I Need a Cat Linguist...

I think you hurt her feelings.

Bed and toe games are cool. Get a doona..it'll protect you better.


They are all different.

Except most tail language, of course.

And blinking.....blinking is smiling, kissing, cuddling.

Little pirrups are "I am very happy to see you".

Ah-ha! Then that means they DO acknowledge that I exist!

(Okay, okay... Only for their own comfort, but at least I know they know I exist! That's good, right? I mean, I was starting to think maybe I didn't since they keep walking away when I pet them.)

Most of the time the tails are just up or straight out behind, in a relaxed way not startled with hair on end. When sitting there's usually a slow wag. Big Puss does that a lot just to get the little ones to pounce on his tail. He then acts like he doesn't even know they are there and just keeps doing the slow swish to give them something to play with.

When they walk along my hand their tails are up. Do they want me to rub them all the way down including the tail when they do that, turn around and come back for another pass? Or do they just want a body pet? They will make two or three passes and then walk away as if I'm not doing it right.

Trial and error.

Why not try loking for special places?

My cats love having the sides of their faces stroked...and under the chin...and thay ADORE a shoulder rub....and a head scritch.

You mean, while they are walking past you? Curl your fingers lightly around the base of the tail and raise your hand with a twisting motion. Don't actually pull the tail; just kind of pretend. Sometimes, it's acceptable to grab the tail towards the end, and hang on while the cat makes a 180 turn and pretends to take your hand off. This one is kind of a judgement call.

they're cats. nothing you can ever do will be right. it might be ok, or adequate, or not bad, but it will never be right. because they're cats and you're not.

The three adds at the bottom of this thread are for:

Paddington Cat Hospital - cats cared for by cat lovers;

Cat Tree tower house sale

Cat beads: cat shaped glass beads!

and after I posted this:

Cat Boarding House, Dural (I'm sure Possum doesn't want to know about that!)

True. Adequacy is about all you can aspire to.

She's trying to tell you she wants to go somewhere.

I had a cat who liked to say "Owl?"

I don't know where that owl was, but the cat was real concerned about it.

The jumping on your feet under the blankets?

That's late night play. Just lie there real quiet, and when puss least expects it, suddenly launch yourself out and grab him. He'll act surprised, but believe me, he'll love it. You're behaving like him.

In case you haven't gotten it yet, doors are not allowed to be closed if a cat lives in your house.

Honestly, it's dogs I don't quite get.

uh....don't you have a life of your own bowser? You don't need to be right next to me every minute you know.

mostly though, it's the way dogs are built physically.

When you pick up a cat, it drapes, molds and/or hangs on and does its bit with the procedure.

A dog is all stiff and you can't get his spine to curve very well around your hip.

roland is my big boy, shewolfs seen him. He's very long.

ever since he was a kitten (btw, we thought he was a half grown cat when we got him, nope) he knew he couldn't just hang from an arm, and from the first I've put one of my forearms under him as a perch. It's really cute, every time I pick him up, he automatically pulls up his hind feet, and I automatically put my arm in the proper position. We've got each other trained.

usually though, I pick him up, and we both swing his 2nd half around so it curls around my waist and he rides on my hip. He's never put his back claws out for that. He knows that wouldn' be cool.

Not thinking, I picked up otis and tried that.....owie.

anyway, otis is built like a football.

No kidding! Even the bathroom door. They sit outside meowing and swishing their little paws under the door if I dare to close it. It's not as if they really think they are missing out on anything. If I leave the door open they lay on the bath mat, bat at the shower curtain, try to open the cabinets under the sink, go in the closet and just sit... So it isn't as if they can't stand being separated from me.

Course, as soon as they hear the flush they are all there to watch the show and fight for positions on the toilet seat. The other day I actually got a "Damn YOU!" look from big Puss when I put the lid down before flushing.

last night after cub came in and everyone settled back down he closed the bedroom door and left the cats....all three shut up in the bedroom....that's a sure invitation to the "cat in your face" alarm going off a lot earlier than you expected to wake....thankfully our cats don't do the "butt in your face routine"