he went and found his cheshy!

so ever since The Great Freakout of '06 (when my cat Wonton freaked out and attacked me after playing with his stuffed cheshire cat-a toy he's obsessed with and acts sort of strange with) i've kept the toy in my closet, in the corner, under a pile of clothes. i didn't want a repeat of his freakout, and virtually everyone told me not to let him play with it anymore, just to be on the safe side. when he used to play with it, he'd walk around with it in his mouth meowing, attack it, bite it, try to kill it, "bark" at it-he was obsessed.

so anyway, my bf and i went out the other night...we came back, were in our bedroom and i sat down on the bed-and there on the bed was Cheshy. i told my bf "hey, i told you he can't have that toy-when did you give it to him?" he gave me a strange look and said "i never gave it to him". i asked if he was sure and he said yeah. so apparently Wonton got in the closet, found the cheshy under the pile of clothes, picked him up, and brought him up on the bed he really is determined to keep his Cheshy.

i've put it away again, on the top shelf of the closet this time..just thought it was funny that he went and found it-and left it on the bed, as if to say "ha-told you i could find it! MY Cheshy!"

Awww let him have his Cheshy back!

Sophie goes loopy with toys now and again, she was this morning in the kitchen because i heard her around the kitchen table with the fish that Sarah (sar) knitted her growling at it

Give it to him! What happened on one occasion may have been the result of other incidental things that you weren't aware of (or didn't take into acct) and he seems to need it to act out whatever issues he has on a cat level that you can't appreciate. That's like taking away a child's favorite toy because of one misunderstood moment's temper.

Originally Posted by Larke

Give it to him! What happened on one occasion may have been the result of other incidental things that you weren't aware of (or didn't take into acct) and he seems to need it to act out whatever issues he has on a cat level that you can't appreciate. That's like taking away a child's favorite toy because of one misunderstood moment's temper.

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I agree completely - please give him back his cheshy, it's his favorite! He must have been so happy to find it, and left it on your bed to share his happiness with you!

How long has he been without his Cheshy? It's possible that even though he might have acted out that once, he may have learned his lesson now that he knows you'll take his toy away if he gets aggressive against you.

I'm going to have to disagree. I say don't let him have it. My cat Guinness has a toy that he looses it with. He walks around growling and attacking me and Nepheline. Its better for all of us if he doesn't have this particular toy! If you do want him to have the toy, see how he acts with it now. If its the same, then just get rid of it.

"Its better for all of us if he doesn't have this particular toy" - except for him! Really, you can't turn your cat into a doorstop - he has a right to express himself sometimes and even lose it just like we do.

hmmm... i didn't expect this thread to generate controversy (tho i use that word loosely )

when i posted about the original aggression incident i was told by members of this board that i probably shouldn't let him have it anymore..i also told my mom about what happened - she's in her 50's and has rescued stray animals all her life and had tons of cats, and generally really knows what she's taljking about-and she too told me not to give it to him. so i took it away thinking it was the right thing to do, even tho i didn't want to - it's his favorite toy.

the thing is, the aggression was pretty scary, and Wonton is no small kitty, he's 17 lbs last time i checked and quite intimidating when his tail is puffed to four times his normal size and he's yowling.

at the same time, i feel bad depriving him of it, cos he obviously wants it. i can see both sides of the argument.

i think i'll give it to him and watch him carefully when he's playing with it. the day of his freakout, i was playing with him with it-making it "walk" towards him, cos he's just so funny when he sees it coming towards him, he acts like a real cat is coming at him. maybe as long as i let him play with it on his own and don't add to his excitement by joining in, it'll be ok. but if i give it to him and he freaks out on me again i'm putting it away for good-it took me almost three weeks to get him back to normal after his freak out, and for the first two weeks i couldn't even be in the same room with him because if i moved he'd growl at me and try to stalk/bite me. i don't want to go through that again.

i do appreciate everyone's comments


here he is with his Chesh:

holding it on my bed:



carrying it room to room (all the while meowing)



just so it doesn't get any ideas about escaping...



