Is your cat crazy--John Wright--Chapter 12 & C 13

Jennifer say:


Chapter 12: Hatred, revenge, and inflexible felines

1) Cats whom dun adapt well to sudden changes in the house will misbehave

2) Cats organize their behaviour around certain daily activities. All kittens do this, but some are more adaptable to changes but some are not. Some get so locked into a pattern of activity that they become almost compulsive. If they are thwarted in any way, they get upset. Gettin upset lead to arousal, which lead to spraying or urinating or defecating outside the box or other misbehaviour.

3) Cat's behaviour oraganised round a stimulus events that become almost synchronized with her activities, thus we can predict what the cat is going to do day after day.

4) House moving can affect a cat behaviour too. A certain cat keep going back to her owner old house even though the owner had shift house.

5) A disruption of stable pattern of behaviour introduces stress, which leads to dysfunctional behaviour. A solution is to reintroduce stabilty and a routine of doing the same things in the same way.

Chapter 13: Babies, kittens, dogs and other surprises (last chapter)

1)Bring a new born baby to a house with cat may sometime make the cat stressful. A cat may be attracted to a new born smell--milky smell and sniff the baby.

2) Always introduce the baby to the cat slowly. A way to introduce cats to new born to get used to her cyring is this way:

Record the baby cryin in a tape and play it in soft tune to the cat.Play with the cat while the tape is been played. Play the tape 4 time daily. Then over time, increase the volume of the tape till it is exactly as if teh baby is crying inside the room. By then , the cat has get used to teh crying

3) always praise the cat while she around with the baby. Play with it too with the baby inside.

4) Some animal behaviorists found that some ppl prefer their cat not to enter the baby room. So they placed a new object that the cat not seen before outside the door of the baby room. at the same time, a loud speaker is set up to startle the cat when it approaches the room. After two trials, the cat will avoid the room without any loud sound whenever the cat saw the object u placed outside room.

I done with my entries for the books..the rest of chapter 13 is how to make a cat and dog stay together. since i do not have dogs , i ignored the reading and entries too.

Is your cat crazy--John Wright--Chapter 11

Jennifer say:


Chapter 11: When bad things happen to good cats:getting Past Traumatic Events

1) One way to train two cats to accept each other is to get two cat carriers. Place the two cats around 15 feet apart, facing one another inside their cage. Place them facing like 3 to 4 time per day with 30 min inside the cage each time. Each day, move the cage a bit closer together. If either cat reacted fearfully to the other with growling dilated eyes, fur standing on end, move the cage further again. Place food inside the cage to keep the cat feel good abt one other company. Gradually each cat will see one another without any fear.

2) If u cat fear a cat carrier, leave the carrier in ur house for ur cat to examine in various location. let him sniff and put a couple of cat treats inside to lure him in. After a few days, the cat should be jumpin in and out the box to get his food treats. When u reach this point, pick up the container and carry it for a few feet. The repeat the routine with the lid closed. Dont move too quickly. If he jump out of the cage, let him out and try again later.

Is your cat crazy--John Wright--Chapter 10

Jennifer say:


Chapter 10: Blame Me-I have a note from the doctor

1) Case study:There a guy with AIDs whom was adviced by Wright to have a catsitter so that the cat will not endanger the owner. The owner ran a risk of infection from cat bites or stratches or bacteria in the urine or feces. There also the danger of toxoplasmosis. (wonder what this meant). Wright told the owner of this organisation based in San Franciso called PAWS that deals with dogs and cats and educates their owners concerning all zoonotic diseases that can be transmitted to persons with weakened immune systems. Volunteer can go to the homes of AIDS patient and take care of their pets, cleaning their litter box and so forth, so the risk of owner is minimized and they can continue to keep their beloved pets.

2) Cats misbehaviour can sometimes be created by health problem that the cats have. A vet examination is a MUST if the cat misbahaves.

3) If a cat has an aggressive temperament, it will bite and attack people. The solution is to help defuse the cat's apparent anger by a quiet zone, tossing toys, frequent hold of cat, and pet the cat frequently followed by praise.

