When I lived in my previous house sometimes, when it was really hot, huge Cockroaches would come in the house or patio coming from the outside. My cat LOVES Cockroaches! She doesn’t eat, just play with them until they not only die but pieces of it get scattered around the house.
Well one day I woke up with a live roach walking in my face and when I jumped from the bed there were pieces of another roach all over my bed! The pati looked like a rochpocalypse and the fucking cat was so tired and happy she just went to sleep in the living room. I had to put my clothes and bedding to wash and clean and change everything at 2am. This fucking cat
It’s horrifying how cats will play with bugs and torture them. I have cats, and they’re sadistic.
It amazes me when I see people with cats and hamsters. Because I just believe if they wanted to, that hamster would be in multiple pieces.
I remember a time when my cat found a mouse in our cottage. Everyone was asleep or trying to sleep while the cat was looking for the mouse. For some reason, I looked at the bed’s edge and saw tiny whiskers and a tiny nose. The mouse had sandwiched itself between the edge of the bed and the mattress, trying to hide from our cat. I think it got away, too. Made me feel good especially considering our cat was constantly bringing in mice it had killed.
Had a mouser cat drop a live mouse in my bed once. It ran up my leg. Haunted.
I cured her of the desire to bring me mice by trying to take them from her while she was still playing. I lost mouse privileges :(
Drag is afraid of cats because drag doesn’t know how to say no in a way a cat can understand.
Depends what you’re teaching them. They’re biting? Move away so they know playtime’s over if they bite. Be consistent, because they won’t get it the first time. Don’t scratch that? Put a scratchable surface in front of it, and when they use it, reward them with positive attention. Etc.
How do you tell a strange cat on the street that you don’t want it to go near you?
That’s tough, because street cats that do that have been socialized to be super pro human (strange humans give them snacks?)
I guess if it was me and I was visiting someone allergic, I’d do something silly like put on hand sanitizer and let them sniff my hand. Or hiss at them, if I didn’t see people around. Walk loud. Unfortunately, a lot of “i’m scared go away” body language can come across as 'I’m not threatening! Say hi!!" to a friendly cat. What’s the specific situation drag is in?
No specificity. Drag just wants to be able to communicate better with cats, especially when drag isn’t in a mood to expand drag’s horizons by confronting a scary stimulus.
Hissing at strange cats won’t provoke them into a fight? Getting into a fight with a cat would be the worst outcome, that won’t happen?
I can’t guarentee anything, but hissing is usually ‘knock it off’ and growling is ‘fuck off i’ll bite.’ You could try being generally loud first, though, since your human hiss might not get parsed the same as a cat hiss if you don’t do it right at first. Say ‘no!’ very loud. Clap your hands. If it’s far, stomp and go “hey!!!” Some cats pick up weird socialization and I’m not a cat expert, so take what i say with a grain of salt, tho.
When I see my cat scratch the wrong thing I go “Hey!!” and thump the table and she’ll stop what she’s doing. Then when she scratches the right thing, I go “Oh, good job, kitty!” in a much softer, gentle voice. She doesn’t really get it. She hears the loud tone, stops scratching, and jumps up on the couch. She doesn’t get it’s ‘stop,’ but she stops, so it’s good enough for me. They don’t like loud noises or certain smells, so you can use those to make them not want to be around you without hurting them.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CatAdvice/comments/13oclp7/how_do_i_get_over_my_fear_of_cats
I like the advice here on how to reduce a cat phobia. If you spend time with some very chill cats who will only be aggressive in extreme cases, you’ll learn their body language and signals and have an easier time signalling to them. It’s easier to “get” cats when you understand how little they understand us.
I wish I could help more. I remember being terrified of dogs as a kid, until I met a neighbor’s tiny elderly guy, who was so gentle and hard to fear, I slowly overcame it. Good luck! Sorry about the rambling.
Weird because usually when I see a strange cat on the street I’m trying to get out to come over to me.
Drag is afraid of cats because drag doesn’t know how to say no in a way a cat can understand. Drag would feel much better about exploring friendships with cats if drag felt able to say no.
Lol that was my thought exactly.
And fyi, food is the only thing I’ve found so far that works.
Follow up:
Alt text: Now she’s looking at me like this, like it’s my fault I lost it. I tore the whole bed apart. She caught it, and I have to sleep with it, but that’s my fault, obviously.
Yeah, she was definitely trying to teach you to hunt (some cats seem to consider their owners just gigantic incompetent cats). She’s probably saying something like “I even brought it right to you and you still couldn’t catch it?!”
Just another fuzzy creature to snuggle with. She wanted to share
smh. How are you ever going to learn to catch mice when you can’t catch one in your own bed?
For the record, she could be trying to help you learn to hunt.
maybe.
or she’s just an asshole.
I love my cat. One month after I adopted her and brought her home, the entire rat infestation is gone, zero mice, it’s been like 2 years since, I still haven’t seen any mice.
My primary reason was for companionship, but second reason to get a cat is hoping to get rid of all the mice, and it worked! Sadly the roach problems are still here… cats don’t really deal with roaches… 😓
I once had a beagle that was a voracious insect killer. She would play with spiders, cockroaches, ants, etc. the same way people talk about cats playing with mice. Eventually, she would always make a mistake of pressing too hard when trapping the insect and pulling it back, and we’d have another little squish spot by the back door that needed to be cleaned.
