Tag: RagdollKittens

What’s Up Wednesday

Published on by Service Cats U.S.32 Comments

Meowllo everypawdy, wha’cha’ doin’? It’s been cloudy and overcast here everyday, so we’ve been doin’ a bunch of nuffin’. Well at least we’ve been tryin’ to. Raena’s been a little pistol all week, but dat’s getting’ to be normal fur us.

 Dezi on cat tree

 

 

       A pistol? I’s not a pistol sissy. I’s a purretty kitty girly, mommy says so.

Yes Raena dat she does. But she also says you’re a pistol. And fur all our furiends across da pond dat don’t know what dat means, well, it means she’s full of energy and a offen acts without thinkin’. And well, dat’s you to a tee Raena.

 Raena on cat tree

       Well sissy I’s not wanna miss anythin’. You know, I’s gotta be everywhere all da time just in case somethin’ happens.

 Dezi and Raena on cat tree

Ya’ know what Raena? Not so long ago, me thought dat way too. Know what else? Not too much happens ‘round here, and ifin somethin’ excitin’ does…mommy’s gonna make sure you know ‘bout it. On another note, da a/c repairman showed up Monday and took care of our leaky purroblem and even cleaned up after himself. Yep, he swept da floor and everythin’. Have you ever heard of such? Let me tell ya’ in all da years me’s been ‘round me’s not seen it. Me has seen workers come in and leave a mess fur mommy to clean up tho’. Mommy says she thinks he was so nice cuz Raena was bein’ a shameful flirt. Yep, she sure was.

       I’s not a shameful flirt sissy. I’s a Southern Belle.

Oh Raena…(shakes head) Da man was here to work and you kept runnin’ over and stealin’ his tools and meowin’ at him. When he picked up da new pvc pipe you acted like it was some wand toy or somethin’.

 Dezi and Raena on cat tree

       Well he didn’t seem to mind playin’ with me now did he sissy?

No Raena, he didn’t. He was very nice considerin’ it took twice as long to get da job done and get outta here than ifin you’d just laid down on da tree and watched liked mommy had told ya’ too.

 Dezi and Raena on cat tree

       What fun would dat have been sissy? Anyways, mommy purromissed to play fly fishin’ with us later today. I just luv to play. I’s better ketch a quick nap so I’s’ll be all rested up fur our game later. You better get a nap too ifin ya’ plan on keepin’ up with me.

 Dezi and Raena on cat tree

Oh Raena, you just wait. Me’s been goin’ easy on ya’ since you’re just a kitten. But me’s been thinkin’ it just might be time to turn loose and give you a run fur your money. 

       Money? I’s don’t have any money sissy. 

Well then, how ‘bout your silvervine stick? 

 Dezi and Raena on cat tree

       Mines stick of da vine? Well… uh… How ‘bout we both just take a nap and have fun when mommy gets da toys out.

Dat’s what me thought sissy. Well, we hope everypawdy has a great day. We’re gonna take a nap now and dream of playin’. We’re sendin’ purrayers fur all our furiends in da paths of da storms. Purrlease be safe.

 

 

Till da next time……………………………………Be Blest!!!

 

 

 

 

Luv and Hugs and Kitty Kisses

 

 

 

Deztinee and RaenaBelle

Service Cats: Discipline: Stop Countersurfing Kitty

Published on by Service Cats U.S.55 Comments

Meowllo and welcome to Service Cats Monday. We’ve kinda been teasin’ you ‘bout todays posty all last week. Truth is today’s posty isn’t a fun one, but unfurtunately sometimes necessary. As with all our educational posts the following will be in human English. Ifin you’ve missed any of the posts in this series you can ketch up by clickin’ on the links at the end of this post. As always, we welcome your questions and thoughts, suggestions and ideas, so purrlease leave them in the comments or send us an email. We try to answer all questions, especially training questions as quickly as pawssible. We do like to answer trainin’ questions in our posts so that everypawdy can benefit from it. As with all our trainin’ postys, the tips, tricks and methods have been developed by mommy thru her many years of rescue, animal ownership and bein’ owned by kitties. And most purrtant, training is all about Repetition and Consistency. Well let’s get on with the trainin’.

