KeeKee is our cat. Sometimes he gets frisky and starts playing rough. His behavior manifests in two ways, either he will lie on his back and wait for you to attack him with a hand or a foot, or he will pounce on a leg from behind some cover. To a certain extent I’ll let him play rough, egg him on a bit and challenge him because I have two hands and opposable thumbs. Then, I tell him that it’s game over and he acts like a cool cat as he walk away. When Hannah was little I had to coach her in an appropriate way to handle the frisky behavior. Acceptable: I would say, ‘When he gets to rough it’s ok to use the palm side of your fingers to pop him on the nose and then push him away.’ Hannah would reply, ‘But only until he goes away?’ And I would respond,‘Yep, you have to learn to protect yourself from him.’ **Not Acceptable:**I would say, ‘When he gets rough it’s ok to protect yourself.’ Hannah would reply, ‘If I kick him really hard it will make him stop.’ And I would respond (to the 2.5-3 year old Hannah) ‘No, it’s not ok to kick him, just pop him on the nose and push him away. You need to learn to protect yourself from him.’ For the most part it’s really him that needs protection from her, she carries him all around the house, makes him stay in her room and scold him when he escapes and puts him under blankets in her forts. However, he does get frisky and now she knows how to protect herself from him. Anyway, Mr KeeKee has all his claws, goes outside and is a murderous little hunter. That’s why he has a bell on when he goes outside. To protect the birds. Before we put the bell on he would bring us avian and reptile presents. We don’t get any birds when he wears it and fewer lizards get brought inside. I’m ok with that, when he gets out without the collar the birds really don’t have a chance and we bring him in at night so he can be safe from the coyotes. I think he remembers the coyote that tried to eat him in Colorado so unless he is hanging out with his cat buddy from somewhere in the neighborhood he comes when you call him. Here are some things he has taught me:
- Keeping your claws and teeth sharp is useless unless you have an outlet to that lets you use them
- Cat naps are the real deal
- Find a quiet out of the way space and watch everything
- We learn to protect ourselves appropriately, even from trusted pets
He is only a medium sized cat at around 15lbs. In my mind it begs the question, ‘Why would anyone ever think they could handle anything bigger and wild?’ I get the coolness factor of cats that are bigger, when they play they they are still playing with razor sharp knives. Anything bigger then him could do some serious damage to a person while it’s just playing. It’s just common sense that when said ‘pet’ decides its time to hunt it’s not going to have to go far to find you.
