Where have we been this week? Mostly busy with the Animal Welfare and Behaviour MOOC on Coursera – so apologies for the lack of postings this week.
Check out our Friday HangOut for some classic MOOC action 🙂
Category: Fluffy Friday
Chronicles of Athena – 28 Weeks
One of the reasons I wanted a kitten, rather than adopt an older cat, was because I worried about socialisation. The life of a late twenties academic doesn’t lend itself to shy cats stressed by strangers, people, or changes of environment. And this weekend we had our flat warming party. I wasn’t sure if she’d hide under the bed or join the party.
The very first time we had a group of strangers over (my family), she was extremely shy and could only be lured out with the promise of treats. Oddly I didn’t blog about it at the time! Since then I’ve maintained a policy of encouraging all my guests to feed her treats when they settle in, which has led to Athena’s new policy of extremely skittish behaviour when people first arriving in an attempt to evoke the treat packet.
So I did think of this as a bit of a test – and she passed with flying colours. Her curiosity couldn’t keep her in the bedroom for longer than ten minutes, and she spent most of the night scoring treats from various guests (Aunty Jenni, we LOVE our Dreamies – definitely Athena Approved). While many of our lovely friends were possibly bullied into promoting feline obesity, she had a wonderful time and even took a late night ‘run around the house’ game stealing wrappers from peoples’ sweeties.
Today she’s so exhausted she decided it was better to let me bake in the kitchen alone, while she stayed on the sofa with white fluffy mummy blanket, dreaming about treats, unguarded cupcakes to lick and an endless source of fingers to scratch.
Athena Approved [Chronicles of Athena – 27 Weeks]
This week Athena would like to share some of her favourite, and not so favourite, products. These are all either free or purchased with my money, and the opinions are entirely Athena’s own.
Favourite Toys:
Cat Alone app – this is a really simple android app that locks the screen and plays a variety of small interactive graphics, such as a laser pointer, a finger, and some bugs. Athena’s absolute favourite is the blue butterflies which she scrabbles at frantically until they buzz and get ‘trapped’ under her paw. The images all interact with her, which she loves, though the fly screen seems to make her rather sleepy. I love this app too, especially for its versatility. On the occasions where we’ve travelled, or she’s been kept in her basket, the app is great to use. She does, however, scratch the screen when she’s too excited.
Also, the use of this app made me realise I would definitely stick children in front of the TV for an extra hour’s shut eye. 5/5 Stars
Willow’s Long Legged Cat Toy – All of Athena’s toys seem to get a name and an honorific. Miss Kitty, as we call this one, has quickly become a huge favourite. The bell is a little too low down for my liking, Athena likes to chew on it when she’s attacked Miss Kitty, and the plastic rod has completely bent in her playing, but something about the tactile nature of the long rope legs and plush body has completely enthralled Athena. Hunting Miss Kitty (and subsequently removing her facial features one by one) is Athena’s little joy in life. 3/5 Stars – we’ll need to get a new one soon
Cat Accessories
Igloo Bed – Athena’s igloo bed, which I purchased before she even arrived, is much like this one and has never been used. She has no real idea what a cat bed is for, and deeply mistrusts the fluffy pillow inside, even though it’s a close match for the fabric on Fluffy Mummy Blanket that she has loved so much she’s chewed a small hole in it. Unrated – can’t give a verdict on something she won’t use.
Climbing Tree – This is Athena’s tree, by Songmics, and it’s a great little starter tree for an indoor cat. She has multiple levels to play with and bounces between them. The toys lost their attraction pretty quick, but the top most platform is one of the best places to survey the living room and watch over any unexpected guests. Of course, being Athena, she hasn’t figured out what the cat bed part is for but . . . never mind. Can’t have everything. 4/5 Stars – a little unstable when she’s going crazy, a broader base would be better.
Food
Thrive Cat Treats – 100% chicken, no additives, no mysterious extras. Athena does not recognise these as food. 0/5 Not to be bought again.
Whiskas Anti Hairballs – All the additives, all the salt, Athena would step over her own mother to get her paws on these. She deliberately acts shy when someone comes in the door because she knows if she does she’ll get some treats to entice her out. 5/5 Have taught Athena more guile than the rest of all her life experiences together.
Chronicles of Athena – 26 Weeks
For the second time in Athena’s life, her human has come home early from work and curled up on the sofa under a blanket, and refused to play games. She’s improved on her ‘nurse cat’ routine a little bit, but she did curl up around my migraine addled head and purr loudly in an effort to comfort me. Poor little kitten. She tries so hard, but really doesn’t quite get why I don’t want to play games sometimes.
Nurse Cat was a thing my childhood cat used to do. She had a keen sense for sick days, and would immediately come to watch over the patient, and take advantage of the patient’s bed.
Athena will sometimes do things that remind me of other cats I’ve had, and it must be a combination of innate cat behaviours and the common environment I provide. For example, although it may significantly squick some readers out, she likes to sleep under the covers of the bed with her head on the pillow, another behaviour she has in common with the cats who have gone before her.