 Dezi in harness laying on cat perch

Our sweet furiend Herman Tattlecat asked, “How do you teach kitty to stay off the counters, etc.?” We of course can expand this question to include all the negatives, and restate the question as, “How do you un-train bad behavior?” Mommy will tell you that it’s easier to train good behavior than to break bad behavior. Mommy’s never had a kitty that counter surfed the kitchen counters or sat on top of the fridge. She doesn’t allow it. Before we go on, we want to reiterate the importance of love and positive reinforcement. Hitting kitty IS NOT an effective training method!!! Drenching kitty with the water bottle or water gun Is Not an effective training method!!! To train, means to know your subject and understand their motivations. We are mommys children…but, we aren’t human and our brains don’t work like a humans’ brain. So mommy says you have to think like a cat and act like a cat to train a cat.   

 Raena laying on perch

So let’s start off by saying, Before you adopt a kitty, decide what kind of rules you want to implement. Do you want to allow kitty anywhere and everywhere? Or are there places you don’t want kitty to go? Stick to your decisions, and make sure everybody in the house is in on the plan. Remember, you have to be consistent for kitty to learn. Just because you don’t want kitty walking around on your kitchen counters doesn’t mean you’re abusing kitty or making him/her sad. You’re not depriving them of anything either, so long as you provide places they can get up on. And it doesn’t have to be the biggest and fanciest cat tree made. As most of you know we have a great cat tree; actually we have 2 great cat trees and a small perch. But, mommy could have never afforded them herself, and all the kitties before me never had a cat tree to climb on. We are so thankful for those who gave us our trees, but the point is, that they’re not necessary to make kitty happy.

 

It’s all well and good to tell you to never allow kitty to get on the counters in the first place, but not everybody is starting with a brand new kitten. You now have an adult cat that is jumping up and lounging on your kitchen counter, or sleeping on the refrigerator. Or maybe even walking all over the stove top, or even hanging from your curtains. Aaaaaaaaw  Isn’t kitty cute unrolling the toilet paper roll? It was soooooooo cute when they were kittens; you couldn’t get the camera/fone fast enough. Isn’t everything kittens do adorable? NO!!!

None of those behaviors are cute especially not when kitty weighs 10 – 20 pounds and is supposed to be an adult. Not when you want to prepare food, or need to avail yourself of the bathroom facilities. Not when kittys’ paws are tracking litter onto the table. And certainly not when the burner on the stove top has been turned on. So how and what do you do to train kitty not to do those things in the first place? Just say, “No!!!” Be firm and remove kitty if they get up there. Offer them an alternative. Remove the toilet paper from the roller. This step is only temporary, so don’t worry, you will be able to put it back as soon as kitty learns a firm No. Altho’ this applies to all stages of training, this paragraph is still a little more focused on the younger cat.

 Dezi sits on the bathroom counter

So, let’s suppose your kitty has been doing it so long you don’t remember when it started. What do you do now? Can kitty be trained to stay off these surfaces. Yes, absolutely. Altho’ mommy’s not had these issues, she has trained others kitties who did. So let’s look at mommys’ training kit and see what we have. First, training is repetitive and constant/ongoing. Second, don’t worry about what others think of you. You may need to look and be a little silly. You are after all only human. You are training a superior being, the cat. So let’s get to know and understand your subject. Cat mommy teaches and disciplines her kittens with hisses and bites. Littermates train each other with hisses and bites. Disputes between cats are often solved with intimidation, hisses and growls. So humans must become as cat like as possible for training purposes.

 

Let’s look at Intimidation. A cat who wants to intimidate another will puff themselves up in an attempt to look bigger and scarier. Obviously humans can’t puff up, so what can you do? Mommy has a move she calls her Space Danger move. She waves her hands in the air and repeats loudly, “Danger!!! Danger!!!” She says anyone old enough to remember Lost in Space will recognize this, for the rest of you, do a youtube search and check out the robot. Anyways, this will startle kitty and generally cause them to back away, get down, and/or remove themselves from the situation. Yes, you may look a little funny, but nobody/kitty gets hurt and it works. Initially your kitty may freeze. If this happens, remove kitty from the area. Once kitty has removed themselves/been removed or stopped the inappropriate behavior, remember to praise and love on them. If you have to remove kitty yourself, do it quickly and gently but Do Not hug or love on kitty until they have been put down in a more appropraite area. You don’t want to confuse kitty or reinforce bad behavior, so praise should only happen when kitty is where you want them to be, standing on their own.  

