timwheatley.org

I think people spend way too much money on toys for their adult Cat or new Kitten. Cats are a breed that spend their time either running around crazily attacking everything, eating, pooping or (this is the big one), sleeping. The main toy a Cat or Kitten seems to need, is either another Cat or Kitten, but there are a lot of really simple toys you can provide a Cat or Kitten to keep them occupied and happy. More about toys later, let’s talk about Kitten and Cat behavior first…

If the Kitten is taken away from it’s siblings before 13 weeks, it may be too early for it to have learned how not to hurt when it plays. Other Kittens it may play with will yelp and scream, teaching the aggressive Kitten when to let go.

It is very important that you realize that when you’re playing with a Kitten, you teach it how it’s supposed to play as an adult.

If you allow the Kitten to attack your hands or feet (because when it’s Kitten, it doesn’t hurt much), don’t be surprised if every time you have visitors you have to lock the adult Cat in another room. Your adult Cat will think it’s OK to sink it’s (now painful) claws or teeth into your visitors because you taught it so as a Kitten.

Also, no, it isn’t OK to do it with gloves on, to dangle clothes for your kitten to climb up, etc. Think what damage your Kitten will be able to do when fully grown or if the Kitten chooses to climb up that expensive dress in the wardrobe when you’re not looking!

Your Kitten will recognize very quickly what is a toy, what it can touch, what it’s OK to bite or claw on, but only if you remain consistent in your actions and teaching. There are various methods of training via rewards and punishment, but from personal experience I have found the following to be true…

Cats don’t really seem to bothered about treats or positive attention (totally the opposite of my experience with Dogs). They will come to you for a stroke or to sleep on your knee when they feel like it! You really will have difficulty forcing them to do anything that they don’t want to do.

In order to train a Kitten I’ve found a need to develop a few levels of disciplinary action and I’ve already (with an approximately 16-week old Kitten) seen very positive results. Remember, all the punishments must be done while the Kitten is doing the bad activity. If you miss it (while trying to find your water sprayer or something), let it go, get the Kitten next time. Those levels of punishment are…

1. Moving the Kitten away from the problem. If the Kitten is doing something you don’t want it to, pick it up and move it away. If the Kitten returns to the activity, pick it up and move it away again. If you do it enough times, the Kitten will learn. I would advise you do not pick up the Kitten and present it with another toy to ‘take it’s mind off the problem’ - this could confuse the Kitten as it may see the toy as a reward.

2. Hiss whenever the Kitten does the activity. The Hiss is a form of warning and initially your hiss may be followed by the Kitten hissing back at you - this is OK. You are not attacking the Kitten, you are ‘protecting’ whatever the Kitten was chewing/clawing on like you would if you were a Cat and the Kitten were attacking you. You don’t even need to move when you hiss at the Kitten - as long as you’re sure you’ll be heard.

3. Hiss and push the Kitten away from the activity. This helps the Kitten to associate the hiss with contact - showing it there might actually be something to be scared of. Additionally it incorporates the benefits of all those in punishment #1 above. Adding hissing from close range will have a good effect on the Kitten - expect to get hissed back at, when this happens, stand your ground and the Kitten should move off to do something else. Again, do not present the Kitten with something else to do, let it make it’s own mind up. Also, don’t be too afraid of hurting the Kitten if you’re shoving it away from something, a couple of Kittens playing and fighting really shows how much physical punishment they can take!

4. Spray the Kitten with water. Cats do not like water too much and your objective when spraying the Kitten is for it to have a bad memory. If it returns to the activity and you are consistent and spray it again, it will associate the bad memory of being wet with the activity it was doing. Do not chase the Kitten around with the spray bottle once it has moved away. Also when the Kitten has stopped doing bad things, wait five minutes then cuddle the kitten up in a towel to dry it off (or allow the other Kittens or Cats you might have to lick the wetness off the fur).

5. Spray the Kitten with water - and hiss. This helps to associate the punishment with the bad activity better.

To give an example, our Kitten likes to sleep on my knee while I work during the day. When she first came she would literally dig her claws into my clothes (and skin) on my legs and climb up. I reacted by hissing at her and staring at her - nothing else - she would retract her claws and drop in stunned silence. She would then walk away for a moment, come back and as she stood on my foot (probably about to climb again) I picked her up and put her on my knee - over and over again. When I didn’t notice her down there and she climbed up, I hissed again. She now walks up to my leg and taps me on the leg with her paw when she wants up. If you’re going to do this though, make sure you get the timing right! You don’t want to be hissing at your Cat for actually being sat on your knee - so catch them at the right spot (dangling from your flesh!)

