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Happy Gotcha Day Mazy cat!

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Middle Child:
Today is Mazy's Gotcha Day!  Eight years!  (known in this forum as Struvite Kitty or SK)

I wanted a kitten for Tolly.  Tolly (:angel: 11/11)  was raised by Bibbs (:angel: 3/05) and Ootay (:angel: 5/09), but they were already over 8 years old when he came, so by the time Tolly was going on 6, they were old ladies and didn't want to run and tumble with him as much, and he said I was "too big".

So the kitten search began.  I actually filled out my application at the shelter in the fall, was approved and started visiting the shelter about once a month.  There were many lovely cats and I usually left in tears, wanting to take them all home, but I really needed a younger playmate for Tolly.

One day at the end of January when I walked in the shelter manager met me at the door so happy, because she said a couple of litters of kittens had been brought in.  She brought me into the room, and sure enough, there were all these little kittens, of all colors (including a couple of red ones!) running around. Babies. Like I wanted.

As I stood there watching them I heard a "prrt?".  I turned to see a half grown brown tabby cat sitting in a cage staring at me.  Our eyes met and I said "Oh!  You're Mazy!" and she said "PRRT!"

The shelter manager came in just then and saw me communing with "Trinity" (her shelter name).  I said I want HER!  She opened the cage and put her hands in to show me how "Trinity" would wave claws and teeth, and said sadly, even though she's so pretty no one wants her because she's not socialized.  I said don't worry I can train that out of her.

So for the next three weekends I went back to the shelter to play with Mazy cat.  I brought the towel that had been rubbed on Bibbs, Ootay and Tolly.  Mazy did not allow me to touch her, so I could only make quick swipes with the towel to get her smell on it (to exchange smells between all the cats). I could tell Mazy was very smart, every time the shelter manager walked by the closed door Mazy would stop and look at the door, or if she heard the manager's voice she would stop and listen.  The manager really loved Mazy and had bonded with her a little, obviously.

Finally the big day came.  I built a hide-away cubby-hole downstairs where the litter boxes are, so if Mazy was scared she would have a place to hide out, by the litter boxes. Mazy heard my voice when I walked into the shelter, I know, because when I walked into the room she was in, she was sitting in her cage and her eyes were already fastened on mine,  she KNEW I was there to take her home that day.

I talked to her all the way home, telling her all about the other cats and how I hoped she would be a playmate for Tolly.  She only said one thing, and that was when we were standing at my door, she said "mew".  (She almost never meows, prrt is her word, but when she sings it is still a "mew" not a meow).

Once inside I set down the carrier and put out the new litter box I'd gotten for her, and put fresh litter in it, then added it to the corner where the other boxes are.  Then I opened the carrier door right in front of the litter boxes.  Mazy stepped into and out of each litter box,(and The Litter Box Police was born) then headed for the stairs.

She walked the entire perimeter of the apartment while I and the other cats watched.  Eventually she came out of the bedroom, FLOPPED down in the middle of the living room floor and sighed deeply.  I knew that sigh said "I'm home".

She was playing with Tolly by the very next day. (though it took her at least 18 months to learn to live with me) From the very beginning Mazy has taken all her Jobs seriously.

Now she just gets sweeter all the time, and I love her so much!

Happy Gotcha Day my dear Mazy cat Lovey Cat.

First day here


She loves me

......

So relaxed!
......

Today:

Middle Child:
Mazy was a real challenge.  Though she took to the other cats, especially Tolly, right away, she did not know how to live with a human.  She was all the time flying at me biting and scratching me. Oops., just looked at the clock, will have to continue this story later.

Middle Child:
 Mazy and Tolly were so funny in those early days.   They were playing on Mazy's second day here.  But they were very secretive about it.  I had to be very careful to NOT look at them when they started tearing around and tumbling together, if either cat noticed me watching, they would stop.

Bibbs :angel: was very sick then, dying of cancer, so she and Mazy didn't pay any attention to one another.  Ootay :angel:, also really didn't have much to do with Mazy at first, though she did seem to enjoy watching them play.

It took me a long time to love Mazy.  She did, without any doubt, Choose me.  But she didn't know how to behave around a human.  She's a very smart cat, and she learned, but she has some ingrained need to strike out and bite and claw.  She controls it now, but it is still there.  So she had to learn how to not tear me up, and I had to learn how to teach her.