 Baby Dezi puffed up for intimidation

  Mommy had to go way back in da files to find us puffed up.

 

 

Now let’s look at Hissing. Let me tell you, no kitty has anything on our mommy when it comes to hissing. If you’ve ever listened to hissing kitties, there are variations of the hiss. From a nonchalant don’t touch me to a you’re dead. We kitties are very smart, and once we’ve been told No, we know when we’re doing wrong. That being said, if kitty jumps back on the counter and you’re in another room? No doubt kitty’s going to jump down and disappear before you can get to them and start your Space Danger move or remove kitty yourself. So what can you do to be consistent in training kitty to stay off the counters, etc.? Hiss. Yep, you read that right, hiss and say No, or Get down in a firm voice. You may have to hiss more than once, but you will eventually find the appropriate hiss for the occasion. And of course you need to head towards kitty to make sure they do get down or stop the behavior. And remember to praise and love kitty for their good behavior.

Dezi hissing and Baby Raena puffed up for inimidationMe’s givin’ a hissin’ example and Raena be puffin’ up.

 

We discussed biting in a previous post, so we won’t cover it again here. We will say that biting isn’t an appropriate method of training for these particular issues. Okay, we’ve covered what to do when you’re home with kitty, but what do you do when you’re not at home to keep an eye on kitty? We’re going to list some tips here that can work so long as they are used in conjunction with the hands on training listed above. Put “noise makers” on the edges of counters, shelves, fridge tops, etc.. Examples of such noise makers are:

  • Coin Filled aluminum cans

  • Coin filled plastic bottles

  • Crumpled Aluminum Foil

  • Whoopee Cushions

  • Large sqeaky toys

  • Parchment or Wax paper

For the coin filled items, we don’t mean full cans or bottles, just enough coins to rattle when shaken or dropped. They must be light enough for kitty to knock them over. Altho’ you can’t control what kitty does when no one’s home, DO NOT let kitty play with these training items. And by edge, we mean they should be balanced along the edges so that if kitty tried to jump up, the can or foil will immediately fall. Whoopee cushions and squeaky toys should be at the edge so that if kitty jumps up on them they will be startled by the noise and immediately jump back down. In recent years we have seen the development of air cans that spray kitty with air when they get close to it. This Is Not a method mommy likes or promotes.

 Dezi on the small brown tree looking up

Remember to provide kitty with appropriate toys and areas to jump on and/or play with. Always end discipline with love and praise. When removing kitty from a counter or other area, do it swiftly, but gently. Do Not hug on kitty until he/she is in an appropriate area and only after kitty has been set down. Mommy doesn’t like or promote cat trees, perches, or any other climbing apparatus near the kitchen or counters. This is too much temptation for kitty to step off of their tree and onto the counter, table, shelf, etc. Don’t set kitty up to fail. Before humans welcome a child into their home, they prepare the home and try to make it as safe as possible for the baby. The same should be done for the pets brought into your home.

 Raena plays with the track ball toy

We have shelves and small tables around the house. As long as they are filled with books or knick knacks, they’re off limits to us. But if a shelf is empty, mommy allows us to lay/sit on it. We’re allowed on the bathroom counters any time we want and have a small table in the living room for us along with the cat trees, perch and chair. We’re also allowed on the bed, shower chairs and cat steps. As long as kitty is provided with sufficient perches keeping them off counters should be an easy train. Remember to be consistent. Kitty wants rules and structure and lots of love.

 Dezi and Raena eating treats on the liberty cat tree

Well, guess we’ll wrap it up fur today. We hope this has helped ya’ll out. If you have any questions about today’s post or any other training post, purrlease let us know in the comments below as well as any other questions you might have. And yes, mommy has hissed in public. It works on children of the 2 legged variety as well. Don’t furget to click on the links below ifin you’ve missed any of our Service Cats Training posts, and have a pawsum day.

