his whiskers when she does quick steps and of course he's going to eventually react to that.
That said, I think MOST problem pets are created, not born, and their owners don't know how to correct that problem and don't try hard enough to do so. Especially with cats because of that myth that cats can't be trained. If you look at the animals on the show, they show some very frightening behaviors that most people would instantly say to 'get rid of' the animal for. Yet those seemingly severe issues are fixable with relatively minor changes.
What changes could we have made? You've seen pictures of our house that have been posted here over the past few years. It looks like a cat paradise with plenty for them to do. There are cat trees and large condos, scratch poles, an assortment of cat-toys and many window sills. Plenty of high places which they all ignore by the way. Both of those males also went outside. Both got along well with the resident cats. One urinated and defecated everywhere and didn't seem to know what a litterbox was. Both solicited petting and both whirled and bit and clawed without warning if petted. One would seriously attack a hand or ankle if ignored. That one I was actually getting afraid of. With little immune system left, I couldn't avoid him. Both would go after ankles. We couldn't win with that one as we'd get bit and clawed whether we petted him or not. The other had the house starting to smell if not allowed out when he needed to go... and here I was sick as a dog on chemo with a stressed out husband trying to take care of me..... it just wasn't working out with them.
I like the show. I don't know anything about cats except I like to pet them if they will let me. But my sister had a cat that attacked her in her house one night in the wee hours. She had gotten up to use the bathroom & their cat ran down the hall & latched on to her leg calf & when she got him off here he came again. They had to give up the cat asap because she is not a young woman & is on blood thinners & blood pressure meds. They had the cat over a year so none of us is sure why he decided to go after her at that particular time.
This phenomenon with cats has always puzzled me. My grandmother had a female cat who would suddenly attack family members but would go for our faces. After it attacked a few of the grandchildren, including myself, they put her outside on the street.... and one day she disappeared. That was the last cat my granny allowed in her apartment. That was back in the early 1950s.
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It broke her heart to give him up but was assured he would go to a good home. I think cats can really hurt a person when they attack them so sometimes you never know what to do. But staying safe is always a priority in my opinion.
Our safety and the safety of the three cats we already have is definitely a priority.
Sadly, the two boys I had to give up didn't end up in the "good homes" promised, which has turned us off to taking in and spending a lot of time and money and emotions on another stray. So far every cat that's been dumped off here or wandered in, with the exception of one white kitten, has had either behavioral or health problems.
Also...what would the failures mean or show? It wouldn't be proof that the techniques failed, only that the owners failed to follow through.
Nothing is successful 100% of the time. We have to accept that as part of life. Both humans and animals are very variable. What happens when the owners do follow through and the problem persists? That's what I would be interested in seeing. What does he do or suggest then? Most of the cases I saw, and I admit I've missed many of his shows, are cases of BORED cats living in apts or homes with nothing to entertain themselves with all day. No cat trees. Few toys. No one playing with them. Full-time working owners. No good windowsills available. What cat wouldn't go a little crazy? These are active intelligent little animals and I believe they can easily become mentally off when bored to death. Look at what was learned about keeping animals in zoo cages. We now have cageless zoos.
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So there wouldn't be anything new to learn and would only be discouragement for viewers with problem cats of their own.
There are two ways of looking at this. They would learn that no matter what is done, in some cases nothing is going to work or a different approach is needed. They wouldn't feel like such failures if they themselves fail with their problem cats no matter how hard they tried. And we have to be realistic, how many people are willing to spend or can afford to spend $200 or more on a problem cat? That is if they can find a cat behaviorist.
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I watch a lot of shows like bar, hotel, and restaurant rescue where someone fixes problems with the building and the staff. They usually have a little blurb at the end about how the place fared after the show. Every time the owner reverts the place back to how it was (because they didn't like the new name or rehired someone who was fired), they start losing money again or close.
I suppose in one way that actually proves the transformation works and serves as a warning about ignoring the science behind the industry (or cat behavior.) But would people see the failures in that light, or would they just see it as proof cats can't be trained?
As I said, there are two ways of looking at the problem. And as someone else said, the safety of the family members has to come first.
Well, I think it would mean cats, and humans, can be re-trained, and this time the changes needed would be more lasting. A failure can turn into a win with more assistance.
BINGO! If one technique doesn't work, rather then re-home the cat, the person can try another.
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