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.
no subject
Date: 2020-02-25 01:04 am (UTC)