I gave Rusty a good talking to,,,,

Hello, Now that I lost Tuffy a while back to FIP I have been thinking about getting another kitty cat if I can find one who seems to have that something special that Tuffy had. One day I want to and the next I don't.

Anyway one night Rusty was laying inside of Tuffy's carrier that I used for all Tuffy's vet and animal hospital trips so I layed down to play with Rusty a little and I started to give Rusty a good talking to, I told him if he liked me as much as Tuffy did I wouldn't have to find another special kitty cat, and how much I did to raise him from a tiny kitten and sat up with him one night when he was real sick thinking he wouldn't make it like 2 of his brothers but he made it and is now a great big nice looking cat, but he has never really liked me very much.

Well after my "talk" with Rusty he has been comming up to me head butting me and purring wanting attention from me, he even woke me up this morning wanting me to pet him. When I come in from outside he comes up to me to check me over, just like Tuffy used to do. I know he didn't understand my "talk" with him but I wonder why his sudden change? He seems fine, I mean he don't seem sick and he eats and drinks fine. He is a great kitty cat, I mean he is not a trouble maker or gets into things or places he shouldn't, he seems like a very smart cat but like I said he never spent much time with me so I don't know his little traits near as well as I knew Tuffy's way of doing things. He has always been a cat who spends alot of his time alone and not with me or other people, and he is a real jumpy kind of cat at anything new but I wouldn't call him high strung or always under alot of stress.

I can't figure out why he has changed his attitude towards me, I keep wondering if he is not feeling right or there is something he wants but I can't see anything that makes me think he is having any kind of problems. If he understood my "talk" with him he is much smarter than I gave him credit for.

Any one have any ideas on what is going on with his sudden change in attitude???????

I think he's being smarter than you are giving him credit for! They just act like they don't understand us!

Sounds like Rusty liked the extra attention you gave him.

Tonight Rusty let me pick him up and carry him around for a while. He never would let me pick him up before, and if I cought him off guard and picked him up he would have a fit and just squirm till he got away or I put him down. Maybe Tuffy is talking to Rusty from over the bridge and telling him I am not such a bad guy.

Maybe they don't understand the words, but they understand something. After Fred went to the Bridge, I talked to each of my kitties about it, and they were better. They stopped looking for him and just looked sad for awhile. Pepper started to do things that seemed to be meant to console me, like more loves and head butts. I think they understand more that we give them credit for until we see it for ourselves.

Rusty woke me up again this morning. I guess I will have to see if this is a real change in him or if he is just acting weird for some reason.

Tom, I think Rusty just instinctively knows that you are still mourning Tuffy, and is trying to console you. Cats are pretty attuned to our emotions, but don't always show it. Just enjoy and encourage the newfound closeness, and stop worrying!

Tuffy was gone a long time before Rusty started to change. Its like I said, I gave him a good talking to one night and its like he understood what I said to him???????

I have always tried to pet him and play with him by throwing his toys for him to chase and talk nice to him to get him to trust me but it didn't help. One night he was in the pet carrier that I used to take Tuffy all over so I laid on the floor and was playing with Rusty a little and I got sad when I got thinking about all the times Tuffy would sleep in there so I started to say to Rusty that if he liked me I wouldn't have to think about another kitty cat to replace Tuffy.

Yvonne was sitting at the table next to where I was talking to Rusty and she laughed at the way I was talking to Rusty as if he was another person. Anyway since my talk with Rusty he has changed so much. He has started to sleep on the bed by me during my afternoon nap, and last night he was playing with me on th e bed for a long time, and he would even let me rough him up some which he would never let me do before. I can pick him up and hold him and carry him around the house which I could never do before, he used to get so scared when I picked him up his hair would come out real bad, I would be just covered in cat hair if I picked him up. He has even started to "talk" to me like Tuffy used to. It makes me feel good that he is starting to trust me after all this time, he is supposed to be my cat so it hurt me allot when he wouldn't have anything to do with me. Its just so strange that he changed so much after I told him off the other night.

He just needed to hear what you wanted from him.Now, he'll be the kitty that you wanted.

Lately when I am in the bathroom Rusty will scratch and meow at the door till I let him in with me. For some reason when he is alone with me and the door is shut he wants all kinds of attention from me. As soon as I open the door he takes off again. If Panther is in the bathroom with me then Rusty won't act like this to me. I think if he was the only cat here he would be much closer to me.

Maybe Rusty's change of attitude is his way of coping with the grief of Tuffy passing away and until you had your 'talk' he was struggling with getting close to you?

Aww, sounds like he understood yoru talk. Maybe I should try it with PEbbles.

Maybe he thinks you're acknowledging that now he can be #1 cat, and appreciates it!