Psychology
Post Christmas Thoughts from Nick Carraway
“I’m sure many of you have pets. We have three in the Carraway home. One is a 100 pound Rottweiler. Another is a 10 pound tabby cat. The third is what might be called an extra fluffy 15 pound ginger cat. As you might expect, they don’t always get along.
We even consulted an animal behavioral specialist when injuries were involved. Of course, the set up to this tale might conceal who the injuries belonged to. As it turns out, the smallest cat is the aggressor. She bit the other cat and also indirectly caused his paw to be broken.
The Rottweiler is also deathly afraid of her. A ten pound cat has cornered him on more than one occasion. Two things strike me as odd. First, the orange cat stands his ground against the dog but not against the smaller cat. Secondly, the cats don’t seem to be inclined to work together for common cause.
I’m sure there is a lesson in there somewhere. I’m sure those of you that frequent these parts have your own. The pet shrink even called the orange cat the “victim cat.” As long as we’ve had him, he’s been our largest cat and the least brave. Sometimes we don’t know our own strength. Interacting with the dog has helped him actually. Maybe pet psychology and human psychology are not all that different.”
Nick
On a lighter note:
1Nick, “tabby” describes a wide spectrum of domestic cats. While we have a barn full of feral cats, the household includes 3 special needs cats. The youngest is a “tabby” and the smallest of the 3 indoor models. Ah but her markings. She is all Bengal Tiger in heart, too. The little one is more Bengal than “tabby.”
They need to hunt, so provide cat teaser toys & play time. Scratcher posts and the biggest cat tree you can afford help. On the easier end of the budget are the cat tunnels. Ours already had two, but the their latest X-mas present was a 3-way tunnel very inexpensive at Chewy.com; probably Amazon, too. Big hit with the active Bengal.
But the important thing is play time. Engage your kitty 2-3 times a day with the cat teaser toys, until the urge for sport results in your active one literally laying on its side panting. As with kids, outlets for their energies can be redirected.
The play “therapy” will be good for you, too, Nick. Bond with your cat, save the Rottie and bigger cat, and a nice pass time for you as we all await the arrival of 1/20/21.
2What we have here is emblematic of the pecking order currently in the GOP. The 100 pound Rottweiler represents the Republicans in Congress who are terrified of the smallest cat, who is Trump. The orange cat which stands up to the Rottweiler, but not the smaller cat, is Mitch McConnell.
3Thanks for the advice Jane. We have multiple scratching posts and towers throughout the home. We have a Petsmart nearby. The tabby is a generic cat we got through Second Chance Pets. The orange cat was also purchased through them but was actually a third or fourth chance pet. We got him at six years old. So, there is no telling why he was abandoned as that wasn’t mentioned in his biography.
I suppose what I find interesting is how their psychology can mirror our psychology. The smaller one is a typical bully. She acts out because she’s scared. Her aggressive behavior matches those that we might think of as bullies. The other two have physical advantages they don’t use. It draws interesting parallels with how some of us deal with bullies in our own lives. At least it could be a parallel to how Democrats deal with Republicans. They have far more power than they think they have.
4All mammals share some behaviors, but not all achieve their aims the same way. Age, time in grade, duration of residence, sex, and individual traits acquired by contact with other species are all involved, and species-specific. Bulls, for example, fight head to head…as do goats. A young bull raised with a male goat may learn “terrifying” tactics from goat head-to-head butting and be barred from bull testing because he’s terrorized the other young bulls in the test and is thus eating ALL the feed. (Young bull from friend’s ranch; the goat was a gift from a city friend who bought an “adorable” kid for their children and discarded it when it started knocking the children down. As a mature male, this goat “played” with the bull calves and butted like a goat–rearing up on its hind legs and slamming down into the calves. The calves started doing the same thing (“Wow!–look at that scrawny old goat–he can really slam us–bet we can slam him if we try it!”) and sure enough when the Prince of Calves went off to the bull testing for a month or two (to see how fast he gained on a defined diet) and met other boy-calves and they started the forehead-pushing thing young bulls do…up he went. They fled the moment he raised up on his hind legs and smacked them down. He got ALL the cookies on the platter; the others went hungry. So the people running the bull test called his owners and said “WHAT IS HE and why is he acting crazy, and by the way come get him because he’s ruined the test for the whole group.”
