Do cats become friendlier?

Robin9

We had Tasha at 2 - now 11. She had had 2 lots of kittens and was living rough.

She has only just - last week - decided that sitting on a lap had benefits !

She's never been aggressive - very independent.

Our youngster Bob we had at 8 months. He's very affectionate but definitely has sharp claws and teeth. Very playful as a kitten and still has his moments. Soon put in his place by Tasha.

You could write a book about every cat we had.

vic_sf49

I rescued two six month old brothers from a hoarding situation, via the kitty prison cages at the Cats Protection League.

They ran around the house for two weeks, with a few wall of death moments like when one of them flew between my face and cup of tea....then they'd have a break in proceedings where they'd flop down and pant like dogs!

Thankfully they had each other to chew / fight / groom, which set their limits pretty well, especially the play fighting.

One cat was very vocal and outgoing, the other managed a 'squeak' after two months, about the time he discovered the sofa was comfier than his usual corner, and that it wasn't a scary place to sleep.

Unfortunately, I only have the quieter one left (cat vs car...RIP), and he's a big fluffy beast, but very gentle....except if you're walking barefoot to the bathroom about 4am, and then feet are considered fair game.

He's scared of quick movements, clothes that make a swishing noise when you move, or men with deep voices, so I mostly remain scratch free, unless I fail to drop the cat toy in time.

OP, it sounds like you've got a playful hunter on your hands, who just needs to learn his boundaries....I hope you have fun with him.

wort

Hi he's just a baby yet, but definitely needs to learn, my kitten is 28 weeks now and I found jackson galaxy videos on you tube a real help.
My guy is super soft and friendly, I've never used hands to play, as lots of guests used too wiggling fingers etc. I told them off and told them if you want to play with him use a toy.
I also got a flying frenzy that really tires him out.
I found him going outside now is helping as he's not so frantic as when he was confined to the house.
Jackson does say in the kitchen if you have a high spot for the cat he will sit up there to watch rather than go on the worktops.
I tend to not leave any food out, clean counters before preparing food and keep him shut out of kitchen whilst I cook and eat.
He's raw fed so not really interested in my food !😂

tiz

"When the alarm goes off and he knows I'm up, he will hide behind the bulstrade waiting to attack my ankles as I go down stairs."

If you dislike that greeting then you can probably cut it out just by changing the routine. For example take some cat biscuits to bed, then in the morning stop 2' from normal ankle biting spot and call him waving smelly cat biscuits in the air. Wait until cat appears, purring and offer a couple of biscuits then go down stairs to provide the rest as normal. Repeat a few days and he'll be waiting ready at treat getting spot rather than hiding at ankle biting spot

DD265

Would a friend help? :whistle:

Ours (brothers, now 7 months old) play a lot rougher together than they do with us. One of them in particular can be a little bitey but he's learning to go softer.

One of Mom's cats - 10+ - still gives "love bites" but they never hurt and never break the skin. You just know not to try removing your hand until he's done.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

suki1964 wrote: »

The gonads went before we homed him. He's a rescue, found at the side of a busy road

We was in the cattery a while I think. A friend was working at the vets when he was taken in to be done and thought at the time he might have been too young. He does seem very skittish. Like just there I've come home, sat on the loo and he's straight in to see me, but as soon as I put my hand down ( slowly) to him he recoiled

He's exploring outside He's out there right now killing leaves

His routine is come in in the morning around six and dance up and down me trying to get me up. This is the only time he purrs. When the alarm goes off and he knows I'm up, he will hide behind the bulstrade waiting to attack my ankles as I go down stairs. Then he wraps himself around me purring, tail in the air vibrating away till his food is down for him. As soon as that's in him he disappears to a downstairs bedroom for a snooze

I usually go back to be for a while when DH leaves for work. If I fall asleep I'll be woken by him bringing his toys onto the bed, but then as I say if I start to play and don't get my hand moved fast enough, he's attached to it.

Then is a mad wall of death for about an hour or so whilst I'm pottering about. His favourite game is to throw himself around the room very fast so he gains enough speed and height to attach himself to the top half of my body as I pass by lol

After another sleep and lunch and another sleep, he meanders in and out the garden whilst I'm prepping dinner. He loves to lie on the table and this is the only time he's gentle with me. He loves to lie on any cookbook I have open and he comes up and rubs himself across my face and even gives kisses

Then he gets bored with that and spends the rest of the time I'm in the kitchen knocking anything light enough down, and skating whatever it is across the floor and under the fridge :rotfl:

Early evenings we never see him after he's been fed until around 8/9 when he likes to play, but then tries to kill me again.

