It is useful – more than useful – to spend a quiet moment, at least once per day, with your cat when you are close to each other and exchanging affection for each other. In cat terms it is, mutual allogrooming.
It is a time-out session when you connect closely with your cat. It is easy to miss these moments. They help strengthen an existing bond or generate a bond and create mutual empathy and better communication.
The poor quality video below (made using the camera above my laptop computer’s screen – the webcam and illuminated by the screen!) shows the position my cat adopts when I call him over to lie on me. It is not just about me requesting his presence by tapping the bed, it is about his willingness to come and enjoy and setting up a habit over years of doing the same thing. [Note: the image is reversed. I am not left-handed. That is how webcams work.]
Usually my cat will accept my request to come over when I tap the bed. One in ten times he won’t come because he is an individual.
Charlie likes to be combed with a flea comb, which is a very fine comb (32 to the inch). It gives him a gentle scratch and massage. The combing is not to catch fleas – he has no fleas – it is to make him feel good and it was part of the “training” process.
This wasn’t really training, it was the informal creation of a habit and routine.
I would think any cat lover would recommend that cat owners spend some chill out time with their cat at least once per day. It’s good for both human and cat. It should obviously include gentle stroking or something that your cat likes.
In a previous post we discussed how to communicate with your cat. This sort of session helps form empathy between cat and person, which leads to better communication.
It can often come down to available time. Yet people should find the time and if they can’t they should adjust their lives 😉 Perhaps it could be a measure of a balanced life: If you can spend ten – fifteen minutes quietly with your cat daily you have balance in your life.
All cat owners, certainly, don’t spend that kind of time with their cats. One of my neighbors has 2 cats that dart over here when they see me out on the deck. They’re not hungry; all they want is some attention and affection. So sad. I’m stretched pretty far and time is a hot comodity here, but there will always be time for pets, hugs, and kisses.
Dee, it is a pretty basic video but the point I want to make (but not to switched-on people like you) is that cat owners should spend some quiet, close time with their cat. The moment should be intimate and loving. I am not sure all cat owners do that. It is important.
Never mind. Changed browsers. Worked fine.
Can’t see the video-all black.
So sad.