feathermoves:

naamahdarling:

naamahdarling:

Cat owner tip.

If you have to regularly give your cat meds or otherwise interfere with them and you find they are avoiding you even for friendly contact, establish a password.

The goal is to use the word/sound to signal “no bad thing,” so they don’t panic and try to run away/hide.

For instance, Etrigan hates being medicated and will hide under the bed for hours to avoid it, and become evasive if approached, even though he is normally a VERY friendly cat.

I established “I’m gonna gitcha gitcha gitcha!” as something that means “I will be touching you but not in a bad way.”

This works.

Start by using the sound every time you love on your cat. Use it many times per interaction, not just once. Use treats to reinforce it at first if you need to, and practice often (as often as you love on your cat which is hopefully often).

Do not ever ever ever use it to fake them out. Respect it, respect the cat, always keep the interactions positive.

This is a virtually effortless thing to teach your cat (and yourself) and can make a huge quality of life difference for a cat who deeply resents pilling (or other necessary cat maintenance tasks).

It actually makes giving them meds easier sometimes because they aren’t ALWAYS expecting to be grabbed and pilled. They don’t have to be vigilant and wary of every single interaction.

Reblog to reduce kitty anxiety!

Good luck!

I’ve watched Etrigan do an immediate about-face on multiple occasions. I approach, he thinks I am going to do THE BAD MOUTH STUFF and starts to run away. I use the signal and he turns right around and lets me approach. This tactic can be super-duper effective.

This is good. Im new to raising my own cat so this is super useful to me.