 

Service Cats

https://dezizworld.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/service-cat-what-to-look-for/ 

https://dezizworld.wordpress.com/2016/06/27/service-cat-training-foundation/  

https://dezizworld.wordpress.com/2016/07/06/service-cats-how-to-train-kitty-to-massage-without-claws/ 

 https://dezizworld.wordpress.com/2016/07/11/service-cats-smelling-disease/  

https://dezizworld.wordpress.com/2016/07/18/service-cats-do-you-need-one/ 

https://dezizworld.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/service-cats-who-bears-the-cost/ 

https://dezizworld.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/service-cats-housing-laws-and-exceptions/  

https://dezizworld.wordpress.com/2016/08/08/service-cats-accommodations-and-common-sense/  

https://dezizworld.wordpress.com/2016/08/15/service-cats-what-happens-when-the-handler-dies/ 

https://dezizworld.wordpress.com/2016/08/22/service-cats-proper-training-methods/ 

https://dezizworld.wordpress.com/2016/08/29/service-cats-proper-training-methods-part-2/  

https://dezizworld.wordpress.com/2016/09/05/service-cats-whats-the-easiest-task-to-train/ 

https://dezizworld.wordpress.com/2016/09/12/service-cats-getting-kitty-ready-for-an-outing/

Till the next time………………………………….Be Blest!!!

Luv and Hugs and Kitty Kisses

Deztinee and RaenaBelle                

What’s A Spa Day

Published on by Service Cats U.S.32 Comments

Hey, is anypawdy out there? It’s me RaenaBelle. It’s been a very eventful and wet week here. Wet both inside and out. By da way, our fotos today have nuffin’ to do with da posty, they’re just fur fun. As most of ya’ know, we had a little issue with da a/c leakin’ and da maintenance man findin’ dat we had a small leak in our hot water heater tank on Tuesday. So Wednesday da plumber and maintenance man both arrived…emptied handed. Not a tool between ‘em. Well not countin’ da flashlight app on da maint. mans fone. (shakes head) So anyways, they both huddled in da hall closet and da plumber announces dat da hot water heater has no leak. What purrobably happened he ‘splained, was dat when da maint. man poured water in da a/c trough to check it’s drainin’ ability, he likely spilled some of dat water on top of da hot water heater and then touched da pipe with hims wet fingers, thus makin’ it appear like a small leak. It would be laughable ifin it didn’t show how ignorant they are.

 Raena trying to hide with the treats she spilled all over the floor

 This was da scene when mommy got home from da doctors da

day I’s couldn’t go. Those were some delishus treats

in da full empty 4 ounce container.

 

Da plumber did recommend dat da a/c pea trap be fixed asap or this could be a real purroblem. And then of course he stated, dat wasn’t somethin’ he could do (no license to work on a/c’s). And they both headed out da door. Mommy hollered at da maint. man and asked when he would be back to fix da a/c issue and he said, “I’ll let her (da manager) know you’d like that fixed in a timely manner”. Are you kiddin’ me? Don’t worry, mommy’s gonna stay on ‘em till it’s fixed. And ifin she has to call da home office to get it done, then so be it. Most of da cawrpet has dried and what hasn’t, mommy’s keepin’ an eye on. After all, we don’t want mold.

 Raena sitting iat her box while giving an angry look

 Grrrrrrrrrrrr This is mines angry face and similar to da one mommy

made when da maint. man left. MOL

 

As fur da outside, it’s been stormin’ all week long. Sometimes da sky rumbles so long it seems it’s gonna last furever. Mommy seems really happy cuz everytime da storm starts sis Dezi comes over to her fur some extra luvvin’. Pawrently befur I came here sis Dezi hid out durin’ da storms. Don’t know what she was so ‘fraid of, it’s just a little noise. Okay, so sometimes it’s a lot of noise, but still, it’s just noise. I’s just glad I’s could be a good influence on her. (Raena snickers quietly) 

 

Dezi:        Hey pip squeak! Me’s da influencer. Me’s da older sisfur and it’s me’s job to be an example fur you. Me’s not hidin’ out cuz you don’t, me’s not hidin’ out to show you dat it’s okay and you’re safe. Me’s not afraid of nuffin’!!! (thinks to herself) Yeah, dat’s it, me’s bein’ a good example fur you. 

