Oops!

Roxy and I have had a game since she was a kitten, where I pretend to
stalk her, which I do by creeping toward her very slowly. I do walk
upright when I do this, I just walk extremely slowly, and I usually
freeze in place if she looks at me, the way a stalking cat would. This
always sends her into zoomies. Her favorite place for this is in the
bathtub (her, not me ). I'll stalk toward her, partially obscured from
her view by the sliding bathtub doors. When I come into view, I pretend
I'm about to pounce, which she responds to by scrambling out of the tub
as fast as possible and streaking out the door.

Today, little Everett was in the bathtub, so I did the same thing.
Whoops, he didn't take it as a game. Instead, he cowered away from me
and looked scared, as though I were really coming after him. Poor
baby, I didn't mean to scare him! He's generally not a scaredy-cat
(for example, I wouldn't play this game with Licky, who's too easily
spooked) - in fact, he's extremely playful, so I didn't expect him
to react that way. So I picked him up and tried to comfort him, but
he meowed like he wanted to get down. Aww, I scared the little baby.

I know he'll get over it, but I guess I'm learning what his limits
are, which of course are totally different from everyone else's!

Joyce
--
To send email to this address, remove the triple-X from my user name.

Hi Joyce,

I got a chuckle out of this! I have done this to my cats, too :-)
Sometimes, the first time I do it, if I do it right, they will
actually assume the "arched back" position and their tales will puff
up and the hair on their back will be standing straight up! LOL

But it usually only works one good time and then they realize I am
just playing with them.

Another funny thing that will sometimes cause them to freak out is if
I pant like a dog... Sometimes they act really funny about that... and
they don't always get over that one... So I don't do it very often.

Poor kitties...

Don't feel dab. After all, you are a slave in training!
wrote in message
...
Roxy and I have had a game since she was a kitten, where I pretend to
stalk her, which I do by creeping toward her very slowly. I do walk
upright when I do this, I just walk extremely slowly, and I usually
freeze in place if she looks at me, the way a stalking cat would. This
always sends her into zoomies. Her favorite place for this is in the
bathtub (her, not me ). I'll stalk toward her, partially obscured from
her view by the sliding bathtub doors. When I come into view, I pretend
I'm about to pounce, which she responds to by scrambling out of the tub
as fast as possible and streaking out the door.

Today, little Everett was in the bathtub, so I did the same thing.
Whoops, he didn't take it as a game. Instead, he cowered away from me
and looked scared, as though I were really coming after him. Poor
baby, I didn't mean to scare him! He's generally not a scaredy-cat
(for example, I wouldn't play this game with Licky, who's too easily
spooked) - in fact, he's extremely playful, so I didn't expect him
to react that way. So I picked him up and tried to comfort him, but
he meowed like he wanted to get down. Aww, I scared the little baby.

I know he'll get over it, but I guess I'm learning what his limits
are, which of course are totally different from everyone else's!

Joyce
--
To send email to this address, remove the triple-X from my user name.

wrote:
Roxy and I have had a game since she was a kitten, where I pretend to
stalk her, which I do by creeping toward her very slowly. I do walk
upright when I do this, I just walk extremely slowly, and I usually
freeze in place if she looks at me, the way a stalking cat would. This
always sends her into zoomies. Her favorite place for this is in the
bathtub (her, not me ). I'll stalk toward her, partially obscured
from her view by the sliding bathtub doors. When I come into view, I
pretend I'm about to pounce, which she responds to by scrambling out
of the tub as fast as possible and streaking out the door.

Today, little Everett was in the bathtub, so I did the same thing.
Whoops, he didn't take it as a game. Instead, he cowered away from me
and looked scared, as though I were really coming after him. Poor
baby, I didn't mean to scare him! He's generally not a scaredy-cat
(for example, I wouldn't play this game with Licky, who's too easily
spooked) - in fact, he's extremely playful, so I didn't expect him
to react that way. So I picked him up and tried to comfort him, but
he meowed like he wanted to get down. Aww, I scared the little baby.