4) A behaviour problem stems from a physical one is that of the cat who eliminate all over the house. The first thing wright reccommend for this cat is a vet examination. The vet may discover a viral or fungal infection, a bacterial infection, renal failure or a disease such as diabetes. Or the cat might have a neuromuscular disorder that renders him unable to maintain control over his sphincter muscle during elimination.

Urinary-tract infections and other maladies including constipation and diarrhea can cause a cat pain or discomfort.

5) Sometimes a cat may eliminate elsewhere because of one bad experience with his litter box. This cause it to change to a new location to eliminate.

Is your cat crazy--John Wright--Chapter 9

Jennifer say:


Chapter 9: Lifestyle of stressed out felines

1) Cats that are stressful will urinate, cry, bite, chew or have a number of misbehaviour.

2) Cats have different personalities and preferences, and when the environment become chaotic or when strong preferences are thwarted, it can lead to trouble.

3) Most cats are devoted to their owners than to their turf. They can handle big changes like moving to a new house with their owner, but not being left behind. It is the absence of a particular person notjust any person in the household that they have trouble coping with.

4) Cats that pass to others sometime create trouble so it is better to have the right cat with the right owner rather than to pass the cat to someone else

Is your cat crazy--John Wright--Chapter 8

Jennifer say:


Chapter 8: Outside cats, outside agitators

1) Always decide if u want to let ur home cat go out. A vet always advise you not to do so ..not to let ur cat out as outside cats may have unknown illness that can be passed to ur home cat

2) If ur cat meow too loud, u can place a piece of acrylic plastic to the outside of ur bedroom door or where the cat is in to shut down the noise level.

3) If you decide to bring home a former outside cat indoor, ( u allow ur cat to stay outside ur house whole day but now decide to end it outside life), bring it home for 2 hours every day. Increase the time by one hour every day. Distract the cat by playing with it while she is indoor. Feed her also while she indoor. The activities will help ease the transition. Do not feel sorry for the cat if she keep meowing for u to open the door. otherwise the plan wil fail.

4) or u can make ur cat wear a harness and leash to take it outside.

Is your cat crazy--John Wright--Chapter 7

Jennifer say:


Chapter 7: Top cat, bottom cat: Challenges of the multiple -cat household

1) If a cat is particularly susceptible to stress, the introduction of a second cat may be enough to break down his coping system and lead him to urinate or defecate outside his litter box.

2) By spraying, cat mark his territory. Males most likely spray than females. Castration is likely to reduce or stop the spraying

3) Researchers found a direct realtionship between the numbr of cats in a household and the probability of spraying by one or more of them. one survey of 150 cats owners revealed that in a household with one cat, there was a 25% chance it would stray, with 10 cats, the likehoold jumped to 100%.

4) One way cats have of indicating dominance is to pay a lot of attention to vertical spacing. If you look at how cats arrange themselves, the most assertive or the top cat among them will usually be sitting up the highest.

5) Cats arranged in a series of planks up and down the walls in a florida animal shetler are found to be more peaceful and calm.

6) In a household of two cats, one cat will always be the boss and the other the subordinate cat.

7) The boss cat will usually 'punish' the subordinate cat to reestablish the distance in status and stablilizing the role relationship.

8) Owners must always feed the boss cat first, place the boss cat in the highest position first and play with the cat first. Then attend to the subordinate cat last. This make the two cats more happy.

9) Cats are different from dogs in the suboridnate cat's behvaiour is motivated more by avoidance or defensivenss than it is by submissiveness. As long as the cat personabiltity is not extremely fearful or extremely asertive, he can occupy a dominant role with one cat adn a subordinate role with another cat at the same time. The subordinate cat is more likely to avoid confrontation over a desired resource rather than submit to the dominant cat.

10) It is hard to determine whom in both cat is the dominant or suboridnate cat. A animal behaviorist, Penny Bernstein, used a cardboard box to test out the ranking of the cats.14 cats are used in this experiment. When she put the box down, two cats jumped right in, occupying the box first. This experiment show that both cats are dominant cats.

11) Always find out whom is the dominant cat in a household. Place the resting place in a higher position and encourage the suboridante cat to sleep at a lower position.

12) Some cat have a chaining behaviour, a ritual where they will do something that is the same everyday eg..drink water, eat, play and sleep at around the same time.

