me when i see a cat: CAT! cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat
More you might like
me when i see a cat: CAT! cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat cat
Them: Oh you don’t want this cat. He’s wild and he bites everyone and he’ll never just sit nicely in your lap. He’s a project cat.
Me: That’s okay, I’m a project person.
Two weeks later:
He won’t leave.
Tell us your secret oh great kitty whisperer.
Step one: let him hide or shy away from you if he wants to. He wouldn’t let me touch him for a couple days after we got back from the shelter. His comfort was more important than me getting to touch him.
Step two: make yourself nonthreatening. In my case this meant being very quiet, bringing food and lying down on the ground within his eyesight as an invitation to investigate.
Step three: watch his body language and don’t do things that make him uncomfortable. Turns out my cat often bit when he was overstimulated so I made sure not to overwhelm him.
Step four: draw lines, but not with brute force. Even though his biting wasn’t meant to hurt, I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t injure anyone in the future. So I decided when he bit me, I’d yelp “ow!” And then withdraw all physical contact for a few minutes, sometimes leaving the room. Now he never bites, but sometimes he puts his teeth on my hand and then thinks better of it.
Step five: provide a good outlet for destructive behaviors. Aka PLAY WITH HIM, SEVERAL TIMES A DAY.
Step six: be patient.
Step seven: get lucky and somehow pick up the best cat in the entire shelter. I don’t know how it happened but he’s a godsend. He’s literally cuddled me out of a panic attack. We both really needed each other.
this is basically it??? for any animal. and human. both of you get to set boundaries for what you’re comfortable with, both of you respect those boundaries, and the goal is not ‘oh i get to pet the kitty’ or ‘oh i made the parrot talk’ but ‘we have a good solid relationship where we understand each other and are both happy’???
I don’t get how this isn’t inherent in most people’s interactions with animals. I never actively thought about it until I started working with our hawk at work, and he’s a sensitive guy (read: wild, but unreleasable animal). It’s taken me almost a year to get to the point we are now.
Started out by bringing his food to him. In hawk world, food = awesome. I would bring his food and chat with him while I cleaned up leftovers and pellets. Then I would go into his mew, sit on the stump, and read a children’s book aloud to him. I use a calm, low voice, even if it’s just to tell him what a handsome boy he is, and how he’s so good at being a bird.
Then it progressed to me taking steps closer to his perch, and placing a mouse next to him for his lunch. Then I would try to just stand there a few minutes without him baiting (hunching to fly).
Then I progressed to touching his feet and anklets. Then I put on the glove and put it in front of him. He now hops on to my glove and will sit for upwards of a minute, untethered.
(As an added bonus now, if I’m ever feeding him mice, I offer one by hand, and he takes it with his beak and transfers it to his talons.)
Now we are working on me being able to put the leads through his anklets, which he isn’t too keen on, but I’m taking it slow every day, and respecting his mood and personal space.
Animals don’t exist for our personal amusement. People sometimes get surprised when their hissy, bitey cat will lay on my lap, but it’s just a matter of respect for the animal’s autonomy and space. 🤷🏻♀️
advantages to wearing oversized sweaters:
- instant cute outfit with minimal effort
- it enhances the coziness when u drink hot beverages
- sweater paws are guaranteed to make u feel 43% more adorable
- u can unbutton ur jeans and no one will know
disadvantages to wearing oversized sweaters:
Guys think they’re totally not cute lol
the day i dress for a man is the day they dress me in my coffin to see jesus
get out of there cat. you’re not an ornament.
sssh he’s just fixing a light. tiny kitty electrician.
my wife’s so cute because we both love animals so much but her way is very pure and genuine whereas my family is:
me, holding up my cat: stinky
wife: no!! don’t be mean!!!
me, swaying him back and forth in the air: stinky bastard man
wife: No!!!!!!!!
my mother, not looking up from chopping veggies: naughty boy. brat cat
wife, distraught: NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In case anyone doubted the validity of my claims:
The wife:
The mom:
my wife’s so cute because we both love animals so much but her way is very pure and genuine whereas my family is:
me, holding up my cat: stinky
wife: no!! don’t be mean!!!
me, swaying him back and forth in the air: stinky bastard man
wife: No!!!!!!!!
my mother, not looking up from chopping veggies: naughty boy. brat cat
wife, distraught: NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
my wife’s so cute because we both love animals so much but her way is very pure and genuine whereas my family is:
me, holding up my cat: stinky
wife: no!! don’t be mean!!!
me, swaying him back and forth in the air: stinky bastard man
wife: No!!!!!!!!
my mother, not looking up from chopping veggies: naughty boy. brat cat
wife, distraught: NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In case anyone doubted the validity of my claims:
The wife:
The mom:
gOD i can’t wait to get an apartment with a cute girl and do the whole ikea thing and get lots of plants and maybe a cat or something but mostly the cute girl part
Cas:
“It seemed unnatural dying apart from you..”
K IM DONE! I SAID ID DRAW TWO SAD DESTIELS THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST!
NOW IM GONNA DRAW KITTY’S! HAPPY LITTLE KITTY’S!!