Well I am fucking fuming at her at the moment so won't be making any decisions one way or another. It would be puerile and selfish of me to do so.
I caught a cat!
- Thread starter Firky
- Start date
Well I am fucking fuming at her at the moment so won't be making any decisions one way or another. It would be puerile and selfish of me to do so.
story
Changing the facts
Daft hippy alert:
firky, have you sat and had a chat with her about all this? Heartfelt communication is more than words and speech, eh. And listen too: let her speak.
Callie, I had a hell-cat who was known far and wise for being contrary and for going off on one apparently without any warning or trigger. But she never took me my surprise after I learned her ways. Her way of communicating wariness or warning was v e r y subtle, and easy to miss if you didn't know her well.
firky, have you sat and had a chat with her about all this? Heartfelt communication is more than words and speech, eh. And listen too: let her speak.
Callie, I had a hell-cat who was known far and wise for being contrary and for going off on one apparently without any warning or trigger. But she never took me my surprise after I learned her ways. Her way of communicating wariness or warning was v e r y subtle, and easy to miss if you didn't know her well.
Kids have played with her since she was a kitten, that's half the reason she loves being nursed and loves to cuddling into you.
She was quite spoilt as far as farm cats go, she occasionally got fed and had a blanket to lie on out of the weather.
story
Changing the facts
Something that has helped me in the past with cats that tended to leap into fear/flight: when petting them and they're relaxed, I'd take a handful of the scruff in a gentle cuddly way and tug a bit, then let go. So they'd learn that I could grab their scruff, and also that I would let go. It's what their mum does to calm them and pull rank on them. Then when they've got the message that I'm in that position of trust and control, I'd use that gentle scruff hold to calm them or let them know that I was going to pick them up or whatever. Doesn't work 100% of the time, but something I have found useful with several cats, a lot of the time.
ETA ...But I never lift an adult cat off the ground by their scruff. Only kittens.
ETA ...But I never lift an adult cat off the ground by their scruff. Only kittens.
I love you, Story
Yes, I have spoken to her. I live alone so do yabber away to her and sometimes myself, she does talk in the form of short gruntish meows when she's being petted or about to lay eggs.
story
Changing the facts
feck off! 
stuff_it
Too skool for cool
Especially about going near her belly.
Nigh on sure she hasn't, well... as sure as my friend the veterinary nurse said. Fuck knows, TBH. I am going to have a proper think about all this when I am not so angry
This is her with a dog toy
I am already regretting posting this and even entertaining the idea of getting rid of her. 
Need to think about it though, she had a right go at me the other night out of the blue that I just put down to her being her, but there's a health risk that I can't afford
Need to think about it though, she had a right go at me the other night out of the blue that I just put down to her being her, but there's a health risk that I can't afford
OK - afaik, the two incidents you've posted about that've led to you being injured have been poking her from behind, and picking her up.
Fully appreciated there may've been others, but... those're things I would've been bloody careful about with a semi-feral cat, no matter how used to humans she is. She won't be Murphy from the off, and many cats will *never* tolerate being picked up. Or poked from behind.
If she's randomly violent and coming at you (attacking your toes / face in the night etc), then that might present more problems. But if it's mostly trigger events that *might* with forethought be expected to shit up a cat, then those might be avoidable - water pistol, towel to hand to wrap her in when you pick her up, etc.
fakeplasticgirl
Keirleader
She's gorgeous! Hope she settles down a bit.
story
Changing the facts
Well you've not given up on her, so there's nothing to be pissed off about. Maybe she/ this situation is just challenging your skills, forcing you to increase them. Think of it as a life lesson, where you have to learn about stuff as well as her.
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wobbly
she's still a farm cat, not a house cat and you need to take this into consideration when you make a decision to approach her. perghaps undersocialised would have been a better phrasing than fully socialised. you just tried to pick her up and she reacted in fear. it's not that long since you chased her round a farm with a blanket and took her to be prodded by strangers. give her time and make sure she knows you are approaching, don't startle her. and don't pick her up. cover the surfaces so you don't have to.
spring-peeper
Well-Known Member
I am already regretting posting this and even entertaining the idea of getting rid of her.