Is your cat crazy--John Wright--Chapter 6

Jennifer say:


Chapter 6-Beware of the attack cat!

1) Cat aggression problems always need to be diagnosed and treated by a professional, cat owners can and should aware of the danger signals a cat display when aggressive or fearful. Cats look and act differeently depending on whether they are in an offensive or defensive mode.

2) Offensive posture include staring with constricted pupils at the potential victim ( cat or human) with neck and whiskers thrust forward and ears rotated backwards. The cat's hair may stand on end, partically along the middle of the back. The tail is likely to be held slighly away from the body and bending downward or the tail may be vertical and the rear end elevated. The cat faces the victim straight on.

3) Defensive posture include facing an enemey sideways, he wil try to make himself as small and insignaificant as possible. He crouches down, pulls in his head with ears flattened and wraps his tail around in front of his body. The defensive cat will find all his hair standing on end, an indication of physiological arousal.

4) A cat't tail is a good barometer of what he has in mind:
Tail held high indicate play

Tail concaved and curved down body indicate defensive aggression.

Tail held low indicate precede aggression.

Tail between his legs indicate fear

4) To prevent playful aggression from kitten, you should not handle ur kitten roughly or encourage her to wrestle u. Set her down. handle and pet the cat camely after she tires of playing. the best way is to leave the cat alone.

5) Always seperate two fighting cats by giving one cat a escape route. Do not reach for the cats.

6) Wild stray kittens are taught by their mummy to kill preys. Their mummy will usualy bring the litter a half dead mouse for her babies to kill. normaly those mummy raise in breeder will never taught her litter how to kill preys.

7) Single kittens play more with their mothers than play alone with other objects.

5) by 4 months, kittens play become more aggressive. The behaviour of playfighting a cat directs toward her owner can become so ritualized that the owner can predict when the cat will attack him.

6) Case Study:A cat always attack her owner when she pet her cat after 4 stokes. Wright taught the owner to stop when she saw the cat whisker is rotaing (indicating a attack). When continued stroking when the whiskers became less flared. Eventually the cat can be stroked more than 4 times to abt 10 times.

7) Wright study showed more aggression problem in purebeed cats than in mixed breeds.

8) most untreated aggressive cat do not live past their first couple of birthdays as their owners will abandone their cats if it attacks. Often aggressive problem is developmental, linked to a stage that occurs from ages 6 months to a year and half when the hormones are beginning to flow and sexual maturity is reached.

Is your cat crazy--John Wright--Chapter 5

Jennifer say:


Now it chapter 5--Can you teach a cat good behaviour? I need to emphasise what a great book John Wright had written..read it, folks...

I noticed that my counter show a number of visitors--ten, not that many, but it encouraging when i got visitors to my blog..pls post comments esp those whom are animals lovers--any animals--cows, horses, pigs..ha...

1) Cats are relatively ritualistic species that do well in an ordered and predictable environment, which describes the domestic household scene fairly well. (ppl with totally chaotic, unpredictable life styles usually choose not to have pets ore more likely to have cats and dogs with behaviour problems stemming from the instability encounted in their daily lives.)

2) Cats that are timid or neophobic (avoiding new or novel objects, ppl or sounds etc) are less likely to explode, and they are more likely to stay in one location, so they are likely to Learn less.

3) Cats are trainable ( I support wright with both my hands in the way with banner saying: YES, yes, cats can be trained, i taught sweetie to meow when i asked her if she want food and we taught her to use the loo where she aimed her pee into the water holes..without fail) Training cats is a matter of shaping their behaviour so they do things they automatically want to do or of using their natural preferences to teach them to do other things that you want them to do. Just start early if possible (or when the cat is young, like sweetie whom is onli 1 plus of age).

4) Cats are curious, they explode a lot and they like a nice high vantage point.

5) How to prevent cats from jumping on kitchen counters(God bless me, sweetie does not does this)

Set some waxed paper on the counter with ending hanging down so cat can see it from the gound

set three small mousetraps and turned them upside down on top of the waxed paper..the mousetraps were safe, commericale available for cat training.

