The Many Sides of Mr Whiskers

Mr Whiskers is a complicated guy. He is a strong, powerful cat. When he meuws he sounds like a kitten. Now that he's feeling better, he's moving much more quickly (he's on antibiotics for a bacterial infection). When I pet him he melts. I try to do some touches while he is eating, but he's starting to like them so much that he keels over--right into his food. Yesterday, he fell into his water bowl and didn't even flinch. He just kept leaning into my hand.  I was happy to discover he trusted me enough to dry him a bit with a paper towel. I get the feeling that he is love starved. He must have been living outside at least 3 years. While out on the street he gave this veneer of tough guy. One of the reasons he looks tough, I believe, is that he does not use any calming signals. He just looks wide eyed all the time. Who knows, he may have vision problems.

Cats have very similar calming signals to dogs I have learned. They blink their eyes (or squint) or lick their lips or look away. When I'm petting Mr Whiskers I try the squinting and looking away because he's still skittish. Even though he falls over when I pet him, if I move my hand in a way he's not ready for, he jumps. I use the back of my hand to slide down his beautiful soft fur because it has less heat, is less stimulating and possibly less threatening. He may swat, but he doesn't have his claws out, I'm very careful to read his body movement. If I feel him begin to startle I stop or withdraw, close my eyes. I'm careful because his feeder while he was outside got scratched, but he has not scratched me yet. I think watching the signals carefully helps.

He rolls over on his back exposing his belly, but I'm not going there yet. Sometimes he rolls into me, resting his paws against my leg--I pray he does not decide to use his claws and he hasn't. He really must have been someone's cat at some point.

He's starting to get more comfortable on the third floor because he meuws for me to come up and feed him. And he doesn't hide under the bed when I come up the stairs.

Here I'm doing some ear slides which he loooves and starting to hold his head. He likes to fall asleep with his head in my hand.

I'm really looking forward to reintroducing him to Ms Patches. I wonder how he will feel about her now?

Mr Whiskers and TTouch

Last year I began training to be a TTouch practitioner. This is a wonderfully respectful and powerful animal training used to improve performance, behavior and health of pets ( and many other animals as well!). It has been a very joyful journey so far. I have met wonderful people and so many animals--mainly cats--have come into my life. I'm just going with it for now. Mr Whiskers here is one example. He has taken up residence on Carol's porch. She began feeding him and then he brought a friend, Ms Patches who's since given birth to three stunning kittens who have been adopted (more on them later). So Mr Whiskers has gone from protector role to loner. He has soft, broken sounding meow. He loves Carol and is dying to go inside but she has allergies to cats and so has decided he needs to stay on the porrch. He sits outside her door for long periods of time waiting for her to emerge. Mostly he seems to like to be fed, but more and ore now he is craving attention. He has a very nice chair with a special blanket and a hut for colder days, but he really wants companionship. Late at night she hears him playing with the cat toys that are scattered on the porch. Once in a while he has to give over his food to the neighborhood racoon, once in a while a neighbor's dog tries to chase him off the porch. We are holding high hopes for a loving home for Mr Whiskers.