For all you cat lovers out there..
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chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
As a man who grew up with cats, dogs, fish, sis's rodents, more sis's cats, reptiles, more sis's cats, my 2 dogs I had from my ages 30-57, and my wife's 2 dogs, one culd say I am vetted as a pet and cat owner.
Some of you guys, SGJohn, Mitch, etc know that all our dogs got old and are only in our memories. The same about the memories, can be said about 2 of my 3 feral cats,
My current 4 year old outlived his Orange brother who got hit by a car in '22. His Momma never resurfaced after winter of '23, which left him as our lone baby. He has gone from the typical scared feral little fella you will see curled up with Orangie, to my most awesome shadow of an outdoor indoor kitty. His progression from " Keep my distance" to " Hey, this upright walking creature won't eat me, but will feed and look after me" to " will I go through that door, inside that house, just because he holds the door open and sets a bowl of food on the floor?" to " HEY Let me IN, or I will sneak in faster than Ramo's chugging 260 BPM" My beautiful Blackie has truly morphed into the boy who tells me every day that I am his human, and almost as if i am his childhood brother and replacement mother.
I ran across some pretty awesome videos that explain this about cats. As I said, I grew up with and had 99% domestic cats, 1 feral that became domesticated from 1975/76 till his passing in the late 80's. Now with him growing into my main buddy, I have had the joy of knowing and guiding a wild animal who had his first 6-9 months of life learning from his wild momma and brother. His total realm of behavior has fascinated me as our bond has grown to a point where he went from fearful fleeing from his 1st experience in our upstairs bedroom 6 months ago, to now a comfort level enough to sleep all night in bed first with me, and even with Kathy and me a couple times a few weeks ago. As one of these videos says, THAT is a HUGE sign that YOU/WE are trusted to HIM.
All the ways I know he trusts me would make many stories. What gets me most in that vein is when he is like my little assistant as I work around the house and yard. He watches as i pull weeds, he hops in my car trunks and tailgates when I have my tools back there to work on mechanic or carpentry stuff. He has even gone inside my enclosed trailer full of chainsaws, tool boxes, car parts, carpentry tools, buckets, boxes etc, and wasn't even scared when I fired up my chainsaw yesterday. He has come light years from that scared little kitten I first saw watching me from hiding in the bushes, or hole in our basement foundation. To have him follow me to the road 2x a week on trash and recycle days, come in to help me load and unload the dishwasher, greet me as I pull in the driveway, and pretty much " listen" when I tell him to 'c'mon" " Let's eat" Or " Do you wanna go for a ride?" I have begun working on him being comfortable inside the vehicles with closed doors and starting up the engine. I want to see if he will learn to trust me enough to got for a car ride without a cat carrier. If he manages short trips up and down the driveway, we will go for a spin around the yard. Needless to say, if you can't tell, HE pretty much has amazed me at his trainability, his smarts and his seeming to understand me when I tell him things. He reminds me of when I used to flip the minds of friends and acquaintances with the tricks my old dogs could do on command. They'd ask, how does he know what you want him to do? I would say, " he understands English, just tell him...."
Thanks for readiing all that. Here are a few pics of my boy, his brother, and even some cool vids that explain cats and humans.
Some of you guys, SGJohn, Mitch, etc know that all our dogs got old and are only in our memories. The same about the memories, can be said about 2 of my 3 feral cats,
My current 4 year old outlived his Orange brother who got hit by a car in '22. His Momma never resurfaced after winter of '23, which left him as our lone baby. He has gone from the typical scared feral little fella you will see curled up with Orangie, to my most awesome shadow of an outdoor indoor kitty. His progression from " Keep my distance" to " Hey, this upright walking creature won't eat me, but will feed and look after me" to " will I go through that door, inside that house, just because he holds the door open and sets a bowl of food on the floor?" to " HEY Let me IN, or I will sneak in faster than Ramo's chugging 260 BPM" My beautiful Blackie has truly morphed into the boy who tells me every day that I am his human, and almost as if i am his childhood brother and replacement mother.
I ran across some pretty awesome videos that explain this about cats. As I said, I grew up with and had 99% domestic cats, 1 feral that became domesticated from 1975/76 till his passing in the late 80's. Now with him growing into my main buddy, I have had the joy of knowing and guiding a wild animal who had his first 6-9 months of life learning from his wild momma and brother. His total realm of behavior has fascinated me as our bond has grown to a point where he went from fearful fleeing from his 1st experience in our upstairs bedroom 6 months ago, to now a comfort level enough to sleep all night in bed first with me, and even with Kathy and me a couple times a few weeks ago. As one of these videos says, THAT is a HUGE sign that YOU/WE are trusted to HIM.