I know he'll get over it, but I guess I'm learning what his limits
are, which of course are totally different from everyone else's!

Joyce

Poor baby, we sometimes forget every cat is unique,
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy & Bagheera)
Cats leave pawprints on your heart
http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk

wrote in message
...
Roxy and I have had a game since she was a kitten, where I pretend to
stalk her, which I do by creeping toward her very slowly. I do walk
upright when I do this, I just walk extremely slowly, and I usually
freeze in place if she looks at me, the way a stalking cat would. This
always sends her into zoomies. Her favorite place for this is in the
bathtub (her, not me ). I'll stalk toward her, partially obscured from
her view by the sliding bathtub doors. When I come into view, I pretend
I'm about to pounce, which she responds to by scrambling out of the tub
as fast as possible and streaking out the door.

Today, little Everett was in the bathtub, so I did the same thing.
Whoops, he didn't take it as a game. Instead, he cowered away from me
and looked scared, as though I were really coming after him. Poor
baby, I didn't mean to scare him! He's generally not a scaredy-cat
(for example, I wouldn't play this game with Licky, who's too easily
spooked) - in fact, he's extremely playful, so I didn't expect him
to react that way. So I picked him up and tried to comfort him, but
he meowed like he wanted to get down. Aww, I scared the little baby.

I know he'll get over it, but I guess I'm learning what his limits
are, which of course are totally different from everyone else's!



Cats are so different from each other. Anyone who doesn't think so, just
doesn't know cats. Mimi's favorite thing in the world was being chased.
She didn't care if it was a water buffalo thundering after her. She just
loved to be chased around the house. When Stinky came, when we tried to
chase him, he would just duck and freeze, and give me big "WTF are you
doing, Mommy?" eyes. He never got into the whole chase game thing. It just
wasn't him. Have cats, and learn.

Kreisleriana wrote:

Cats are so different from each other. Anyone who doesn't think so, just
doesn't know cats. Mimi's favorite thing in the world was being chased.
She didn't care if it was a water buffalo thundering after her. She just
loved to be chased around the house. When Stinky came, when we tried to
chase him, he would just duck and freeze, and give me big "WTF are you
doing, Mommy?" eyes. He never got into the whole chase game thing. It just
wasn't him. Have cats, and learn.

yes, like mir loves rough-housing, but caliban doesn't understand it at
all. if i forget myself sometime and start to rub him a little harder,
he freezes, gives me a very hurt look, then he defends himself with
tooth and claw. mir, otoh, begs to be roughly handled at least once a day.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

Marina wrote:

yes, like mir loves rough-housing, but caliban doesn't understand it at
all. if i forget myself sometime and start to rub him a little harder,
he freezes, gives me a very hurt look, then he defends himself with
tooth and claw. mir, otoh, begs to be roughly handled at least once a day.

What a kinky little girl!

And poor Caliban, he's such a delicate thing. You'd never know it to
look at him, though, and I'm not talking about his weight, which I can
see has come down anyway. He just looks like a big, strapping fella
who could take some rough housing. Appearances are deceiving!

My cats all love to have their spines scratched. So it's just a normal
part of pets and scritches around here. But then when I'm visiting someone
who has a cat and I start doing that, I'm likely to get a dirty look, or
a growl, or to have them run off. Oops, it just comes so naturally to me
now.

Joyce
--
To send email to this address, remove the triple-X from my user name.

wrote:

My cats all love to have their spines scratched. So it's just a normal
part of pets and scritches around here. But then when I'm visiting someone
who has a cat and I start doing that, I'm likely to get a dirty look, or
a growl, or to have them run off. Oops, it just comes so naturally to me
now.

i used to do something similar when i had frank and nikki. they both
liked to have their tails pulled gently. then i absent-mindedly did the
same thing to one of my sister's cats, and got a very dirty look.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.