 Dezi on the small brown tree looking up

Raena: And you are sissy. You’s a great example. Speakin’ of teachin’, mommy made me a ‘pointment fur a spa day next month but she won’t tell me what it means. Lady peeps seem to luv spa days, but I’s not really want mines claws painted, so what else do they do?

 

Dezi:        Uh…(Dezi thinks back and gets a little nervous)  Well Raena, every little girly and little tommy boy goes fur a spa day once in their lives. Don’t worry, you’ll get lots of treats and luvvin’ and maybe even some bacon afterwards.

 Raena watches tv

 Hey, I’s seen dat bacon stuffs on da teevee befur.

(mommy deleted da commercial and added bacon

cuz we don’t know da rules)

 

Raena: Bacon Dezi, really? I’s hear all our furiends talk ‘bout it but I’s never had any. Is it good?

 

Dezi:        Oh yes Raena, it’s delishus.

 

Raena: Oh Dezi I’s sure hope mommy gets da money fur mines spa day. She says it’s gonna run ‘bout $65.00, and fankfully is not at our regular VETs office. I’s wouldn’t have called any trip there a special day. Ifin you can help send me fur mines spa day I’s sure would purreciate it. You can donate to our paypal at: lexi.dezi@yahoo.com  Mines ‘pointment is October 8th, ifin we get da green papers. Mommy says sis Dezi smells me changin’ so it’s time. I’s not have a clue what dat means, but I’s guess ya’ll do. Anyways, I’s gotta go. Mommy’s a little upset with me cuz I’s not eatin’ good. She just restocked our noms and I’s turnin’ mines nose up at it all. She doesn’t have any more money to buy anythin’ else, so she’s not sure what to do. Maybe some purrayers would help. Fank you all fur your purrayers and help.

 Dezi overlooks her realkm from the top of the Liberty cat tree

 Me’s just gonna watch da storms from here.

 

 

Dezi:       Raena don’t furget it’s Furiday and we join Rascal and Rocco and their pawsum co hosts fur da weekly Pet Parade. We do fank all of you fur your luv and support. And fank you fur your purrayers. We hope you all have a great weekend. We’ll be ‘round to visit ‘tween da storms.

 

Dezi: Vibrant Blue 

Raena: Navy Blue 

Till da next time……………………………………..Be Blest!!!

 

 

 

 

Luvs and Hugs and Kitty Kisses

RaenaBelle and Deztinee

Stick of the Vine, Silvervine That Is

Published on by Service Cats U.S.31 Comments

Meowllo everypawdy, does me have somethin’ to tell you today. Furst let me say dat it’s stormin’ here again and we’re ‘spectin’ both maintenance and a plumber, so we’ll be ‘round to visit as soon as we can. Yeah we have a new maintenance man, it’s da managers son. Our air conditioner was put in hap hazardly and da drain pipe ain’t drainin’. ‘Course we didn’t know dat till mommy stepped on wet cawrpet. This has happened befur and our then maintenance man sent hims mommy over to fix it and nopawdy ever followed up. Her idea of fixin’ it was to scoop da water out of da trough. Well dat didn’t fix da drain purroblem. Mommy asked them to get somepawdy out to purropurrly fix it, but since da water had been poured out and it wasn’t leakin’ on da floor dat minute, da manager did nuffin’. Well it didn’t get fixed so it filled up again and mommy turned in a request fur maintenance. So yesfurday da manager and her son da maintenance man came down.

Dezi cocks head to the side in thought

Mommy let da maintenance man in, but told da manager dat it was a maintenance issue and there was no reason fur her to be there. Furst she said, “I wanna see”, to which mommy replied dat she didn’t need too and then she said, “Well, I was just going to stand right here inside the door.” Okay, so which is it, ya’ need to see it, or you just want to get in our house? Well mommy pawlitely told her No and went to show da maintenance man where da purroblem was. While he was there, he found dat we also have a small leak from one of da pipes on da hot water heater. Since he’s not a licensed plumber, he can’t fix dat, so he told da manager to send out da plimber and he’ll be back to fix da pea trap on our a/c so dat hopefully it’ll drain purropurrly from now on. Well, now dat me’s gotten way off track, let me get back to our special treat.