Soon, cats will connected the waxed paper with mousetraps and will not jumped on the table even if u removed the traps.the mousetraps do scared the cat.

Leave the paper for a few days and removed it. then put it back the next day. Soon even without paper, ur cat will learn not to jump

U can replaced waxed paper with towel or anything else that the cat is not familiar with.

6) Cats scratched as they have sebaceous glands on their feets which leave an odor where the cat scratched. Scratching have many functions like:

sharpening the anteriour quadradactal claws

streatchign upward or outward with front legs

soliciting play

7) Fore-claws scratching meant that it is time to trim the cat claw but the cat rarely used the rear legs to scratch.

8) When a cat try to scratch ur furniture, u can interupt it with a NO or clap ur hands or call his/her name.

9) How to make a target area that ur cat love to scratch less desirable?

Cover the target area with something that feels different from the material you want ur kitty to stop scratching. eg plastic carpet runner. for vertical objects, use double sided tape, aluminum foil. Many cat love soft carpeting for scratching and urinating and reject hard or soft surfaces

For location less visited by ppl, wipe the scratched surface with something that smells or feels unattractive to Kitty, such as chlorine based bathroom cleaner, or petroleum jelly. or mothballs..make sure ur kitty cannot eat those stuff u place..

for hortizonal surface, consider blocking access to the location, placing on the scratched material teh cat oriented, easily set up mousetrap.

Use a electrified plastic carpet runner where a loud noise will be heard when kitty passs by.

10) Ways to make cats intersted in alternative scratching areas:

Place a new object next to inappropriate object.

Select a scratching post made from material that kitty liked. Many cats prefer tree trunks, with bark. The truck should be long enought for kitty to fully stretch up vertically.

Place on top of the scratching post a ping pong ball on a string. Pay with the cat at the post

for cats who likes a specific materials, move the new object to the desirable location.

11) One of the conditioning behaviour is that animals responds to the praise of the most recent behaviour they engaged in. So when a cat misbehaves and u asked him to stop, he stop, praise it immediately. What you are praising is the cat's stopping the misbehaviour and they seem to understand that.

Is your cat crazy--John Wright--Chapter 4

Jennifer say:


It now to chapter 4-Eating Habits Weird and Wonderful

1) Cats are naturally nibblers. Active cats prefer to eating to food between 12 to 20 very small portions a day. They are diurnal eaters which means they eat during the day and the night. That is why they prefer to be fed "ad lib" rather than only at fixed mealtimes two or three times a day with the food removed. Your cat should have food that won't spolit and fresh water available at all times. If you ignore your cat's natural eating preferenes and take the bowl away after a few minutes, you run the risk of allowing a bad habit to develop. The cat will learn the only way to get enought food is to race up to the bowl when you set it down, gobble it up as much as possible before you snatch it away.

2) Feeding Cat a menu:
Breakfast: cut up potion of romaine lettuce
Other times: high-bulk, low-calorie cat food.

3) Dun offered only a certain food to kittens..trained it to eat many variety of foods. Kittens exposed to a variety of three or more food during the first 8 weeks are more likely to prefer a variety later on. Kittens like to try new foods- but will continue eating them only if they really like the flavour after a couple of different meals. By eleven weeks, they typically become more rigid about what they will accept.

4) Some cats have ingestive problem where they eat anything eg clothes. Normally if u can lower the stress, keep the cat from being hungry and makie whatever the cat is eating taste bad or be unattractive in some way, we can reduce the problem..

Is your cat crazy--John Wright Chapter 2 , 3

Jennifer say:


Chapter 2_Secret of litter-box success-as mentioned, i do not use litter box for my cats and so i skipped this chapter.

Chapter 3- The crime of punishment

1) Physical punishment usually backfires, making the cat more angry or more fearful and aggressive.

