by Elisa Black-Taylor
(USA)
Annabelle is now my cat. Click on thumbnails below to enlarge
This article is discussion about why cats prefer certain people and the sometimes unpredictable decisions a cat will make on who (s)he chooses as that special someone in her life.
I'm sure most of you have experienced this. You've wanted a cat for a long time and paid a visit to the local shelter. Or perhaps one just wandered into your life from out of nowhere. You shower your new baby with love and affection. You feed it the best food, buy the toys you think kitty will enjoy, and basically become a servant for your new cat.
Then it happens. Your cat goes over to your spouse/roommate/child and makes itself at home on THEIR lap. This person who may even push the cat off the bed or lap and refuse to have anything to do with your kitty is now your cat's new best friend.
I want to tell the readers here who have had this happen that you are not alone. Please tell your own story at the end of this article. I've been hearing of many cases such as this over the past few months and want to assure you that it's unlikely anything you've done. It just happens.
My daughter and I are going through this with our deaf cat Annabelle. Laura was so excited about adopting a white deaf cat. She wanted her as her own personal cat to nurture and sleep with. Which Annabelle did for the first few weeks. Then without warning Annabelle decided she wanted to sleep with me. She also sits on the sofa arm by my side whenever I'm in the living room. Her cat carrier is now on my bed since she made her decision to make me her human. Annabelle sleeps in her carrier until I get out of bed, then she follows me to the living room.
Laura has cats who are partial to her. Tom and Jasper are the main ones. And of course Lola. Even Furby seems undecided these days on which of us he prefers. Lola and Jasper even go with Laura when she visits family in another town and leaves me with a cat colony to manage single-handed.
Furby also has a new lady friend named Marley whom he enjoys sleeping beside.
I could read up on cat psychology until I'm blue in the face and never truly understand the reason a cat will choose one person over another. Let's face it. Only the cat knows the answer to this dilemma.
One article I read suggested male cats prefer women and female cats prefer men. Which may be true to an extent except in my household there's only my daughter and myself. Most of my cats have never even met a man except for the vet.
We even share our home to a few cats who don't care for human company at all. These cats sleep with the other cats and seem happy with that situation. Every so often one of these cats will come over for a head rub. Otherwise, they choose other cats as their companions rather than a human.
In the past I was very partial to male cats. They always seemed to enjoy sleeping in my lap more than the females. Now I have as many female lap cats as I do males. I don't know if cats have changed over the years or if I'm the one who changed.
Cats also get a little vengeful toward those who discipline them or have to give them pills. They will often go to another person in the household as if to say "Ha, I'm not going to have anything to do with you until I decide to forgive you." Which can take from a few hours to several days.
I'm not going to suggest to the readers here to buy more treats, toys or cat furniture. Apparently cat's don't determine who they want to spend time with by the money spent on them. Cats, by nature, are independent and have their own secret philosophy.
Please share how your cats choose their favorite people in your household. I think we'll all find ourselves on the ignored end of a cat relationship.
Elisa
P.S. From Michael (Admin). It seems to me that as cats have their own personalities it is not impossible to say that the domestic cat has preferences for certain people just like humans. It's probably a combination of factors such as voice, smell, demeanour etc..Then there is the obvious factor: familiarity. Cats get to know us and vice versa. A relationship grows and then friends of the person who is close to the cat become favourites of the cat too because the cat knows that these people are friendly and non-threatening.
A lovely thin tabby cat sat outside my back door for 3hrs morning and same evening After several weeks I gave in and fed her.She savaged her food as if there was not tomorrow.I took her to the vet and vaccinations were given and thorough check up I found out that she was 13yrs old and lived near by Mini is now a loving beautiful girl,lovely coat and contented. I love her dearly,such a lovely companion.
Mindy, what heroic work. I am immensely impressed. Fabulous work. It must have been very hard at times. But you did something tangible to help these cats. Not many people do that. I’ll publish your story in the next 8 hours and your name will be at the top and bottom of the page. You can email me some pictures at mjbmeister@gmail.com. If you can get the pics to me in the next 8 hours that would be great.
Thanks again.