She’s beginning to ‘mummy’ (or knead/make biscuits) soft fabrics, but not nearly as much as our old cat, Posie used to do. She loves a fake fleece blanket that lives on the sofa and is torn about how to approach it – should she bite and play with it, or love and cuddle it? Her love of hunting and ‘killing’ inanimate objects is all Athena, and unlike any other cat I’ve met. Athena never gets tired of killing her toys, hunting scraps of paper, and when I changed the bed clothes this morning I found two wrappers she’d brought to me in the middle of the night and deposited lovingly under my pillows. I pray I never get mice again because my bed will become a graveyard (and I’m rethinking the idea of letting her become an outdoor cat if we ever move again).
She’s recovering well from her surgery, though today there’s some fluid build up under the incision. There’s quite a lot, but as there’s no evidence of heat or infection, she doesn’t seem to bother with it, and she’s been playing about loads, I’m not too worried. I’ll keep an eye on her and contact the vet if it doesn’t go down. Kittens are not very good at bed rest – for migraines or abdominal surgery!
Chronicles of Athena – 25 Weeks
My poor, beautiful kitten has been wearing a cone of shame and skulking around the flat keeping as low to the ground as possible, occasionally getting stuck as he cone catches something and she refuses to lift her head enough to fix it.
Yes, on Friday she got spayed. It was a very stressful experience for both of us. From the moment she got in the carrier she was on her best behaviour, until she realised where we were, then cried plaintively. We met a nice new (attractive) vet who was very patient with my imagined list of possible complications and reassured me that she was healthy enough to undergo the GA, and then Athena popped back into her carrier expecting to go home.
Oh kitten.
When I phoned after her op I was told all had gone well and aside from the usual grogginess, she was fine. When I went to pick her up I cautiously asked how she’d been. Apparently she’d behaved very well, they said with only a moment’s hesitation which I can only imagine means she told them in no uncertain terms how displeased she was with them. Instead of sitting in her hidey box in the recovery cage, she perched on top of it and watched the nurses, only coming down for cuddles. We were sent away with metacam and the nurse said that since she hadn’t shown much interest in the wound we’d try without a collar.
At this point a little voice said in my head “I don’t believe my orally fascinated kitten, who has destroyed carpets and is currently peeling wallpaper off a corner the wall in the kitchen, will be able to leave that fascinating incision alone”, but foolishly I said that was fine and we went home. Athena was full of cuddles when we got back, if a little bit spaced out, but within minutes she was grooming her wound and biting at the join. I rushed back to the vets for a collar. Which she hates. She even had a couple of bolts up and down the room trying to escape it (“prevent Athena from jumping or excessive exercise” said the vets).
Poor Athena had a bit of a bad come down from the ketamine and spent the rest of Friday night on my lap, purring softly to herself as she lamented her collared state. This morning she managed to remove it so after trying to reapply it (kitten knows she can take it off, kitten is not so easily fooled again) I’ve decided to leave it off and keep a very close eye on her. We’ll have friends over tonight which should keep her attention off grooming. And right now we’re playing games which is keeping her busy (and always a sign of a happy animal feeling better!).
Being an ethologist, keeping an eye out for something called ‘excessive licking’ is hard. An ethogram is something we use, and it allows us to record behaviour in unambiguous terms. We often say to students that an ethogram would allow a martian to record behaviour the same way you would. So I’ve decided to describe ‘excessive licking’ thusly: a grooming bout focussed on the incision area (or within a fifty pence diameter of the area) for longer than three seconds, or biting on the incision line. We’ve had a few, but I’m trying to let her explore it without damaging the incision.
The internet is full of conflicting advice here. Even my own veterinary surgeons, much as I like them, recommended a completely unnecessary blood work up that I felt obliged to take because what if it showed something up? Although my veterinary colleagues advised against it, as a customer you lose rationality. Perhaps we should provide more comprehensive and generalised advice post surgery. Or perhaps a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. People who don’t know about ethograms trust their instincts. Perhaps people who have kittens less destructive than Athena don’t even worry.
If we can make it through the day without any ‘excessive’ biting we might abandon the collar entirely. We’ve given up entirely with the whole “no jumping” thing. Considering she was just hanging off her climbing tree on her incision side, I think that’s for the best. Wish us luck!
Chronicles of Athena – 24 Weeks
Wednesday’s post was in the post-queue unfinished, and a little impromptu socialising meant that it got posted without its final few paragraphs. Oops. Since it seemed to be liked, we’ll leave it there.
The snow is falling outside in intermittent bursts, Athena is curled up on my lap, and our new home is warm and cosy. It’s a good life.
My little kitten is not so little any more, but she still doesn’t like fish based food – she even turned her nose up at a crayfish tail on Thursday. However, cooking pulled pork in the slow cooker was very intriguing. I have a sneaking suspicion she was cuddling into the slow cooker when my back was turned.
