Just a short note – and a big THANK YOU!!!
I have been meaning to support your site for a while – and I saw that you are currently having a drive, but decided that purchasing the ebook would also be a good way. I hope you agree? I am looking forward to reading it – and sharing what I have learned and directing just about every cat appreciator I know to your site. I have become quite evangelical about your helpful advice!
I think the moment you completely won me over was when I tried slowly approaching my shy Lilli – who I adopted a year ago as an adult cat, my first cat ever – ever so slowly, while petting the air (as you described). She actually rolled onto her back by time I touched her, so great was the anticipation! That was a bit of a breakthrough and we are very, very happy together. :)))
Sending lots of good wishes to you, Mr. Way of Cats and all of the little furry ones!
Hugs from me and Lilli,
B–
P.S. Possibly a tip for your readers: Lilli is somewhere between a gamma and a beta and she doesn’t seem to be a lap cat so far. BUT my catsitter gave me a helpful hint: She feels comfortable if she’s in a big flat box and I put this on my lap to pet her. She’ll even sit in the box and wait to be lifted up. It’s even more convenient than if she were sitting directly on my lap since I can put the box to the side briefly, if I need to leave the room and come back.
Dear Readers,
What a great idea from the catsitter!
I am so pleased the combination of “invisible petting” and the box on the lap trick is drawing Lilli and her person so close together.
And yes, she is utterly right: buying my eBook, from my site or from Kindle, is a great way to support Way of Cats. Win-win!
Lilli has a challenging backstory.
Lilli’s Story
This beautiful little girl is named Lilli. I chose her name from the Danish word “lille” meaning “little,” not the flower. She’s a four-year old Scottish Fold. There doesn’t seem to be a very strong tradition of the qualified breeding of cats here in Berlin, Germany where she lives (at least not as far as I can tell), so Scottish Folds are usually outbred with British Short Hairs at every single generation (as opposed to with Scottish Straights), thus resulting in shyer, more reserved BSH personality traits than the open, friendly betas that Foldies typically would be.
I got her after seeing her picture in an ad online. Until that moment, I had always been a Dog Person – and even thought I was too allergic to ever adopt a cat. But once I took the plunge, and then was completely bewildered about absolutely everything I had ever been told about how easy it is to keep a cat – who makes this stuff up? – I did tons of reading (luckily they sleep a lot, so I had time), found your blog and the rest is history: Go Team Cat!!!
Anyway, the people who were selling her also had an ad up for a kitten, but since her ad said she was spayed, I didn’t think there was necessarily a connection.
It was only when I went to meet her that I found out Lilli’s story. Because Scottish Folds are a popular breed and kittens with folded ears can be sold for fairly large amounts of money, Lilli’s previous family decided it would be a good idea to breed their pet and put the kittens up for sale.
But – as I mentioned – Lilli is pretty, well, little. She apparently had some difficulty giving birth to her first litter. But that did not stop her family from deciding to breed her a second time, a year later. They didn’t get as lucky this time: One of the four kittens got stuck for approximately 24 hours and they had to take Lilli to the vet.
The vet managed to save Lilli’s life, though the fourth kitten did not make it. He spayed Lilli then and there, so that she could not be bred again.
The family’s decision to breed their beloved pet nearly caused them to lose her. But three of her kittens survived the ordeal. The children loved playing with the kittens, so when the parents told them, they could only afford to keep one cat, they chose to keep one of Lilli’s kittens instead – a female – and to put Lilli up for sale. And that’s when I saw her picture in the ad – and it was love at first sight.
Lilli was very shy at first and had been through a lot, so it took her some time to get over being separated from her kittens and to regain her trust in humans.
But now, almost exactly a year later and after putting a lot of advice from the Way of Cats blog into action, Lilli is the sweetest, most considerate little lady imaginable! She greets me and my boyfriend J– happily every morning, chirping away with her tail held high – but has learned to wait until the alarm goes off. And when she wants a treat, she meows to get our attention and then shimmies the double-long post on her cat tree and then waits expectantly for her reward – her own idea. We think it’s great and she never has to wait long for her well-earned treat (though sometimes by the fourth or fifth performance, it may be reduced to the size of a tic tac).
She is our little princess and we encourage her to tell us what she wants and also to tell her she is doing everything right, to try to give her more confidence. We learned that our relationship doesn’t have to be about discipline and control, but could rather be based on affection and mutual regard. I wouldn’t have known this, if I hadn’t discovered “The Way of Cats” and it is working out splendidly for us, I must say!
I would like people to know Lilli’s story, that if you love your pet, you should think twice about using them to make some extra money.
Because, in the end, you could be endangering the life of your sweetheart as well as contributing to other negative effects of “backyard breeding.” These include accidentally breeding in hereditary illnesses, such as PKD, which could cause their offspring a lot of pain and suffering later on. As well as a lot of heartbreak and disappointment for the people, who love them.And, on the other side, we should look to either adopt our pets from shelters or – if it just has to be a certain breed – then from responsible, certified breeders.
I am extremely happy for everyone… except the people who were “breeding cats to make money.” That is a horrible idea, and even worse in execution.
“Box on the lap” is a bit of an extension of my other lap cat tricks, and I am pleased to add this to our affection moves. Thanks so much!
My post on Invisible Petting.
Got here from a Link or Search?
There’s more ways to get our cat to be affectionate in The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See all of my CAT AFFECTION posts.
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