Sendhelp Posted March 2017
Caregiver's cats behaving badly.
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Does your Cat (or any pet) misbehave since caregiving your loved one?
Have you been required to take care of your loved one's pet after they have passed? Does your pet have cute antics that entertain your loved one?
And finally, has the cat or dog transferred their loyalty to your Mother?
CM,
In one of the funny bird videos, a cockatiel is clipping out paper strips and inserting the strips as wing replacements under it's tail feathers! Now that is not really funny, is it? Almost scary smart.
So, of course, Rosie my 13 year old cat decided to investigate what was going on. She is not shy around tradesmen [my other cat was under the bed hiding]. She likes to help.
You're probably saying why not pick her up and shut her in a bedroom. Not going to happen. Her nickname is "Flash" due to her full bore speed, and she is one cat that hates to be picked up, lot of growling and major hissing. Eventually she got bored and left the kitchen.
Noted that screen is torn. There is a feather stuck to the screen on the outside.
I am inferring that one of my cats, sitting at the windowsill, saw a bird, sitting on the sill outside. Indoor cat swiped at screen. Damaged bird.
Daily. He has taken over my computer!
Tweety is excited, flies around, sings, pecks the screen, walks on the keyboard.
Dh suggested I cover the keys.
Nah. I just ignored dH. It won't be the first time a male has taken away my computer.
I did get them on her. They fit nicely over her paws, and then you did them up with Velcro straps further up the leg. Black, with reflector strips. Very chic.
I spent the next couple of hours chasing round the house finding the one she'd just managed to remove while she worked on the others... Eventually we had "a frank exchange of views" and she lay down and declined to get up again until the boots had been stowed away with her non-pull lead, her hi-viz jacket and the no-shed conditioning shampoo.
And hiking boots for dogs. What do they not make these days. That is neat that you found some for your dog, Guessing she wouldn't wear them?
I had a similar experience when I idly looked up non-slip boots for my elderly dog. Yup. Hiking boots, thermal boots, orthopaedic boots, everything except platform disco boots... (mind you, I didn't actually check for those).
Got her state-of-the-art suede-soled ones. She absolutely hated them.
(EDIT)They actually do, called flight suits. Maybe that is your answer Send.
Coming back, there was some evidence that birdie was expanding his personal space while I was gone.
Scrubbing all the counters, again.....sheesh, it was only one tiny.......but still!
Pamz, I think the cats like the mats well enough. They have been lying on them, but I put them in spaces where they usually lie down, so not sure if they're lying where they usually lie, or lying on the mats. Maybe both. If the mats keeps them any bit warmer this winter, I think it's worth the $10 I paid for them.
"Cockatoos cleverer than a child of four."
[thinks: big deal. But tell me more]
"Scientists have discovered [thinks: oh-oh] that cockatoos rival apes and human four-year-olds in their ability to invent and fashion complex tools. Austrian scientists spent years testing the ability of Goffin's cockatoos at a laboratory in Vienna. Now they have demonstrated the birds are capable of sizing up the length of a poking device needed to reach seeds through a hole in a perspex box, and then make it from a piece of cardboard."
Well! If cockatoos can make an accurate estimate and produce an artefact to specification they are doing considerably better than many adult humans of my acquaintance.
Got her in her travel crate, no problem, she liked the closeness and security of it. Got to new house and placed her litter box, food, and a couple toys in Master bath, and the lamp box too. Opened crate door, shut the bathroom door she is now in there. After awhile I will open the door to see if she feels like exploring at all.
It is almost 1 here. Laying down, I am beat. DD1 coming to help me get some boxes dealt with anyway. A birthday present, I imagine. Tomorrow,yes.
But let's be clear about how cats feel about us. Affection and indulgence may grow over time. We may even become a landmark in their territory that, in their way, they are sincerely attached to.
Do not imagine that they are snuggling up to you because you are their mummy and their protector and their nurturer. What you are in this context is a few dozen pounds of agreeable squashiness at a steady 37º Celsius, is what you are. Admittedly with an irritating tendency to move around without authorisation or warning, but they expect to train that out of you in due course.
Know your place, is all I'm saying.
I keep whacking them in the heads or squashing them when I shift during the night. I don't know why they're not wanting more calm sleeping space for themselves. We'll see if they take to the warming mats or not.
Today was the worst mental health day I've had in some time. The cats are very, very good for me to have around on a day like today. I'm glad they're here.
The move might've caused the Old Man cat you have to poop in his favorite chair too
Maybe they're upset because everything has changed.I know they must love you so much.I don't know how you'll ever get 'em off your bed..
When I come in the door from work, they're usually both in the bedroom, sometimes both on the bed. They were never like this before. They want to lay right next to me, or very close by. They definitely want to sleep with me in the bed now, and they didn't do that before the move.
I don't know if they're being affectionate because we've bonded now, or if their behavior has much more to do with it being Fall here, and cooling temps, and they're just trying to find the warm spots.
I've ordered them little fluffy cat bed mats with metal foil inside so they can have warm spots somewhere else besides right next to me. :-)
I've accidentally whacked them several times lately as I'm turning over at night, and there they are. I think the best situation is that I get them off and sleeping in their own cat beds. But... it's kind of cute for the short term.
He pooped on his chair today. It's his favorite chair that he loves to sleep on, and he pooped all over it. Not sick tummy poop, just regular. He is definitely incontinent at times then, but not always as he's still using litter box mostly, and likely it's just do to age. Otherwise he seems fine enough. I don't see his symptoms progressing and he is still enjoying his life.
Just wish I knew what to do but I don't want to get caught up in taking an old cat to the vet and treating him for symptoms that are due to him being old. So I guess for now I'll keep muttering at him when he poops in odd places.
...
And I'll be doing well enough to drag myself to some doctor's appointments, and I have one tomorrow, because I'm hitting a flare up of major fatigue issues. I'm not going to do anything else about Old Man Cat's issues right now unless they progress.
Being good can even get one in trouble.
But Tweety bird is so very happy these days. Very entertaining.
Got to hurry now, picking up dH off work now, dinner will be late, after 10mp.m.
I don't think of myself as a rebel, as I am trying to be more like Gershun.....I call it defiant. It is a good thing needed when one has to stand up for oneself.
However, I will drive to wherever to visit a friend, but not fly.
Squirrels can fly, birds can fly, I cannot. duh.