Cat Toys

Like I said earlier, people spend way too much money on toys for their pets. I work from home in the same room where the Kitten spends 99.9% of her time, I see everything she plays with, here’s a rough percentage breakdown of the time our kitten has spent with various toys…

80% of the time - fighting with adult Cat (the Kitten always starts it).

I think it’s very important that any Cat has another Cat around, because although they are not really sociable animals, they do seem to get lonely. The Kitten and Cat do an awful lot of fighting and if you’re introducing two cats who’re either not from the same litter, or greatly differ in age, you have to be really careful… A Kitten’s only defense is a hiss and if an adult Cat wanted to kill the Kitten, it could, easily. Seek help if you’re doing this, because we were lucky to have a very placid adult Cat that always lets go if the Kitten yelps.

15% of the time - running around in “stalk mode”, not playing with any toy.

Our Kitten loves it when the door is open so she can run down the hall. She sounds like a horse and she runs back and forth for a long time before getting tired and having a nap to get ready for the next time! When the door is closed she runs about climbing and jumping onto the off the Kitty Condo we have, jumping onto and off the bed and just generally stalking/hunting nothing in particular!

2% of the time - playing in empty boxes.

The holes in the side of Coca-Cola boxes and the noise they make when you tap on them seems to really excite a Kitten who happens to be sitting inside it, our Kitten just loves jumping ontop of the thing!

2% of the time - knocking various objects around the floor.

Usually our Kitten is busy running around like a nutcase and she’ll see something she wants to attack, so she does! We have a few objects on the floor for her, but none of them were bought as a Cat toy… We have a few metal Christmas Tree ornaments with bells in, we have some bottle caps, we have some plastic egg-shaped things (that did contain candy) and her most favorite - we have the little foam circles that came from a blank CD spool. Yes, you read that right, the favorite toy of both our Kitten - and adult Cat too! - is a little bit of foam that was part of the packaging of a spool of blank CD’s!

1% of the time - playing with her “Crazy Circle” toy.

While the Crazy Circle toy is excellent and our Kitten loves it, it plays a really small part in her daily play compared to other, cheaper items. Variation is important, but your Kitten doesn’t care how much money you spend…

Above you can see a video of our Kitten playing with the Crazy Circle. You can buy one from Amazon (USA) Small | Large.

Infact, most of the world’s population are hypocrites. If you eat meat, why do you feel better about it if you think (not know, mind you) that the animal you are eating was treated nicely?

I used to work in a chicken factory. I saw past-date meat being re-labelled as fresh, I saw battery chicken being re-labelled as ‘free range’ and a whole host of other illegal practices. All these things were done by management staff (one in particular, usually) and for all the inspectors and visits made, nobody spotted a thing. Guess why? Because every time there was an inspection, they told the factory first. Sometimes we actually produced no product for an hour or so in the morning because we all had to work for an hour making sure the factory made it past an inspection that was going to happen a couple of hours later. I saw all these things, very regularly, and I didn’t even work directly with the meat, I worked in the dispatch department, I shipped it out, yet on the few occasions I was inside the factory, I saw the law being broken. Did I think about reporting it? Yes. Did I? No, because like all vegetarians who think they can save an animal by not eating it, it wouldn’t have made a difference.

If you really cared what you were eating, you wouldn’t eat it. No matter what label it has, you have NO idea. Even ‘free range’ would seem cruel to some of you if you ever saw it for yourselves rather than imagining a 2-acre field with a couple of chickens in it… I respect Vegetarians (although I believe they have no effect), they believe in something and they stand by it, but often those who stand up for Animal Welfare remind me of Greenpeace…

I once was a member of Greenpeace because I do support a lot of their opinions… I cancelled my support after speaking to another member once and found that he thought we shouldn’t be burning coal, shouldn’t be using oil, shouldn’t be putting up wind farms, shouldn’t be building dams and should definitely not use Nuclear power - yet he could not tell me one single source of power he supported. So, this reminds me of those who fight for Animal Welfare because in most cases they don’t know what to do to fix a problem, they just have a problem with the problem. (Sigh).

Now, what motivated this post?

I saw this article where a TV show in the UK had found that some farmers are paid as little as 3-pence for a chicken, I saw this other article where a supermarket lowered the price of it’s chickens (probably in response to the TV show) down to £1.99. Now, forgive me but, why is that supermarket being attacked? Come on people, like you now give a crap about these animals? I’d wager the farmer is still being paid the same amount, so why do you think that this supermarket lowering prices (from a huge profit, to a slightly smaller one) has any effect on the welfare of these animals?

