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Is a "Fly swatter" circuit appropriate for a cat?

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paulca:
I am one of those people if you had me a Piezo electric lighter circuit or a fly swap racket... I am going to test it on myself.  I have tested everyone I've come across.

I'm not going to test one of the wall mounted UV setups in food outlets  or butchers shops!

The one thing I have never got the balls to test is a piezo electric cigarette ignitor circuit.... to the tongue.  Just... no.

paulca:

--- Quote from: eti on November 13, 2022, 01:56:57 am ---I find that cuddling my cat for a long time and showing her affection, seems to keep her VERY contented. I can't help what frightens her, but I'd never deliberately do so. It's a test of one's character to react in a positive, loving way. If I see her scared, I wouldn't DREAM of intentionally doing it.

--- End quote ---

My cat is more like a teenager when granny tried to hug and kiss.  It's a love hate thing.  You can tell she likes it and if you can get her to close her eyes and you stay really still you can get her to forget that she also hates it.  Usually however, she stares off with an expression exactly like a grumpy teenager and "puts up" with the cuddle temporarily.

It's not that she doesn't like me.  After a short unwelcome cuddle she was dart away, then immediately come back and sit beside me, just out of arms reach.  She will follow me around the house to be with me.  She, on her terms, will approach me for kisses on the head and a little head to head rub.  She squeaks, trills and meows at me in affection.  Try to pick her up and she resists.  The only time she wasn't annoyed at being picked up and cuddled is when she came in soaking wet and shivering and I wrapped her in a towel on my lap for 5 minutes.  She accepted that and gave me a nose to nose kiss when she was partly dried enough to go wash the rest off.

She has a bit of feral in her I'm sure.

This is angel:

--- End quote ---


Fraser:
I have followed this thread and as a “cat man” and guardian to four very friendly and gorgeous cats I thought I would share something I heard whilst at the Vets the other day……..

A lady was describing how her cat did naughty things and she was trying to stop that behaviour. She told the Vet that she tried shouting, throwing soft things and spraying water but none worked. The Vet said that the Veterinary community does not recommend or support anything that shocks the cat as it is ineffective yet causes mental trauma.They explained that a cat does not always associate what it sees as an act of hostility from someone it trusts with an action that it committed to instigate that response. The human act then becomes an act of mental cruelty against the cat ! This is even more the case if the cat is punished after the act that it committed as its mind does not connect the two events. This may be just a cat things as other species may be trained to not do things by providing a disincentive to incorrect behaviour.

One of our cats has us trained…. If he wants something, he either PRETENDS or scratch the corner of our Hi-Fi cabinet or he jumps on top of the Hi-Fi and watches us …. If he gets no reaction (us getting up to see what he wants) he jumps onto the mantelpiece above the fire where the expensive Lladro figurines reside ! He definitely gets our attention then ! It is often that he wants biscuits or to be let out if we have closed the conservatory door. On other occasions it is to tell us that another cat is in his favourite snoozing spot or has pushed him out of his food bowl ! We have yet to find a way to dissuade Bailey from this controlling action and sadly the other cats are starting to learn about its effectiveness from watching him ! Billy has started scratching the carpet when he wants something but he is less manipulative than Bailey.

Cats are highly developed hunters who expect to get what they want. It is very hard to change that view in a cat and, as the vet suggested, it is all too easy to take action against a cat that is actually harmful and considered cruel in the eyes of those who are expert in cat behaviour. If anyone has a non cruel way to dissuade a cat from doing whatever it wants to do, please let me know.

One thing the vet tells me often is that I humanise our cats when they go for operations etc which is fine. But it is also a problem if you apply a humans thought processes to a cat when considering responses to stimuli. From a cats point of view, it often feels safe and contented in the company of its guardian…doing something to such a cat that it does not like can confuse and traumatise it as it does not understand your actions ! In its eyes, you have betrayed its trust.

Just some food for thought.

paulca:
A thing I have found is that your "punishment" action can very quickly be turned into a game by the cat.

The are typically singular, territorial, anti-social blood thirsty predators.  We do tend to humanize them, but you can take the cat away from it's hunting grounds, but you will never take the hunter out of the cat.  In that regard, being indoors leads to boredom for the cat.  There is only so much "Cat TV" they can watch out the window before they get bored.  Kittens and young cats (like mine) especially.  They want the chase, the stalking, the pounce.  So... when they get bored they look for other things to amuse them.

This is where it gets to where I am.  I am the toy.  She knows exactly which buttons to push and when.

This morning was an example.  I switched the Sunday 10am alarm off and went back to sleep... or so I thought.  But... no.  Angel said she wanted me to get up, she wanted out.  She plucked at the carpet and I "Pisssssshhhed!" her.  I almost got to sleep and ... she started plucking the bed frame.  "CAT PLEASE!" and again I nearly got off to sleep.   SCRATCH, SCRATCH.... she was on the bed beside me, plucking at the headboard beside my head.  As soon as I opened my eyes she bolted.  I sat up in bed and she was sitting there on the floor staring at me, tail warpped around her front paws looking pleased with herself.  She got what she wanted, I was up.

She gave me our signal of "content" and "peace" by closing her eyes momentarily so signal to me that I am not considered a threat and she can take her eyes off me.  I returned the gesture.  (This is cat speak I picked up.  We often use it to de-esculate a play fight.  If both of us are wide eyed, fight is still on.  If one of us retreats and makes the lazy blink gesture, fights off.).

I got up, I let her out.  Going for my second coffee she came in, all thankful, rubbing her self against my legs, jumping up on the kitchen counter to get nearer to eye level for a kiss.

I just need to find a way to get out from under her control.... without zapping her.

paulca:
On negative stimulous.  The reason she doesn't, like a lot of cats would, play with my feet or toes...  I have a particularly violent response to feet tickles.  She learnt that the hardway when she was a kitten when I involuntarily propelled her through the air one evening after a random attack on my bare feet.  Just a reaction to being "tickled", I kicked out.  Cat went airborne landing in the corner of the room and I think at that moment she decided not to attack my feet again.  In fact she has a far more affectionate relationship with my feet.  She will spend ages rubbing herself on them and if I put my hand down to stroke her she steps away, like I've interrupted the lovers.

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