Cat Colony Rescue 75 Semi Feral Cats
In Jan 2018 I knew I was the only person who would help end the cat abuse at a Recreational Vehicle Park near my home on the Klamath River the California/Oregon Border. I contacted a friend who runs a cat rescue CARE and I contacted my country vet of Dr. Herriot variety. The following Wens. we crated as many cats as we could. There were so many we had to bring the females to my home and release them so we could crate more. The vet came and neutered 30 male cats on the spot, they were re released the following morning. 22 females were in the basement of my home for 1 day, then we transported 10 to a Cat Rescue in Northern Or, 2 days later another 8 were placed. We placed 5 kittens from the park into a fancy shop in upscale Ashland OR. The 4 females left here we could not get our hands on. I found it funny that I had no idea there were 4 one was hidden behind the stove for quite awhile, one was hidden in a over stuffed chair. As time passed I was able to pick up each cat and place it in the bathroom. (However I have needed to buy an extra box of Bandages.) There they could be WDQ, Warm, dark, quiet. I gave them plenty of attention. It took weeks to get them, one by 1, ready for the next room. My upstairs bathroom has a huge window overlooking a meadow where birds are abundant. A tall cat tree at the window allows for great viewing. The cupboard under the sink was emptied. I placed 2 small boxes ea with an old soft shirt of mine for them. That worked because I could close 1 or both doors on the cupboard, depending on how afraid the cats were. The tub as well had 2 boxes. It is necessary to 1st comfort them with food available at all times. In the evenings I fed food from cans to encourage them to bond to me. I held each cat many times a day. The first time they let me hold them they went into a quivering motion which lasted 10 mins or so. The 2nd time I held them they purred. For days they hid in their boxes. Slowly I placed them on the cat tree and in the window sill. When the boxes were no longer of any use, I introduced play. As odd as it is these cats were afraid of toys. In this case only a small bit of yarn was safe. Then we moved onto more challenging toys they could enjoy without me. It was a joy to hear them playing. Slowly I moved the cats from the 2nd bathroom into my huge master bedroom. They were exposed to TV and the dogs, as well as my own cats. When they were tame and in my arms they were ready to be placed in homes. Eventually all the female cats were spay at various vets where we could get a discount. As this went on the male cats were taken from the park and placed. Any cat that was too timid or too afraid came to my home and started the process in the WDQ room. It came down to just the semi feral cats left here. The rescuers took 5 to go to other tamers, 3 were returned to me 3 weeks later deemed feral. Those 3 cats are in my bedroom this evening on my bed with the other last 3. All 75 of these cats are spay and neutered, had their shots, treated for fleas, and had had their mats shaved free. I had cats that were so emaciated hips bones stuck out, 1 poor dilute tortie, still here can’t stop eating in fear it will be gone. One poor cat had lost an eye due to an untreated infection. One kitty only was here 1 night suffering until the vet opened she was so starved and ill there was no choice. Out of 75 we only lost that 1 kitty. I had to re release 4 feral cats back to the Park. These last few foster cats are not ready for normal homes. Kitten season is upon us and the rescues are full. Perhaps in the fall these last few will get forever homes. Perhaps they already have one.
Michael I live in a forest, we do not have cell phones, I am not a techie and have pics and tried to download them here. I can email them. There are many of the Park where the cats were. The matted cat that bit the other tamers can be seen in the pic on the outdoor sofa he is in the front. “Matty” I hope my name is put on the article if you publish it. Mindy Bledsoe I have many other stories.
Wow, I’d love to hear more of this. Do u have a photo? If so please upload one. If you write more in another comment, I’ll publish it as an article. Thanks Mindy for sharing.
We are a rescue org. in So OR. I had a wonderful but terribly matted dlh mal org tabby. They took him from here to an expert tamer 2 hrs away, she gave up, he was sent 2 more places and finally had to be trapped in the last “great tamers” home. He was 1 hated cat! I was to just re-release him to the feral colony. Scarred hissing n biting he arrived here in a trap. 10 mins later he was out sitting in his window, I picked him up and held him, purring, kneading, and drooling. He is so in love w/me I’ll never let him go.