this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2024
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Depends what you're teaching them. They're biting? Move away so they know playtime's over if they bite. Be consistent, because they won't get it the first time. Don't scratch that? Put a scratchable surface in front of it, and when they use it, reward them with positive attention. Etc.
How do you tell a strange cat on the street that you don't want it to go near you?
Stare at it. Ignoring cats will make them like you, bevause to cats, not being looked at is a sign of trust.
Weird because usually when I see a strange cat on the street I'm trying to get it to come over to me.
Lol that was my thought exactly.
And fyi, food is the only thing I've found so far that works.
Drag is afraid of cats because drag doesn't know how to say no in a way a cat can understand. Drag would feel much better about exploring friendships with cats if drag felt able to say no.
That's tough, because street cats that do that have been socialized to be super pro human (strange humans give them snacks?)
I guess if it was me and I was visiting someone allergic, I'd do something silly like put on hand sanitizer and let them sniff my hand. Or hiss at them, if I didn't see people around. Walk loud. Unfortunately, a lot of "i'm scared go away" body language can come across as 'I'm not threatening! Say hi!!" to a friendly cat. What's the specific situation drag is in?
No specificity. Drag just wants to be able to communicate better with cats, especially when drag isn't in a mood to expand drag's horizons by confronting a scary stimulus.
Hissing at strange cats won't provoke them into a fight? Getting into a fight with a cat would be the worst outcome, that won't happen?
I can't guarentee anything, but hissing is usually 'knock it off' and growling is 'fuck off i'll bite.' You could try being generally loud first, though, since your human hiss might not get parsed the same as a cat hiss if you don't do it right at first. Say 'no!' very loud. Clap your hands. If it's far, stomp and go "hey!!!" Some cats pick up weird socialization and I'm not a cat expert, so take what i say with a grain of salt, tho.
When I see my cat scratch the wrong thing I go "Hey!!" and thump the table and she'll stop what she's doing. Then when she scratches the right thing, I go "Oh, good job, kitty!" in a much softer, gentle voice. She doesn't really get it. She hears the loud tone, stops scratching, and jumps up on the couch. She doesn't get it's 'stop,' but she stops, so it's good enough for me. They don't like loud noises or certain smells, so you can use those to make them not want to be around you without hurting them.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CatAdvice/comments/13oclp7/how_do_i_get_over_my_fear_of_cats
I like the advice here on how to reduce a cat phobia. If you spend time with some very chill cats who will only be aggressive in extreme cases, you'll learn their body language and signals and have an easier time signalling to them. It's easier to "get" cats when you understand how little they understand us.
I wish I could help more. I remember being terrified of dogs as a kid, until I met a neighbor's tiny elderly guy, who was so gentle and hard to fear, I slowly overcame it. Good luck! Sorry about the rambling.
You're being very helpful, thank you. Drag is a big dog lover. A lot of people on the internet say dragons are big cats, but drag disagrees. Dragons are very socially intelligent and responsive to human forms of communication. Like dogs. Drag has read a lot about cats. Like how meowing is usually only used by kittens to talk to adult cats, but cats started meowing as adults to talk to humans, because humans don't understand normal cat language very well. Drag grew up with dogs and speaks dog almost as fluently as english. Drag hasn't had very much cat exposure at all. Drag's only ever gotten to know one cat, and we never reached the stage of actually communicating. We were able to play, but not to communicate. Internet memes seem to indicate that cats are perfectly comfortable living in a house with humans they can't communicate with, and some humans feel the same way. Drag doesn't feel that way. Drag needs to be able to communicate with any intelligent creature for whom interaction is expected and violence is discouraged. Drag doesn't want to use violence on cats, that sounds horrible. Thus, drag needs a way to solve problems without violence. Dogs are so much easier. If you call a dog a bad dog, it understands instantly. Dogs put in an effort to listen and to make themselves understood, and they put in an effort to get along. Cats seem perfectly comfortable completely ignoring communication. Which, drag hears, can lead to live mice being dropped in your bed.
Like a dog peeing on the floor, dropping a mouse on the bed has to happen once so they can figure out it's unwanted. Unfortunately. The impulse is sweet, though - she was sharing food and play with me - so it's just a silly story I share about her, now. She was such a great little hunter. I had her as a kitten in an old house, and she leapt to the challenge of taking care of the slight mouse problem. Or, supplementing the household's food, as perhaps she saw it. When we moved from that house to one with a serious mouse problem, she became the hardest worker there. That memory, once the sheets were clean, became a cherished one. She cared about my well being, and giving me food was a way of showing me I was part of her cat family.
How did you tell her not to do it again?
Tough to remember, but I was loud and nonviolent, based on what i know about myself. If you see a kitten bite another kitten too hard, they yell out. I try to go "OW" when I'm training a young one not to bite, and then move away (fun time is now over). A mama cat will bat a kitten's ears for misbehaving, but I don't do that. I mostly suspect I didn't react how her instincts said I should (i didn't hunt and play with it and then eat it). Combined with the loud noise, it wasn't something worth trying again. Could've just been a coincidence, because it's not like training them out of biting where there's a clear progression to gentler biting and then licking and then a little pause when my hand is where she would normally bite it.