All the ways I know he trusts me would make many stories. What gets me most in that vein is when he is like my little assistant as I work around the house and yard. He watches as i pull weeds, he hops in my car trunks and tailgates when I have my tools back there to work on mechanic or carpentry stuff. He has even gone inside my enclosed trailer full of chainsaws, tool boxes, car parts, carpentry tools, buckets, boxes etc, and wasn't even scared when I fired up my chainsaw yesterday. He has come light years from that scared little kitten I first saw watching me from hiding in the bushes, or hole in our basement foundation. To have him follow me to the road 2x a week on trash and recycle days, come in to help me load and unload the dishwasher, greet me as I pull in the driveway, and pretty much " listen" when I tell him to 'c'mon" " Let's eat" Or " Do you wanna go for a ride?" I have begun working on him being comfortable inside the vehicles with closed doors and starting up the engine. I want to see if he will learn to trust me enough to got for a car ride without a cat carrier. If he manages short trips up and down the driveway, we will go for a spin around the yard. Needless to say, if you can't tell, HE pretty much has amazed me at his trainability, his smarts and his seeming to understand me when I tell him things. He reminds me of when I used to flip the minds of friends and acquaintances with the tricks my old dogs could do on command. They'd ask, how does he know what you want him to do? I would say, " he understands English, just tell him...."
Thanks for readiing all that. Here are a few pics of my boy, his brother, and even some cool vids that explain cats and humans.
Last edited:
chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
Seamus OReally
Well-Known Member
We just added a really handsome 7-month old tuxedo cat with a very sweet personality to our home. We love him, but our dog Bernie is still unsure. Say hello to Augustus - Gus to his friends.
chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
My Tux, Blackie approves, Seamus
chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
For all of you guys who love cats and have contributed pics and stories, thanks. I know that many domestic cats have certain traits that differ from feral ones. Then to break down even further, indoor cats are different than indoor/outdoor. And for those with farms or land, barn cats differ from feral etc.
I have to say that my little buddy who is now roughly 4, fascinates me. His demeanor is limitless and really fun in almost the same ways my 2 dogs were. From 1994-2022, I had 2 dogs and lived with 2 more of Kathy's since 2013 or so. 0 cats in my home except my sister's collections since 1982. So to see this once very fearful little cutie as a kitten to this little man with huge personality is like an open book.
I am looking forward to what I can teach him to do next. He has conquered his fear of some humans( us). He has conquered fear of coming through the door, being in the house with no route of escape, and even conquered fear of being upstairs in our bedroom with closed door, lights off and even now sleeps in bed all night.
He hops into my vehicles while I work on them. He explores inside my enclosed trailer, and wasn't even scared of me running a chainsaw while he was in the trailer. My next training is going to be him as copilot while I drive him around in the yard. His level of trust in me is off the charts. As I said above, I think he might totally learn not to fear car rides and even lawn tractor, or skid steer rides. Things I know my 2 dogs didn't have any fear of. Here's to you Mr Blackie.
I have to say that my little buddy who is now roughly 4, fascinates me. His demeanor is limitless and really fun in almost the same ways my 2 dogs were. From 1994-2022, I had 2 dogs and lived with 2 more of Kathy's since 2013 or so. 0 cats in my home except my sister's collections since 1982. So to see this once very fearful little cutie as a kitten to this little man with huge personality is like an open book.
I am looking forward to what I can teach him to do next. He has conquered his fear of some humans( us). He has conquered fear of coming through the door, being in the house with no route of escape, and even conquered fear of being upstairs in our bedroom with closed door, lights off and even now sleeps in bed all night.
He hops into my vehicles while I work on them. He explores inside my enclosed trailer, and wasn't even scared of me running a chainsaw while he was in the trailer. My next training is going to be him as copilot while I drive him around in the yard. His level of trust in me is off the charts. As I said above, I think he might totally learn not to fear car rides and even lawn tractor, or skid steer rides. Things I know my 2 dogs didn't have any fear of. Here's to you Mr Blackie.
eclecticsynergy
Ambassador of Electric Synergy
chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
update: Blackie came in out of the cold for dinner. Now perched comfortably on my lap straight up n down, lying on my ribs,chest, up under my armpit, off the sleep happily,
Our 45lb pup got in trouble with mama today. Didn’t matter that I had a laptop…… uhm….. in my lap. She jumped up on the chaise I was on. Crawled over the laptop and buried her head on my chest up under my chin, the rest of her on my belly….. pretty much going, “dad save me from the evil woman.”