He has the run of the house. He has lots of lovely perching places ( Especially the top of the fish tank) , lots of warm snugly places to hide and lots of places to find mischief

Yet he's only a halfway loving gentle cat when perched up on the table, and I don't like him on the table lol well actually the table is less of a problem to me then the work tops


I'm just new around cats. I just don't understand their behaviour or language

He sounds 'normal'.

What people don't tell you is that Cats are murderous idiots.

We allowed them to remain like that, as we decided it was handy to take in small, borderline psychopathic serial killers about 20,000 years ago when we realised that they would cheerfully massacre the small squeaking things that liked to eat our grain. We never really needed to change their nature much, as they were capable of being Quite Nice when it suited them/when it was cold at night and we could provide warmth, a bit of affection and some food if they turned out to be bit crap at the rodent murdering game. They were small enough that it didn't really matter if their instincts to murder everything remained an essential part of their psyche. So the somewhat thick ones weren't weeded out of the gene pool.



Dogs, however, because of the amount of damage they could do, we bred and crossbred until the majority do not have the same level of killer instinct - we can still have problems with them, but, biologically, they aren't wolves or wild dogs - they're a different species. Dogs were changed to be acceptable to us and we adapted them to make it possible to have them around us with little more than a nice walk, something to eat and something to do.

Cats are still cats and had no reason to change much - they adapted to be vocal around us stupid humans who can't understand all the nuances of a tail but want to find out why Fluffy is shouting at us, they adapted a shrill note to their 'feed me' purr which is a similar frequency to a human baby's cry because it was more likely to get us out of bed and feed them, but other than a few daft cosmetic touches (eg, the ones who look like they've run face first into a shovel and the genetic mishaps that led to short/no tails, fuzzy hair and no hair), they're pretty much unaltered genetically.



He sounds as though he loves you. The up on the table on your book is because he wants your attention and fuss. It's easier for you to reach him there and he isn't being towered over. The ankle grabbing is because he would, given half a chance (in his head), take out a gazelle that way. And you might stop and play with him. After all, if you didn't like it, you wouldn't keep deliberately walking down the stairs after you've allowed him to tell you to get up and feed him, would you? (NB. Idiot Cat does that to the lodger every morning. He also pounces on her feet when she tries walking past him down the stairs. He doesn't do it to me. Mainly because I'd pick him up and carry him downstairs away from the hot water pipe he's laying over, fussing him all the time, which completely disrupts his plan of events. And I started using the upstairs bathroom first thing every morning instead, so he had to follow me in there.


He still a bit wary of The Hand Over His Head, as you might scruff him or hurt him, because you are still a big, clumsy human and they do bad things to cats sometimes - and another cat in a fight or a dog would go for his head and neck. But the Open, Flat Hand of Treats isn't a potential threat. And bouncing off your top half during the Wall of Death is, to him, a perfectly reasonable way to play - he'd bundle another cat during such a game, you're just too darn tall to do that without a leap.



He will probably be a lot calmer in, oh, about 4 years. Ish. Other than the Wall of Death/Mad Moments. That never stops. Particularly at about 3am every night, at about 10am just after he's done a big, smelly poo, when it's a bit blustery outside or when Spring is Springing

But the actual hurting you can be stopped over the next few months. Although I would point out that those toys might change into real mice if you continue to let him into the bedroom early in the morning.





Where is the photo of this Paragon of Feline Virtue?

Tammykitty

I have 2 cats - both male, not about 2 and a half.


One is so laid back, you can pick him up, turn him upside down, and basically do what you want to him, and he will never get out his claws.


The other is a bit more "playful", and will get the claws out and bite sometimes, but very rarely.


When I got them, if they bit, or got on surface they weren't meant to be on, they got put outside, and they learnt how to behave the way that suited me, and what was and wasn't allowed.


My husband then came home from working away, and all my training went out the window - they now jump through the windows, go upstairs, sit on the bed, and seem to have free reign of the house!

tealady

Oh Jojo you have cats to a tee.
Cats are the most infuriating, annoying, demanding despots. They are thieves, stealing your warm spot on chairs, they will help themselves to any of your food they want but most of all they steal hearts.
They are beautiful, enigmatic, fussy and I for one am happy to be a devoted slave to mine.

happysaz133

Some never become affectionate sadly. My eldest is a rescue found beside the road, we got her as a tiny kitten. She's only just really started to let us give her love and attention at 15! Others do calm down as they get a bit older though. I hope your boy does

JP08

Alternatively - some can just be, shall we say, neurologically challenged.

My sister's cat fell into this territory. Would be sitting still or gently dozing or just ambling around. Most of the time really affectionate Then the switch would go in her head, the pupils would dilate to absolute maximum and she would ATTACK. Full on claws, teeth, serious business, no playing.