2) Case Study: Tigger a male cat had a litter box problem as a kitten, when he missed the box, his owner would shoved the cat nose into the wet spot and bit the owner. When tigger bit, the owner will rap the nose, resulting in the cat lunging at the owner ankles at all times--feeding, petting. Tigger's initial encounter with his owner knuckles reulted in fear induced aggression and it was clearly a case where physical abuse had severly aggravated what had started as a rather minor and occasional problem. Wright concluded that Tigger was failry reactive--was responding emontionally to a signal or stimulus was that his eyes would dilate just before an attack. Dilated pupils may signal the cats are overly aroused and probably about to do something regrettable, such as losing it a rug or attacking somebody. Tigger usually attack his owner when she put down his food bowl. The stimulus was so cued in as in a ritualized pattern that he attacked his owner more or less automatically.
Solution: Wright taught the owner to break their daily pattern. The owner wil back off the food bowl instead of walking past the bowl to prevent tigger from attacking her legs. Also the owner must stop all physical punishment and play with tigger. Tigger must know that his owner presence will signal play time, not punishment.

3) If your cat start to misbehave, just a voice--"ah, ah" will interrupt the activity. When the cat looks at you, you can say "good kitty" in a sweet smooth voice. Then your cats will learn the difference between doing something that gets a 'Ah Ah" and doing something that gets a paise.. The idea is to reduce the misbehaviour by interrupting it or redirecting ti to an accepable outlet, not to PUNISH the pet. we changed behaviour by redirecting it, or inducing in the cat a happy or calm mood. Once you change the mood, then changing behaviour is easier for pet n owner.

Is your cat crazy--John Wright--Chapter 1

Jennifer say:


I had recently read this great book 'Is your cat crazy' by animal behaviorist, John wright ( a PH.d psychologist whom is refer by vet when the vet cannot solve cats problem). Some of the tips in this book are so extremely useful. I goin to summarise the tips in my blog today. Noted that all tips will never be related to cat litter box.many problems that wright solved are actually cat litter box problem when they refused to use the box ..but for me, i felt that cat can be taught to use the toilet like mine..if u see my blog, u can see sweetie using the loo..so smart... and cheap too.

Some info abt John Wright:
he of course an animal behaviorist as mentioned above. Often he is referred by the vet to visit the vet where the vet clients will calle wrigth regarding the cat problem. Often there was no guarantee query esp when ppl asked him if their cat can be problem free. As mentioned in the book,"It is never ethical to guarantee the outcome of ths or any other treatment program where an animal's behviour is concerned. As all reputable animal behaviour consultants will readily point out, living things will never be as predictable as cleaning products or kitchen gadets."
more info on him on this site: ( i try finding if he publish his work online but none from this book..)
http://www.puppyworks.com/speaker/wright.html

Behaviour-oriented qns are often asked when wright goes on a house visit. It is impt for a house visit as wright needed to find more abt cat livin condition, the size of the house, the ppl living in it and the area of the cat sleeping, litterbox and of course more from the owner her/himself and seeing the cat behaviour outfront himself. Often changes took place (after wright recommende the owner to do this or that for solution of cat problem) within two week. Otherwise plan B or C will need to be in place later.

well..here goes the tips and some facts of cats: I Have decided to create a new post for each chapter as the tips are too long...

Taken from Chapter 1: "In search of a prefect cat"
1) cats sleep 80% fo the time.

2) The cat's big, beautiful eyes, with their ability to gather lots of light, offer a rationale for nocturnal felien friskness. The cat doesn't just shut down at night as humans (and most dogs) do. To a cat, there's not a lot of differene bwt night and day, except that the human they live with are inactive in the dark. At 1/10 the ligght level we use to grope our way to the bathroom, our purring pets can inspect the premises after lights-out without any problem.

3) When felines do rest at night, their sleep takes the form of catnaps. While their eyes are closed, their senses are apt to be on alert--at least to things that interest them. Cats can filter out unimportant sounds while they sleep, yet be instanly awake if they hear, say, the patter of litte rodent feet.

4) Some behaviourist find that predigreed cats have a slightly higher incidence of behaviour prolbmes and that the well blended gene pool of the alley cat yields a more behaviorally healthy animals.

5) Guidelines when adopting an animal

Alertness - A cat can be active and or cuious. If she is active, she zips and move around a lot. If she is curious, she approaches and explores changes in her environment.

Sociability-WIth people, a cat can be sociable, fearful, hostile or tense(very careful in movement)

equability-does he get along well wiht other cats? does he interact with others easily and camly or not?

