I will trade you Rowdy, for a week and you'll find out how a REAL brat cat acts. She will look you dead in the eye and do something, that she KNOWS is naughty. In addition, forget romance - Rowdy thinks that men are for HER and her alone.
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I have been spoiled
- Thread starter valanhb
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So, another question for you with brat cats.
Are they usually the dominant cat in the house? We're finding that Ginger is taking advantage of the uncertainty shown by both Trent and Ophelia. I think she's going to end up being Alpha, unless Ophelia gets sure of herself real quick.
8-Bit is the Alpha here. He will attempt to bury his brother's toys in his litter box, knock them into the toilet, and bit his rump if he gets out of line.Originally Posted by valanhb
So, another question for you with brat cats.Are they usually the dominant cat in the house? We're finding that Ginger is taking advantage of the uncertainty shown by both Trent and Ophelia. I think she's going to end up being Alpha, unless Ophelia gets sure of herself real quick.
Although, today was the first time I caught them sleeping together. It was soooo cute! It takes time for them to get a long, but when it does you can feel the love in the whole house.
Let's hope Ginger doesn't teach Trent and Ophelia her tricks! Can Jamie call her? He should really let her know about the "kamikaze cat attack at the table" trick.
Simba is definately the Alpha in this house, at least when it comes to the other cats. I have to constantly remind him, that I am the TRUE Alpha of the house
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I have to say, I don't think Ginger could ever compete with 8-Bit OR Simba and their antics! They are so full of purrsonality they are just about to burst out of their fur.
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My Ophelia is a bratty cat, I guess. No matter how many times I tell her, she never listens!
She screams like a banshee, not just when she's playing, but ALL THE TIME.... She doesn't know how to play, she more or less thwacks the other kitty as hard as she can...thank goodness Dorian can take a beating. She is insanely possessive/aggressive/mean about some things. She is VERY dominant cat. So is Twitch...every once in awhile they sit back to back fuming without the other ever knowing they are there.
I guess Ophelia isn't as bad as Ginger. She does have her moments. She can open doors, like normal ones. We keep all doors to the outside locked if Ophelia may have access to them or she takes all the kitties for a walk.
Just makes you appreciate the kitties you've had more. Ginger is the reason why I NEVER want a kitten again. I like the ones who have grown out of the brattiness, or the ones I know will be brats forever.
I guess Ophelia isn't as bad as Ginger. She does have her moments. She can open doors, like normal ones. We keep all doors to the outside locked if Ophelia may have access to them or she takes all the kitties for a walk.
Just makes you appreciate the kitties you've had more. Ginger is the reason why I NEVER want a kitten again. I like the ones who have grown out of the brattiness, or the ones I know will be brats forever.
I'm sorry I laughed when I read this post, Heidi - but it is SO Flowerbelle, lol!!!! I've never thought of Flowerbelle as a brat (Gary sure does!) before - but I guess that's what it is! I just thought she has lots of energy...
When she wants attention, you KNOW it. She'll jump up on the table in the bedroom where Gary drops all the crap out of his pockets - and she starts pushing things off one by one. Each time, she'll look over at us. We've learned not to leave easy to knock over glasses out - and we don't leave anything that can break anywhere they can get to. We decided to ignore this behavior until she left wherever she was pushing things from, because we didn't want her to learn that she could knock something off a table and get attention for it.
Of course... it hasn't discouraged her at all from doing it! Three years later, and there she is....
Of course, there's always paper tearing. This tends to be more when she's angry that we're not playing with her anymore. But Gary loves to go to work and be able to say "my cat ate it!"
What we do for Flowerbelle is
1) Play with her A LOT. WAY more than the other cats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank GOD she loves to fetch this one wand toy. I've got my chair set up so I can chuck it down the stairs and still work - so I only have to mildly be involved attention-wise with playing. I remember MA used to tie strings with toys on them so they'd drag around the house when she vacuumed, dusted or cleaned or whatever. THat's a good idea!
2) Change the environment frequently. She doesn't need as much attention when she's got new things to explore - and bags and boxes fit the bill perfectly. We "build" cat condos out of large, various-sized boxes. Cut holes, tape them together, &etc. It takes like 1/2 an hour to build the main thing - and a few minutes to change the config or move rooms (or both). We change the configuration, move it to new rooms, etc. We drop paper bags down in different places (and pick up the old ones) several times a week. We open closet doors that are normally closed so she's got a "new" place to explore.
And as for the dinner table - it's just a lot of blowing in her face and setting her back down on the floor. A LOT. Or Gary keeps an air can around, and blows it at her feet. That seems to work best. (For the other cats the noise of a hissing air can alone does the trick, but as Flowerbelle's deaf, it has to be right near her).
We do our best to give her lots of attention when it's convenient for us - and the more we give, the less she demands when it's not convenient. That's not to say it doesn't happen, because it does. But she just has more energy than they other guys and needs more attention than they do! Or - she's just a bigger brat.
As to the alpha thing... it may seem like Ginger's alpha for a while. And she may be. But if Ophelia was your alpha, and she decides she wants it back - at some point in the future she will take it back.
