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| Title: | Meower Power is Valuing Differences |
| Notice: | FELINE_V1 is moving 1/11/94 5pm PST to MISERY |
| Moderator: | MISERY::VANZUYLEN_RO |
|
| Created: | Sun Feb 09 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Tue Jan 11 1994 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 5089 |
| Total number of notes: | 60366 |
158.0. "Mourning?" by MANANA::DICKSON () Wed Oct 16 1985 15:07
This is a description of some strange behavior we are seeing in one
of our cats. The players:
Penny, a female Japanese Bobtail, age 2 years. Gave birth by Cesaerean
Section in August, only one kitten surviving.
Izzy (Isembard), a male, offsping of Penny, age 2 months.
The Octopus, a stuffed toy consisting of a knit red ball approx
2 inches in diameter, with pink yarn legs 6 inches long.
We got Penny and Izzy when Izzy was 1.5 weeks old. As there was a
dog in the apartment who was not used to cats, we kept the cats
in the bathroom with the door closed, introducing the dog gradually.
We got them some toys, including the octopus, which we suspended on
an elastic string to one side of the cat nest, under the sink.
It is now October. We are in a new big house, all 3 animals have
complete run of the place. The dog is used to the cats and does
not mind them, but we have to be very careful not to let the dog
become jealous. Penny is wary of the dog (and of most things).
Izzy is bold, and has not yet learned to stay away from the dog's
food.
At night the cats sleep (hah!) downstairs and the dog is upstairs
with us. Almost every night we are awoken by loud meowing from
downstairs. At first we thought that this was Penny calling for
Izzy, but that is usually a chirp call. When I have gone to
the railing and looked down, I have seen Penny sitting in the middle
of the floor with the octopus. Izzy is off somewhere random,
clearly not hidden from Penny.
Then one day we saw what Penny was doing, as she did it in front
of us. She will go to the octopus, pick it up and carry it off
(like a kitten), meowing all the while, put it down and lie
in front of it, keeping up the meowing.
This octopus is their favorite toy, although Izzy will play with
ANYTHING you put in fornt of him.
Penny seems to us to be in some kind of emotional distress. Could
it be missing her unborn kittens? Could it be missing Izzy's
kittenhood (as he is now much larger than he was at 2 weeks)?
She clearly likes us, as she will come over to us and lie down while
we rub her all over.
| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 158.1 | | EDEN::CWALSH | | Wed Oct 16 1985 16:46 | 22 |
| Are your cats indoors only? And how old is Izzy?
Rather than mourning for her lost kittens, Penny may be calling Izzy to
dinner... Several times we have seen one of our older cats "kill" a toy, most
notably a large blue yarn ball, and present it to us or one of our kittens
with the same kind of meowing that accompanies a rat or mole kill. The
first few times the kittens were interested in the toy, and played with it.
But the kittens quickly realized that the toy isn't food, and often times
ignored the call if they didn't feel like playing.
Now that are kittens are well beyond the age of weaning, and indeed are
starting to challenge the adult's dominance, this behaviour has almost
completely stopped.
I seriously doubt that Penny is in emotional distress because of her "lost"
kittens. I'm sure she doesn't know how many kittens she "should" have had.
Of course, there may be other reasons for this. But as long as the cat does
not seem to be in pain, I think it unlikely that this is due to a disease or
injury.
- CW
|
| 158.2 | | CIVIC::WINBERG | | Wed Oct 16 1985 17:46 | 2 |
| Couldn't agree with response 1-of-1 more -- sure doesn't sound like distress
to me either. Maybe she needs another litter.
|
| 158.3 | | XANADU::DICKSON | | Thu Oct 17 1985 10:47 | 14 |
| No chance of another litter. The operation took care of that.
Izzy is 2 months.
When Penny "kills" the octopus, she proceeds to play with it, holding
it against her chest with her front feet while kicking it with her back
feet. Izzy does the same thing.
During these meowing episodes, she does not treat the octopus like prey.
On the contrary, she is very gentle with it. Could be as you say, tho.
This toy has been EVERYWHERE with these cats. Every trip in the car,
on vacation, even to the Meow Motel, this thing went along. Seems
strange to me that Penny would start thinking it was prey. Is she
just playing? Izzy doesn't pay much attention.
|
| 158.4 | | PAUPER::GETTYS | | Thu Oct 17 1985 11:39 | 9 |
| I don't think the behavior is at all strange. Our cat (Siamese) goes
through the house at times with a Nerf Ball in her mouth (carrying it like a
kitten) and HOWLING (you never heard such sounds!). It can't be something from
having had kittens since she was neutered before she had any.
/s/ Bob
p.s. ALL cats are strange!! But i love them anyway (maybe because of it?)
|
| 158.5 | | PEN::KALLIS | | Mon Oct 21 1985 14:46 | 9 |
| re .4:
Someone once said, "Banshees can take howling lessons from a Siamese ...."
I believe it this minute.
Re .0: It's hard to say. Once my favorite cat, Morgan, was feeling ill.
He slept by the head of my bed. When I woke up, he was still (again)
where he was when I nodded off, but his favorite toy was with him.
Steve Kallis, Jr.
|
| 158.6 | | KEEPER::MALING | | Mon Oct 21 1985 15:17 | 11 |
| I once had a cat, Angel, who exhibited similar behavior. I was her habit to
drag around dirty socks in her mouth which she had fished out of the laundry
hamper. All the while she would utter muffled cries sounding quite lonely or
mournful. She was quite particular about whose socks, too. She would only
select mine or my brother Steve's. She left alone those socks belonging to
my parents or my other two brothers. She never had a litter even though she
was five years old when she was spayed, and she exhibited this behavior all
her life. We even buried her with one of my brother's socks to keep her
company.
-Mary
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