Saturday, December 06, 2008

I Like Fish Toys






This is Dante kitty playing with one of his favorite cat toys. He loves anything that is tied to a string and stick. This is a fishy, with a little bell on it. He gets so excited whenever he sees this toy. See how he does the bitey?

In our last post, "the staredown", I wanted to followup with that and mention that Dante is on a leash for his protection and for the safety of the other cats. We have had Dante be off his leash a few times, and the second he sees the other cats, he races over to them and takes a huge bite out of their fur. Big clumps of fur comes off and he's very aggressive. Yaffa and Sebastian are very docile cats and they don't fight back. So... we've resorted to putting the leash on Dante because he really doesn't know how to play nice at all, and the water spray bottle does very little to deter him. He even does the lunge and bite thing on us beans. And I can attest that it hurts, he's broken skin and made us bleed a couple of times. He's still a young kitty, so I'm hoping the older he gets, the calmer he will be. I just can't imagine what his previous owner did to him to make him not trust anyone or any other kitty.
All we can do is to be patient as possible, and introduce the cats while keeping all safe.

16 comments:

Daisy said...

I hope that Dante will learn to be more gentle with time. He is so gorgeous!

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

We hope Dante learns manners soon and becomes friends with the other cats. He is a gorgeous mancat. ~S,S & C

Gemini and Ichiro said...

Dante, I hope that you start becoming a much nicer cat. Fish toys are fun and they are okay to attack with all claws extended (unlike humans and other cats)

Zoe and Indy said...

Yes you should definitely not just let them work it out if he's tormenting the others. We let Indy and Zoe work out their biting but they never hurt each other and they worked it out. Georgia kept biting clumps of fur out of the others too and would have just kept at it if we didn't intervene. Have you tried time outs? It took us months of just removing her to her own room at the first sign of aggression or intimidation. Now if she's lunging to bite just a snap of the fingers will stop her and she's finally starting to learn it's ok to play with them as long as she doesn't bite. We just said no and put her in a room alone when she was aggessive. Sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes longer if she was really crazy. She had her litter, food, and toys and everything and just calmed down alone. I think the time out thing might help Dante but it takes a while and you have to be really consistent.

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

I'll file that away -

Stikhk -

Fish -

Khatch khat -

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra

Everycat said...

Maybe Dante wasn't socialised in his early weeks? He's a beautiful cat, enjoying his fish toys there, he's lucky to have people like you who are so patient with him. Lunges and bites are scary stuff.

George Online Cat is helpful on these sorts of behaviour issues, he may be able to give you some advice/strategies about Dante's behaviour if you send him a question.

Whicky Wuudler

Forty Paws said...

Oh goodness! They must've played with Dante very rough. Poor thing. And poor you for putting up with all the biting!

Luf, Us

Anonymous said...

You're right to be patient with Dante... with patience and love, he should start to settle down. Hang in there!

Dr Tweety of da Fab Five said...

Oh gets dat fishy Dante!!! I bets you will learnz not to bitey too hard az you gets a bit older & wizer.

Cat Street Boyz said...

Tang, "Ty isn't that bad but he likes to rough house and with my disability all I can do is hiss but it doesn't always work. When Mommy catches Ty running after me, she drops the thick phone book to the floor, (loud bang), which stops Ty in his tracks and Mommy corrects Ty with firm, "No-Ty-No, not Tang. It is actually working 'cause now Mommy says, stop Ty, NO...and he stops and walks away, YEAH MOMMY!!! Good thing you have a patient Mommy, Dante=^Y^=Tang & the Cat Street Boyz

SophieKitty said...

Dante is a lucky kitty. I hope he settles down soon.

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

Oh poor Dante we hope that he can be shown with patient loving ways to be more gentle...

purrs
Abby

MaoMao said...

hehe, fishie toys are so much funsies! And I bet Dante will settle down. He's a furry handsum mancat!

Kittyhugs and purrs from MaoMao!

Anonymous said...

I feel bad for Dante I can't imagine what made him this way.He's very lucky he found you and that your willing to be patient.Hopefully your time and love will work...Hugs

jenianddean said...

I hope Dante learns that you have his best interest in mind. He can be a sweet cat, and he's lucky you are patient.
--Jasper

lisa said...

I'm with the others-Dante is gorgeous, and hopefully time-outs will help him understand.

Related Posts with Thumbnails