Need to think about it though, she had a right go at me the other night out of the blue that I just put down to her being her, but there's a health risk that I can't afford
I'm sure it was written in haste - I plan on getting rid of my dogs on a frequent basis.
I never would - but it makes me feel a bit more in control.
cesare
shady's dreams ♥
If she's grown up as a farm cat, it's a big expectation for her to transform into a house cat in just a week. You probably don't really expect that at all, I reckon.
She might not be right for you at the moment and no shame in that. But perhaps there's a compromise of giving her a bit of slack whilst protecting yourself in the meantime.
Dunno why I'm posting this tbh. I know SFA about cats I ignore them and as a result they spend loads of time trying to attract my attention. Heh.
She might not be right for you at the moment and no shame in that. But perhaps there's a compromise of giving her a bit of slack whilst protecting yourself in the meantime.
Dunno why I'm posting this tbh. I know SFA about cats
I ignore them and as a result they spend loads of time trying to attract my attention. Heh.
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wobbly
I am already regretting posting this and even entertaining the idea of getting rid of her.
Need to think about it though, she had a right go at me the other night out of the blue that I just put down to her being her, but there's a health risk that I can't afford
you're having a rant about the cat because having a rant at the cat is pointless.
That's a fair comment and an accurate one, there's been a few instances, I only posted about those two. The giving her a prod from behind when drawing the curtains I could understand, yet even then it wasn't really a poke, just laying my two fingers on her back to wake her / get her attention so she'd shift. If I had just drawn the curtains she'd have probably re-acted similarly, hey ho! Also I think you make an important point, people are going to make assumptions, rightly or wrongly based upon what I have posted - and no one is going to read the life nad times of adopting a cat, even if I CBA to type it out!
That's the problem, at the moment she is randomly violent, it's not defensive behaviour which I'd accept. There's something else going on and it has nothing to do with her coming from a farm (a farm is just a house with a bigger garden playground as far as a cat is concerned), I honestly suspect the kids who were apparently loved to play with her did so in a way that was anything but playful. The hoover does not bother her one little bit but if she see's me with a mug she's off, petrified. There's other ticks to her behaviour too, it all fits in quite neatly with the rescue dog my parents had: spontaneous dangerous outbursts with no visibly obvious triggers.
I have had cats in the past, I know what shits cats up, that's what makes her so challenging.
At the moment she's all sweetness and love again, purring away on the couch whilst I am sat in the study - still bleeding.
Edit:
I don't no! But doI think people think just because a cat vame from a farm it's going to be some bobcat.
They're no different to normal moggies you see in the paper, in fact they're always bigger, stronger and healthier than most pedigrees and so on! Had a few of them now and they've made the best pets but none of them displayed the behaviour of this thing!
I think you maybe right, wanting a bit normalisation again in my life.
Because you're both intutative and insightful; seeing what others don'tDunno why I'm posting this tbh. I know SFA about cats
Callie
Pivoting
story
Changing the facts
Yer, that kind of basic thing. I reckon you can leave out the details about your immune system, firky! There must be some kind of interspecies recognition of signals like this, else the wildebeest would always and always flee when they see a predator, and they don't. My well-fed moggies never bother the blackbird that comes to my garden, even when he's scratching about on the floor watching them with his his wary eye.
cesare
shady's dreams ♥
I was brought up in a household of dogs - both working and pets. My dad did a lot of dog training (these were mainly German Shepherds so that whole armoured arm sleeve attack thing) and brought us up not to anthropomorphise and jumped on us at any suggestion of that creeping in. But I did, and do, believe in more animal sentience than can be ascribed to mere cupboard love etc.
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
was that what you said to her, or her to you, though?
