More on Cats and Learning
Feb. 24th, 2020 08:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
The void cats continue to be the most impossibly good, easy to manage kittens that I could ever imagine having. They even seem to be self-training. They happily scramble all over the cat trees, the sofas, the bed, the computer desks and the bathroom counters, but I've never yet had to remove one of them from the kitchen counters, and only once have I had to remove a void from the dining room table. I'm left to assume that they're watching Kuro-kun and seeing where he goes and where he doesn't and then just doing the same, because they almost never do anything we don't want them to do. Do we have the sweetest, most eager to please and well-meaning teenaged cats ever born onto this earth, or do we have alien spies in feline form?
We recently installed an Aqua Purr in one of the bathroom sinks. You connect it to the tap and it has a motion sensor, so that when the cat walks up to it, it switches on a slow trickle of water. Kuro has always sat by sinks and in bathtubs demanding that we turn on the water for him, so we decided it might be nice if he could do it for himself. And behold, our nearly 14 year old cat learned almost instantly. The motion sensor has quite a short range so he's still figuring out why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but I've seen him multiple times now walk past a water bowl and march off to the bathroom to get the fresh stuff instead. Neko meanwhile is more likely to play with the water flow and get it all over his ears and feet than actually drink it, but he's making progress. Yami currently watches them both in a state of utter puzzlement. Why is everyone so interested in the wet stuff?
The voids are still at an age where they get intrigued by the most mundane of things. Currently one of these is the dishwasher, which makes fascinating swishing and swooshing wounds when it's turned on. They stare at it and peer beneath it and bat at the door with their paws. Sometimes the voids get SO EXCITED, Kuro will go rushing over to see what they've got - did they find a mouse? A spider? A moth? Ugh, no, it's just the dishwasher again, and then Kuro stalks off, exuding disdain for the obsessive little weirdos he's forced to share his house with....
The issues with Kuro-kun and The Tempting Tail of Floof appear to have worn off, which Mr Kuro considers to be a very good thing. The only line Mr Kuro is still maintaining against them is a certain possessiveness over his toys. He doesn't mind in the least when the void cats shove their faces in his bowl while he's eating and help themselves to his food, but if Kuro is playing with a toy and a void goes up to see what he's doing, he'll stick out a paw and bop them over the head. My toy, not for you! It's noticeable, though, that Yami gets her ears bopped more often than Neko - Kuro just seems to like Neko more and tolerate more from him. Fortunately the voids hold no grudges - they just back off and go back and chirp at him again later. They're sweetly and politely persistent in their attempts to be friends, and Kuro has stopped hissing at them entirely. He's accepting them as generally well-meaning and harmless idiots who just need to know their places.
We recently installed an Aqua Purr in one of the bathroom sinks. You connect it to the tap and it has a motion sensor, so that when the cat walks up to it, it switches on a slow trickle of water. Kuro has always sat by sinks and in bathtubs demanding that we turn on the water for him, so we decided it might be nice if he could do it for himself. And behold, our nearly 14 year old cat learned almost instantly. The motion sensor has quite a short range so he's still figuring out why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but I've seen him multiple times now walk past a water bowl and march off to the bathroom to get the fresh stuff instead. Neko meanwhile is more likely to play with the water flow and get it all over his ears and feet than actually drink it, but he's making progress. Yami currently watches them both in a state of utter puzzlement. Why is everyone so interested in the wet stuff?
The voids are still at an age where they get intrigued by the most mundane of things. Currently one of these is the dishwasher, which makes fascinating swishing and swooshing wounds when it's turned on. They stare at it and peer beneath it and bat at the door with their paws. Sometimes the voids get SO EXCITED, Kuro will go rushing over to see what they've got - did they find a mouse? A spider? A moth? Ugh, no, it's just the dishwasher again, and then Kuro stalks off, exuding disdain for the obsessive little weirdos he's forced to share his house with....
The issues with Kuro-kun and The Tempting Tail of Floof appear to have worn off, which Mr Kuro considers to be a very good thing. The only line Mr Kuro is still maintaining against them is a certain possessiveness over his toys. He doesn't mind in the least when the void cats shove their faces in his bowl while he's eating and help themselves to his food, but if Kuro is playing with a toy and a void goes up to see what he's doing, he'll stick out a paw and bop them over the head. My toy, not for you! It's noticeable, though, that Yami gets her ears bopped more often than Neko - Kuro just seems to like Neko more and tolerate more from him. Fortunately the voids hold no grudges - they just back off and go back and chirp at him again later. They're sweetly and politely persistent in their attempts to be friends, and Kuro has stopped hissing at them entirely. He's accepting them as generally well-meaning and harmless idiots who just need to know their places.
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Date: 2020-02-24 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-02-24 07:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-02-24 09:13 pm (UTC)You know there had to be a comment about Stepford Voids coming, right?
The Aqua Purr sounds like a fab thing and if I didn't hvae a lodger I'd install one on the kitchen tap. My bathroom sink is deplorably small and the door almost never open. Oh well, they all - eh, both - like the fountains (one upstairs, one downstairs) so that'll have to do.
Glad they're all getting on so well!
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Date: 2020-02-25 01:03 am (UTC)My cats liked the fountains too, but I have to say I got fed up of dismantling and cleaning them!
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Date: 2020-02-25 10:29 am (UTC)Yes, agreed on the dismantling etc, it's a bit of a pain.
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Date: 2020-02-24 09:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-02-25 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-02-24 10:38 pm (UTC)Cats that enjoy water are such fun. If we installed something like aqua purr, our two ladies would do nothing else anymore than activate the motion sensor. But as the sinks are also their favourite places to sleep, it's also not the best idea.
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Date: 2020-02-25 01:06 am (UTC)My cats definitely like sleeping somewhere warm and soft, preferably with a nice blanket or sweater added!
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Date: 2020-02-25 02:34 am (UTC)We bought two cat fountains for ours and they've been worth every cent.
Shula was good about counters and stuff, until we brought home Jana. Who is a Bad Influence in such matters, sigh.
Daddy's home, but Shula's not sure who he is. She's clinging to me more, but that will change once Daddy no longer smells like airplane and foreign, I'm certain.
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Date: 2020-02-25 04:41 am (UTC)We've had two different cat fountains for ours in completely different styles, but while the cats were happy with them, I was less enamoured of the weekly dismantling and cleaning and the filter changing. If there's an alternative that doesn;t require me to do any of that, I'm all in favour!