She has settled into the new flat amazingly well, and has a few new routines. The top shelf of the new wardrobe, filled with cosy jumpers and t-shirts is one of her favourite places to be and she cries when she thinks I’m excluding her from the warmth. I ran a lavender scented bath which she fell in, and was most unhappy about. It hasn’t stopped her playing in the bath or preferring to drink from the running taps (which she now does by dipping her paw into the water and licking the water off, having snorted running water up her nose one too many times). She also quite likes the big new window that looks out onto a tree where two magpies roost (although the robin who comes to taunt her is less of a favourite).
She has, in the past few weeks, become incredibly vocal. Always a chirper, she shouts at me for every little thing now. When she’s in the hall by herself, when she wants the birds to come, especially when she spots me getting ready to go out. Her every want is expressed in very vocal style. Sometimes she just likes to sing to the ceiling I think.
The hope is that next Friday a little snip or two might settle those raging hormones . . .
Fluffy Friday – Visualising Risk
Happy Hogmanay my lovelies!
I am, as you read this, most likely still recovering as in Scotland we take two public holiday days to get over the Hogmanay celebrations. Myself and Athena are probably both curled up on the sofa hoping someone will clear up around us.
But I did spot this great little article in the New York Times that I’d like to share – just because it’s a great example of visualising risk, and in a situation that many of us are frighteningly familiar with . . .
How likely is it your birth control will fail?
In brief, Fluffy Friday form, here’s what I love about it:
- It describes the relationship with time, showing how risk is not always a linear relationship. Indeed in some cases it levels off with time.
- It shows the difference between typical use and perfect use, on the same graph, and sometimes this is quite startling! (Honestly, what happens with Depo-Provera?)
- It describes the actual risk – e.g. failure resulting in pregnancy, out of a 100 women.
- My choice comes out on top – yay for progesterone only implants! Who knew migraines were good for something.
Chronicles of Athena – 20 Weeks
This is our last week in this flat. The last mesmerising spin in the washing machine, the last few flirtations with the bathtub (I’m tempted to have a bath at some point and see what she does, but I also don’t want to be scarred for life).
After discovering late last week that she could jump onto the counters we’ve been having an ongoing debate about whether the counter tops are an appropriate place for kittens to be. On the one hand, Athena thinks it is a very interesting place where pens and odds bits and bobs are kept because we’re in the process of moving house and nothing gets put away any more. On the other hand, I think it is a place where kittens might burn themselves if they happen to stray onto the hob. Also that whole hygiene thing. It’s problematic. Athena, however, has discovered I have a new talent: I can read her mind. As she prepares to jump onto the counter, her bum wiggling, her ears pricked forward, and I tell her ‘no’, she is continually astounded that I know what she’s about to do and complains bitterly.
A week of this and she’s learned she’s not supposed to be on the counter, but also that she has the length of time it takes me to cross the living room to get to her. This is both hilarious and frustrating.
But Athena also saw snow for the first time in her life – which possibly fried her little brain. She wanted badly to try and catch it, but also to hide from it, so she slept well that night. When we move to the new flat, I’m tempted to take her to the garden in her harness. We’ll see.
Chronicles of Athena – 19 Weeks
The Christmas season is upon us and it is the time of year where the scientist is lured to the drinking hole and spends much of the day trying to insulate herself from noises and strong smells. In other words, t’is the season to imbibe.
It was at one such gathering of scientists that we raised the possibility of agility training Athena, based on a video that’s been doing the rounds on Facebook. I was asked if Athena is food-motivated, which made me laugh. My morning routine now involves doing my teeth and checking my emails in the kitchen so Athena will pause to eat instead of running about like a lunatic.
So should I start agility training Athena any time soon, here’s what I think the ranking of her motivations looks like:
- Cuddles. Everything and anything will be stopped for the possibility of cuddles.
- Play that involves hunting.
- Those little Whiskas treat thingies, preferably if she can hunt them.
- Ear scratches.
- Mr Ducky and Mr Chicken in a non-hunting capacity
- Hunting people from underneath the bed.
- Dry food (which has the little Whiskas treats in it)
- Climbing shelves
- Knocking things off shelves
- Wet food (not fish).
I think between Mr Ducky and myself we could get Athena round an agility course -until she decided she was bored and needed to paw at someone for affection.
Chronicles of Athena – 18 Weeks
In the name of small anniversaries, Athena has now lived with me more than half of her life.
Which might explain why she’s such a cheeky little madam. I can’t crouch down in the kitchen without having her leap up onto my back and onto the counter (which is verboten). She also watches carefully for any evidence of the Forbidden Linen Cupboard of Mysteries being opened, and cries in anguish when it gets closed in front of her little nose.
Athena’s greatest discovery this week has been the bath. The bath is a great big slidey toy filled with interesting smells, sensations, and occasionally spiders. It is truly an exciting place to be. The bath does have some downsides in that when you are done with the bath, your paws are still wet, but so far Athena is testing out a theory that if she cries at her human long enough, her paws will magically become dry and happy again. Seeing as she cries long enough for them to dry on her own, it sort of works.
Seeing as we’re moving house in three weeks, updates will be sporadic in the coming month. Athena promises she’ll cause plenty of havoc for you to hear about.