According to Rancherfriends, explaining that it wasn’t his fault, he’d been led astray by a billy-goat, did not help, and they had to load up the trailer and bring him home in disgrace. (That was also the end of the billy-goat because a bull that rears up and then wants to play head-smack is not safe to have around.)
5Five cats in the house here. The oldest is 16, purebred Tonkenese and at the others are two rescues and two strays.
Two of the rescues are 7 year olds littermates, a incredible 15-pound Lynx-point and his sister is more normal sized. They were raised indoors mostly.
Now, add two more strays. We had been feeding them outdoors for years but their environment turned hostile so we had no choice to either kill them or take them in. It turns out they are pretty good as house cats but they absolutely do not integrate with the two rescues we had already. Any time a new one gets in proximity to an old one and no mediator/human is around we have hissing, yelling, and maybe a few punches are thrown. Fortunately we have a house big enough that they can have their own territories.
It’s been 2-3 months since the new ones arrived. If anyone has any ideas for helping this herd to get along better I would be most grateful.
6Nick, I understand completely. Large dog is afraid of cat, who is afraid of him, but gets along great with medium dog. Medium dog and cat get along fine. Enter small dog: can get along most of the time, but when she senses “danger” (never real), she lashes out. Larger dogs oblige by snapping back, but never hurt her.
I don’t quite see this all applying to political parties exactly as you do except to say that, yeah, the Dems need to exert the power we know they have.
But I think we also need to publicize the good we are doing, and we need the press to help us clarify the evil that is the GOP. Whoever called it the party of Greed Over People nailed it. And I see that now George Will is cheering on Lindsay Graham for starting to mewl about the national debt, right on key as the Dems take over the house and the House.
7Fortunately none of your pets have threatened to secede, perhaps claiming the kitchen and living room as their home turf in the misguided belief they can manage food, walks and/or litter box cleaning without the help of income generating residents in a united home.
8Unfortunately the orange cat has adopted me as his go to human. It’s nice to be loved, but it also means I’m ground zero for the territorial dispute.
9Introducing a new cat into a household that already contains at least one cat and one dog is about like having someone brand new in an office — there is going to be a disruption in the Force.
Our pragmatic approach — have the new cat in a controlled space (usually our guest room, on occasion a second bathroom) and let there be exchanges of attitude from different sides of a door. After days (at least a couple, we’ve sometimes done more until hissing and spitting have stopped), swap positions, with the new cat being out in the house and the established cat behind the door. After at least one day without hissing, swap back for half a day or a day. THEN bring the new cat out when you can closely supervise, using a squirt bottle with water and vinegar in response to any angry exchanges. In all the years of having cats, with over a dozen “new” cats into the mix, the approach hasn’t worked once — and that cat had OTHER issues (like attacking my leg) and didn’t stay.
Our “woo, woo” New Age approach. Find an animal communicator who can explain things and “hear” what the animals have to say about each other. See if she or he can connect to the animals, provide useful information, and mediate ways for the whole household of pets to get along. Way cheaper than even ONE visit to the vet.
10Nick,
11JJ gave you the keys to the shop. That gives you the green light to actually go ahead and make the point you often seem to be vaguely circling in on.
If, on the other hand, your nom de plume was chosen for the character’s penchant for merely watching, without judgment or agency, you’ve got NC’s schtick down pat.
Loosen up. You seem more worried about offending someone than getting your point across. Writing is about getting what’s inside your head out where others can see it.
Wally,
Thank you for your thoughts. I am partial to the character as the book is my favorite work that I get to teach every year. However, while I may have the keys, it’s still not my house. I do have my own house where I cut loose a little more. Some of that is characterization and some is audience.
As for this screed, it was more an interesting look at behavior through a different vehicle. Our pets can teach us a lot. Someone once said there’s only about 100 original stories ever told. There’s only so many ways we can describe bad behavior before it gets repetitive.
All that being said, I’m always thankful for honest feedback. As we move further from the holidays I will cut loose a little more.
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