Sneaky (cat!)

[mpaniagua]

Thanks for the story Chris. Cats are pretty awesome companions.


Here are my two cats. They seldom get into arguments but most of the time they are good pals

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Beautiful cats! I can't believe that one of them lets you put a leash on him. Mine would lay down and refuse to move until the harness was GONE. Sneaky follows me like a dog when I walk anywhere, but I don't think he would let me put a leash no him like a dog.

Thanks for the story Chris. Cats are pretty awesome companions.


Here are my two cats. They seldom get into arguments but most of the time they are good pals

 

[peterm1]

Beautiful cats! I can't believe that one of them lets you put a leash on him. Mine would lay down and refuse to move until the harness was GONE. Sneaky follows me like a dog when I walk anywhere, but I don't think he would let me put a leash no him like a dog.

I found with cats that the secret is slowly accustoming them to a new situation. When I tried to accustom my previous cat to a normal cat collar it was a matter of initially putting it on for a few seconds, reassuring her then taking it off when she complained for a short time. Increasing the duration progressively combined with rewards worked over time.

I suspect the same thing might work with leashes, though whether it would work with Sneaky I would have to defer to you.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Got my son to take some pictures of me with Sneaky yesterday evening.

 

[mpaniagua]

Got my son to take some pictures of me with Sneaky yesterday evening.

Damn cat looks amazing 🙂

 

[mpaniagua]

Beautiful cats! I can't believe that one of them lets you put a leash on him. Mine would lay down and refuse to move until the harness was GONE. Sneaky follows me like a dog when I walk anywhere, but I don't think he would let me put a leash no him like a dog.

He kinda enjoy wearing a collar or harness. He stay and wait till I put that on him. I suppose it make him feel important or something.

The white one don't though. He likes the collar but not the harness.

Regards

Marcelo

 

[Paulbe]

That is one beautiful cat!! Thanks for taking it in...
Paul

 

[peterm1]

What a lovely cat and most of all he seems to have a lovely temperament despite what he has been though in his earlier life. You have performed a kind of mitzvah (good deed).

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

What a lovely cat and most of all he seems to have a lovely temperament despite what he has been though in his earlier life. You have performed a kind of mitzvah (good deed).

He is a really sweet cat. He didn't like being picked up at first, but now he cuddles up to me and purrs loudly if I hold him. His only real issue is he's greedy. He constantly looks for food, even after being fed, and jumps on my tables and counters to look for it.

 

[peterm1]

He is a really sweet cat. He didn't like being picked up at first, but now he cuddles up to me and purrs loudly if I hold him. His only real issue is he's greedy. He constantly looks for food, even after being fed, and jumps on my tables and counters to look for it.

If I were to hazard a guess his greed issues may have something to do with the conditions in which he lived prior to you adopting him. A cat which is ill cared for, not fed properly and regularly and not taught discipline around food etc leads to them adopting a kind of "hand to mouth" (paw to mouth?) existence where they become overly greedy as a kind of survival response I think. In other words they think that when they see food they should eat as much of it as quickly as possible as they are able.

One thing I am careful about is that it's too easy to over indulge a greedy cat (and all cats are a bit greedy anyway) which is to their long term health detriment. My cat is pretty good but can be demanding about food so I try to keep her happy by giving small serves so she does not become over weight.

PS I had to train my cat not to climb on benchtops. Now she never does it - in my line of sight. But quite often when I get up in the morning I will see some suspicious paw prints where they should not be. She knows exactly that it's verbotten. But her instincts still make her do it when she thinks she can get away with it. Maybe I should rename her sneaky cat. :^

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

If I were to hazard a guess his greed issues may have something to do with the conditions in which he lived prior to you adopting him. A cat which is ill cared for, not fed properly and regularly and not taught discipline around food etc leads to them adopting a kind of "hand to mouth" (paw to mouth?) existence where they become overly greedy as a kind of survival response I think. In other words they think that when they see food they should eat as much of it as quickly as possible as they are able.

One thing I am careful about is that it's too easy to over indulge a greedy cat (and all cats are a bit greedy anyway) which is to their long term health detriment. My cat is pretty good but can be demanding about food so I try to keep her happy by giving small serves so she does not become over weight.

PS I had to train my cat not to climb on benchtops. Now she never does it - in my line of sight. But quite often when I get up in the morning I will see some suspicious paw prints where they should not be. She knows exactly that it's verbotten. But her instincts still make her do it when she thinks she can get away with it. Maybe I should rename her sneaky cat. :^

I figured that was the problem with Sneaky. My son's mother had a cat like that. She told me that her cat had belonged to a guy she worked with who bragged about starving the cat and letting his dogs go after her. She convinced the guy to give her the cat, who was a really sweet cat, but psychologically messed up.

