You’re Petting Your Cat All Wrong!
We are here to talk about why your cat beats you up. Now, let's go get catified. Today, we are in the land of the supermarket question. The supermarket question is, Jackson, I got this cat, he's really, really cool. And every time we're sitting together, out of the blue, randomly he attacks me.
Of course, its never out of the blue. It's always because of something. And secondly, yes, you may have bites and scratches on you, but is that an attack? Most times, when folks are sitting here just like me and him, we're just sitting around, we're not doing much of anything-- good PC, good PC, oh I love PC.
Look at this, look at this.
Bye, PC. See you, PC. Right? And gone. Why is that?
Petting-induced overstimulation aggression. And what happens there is that certain cats-- and this is physiological, this is not a matter of temperament-- cannot take being pet like this over and over the over again. It actually fills them with a sort of static, like a balloon, filled, filled, and then bang. You don't realize when you're sitting watching TV with your cat how you're petting them. So what is the cure for this?
All right, let's look at number one. Be observant. Know when your cat is getting worked up. As you're petting, you're going to notice the tail start to twitch just a little. And then that graduates, and then starts going like this.
And then, you are going to get bit. Then there is what I call back electricity. Right down the back. It's a cat going eew, ughh In terms of stimulation, they're just getting to that point. It's up to you to notice these things.
And if you notice that, the aggression is not going to happen. Know where your cat enjoys being pet and for how long. I'm going to demonstrate with [? Veloria ?] the opposite of the full body pet.
Veloria, here, 23 years old of fun. So now watch, out comes the finger. You see how she guides me here with the finger? Look at that, see how she guides me? This is a technique-- I wish I had a better name for it.
Right now I call it the finger nose. I present my finger like a nose to the cat. The idea is to let them pet you. Overstimulation happens constantly with cats because they are this direct channel for energy. Proactivity is key, folks.
You've got to play with your cats. You've got to get that energy out on a regular basis so then when they're sitting on your lap, that balloon is not filled to 90%. So all it takes is five pets and kaboom. They blow. Again, remember, you are in control of putting air into the cat balloon.
Let that air out as the day goes on. Don't keep putting air into it, and don't be surprised when the balloon pops. From now on, when it does happen to you-- I know this is really hard-- pull yourself emotionally out of that moment and say, what just happened here. When you understand that part of things, you're going to stop blaming the cat for doing things to you. All right, folks, you can find me pretty much anywhere.
If you want to find me, #teamcatmojo, #mycatfromhell, #teamanimojo, you'll see a lot of these hashtags. Just hashtag. You know, I'm still looking for more cats and dogs watching my cat from hell, so if you just #catswatchingmcfh, #dogswatchingmcfh, we'll all have a lot of fun doing that. And also, send me in examples of what you've done to your house to environmentally enrich that place. #catification, and be on the lookout for that book "Catification" with my coauthor Kate Benjamin, coming out in October.
Couldn't be more psyched for that one. All right folks, until next time, all light, all love, and all mojo to ya.
Love ya. (MUSIC) You're a bad cat. I'm not a bad cat.
You're a bad cat. I'm not a bad cat. You're a bad cat. I'm just misunderstood. Meow.