 Dezi amid the Yeowww nip toys and silvervine stick

 Hmmmmm Kitty heaven. Nip and what’s this?

Da Vine in a stick

So, all us cats have heard ‘bout catnip right? Ifin not all, at least most of us. “Course we also know dat not all kitties react to da nip, and Silvervine has taken da kitty world by storm lately. Our furst taste of da vine came after our ‘pawrtment flood when our furiends from da Katnip Lounge sent me and sis Lexi some as a cheer us up and homecomin’ gift. We liked it fine, but we both liked nip too. And mommy was really glad cuz after checkin’ into this vine, she found it was quite costly, even da seeds to grow it yourself. Most of ya’ know dat sis Raena likes da nip too. We had no idea ‘bout da vine, cuz we didn’t have any left. Sis Lexi got da last of da gifted vine. Well here lately our furiends Purrseidon and Mr. M keep talkin’ ‘bout this vine stick he has and how it helps him with his arfur-itis. Well sis Raena nor meself has arfur-itis, but dat stick does sound fun.

 Dezi enjoying a silvervine stick

 Oh me cats!!! This vine stick is sooooooo good

Well you know our mommy, she wants us to have everythin’ we need and most of what we want. She can’t afford dat, but she wants it. And just cuz mommy can’t afford somethin’ doesn’t mean she won’t try to find it. So mommy began a search fur these sticks of silvervine and actually found some fur less than a dollar. Mommy added them to her wish list and said, “Someday, girls, someday.” Anyways, a short time later some pawsum Anonymous Angels put some green papers in our paypal account and after checkin’ with them to see ifin they minded mommy spendin’ a dollar frivolously, she ordered them sticks. They was gonna be shippin’ fur furee all da way from China. Mommy figgered they’d get here in time fur Christmas. MOL  Anyways, total cost was .99 pennies. Mommy didn’t mention to Raena and me dat she had ordered them cuz she had no idea when they would arrive. Well guess what? They got here this week. Seems mail from China doesn’t take any longer to get here than mail from da U.S..

 Raena playing with a silvervine stick

 This stick is all fur me? Fank you mommy and angels.

Raena couldn’t wait fur mommy to open da little package. She was crawlin’ and jumpin’ all over mommy da whole time. Mommy furinally got da package open and sure ‘nuff there they was, 2 sivervine sticks. Mommy ‘membered dat da instructions said to cut off some of da bark to expose da white vine flesh, so she purrceeded to da kitchen and got out a knife and carefully cut a few little notches into both sticks. Trust me, she was careful alright. Mommy has a finger dat doesn’t work right cuz she cut through da nerves and tendons and blood vessels and such years ago. Dat was long befur me was born, but me heard all ‘bout it. She had to have surgery to try to repair it, and it still ain’t right. Anyways, me’s getting’ side tracked again. Where was me?

 Raena playing with a silvervine stick

 Oh kittens, I’s luvs this stick of da vine.

Oh yeah, notchin’ da vine sticks. After notchin’ those sticks, mommy gave Raena one and me one. OMC Let me tell you, dat’s right kitties, pull up a seat. Ain’t nuffin’ in da world like a silvervine stick. Mommy says she ain’t sure ifin it’s actually da vine or just da stick dat makes us so happy, but either way, she’s glad we’re enjoyin’ them. And we are. Fank you sooooooo much sweet Angels fur da green papers and da sticks of da vine. We are so blest. Mommy’s been tryin’ to get a foto of us carryin’ ‘round our new sticks, she says it’s so funny. But alas, we’re too fast fur her. MOL  Me’s gonna wrap it up fur now and get me’s stick befur Raena steals it and claims both of them. Hope you all have a pawsum day.

 Dezi playing with a silvervine stick

Till da next time……………………………………Be Blest!!!

Luv and Hugs and Kitty Kisses

Deztinee and RaenaBelle