Because the Press said so? Oh well, they must be right… *rolls eyes*

It’s days like this I realise how absolutely ‘anal’ I am when it comes to signing paperwork. I will not sign anything I haven’t thoroughly read and understood.

It’s really awful seeing anyone cry. Deep down I find it hard to say anything but “Give it back!” until I regain my senses, then I have to wonder just how some people live in this day and age…

“I guess I signed a piece of paper…”

So, you didn’t read the contact then? Why not? Too busy? Ah…

I saw a news item this lunchtime on FOX about mortgage rates increasing and they interviewed a man who said that he had told the agent he wanted a fixed-rate mortgage. The agent printed his contract - he signed it - then now, years later, he is complaining because his mortgage rates have increased and he is going to lose his home.

So, you didn’t read the contract either then? Why not? Too busy? Ah. FOX News may be blaming the ‘nasty agent’ for not giving the customer what he asked for, but I’m not. I’m blaming the idiot who didn’t read his contract… If you were letting someone else take money directly out of your hands, would you be so much of a pushover as you were signing that piece of paper that allowed them to take money from your bank account? If the agent knew exactly what he was doing - so did you - you knew you were meant to read it. Make the agent sit there and wait, twiddling his thumbs, you are the customer, not him, he’s being paid (by you) for his time!

It happens all-too-often and people have to learn that their lack of action also has consequences. You DO NOT sign what you have not read - never, ever, never, ever. We live in time of digital communication and fast-paced living. You cannot walk through the city of Chicago for more than five minutes without hearing a hoard of impatient car horns and everything in life is about getting it done quicker. Chase Bank has advertisements up in Bus Shelters about how you can personalise your ATM menu, because - I assume - pressing more than one button is a real issue for their customers.

Anyway, back to Ellen… Not everyone has a TV show. I am sure this type of thing happens every day and if it makes you feel bad, Ellen, then I’m sorry. You were oh-so willing to lay out the cash to try to do everything you could for that dog, you are willing to cry on your TV show for the sake of the children, why weren’t you willing to read the ‘piece of paper’ for the sake of all of them in the first place?

OK so, I’ve had enough now.

The police raided Earl Simmons’ house in Arizona, they seized a number of guns, freed twelve Pit Bulls (who were not being fed or given water) and on a further search they discovered three dogs buried in the yard, one of which had been burnt. Hmm…

…and his seemingly innocent lawyer expects people to believe that this guy isn’t a gang banger with no respect for anyone or anything, that he didn’t mistreat any animals and that it was all the “caretaker’s” fault… You, lawyer, will get what’s coming to you. Life always seems to work out payment for people like you…

I mean, come on, who are you kidding? You Scum… I hope you and Vick share the same cage and have someone to watch over you… Someone who will be making sure you’re safe, making sure you get food, making sure you get water, making sure you aren’t forced to do anything illegal, painful, cruel… Making sure you aren’t forced to fight, to kill, to survive, someone who will make sure that even if someone starts a fight with you, you won’t be murdered in a torturous way for not fighting back. I hope you’ll be treated with compassion, I hope you’ll be treated just like you deserve…

May the soap be constantly slippery and may your Prison Guards show as much care for you as you have shown for your animals… You Scum.

Why are people so absolutely unaware of what they do to people around them? I am starting to get really annoyed at the way that many people in Chicago have those tiny little dogs on leads that are 6ft long, with the dogs walking waaay out at the side of the owner.

The worst ones are where you are walking along on a fairly thin path, the owner walks next to the buildings and the dog walks right out by the kerbing, because what happens is that you walk along and wind up with a lead over your feet.

In the past I have kicked shopping out of people’s hands because they would not even allow me space to walk past and give room to another human being over their precious shopping bag, should I start kicking their dogs too?

A properly trained dog will walk by the side of your leg, because the dog accepts that is the only place you ever let it walk. Owning a dog is actually really easy and is very much like raising a child, you set their limits and you hold them to it, you will reap the rewards of good behaviour.

Aren’t Animal Activists fantastic?

Well no. Infact, Animal Activists are amongst the most stupid people in the world.

They recently “freed” some Wild Boar from captivity in the UK… Now there have been two attacks on humans. In the latest one, a grandmother had to fight them to stop them killing her dog.

Stupid, stupid, stupid people. Wake-up!