Comments on: Over The Line

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:42:06 +0000

It’s probably a total waste of effort to attempt to figure out why cats do things, but it is a personal failing that there has to be a reason behind actions, this despite the rather universal “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:21:38 +0000

you’re probably right about the vulcan neck pinch. it makes sense to me anyway. i can’t remember if i tried more than one type of harness on curmudgeon cat or not, but that seems like a reasonable thing to do.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:46:16 +0000

It just occurred to me that the cat may interpret the harness like the “Vulcan neck pinch”, and that’s why they go limp. I may try it again, but be more careful as to how it touches, or try a different type of harness.

Well, a car or dog would certainly convince a cat that it wasn’t mom taking care of business.

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:12:36 +0000

i’ve had a few cats do that, fall over and appear to be unable to move when you put a harness on them.

curmudgeon cat was one of them, but one day i took him out in the front yard and just waited… i forget whether it was a bird or a rottweiler or a car that finally came along and ‘needed killing’ as the saying goes, but it was one of those, because nothing else would have distracted his attention from the harness that strongly.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:59:15 +0000

Sox has an interesting reaction to a harness – he goes limp. As long as the harness is on him, he won’t move. I could drag him behind me on a leash, but until the harness is removed he is 15 pounds limp cat.

My neighbor lets his cats out on ropes, but I have noticed that the collars change on a regular basis, indicating that they get removed in the house, and the neighbor isn’t doing the removing.

I think that if you raised an individual cat from kittenhood, you could probably convince the cat to put up with restraint, but you can forget it with multiple cats. The collars and clothes interfere with grooming.

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 06:07:14 +0000

i worked my way through high school and part of college at a vet clinic. we had one cat that came in regularly to board while his owners traveled. they always left his suitcase full of clothes [complete with hats] for us to dress him up in — he loved it.

both curmudgeon and the dog manage to magickally disappear their collars and harnesses without even trying, so no collars for them. all our family cats were like that too — didn’t mind us putting collars on them at all, didn’t seem to mind wearing them either, but somehow those collars never stayed on them.

9 of the 12 will go into carriers, no problem, even those who’ve been to the vet before. the other 3 are my uncatchables, although i did manage to get momcat into a carrier and off to the vet for that all-important operation.

curmudgeon cat will go out on a leash no problem, and i think i could probably convince about half the others to do that too, but just leaving collars on everybody 24/7/365 is too much trouble.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:50:51 +0000

You might have waited until after you left him alone for a few days before making that statement, Moi.

I don’t guess you could con someone into kitty sitting, so he doesn’t have to go somewhere strange, but still interacts with someone he knows every day? Surely you have a student who is a suck-up, but then, do you want to trust them with Ollie?

By: Moi

Moi — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:34:30 +0000

I beg to differ. My Ollie does not look annoyed, ever!

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:37:49 +0000

I understand why you got caught, the typo in the name field, but Kryten’s fields were all identical.

Without the “Vulcan neck pinch” none of my crew would ever be in a carrier or see a vet.

The problem with trying to use collars on the “three kittens” was that their mother removed them almost immediately, and she wasn’t exactly careful how she did it, so I quit trying before she killed one of them.

At 15 and 18 pounds, I don’t think I would push my luck. Dot is only about 10 pounds and I have lost a couple of rounds getting her in a carrier.

By: Badux

Badux — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:29:40 +0000

Yay, your “your comment is awaiting moderation” bug finally got to ME rather than just to Kryten!