FEED A CAT FOR CHRISTMAS!!! DECEMBER 12TH! JOEL S!

JOEL!  

Joel has been a steadfast supporter of my mission by building shelters, donating items such as headlamps and batteries, bringing me my precious boards I need to help keep Mother Nature out of shelters and keep food dry, going along on my routes in the mornings when asked, moving heavy shelters from here to there, and even writing stories about the cats I feed!  Joel has been a blessing to me, and I greatly appreciate him.  Thanks for helping me feed the cats Joel!

Today was just another day, except I had to bring a broom and dust pan because at one of my locations on Melville, someone must have tried to break in to the house and broke the glass, which shattered the glass into tiny little pieces, like a windshield would break.  There are several cats that depend on this location, and they could easily step on the glass – so I had to tried  to clean it all up before I poured their food this morning, but there is still a ton more, so I will be cleaning up again tomorrow.  What is wrong with people?  Can’t they see that this is where cats reside?? 

Today, I am posting a topic on cat aggression toward humans.  I rescued a cat I named Jules from Parsells Avenue.  This was either the end of last year or earlier this year.  I rescued him (thought he was a girl and named it Julie first) because he was not looking well.  He had some kind of oil on him, and was very dirty.  He looked like he was losing weight, I knew something was wrong and the weather was frightful so I scooped him up.  Long story short, he is all better from whatever he had going on, but has turned out to be a real brat that can’t get along with others.  He has attacked my cats, and myself.  He went after my very old Mary Jane, and after that, I knew he had to be locked up.  So, he has been alone in a bedroom for a very long time now, and has not changed much.  Occasionally, he will show signs of agitation when I go in and you never know if he will bite you on the leg.  I try to entertain him, place a gate up for him to see out, but that’s as far as I can go with him.  He is not adoptable at this point.  But I did find this interesting article and will share with you now.

Re-Directed Aggression Towards Humans

Consider the following scenario…

Fluffy is sitting by the window as usual. You pass by and gently stroke her back. Suddenly your affectionate and gentle pet has her teeth in your arm.

What just happened? Has Fluffy gone mad?

The phenomena of redirected aggression can be puzzling and frightening to cat lovers. It occurs when a cat is highly aroused and in an aggressive state (for instance, by the sight of an outside cat, by just having been in a fight, or by a loud, disturbing noise), and the cat attacks a person or another animal within reach. Generally, cats do not redirect aggression unless they are touched or closely approached by another animal or person.

If a cat is in an aggressive state or mood, it can be very dangerous for the owner to approach the cat, or try to pick them  up. The owner should wait until the cat has changed its mood (calms down) before interacting with them. The state of arousal can last two hours or more, but in most cases is over within thirty minutes. After the cat has engaged in another behavior, such as grooming, playing, or eating, it is usually safe to approach the cat, their normal behavior has returned.

To treat this type of aggression, the arousing stimulus (or trigger) must be identified so that it can be eliminated. For example, if the cat is upset by looking at other cats through the window, the outside cats should be kept from passing near the window or the resident cat’s view should be obstructed by pulling a shade or keeping the cat out of the room with the windows. If the triggering stimulus cannot be removed, then the cat should be systematically desensitized to it, slowly have your cat exposed to the trigger only for very short periods of time.  In the case of a disturbing noise, it should be repeated at regular intervals at very low levels until the cat is used to it and then the volume gradually increased, always keeping it below the cat’s stress threshold.

If the pet parent is the victim of redirected aggression, it is important that you not retaliate so strongly that the attacking cat develops a fear of you and becomes defensively aggressive toward them, thereby creating another, more difficult problem to solve. Keep in mind that it is the cat’s predatory nature that enables it to concentrate so single-mindedly on a particular object, sound (or animal) of fear. This all-consuming focus of the cat’s attention is not easily transformed into a recognition of the touch of an old friend–so don’t take it personally!