6) Animal behaviorits identify two types of friendly personality cats:

One prefer play

One prefer petting

7) Other researchers have 3 catergories of behaviour towards unfamililar people:

Initiative friendly

reserved friendly, depending on whether the cat initiates interaction with human

and lastly unfriendly or fearful

8) When selecting a cat, try to determine if she like to be around people, then observe her behaviour style, is she playful or a lap sitter?

9) If you already have another cat, consider the adoptee's equality:

Neutering can change relationships, sometimes in subtle or nonsexual ways.

A couple of females are likely to get along as well as would two males. Females are more likely to solicit rubbing than males do, so if you want cat that rub, get females or a female or male pair.

If you want your kitten to play with other cats, rear him with others. Kitten are a lot more playful if they have siblings to roll around and play fight with.

If you plan to adopt more than one kitten, or if u already have a resident cat, you probably want to stay with the same sex.

If you already have 3 females, you will have more sucess with a 4th female rather than a male which provide more competition in the same housing area

Psychologists found that similarities attract initially but what keeps relationships together in long term is the complementarity of needs. eg..if both cats like playing but one love chasing, and the other run away, their needs are complementary and the two might be a compatible pair.

How cat personabilties vary depend on their genetic makeup and their maternal and early experience in the litter.(when they still with their sibling and mummy)

9) Case study--from chapter 1: A cat named Pumpkin wil usually pounce on his owner legs, wright taught his owner to play with him by throwing him toys and talking to pumpkin. Within a few week, pumpkin learnt that arms and legs werenn't avaible to bite as often as his toys adn that change cut down the number of bites on his owner. lesson learnt: redirect cat to release his asswertive tendencies on acceptable objects provided by owners to encourage him to be less aggressive towards his own owners. eg as in the book, use a toy to play with him rather than wait for the cat to attack ur legs.

10) How to select a cat:

Look at the cat past experience before adoption

All cat are products of several sources of influence broadly cassified as genetics and experience. Knowing or observing the parents might give you a key to understanding what kind of kittens will be produced..

Kittens should not be separated from their mother before 7 or 8 week of age. Those extra weeks are impt for kitten development.

most cats form a close bond with owners and family members because they have learned from a early age of trust and enjoy human companionship. The sensitive formative period in felines occurs bet the ages of 2 and 7 weeks, during which handing or lack of handling, by ppl can influence the cat to become more or less affectionate as a household companion.

Do not take the cat by the neck..it is better to hold the kitten securely against ur body with one hand around the chest and the other under the hindquarters.

Kittens handled frequently in spite of parental admonitions are more likely to grow up liking and seeking out ppl for affecton.Early handling of kittens are extremely imopt.

11) Steps recommended to bring a kitten home

Select a room the kitten can use as home base for the first day to several days. The room should have a door or some means of privacy and protect ur kitten from the chaso of daily living.

In a corner opposite the door, place the kitten litter box, preferabley contaiing the sandy, clumpling type litter the majority of cat seem to prefer.

In a different corner, as far away from the litter box, place fresh water and food. Eating and eliminating involve competing motivations for a cat and keeping dishes and litter boxes well seperated help to enable the cat to do the right thing in the right place.

select another corner or area aways from the litter box for the cat to sleep.

Get the kitten

12) (really like wright recomendation of adopting a cat from a animal shelter, here in singapore, thousands of cat are put to sleep becoz no one wanted them) adopt cat from animal shelther esp if breed or age is not impt. In america,5.7 million to 9.5 million cats are put to death each year. To adopt a cat from an animal shelther, try to see several cats at a quiet room to observe their play and how they react to you.

13) To get a kitten to feel comfortable and approach you, squat down and stick your fingers out as he walks nearby. Allow him to approach and touch his nose to your fingers. He will sniff and rub his head on your hand and go to rub some more and sit by you. Touching nose (your finger is probably percieved as a surrogate nose) is a form of greeting among cats.

13) When 2 cats approach each other, one cat will raise her tail in the air. If the second is friendly and raise her tail as well, you can bet that they are about to simultaneously rub. If the first cat tail is raised but the second isn't, then the first cat will rub till the second cat responds in kind.