Let’s continue in the spirit of our previous articles where we carry you in the skin of a cat the time of an article to better understand his behaviors. Without making the anthropomorphic error of thinking we know what a cat really thinks.
This time, you are in the shoes of a cat that has just been adopted by his new family. After spending a few weeks in a shelter, you might think you would be relieved to find yourself in a house, but you do not. This is another stressful change and you just got used to the shelter.
Luckily for you, your new owners are familiar with the CatEducator and have read BeOneBreed’s blog on the introduction of a new cat at home (They are well informed and smart. You are lucky!). That is why, as soon as you arrived, they isolated you in a room with a litter box in one corner of the room, water and food in the other. You immediately notice two things. The first is that your olfactory sense tells you that you are not the only feline in the house, which further increases your anxiety. The second is that the room is filled with treats … treats all over the place!!! WOW!
After having carefully walked around the room with the belly on the ground, pushed by your gluttony, you are reassured that the other cat is not in the room. In fact, you understand pretty quickly that he’s on the other side of the door, because you see his paws under the door. You do not have think about it. Your new owners shake a toy stick that stimulates your hunter instincts and makes you forget all these new stressful elements. In fact, you find the place rather nice with these treats and games.
Then, the door opens. You think that the other cat will take a swing and jump on you, but you see that he has been placed in another room to allow you to explore the house alone and without hassle. As you explore, you’ll find treats in every corner of the house. Each turn reveals treats, which prompts you to explore the place much more quickly. During your exploration, you see one of these new Katt3 (these new owners are really amazing!), cushions, interactive bowls and a water fountain, all you can say is that you are so lucky!
All this makes the experience much less stressful than you anticipated. Then, as you were not convinced enough of staying here for the rest of your life, you suddenly get a bowl of wet food … Your nostrils cannot believe it, McDonald’s for cat! You rush to the bowl to devour it and while you are busy to eating, the owners open the door of your room a few inches. You see the other cat, also feasting himself away from the other side of the door. As the door is only a few inches open, there is no chance that he can jump on you even if he saw you, he seems too busy eating his succulent meal.
– ” Hello!‘’ you say without stopping eating
– ” Hello!’’ Says the other, distrustful
– “Is that always the way it is? Do you always have cat McDo to eat? ”
– ” No! In fact, since you’ve been here, it’s amazing how many feasts I’ve had. I do not know what you told them, but thank you buddy! ”
– ” I thought it was because of you!”
As you are about to finish your bowl, the door closes. You can’t be more delighted with this first encounter. The scenario is repeated several times a day. They bring you a feast, the door opens, you see the other cat and it closes once the meal is over. You notice that each time your bowl moves closer to the door and that the same happens with the bowl of your new buddy. At one point, you find that the other cat is too close to you. Even if the door still prevents him to reaching you, you cannot help but throw a meow towards the other cat that does the same in return. You turn to the owners waiting for your punishment to have been bad, but they surprise you, they only move the two bowls from the door and put them at a more comfortable distance without saying anything else. How lucky you are! If they had punished you, you would have associated this punishment to the other cat and would surely have taken him as an adversary.
This merry-go-round continues for about a week, until you and your new roommate can eat at a distance of one foot on either side of the door, without any fuss. You sometimes exchange glances, nothing more. And if one or the other expresses a little dissatisfaction, the owners only take the bowls away and do things more slowly next time.
Then comes the day when the bowls are positioned at a good distance, the door open completely. The owners let you negotiate your territorial contracts together and share the resources without intervening, unless it turns into a fight. At the first sight of growling and small slaps, they will let you settle this between cats.
So you begin to purr of happiness at the idea that you have really joined an extraordinary family that will give only give you joy.