Her cat would eat until she puked, then eat more. My ex had another cat, too, and the abused cat would attack him and steal his food! She had to feed the male cat separately, and the female was given small amounts of food all through the day to ensure she got enough to eat without getting sick from overeating.

A funny thing about this was that my son's mother also had a pet rat and a mouse. They were in cages on top of a tall file cabinet, and the female cat would sit on the ground all day and stare at the two rodents while smacking her lips and drooling all over herself!

 

[peterm1]

I figured that was the problem with Sneaky. My son's mother had a cat like that. She told me that her cat had belonged to a guy she worked with who bragged about starving the cat and letting his dogs go after her. She convinced the guy to give her the cat, who was a really sweet cat, but psychologically messed up.

Her cat would eat until she puked, then eat more. My ex had another cat, too, and the abused cat would attack him and steal his food! She had to feed the male cat separately, and the female was given small amounts of food all through the day to ensure she got enough to eat without getting sick from overeating.

A funny thing about this was that my son's mother also had a pet rat and a mouse. They were in cages on top of a tall file cabinet, and the female cat would sit on the ground all day and stare at the two rodents while smacking her lips and drooling all over herself!

Yeh my cat sometimes pukes after eating, not perhaps from eating too much, but rather from stuffing it all in too quickly. There are a couple of particularly annoying things about this process: (a) My floors are mainly tiled but she always does it on a carpet or a rug. Its as if she thinks that she deserves to have a comfortable backside if she is going to upchuck and be uncomfortable in her top half. (b) She never does it in one spot. Almost every time there will be three loads........................ and if I chase her to put her out when she starts...... Well just forget about it, its a hell scene. Perhaps she just wants to keep me entertained.

I have even gone to the length of putting her outside after she eats and leaving her out for 20 minutes or so. But a few times she has tricked me by crying to come back in so she can puke in comfort.

Fortunately this is not all that common - perhaps once a fortnight or so. But just as I begin to relax .........................!

 

[robert blu]

Got my son to take some pictures of me with Sneaky yesterday evening.

Love these photos! And interesting subjects, both the cat and the human 🙂

robert

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Love these photos! And interesting subjects, both the cat and the human 🙂

robert

Thanks, Robert. My son took the photos for me. He's a really good photographer, too.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Yesterday morning, as he was eating his breakfast, Sneaky suddenly darted into the bush in front of my house in an attempt to murder a chirping bird!

The bird got away, so he went back to his food bowl. He kept an eye on the bush for a while afterward.

He was kind of pissed about missing out on that kill!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Sneaky spent all day yesterday hanging around that bush where he had tried to kill a bird a couple days ago, keeping an eye on it!

 

[mpaniagua]

If I were to hazard a guess his greed issues may have something to do with the conditions in which he lived prior to you adopting him. A cat which is ill cared for, not fed properly and regularly and not taught discipline around food etc leads to them adopting a kind of "hand to mouth" (paw to mouth?) existence where they become overly greedy as a kind of survival response I think. In other words they think that when they see food they should eat as much of it as quickly as possible as they are able.
...:^

My older cat (10yrs) seems to have this habit, not sure if due to old age or due to overeating. Sometimes hairball treatments (those found on Walmart that seems like small lube tubes) seems to help.

Regards

Marcelo

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Got a photo of Sneaky sitting like a loaf of bread yesterday evening. He never sat like that until very recently. That way of sitting, with the front paws tucked under the cat's body, is usually only done by cats who feel very safe and secure where they are.

 

[peterm1]

Got a photo of Sneaky sitting like a loaf of bread yesterday evening. He never sat like that until very recently. That way of sitting, with the front paws tucked under the cat's body, is usually only done by cats who feel very safe and secure where they are.

Very nice - the little dude probably can't believe its luck after years of poor treatment by its previous owners. Does he let you tickle his tummy? When this happens you really know he's comfortable with you.

BTW I read recently that to relax cats when they are gazing at you, you should look at them and slowly blink leaving you eyes closed for a few seconds instead of looking too intently at them. If the cat reciprocates it means they are relaxed and happy. Turns out that cats apparently do not like people (or other cats) staring at them too insistently as they see this as predatory. The slow blink is how they signal their comfort to one another and if you do the same they with them read it the same way as they would if another cat were doing it. Seems to work with my little dude.