When you’re retired you can live a lot with your cat. I can spend hours close to him. I believe you can achieve a relationship with your cat which takes you to the next level and goes beyond the normal sort of relationship that a person has with their domestic cat companion.
I’m not saying that retired people always have this connection but if you like cats and if you are at home a lot you can spend many hours with your cat companion which allows a “special relationship” to develop. There are dangers in this. Perhaps your car learns to only relate to you and sees every other person who visits the place as alien and dangerous. This is not true socialization.
In addition, if you have a special bond and a close relationship with your cat, it can be very hard to leave it behind. A person can become possessive or obsessive! However, a very close relationship with a cat companion brings the kind of benefits and delights that people who don’t like cats could never fathom. It is totally beyond the comprehension of people who don’t like cats but it is beautiful and very tender.
It is a relationship in which the human communicates with the cat without any words being spoken. There is an intimate understanding which is communicated fluidly and immediately. Words aren’t required. It is communication through behavior and actions. These are stronger than words. Words are easy to create. Actions are an expression of words. They are a demonstration of commitment. Cats understand actions.
Thanks Ahsan. He is getting a lot bigger and more of a hazard around the home 😉 . What do you do for Christmas?
Oh thank you . . . . thank you so much Michael <3
Wonderful easy words to explain the relationship of a companion pet. and look at that small tiger GABRIEL, My lord he is becoming more and more beautiful than ever. I love him and thanks again for sharing, will wait for more and more and will never get bore ever 😉 <3 <3 <3 God bless you both, ameen <3
Thank you for responding.
I don’t know anything about horses, or breaking them or whispering to them. (My husband heard a radio program in which a horse trainer said he told the corralled horses that they could leave and be rounded up for horsemeat or stay and be trained. I don’t know what to think about that.)
You’re lucky that Gabriel is so young, and therefore more likely to accept how you treat him as normal, just the way things are. My best beloved cat ever, a mackeral tabby, came to me as a stray kitten. He grew up to be limitlessly affectionate; there was no such thing as too much petting. When I went to bed, he would hop up and lie next to me, on his back, so I could rub his belly (the Siamese slept between my legs). When I took him to the local large veterinary hospital for urinary tract treatment, staff members came up to me to say how wonderful he was. He had a charming trick of staring me in the eyes while trying to sneak food off my plate. Best cat ever.
The current cat was estimated to be a year old when trapped; he might have been younger, but definitely a cat, not a kitten. When he finally came out of hiding, I put him on a diet of no-grain wet and dry food (always out, lest he develop an eating disorder; he eats small amounts throughout the day), and he grew to be ten pounds, all lean muscle and sinew. He had been so small that his trapper named him Little Dude; now he’s more like Medium Dude, just a normal cat-size cat. He actually grew in length.
I have read that fearfulness in cats is largely inherited from the father. My old cats were fearless and never passed up an opportunity to try to dash out the door. Little Dude shows no interest in going out and often hides when someone rings the doorbell. Heredity or early experience or both?
I don’t force myself on him. I can’t cut his claws, so I get out of reach when he gets excited. He won’t let me brush him, even to save him from throwing up fur balls. He has trained me (very fastidious about the litter box). He’s not afraid of us anymore—we’re too clumsy and slow to be a threat. And he sleeps with me—all I ever wanted, really. I don’t think I broke his spirit.
Cats are different from one another. Gabriel sounds like a fast learner.
I’ll do a page soon on squishy and Lucy.
A page would be great, I kinda thought that is what I was doing from the main page, but it posted here for some reason. IDK.
Yeah, problem with Squishy is that he thinks he is still that little kitten and jumps on unsuspecting people(sitting or laying down), even myself, and its like getting punched in the gut…or other “area(s)”, if you are so unfortunate. Does have claws, but never uses them on people or anything, even “smacking” the dog with no claws, just paw, the first day he came home. Yes Squishy is the “Alpha Pet”, trumping the 50lb dog with sheer presence. Squishy has slid off me and taken the fall instead of digging in more than once. If he would of “dug in” with his claws, it would be a trip to the Emergency room for sure. Properly raised cats known when and how to use their claws. At least in my experience…
Lucy, yep, those early times are critical. It like there is a little tape recorder up there replaying loops of whatever happened to him before we got him. I believe that is why Squishy and I are so close…we got him sooo young. He is VERY clingy and jealous of the others pets.
Better to evolve….than the alternative….
A beautiful photo Michael and i understand your relationship with your cat as i too have the same type of relationship with my cats although much younger and far from a retirement age.I face a severe handicap during my travels as i have to leave the cats at home and thankfully my caretaker does take good care of them.I lost my 22 year old parakeet “Mittoo” during a tour of North East India which devastated me emotionally . People might call us eccentrics for having such a emotional attachment to our pets but then i too find it difficult to understand certain people !