that intense look he gets when playing with his "kitten"



these last four were taken the day he freaked, about twenty mins before it happened

give it to me and give it to me NOWWWWW



applying the death bite



rending it with his hind feet



Cheshy is fun to play with

Don't take it personally at what weve all said because that's the problem with being behind a computer and we can't hear what people sound like

Looking at those pictures i would really just give him Cheshy back because my Rosie always carries 1-2 toys around making deep meowing noises and then drops them a few feet from me, then i tell her what a good girl she is

Sophie, like i said in my previous post has moments with her toys where she goes beserk over them and growls like a baby lion cub and i find it so funny!.

Heres a picture of Sophie with one of the toys she growls at, her mousie.

Originally Posted by rosiemac

Don't take it personally at what weve all said because that's the problem with being behind a computer and we can't hear what people sound like

Looking at those pictures i would really just give him Cheshy back because my Rosie always carries 1-2 toys around making deep meowing noises and then drops them a few feet from me, then i tell her what a good girl she is

Sophie, like i said in my previous post has moments with her toys where she goes beserk over them and growls like a baby lion cub and i find it so funny!.

Heres a picture of Sophie with one of the toys she growls at, her mousie.

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oh not taken personally at all, i was just surprised at the amount of ppl who said i should give it back.

the pic of your Sophie with her mousie is adorable

Oh my gosh, that toy freaks me out looking at it!!!!
But seriuosly, what a picture that is with Wonton sticking his tongue out!
Very cute kitty you have there

And you should hear her growl at them!. Even Rosie comes to investigate when she hears Sophie go off on one!

Jeez, that's scary. My guess is that he's responding to the giant face as though it's a real animal.

I noticed my cat playing strangely with a cardboard box that a cat bed had come in... he would whack it with one of his front paws, so hard his paws seemed to hurt, and then jump back as though scared. Then I realized that there was a life-sized photo of a cat on the box... and he was whapping the exact center of its face, every time.

I might be just a little biased on this subject.

But if having the toy worries you so much just throw the thing out.

If it were me and my cat was that upset I would have tossed it after the first incident.

The reason I decided that my cat couldn't have this toy is that he didn't just walk around with it. He would be hissing and growling and if my other cat got near he would swat at her and scare her. I would have to put him in the bathroom alone and then he would get lonely and calm down. He would drop it and want to come out. So as I said, it was better for all of us if he doesn't have it. Keep in mind that I live in a bachelor apartment and peace is more important than him having one toy. I stick by my advice.

Their must be something with the color pink. My Connor walks around with a pink elephant. We also make the toy talk and walk to Connor. He doesn't get aggressive but he will walk around with it crying. A few times we found him in his water bowl.

Originally Posted by crazyforinfo

Their must be something with the color pink. My Connor walks around with a pink elephant. We also make the toy talk and walk to Connor. He doesn't get aggressive but he will walk around with it crying. A few times we found him in his water bowl.

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hahaha... sometimes Wonton brings the chesh over to his dish and sets him down right in front of it. we always tell him "the cheshy's not hungry, Wonton"

My cat now has a toy that he acts somewhat similar with. It's one of those catnip filled mouse toys that you can easily refill. He's loves to carry it around the house and pounce around with it. Though be careful if you decide to pick it up in front of him! He'll try to get it out of your hands a bit roughly (though knowingly playful).

last night he was acting strange again...i woke up at 3 in the morning to a strange feeling, sat up, and he was standing on the bed, on my lower legs, holding the cheshy, and doing this kind of kneading motion-NOT "making biscuits" tho-he was standing up, and his front and hind feet were doing it. he was just standing there kneading the bed with all four feet. my bf was awake watching late night tv and said a few mins earlier he'd been walking around the house with it in his mouth, meowing.

strange cat.

Rick said "maybe it comes alive when we're not here and torments him, and he's trying to let us know. its alive...its ALIVE!!" had me cracking up at three in the morning

ROFL! I love that last comment!