One of the first lessons I learned was how much Mazy hates the words 'kitty kitty'. We would be on the floor playing and I would try to invite her to join us by saying Mazy, come here, kitty kitty kitty. And she would 'come here' but not in the way I expected.  She would fly at me teeth and claws slashing.   It finally occurred to me that it was the WORDS kitty kitty that were upsetting her, so I stopped saying that.

Mazy did not like hands coming at her, and that also would guarantee me an injury.

But there were random attacks that had to be curtailed, too. Her first trick was ambush on the stairs.  She would hover and attack me as I went up or down the stairs.  I cured her of that, and she started attacking me from the stairs, as I sat in my chair.  She would creep up the stairs, then launch herself from the landing at my face. I taught her that wasn't allowed and (by then it was summer) her next method was to take chunks out of the back of my legs while I was standing at the kitchen counter preparing their meals. Oh she was a challenge!

Middle Child:
Mazy is a really smart cat and she did begin to learn self control after some time. I remember one of the first times I realized she was starting to control her tendency. I was on the bed communing with Tolly and Ootay when Mazy jumped up.  Even though I had learned that Mazy hated hands coming at her, I reached out for her without thinking.  Previously that would have gotten me seriously injured. (she sent me to the ER twice in her first six months here) This time,  at first Mazy reacted as usual with teeth and claws ready to strike, but then she STOPPED herself.  I was SO PROUD of her at that moment (and many moments since).  I snatched my offending hand behind my back and praised her and praised her. She preened and, taking a risk, I lowered my face to hers, and she gave me a head bump!

Middle Child:
Once Mazy started learning self control it was time to start some specific training.  Her claws were a lethal weapon, not just to me, but to Ootay who was getting more fragile by that time. Mazy had honed in on Ootay's weakness and began to harass her in a similar way to what Bibbs had done all her life.  Bibbs was gone by then, but I was very disappointed to see Mazy step into that role and I was determined to stop it in it's tracks.

So, in addition to making Mazy leave Ootay alone, I needed to be able to trim her claws, for the safety of all.  Also, I needed her to be able to accept a certain amount of physical handling, and I needed her to learn to wear a harness so she could come outside with me and the other cats.

Spraying Mazy with water when she harassed Ootay wasn't working. It had worked to teach her not to attack me, but it became obvious there was something else going on here. One day it clicked.  I had been with Ootay on the bed, giving her some medication. Ootay was new to taking meds at that time (the start of her treatment for megacolon) and would get very upset, so a lot of fuss was made over her.  Mazy was watching from the floor.  After I was done medicating, treating, and massaging Ootay I started to walk out of the room.  I turned just in time to see Mazy launch herself at Ootay and attack her. A lightbulb went on in my head, Mazy was JEALOUS of the special attention Ootay was getting.

So I devised a plan that would encompass several goals.  Mazy would stop being jealous because she would get special attention too, and while she was getting it, she would learn to accept being held by me, and most important, her Paw Work training was begun.

From then on, every time Ootay had to take a pill, after Ootay's session was done, I immediately turned to Mazy.  I got her special treat ready (mayonaise was her favorite, just very tiny drops).  At first I simply put a dot of mayo on my finger and let her lick it off.  After a couple of days I became more purposeful, while she was licking her chops from the mayo, I gently put my hands on her and gathered her into my lap, quickly giving her another tiny dot of mayo for reward and distraction. I only held her there for a second or two, then released her and gave her one last taste of mayo. In a few more days, I was able to hold her there in my lap for a little longer before the release.

This special attention directly after working with Ootay DID cause Mazy to stop attacking Ootay so much though it didn't end completely for another year or so, unfortunately.

Next came the Paw Work. Now that I was able to take Mazy into my lap and hold her there, I started trying to touch her paws.  At first she went berserk. I had already taken her in to the vet long before this, and they had put her under anesthesia, clipped her claws and put nail caps on. That was pretty much the last time I ever went to that clinic because the receptionist, when I picked her up suggested I have her de-clawed. She got an earful and I never went back there. I was determined Mazy would have her nails trimmed at home, but it took three years for her to accept that.

So it was a long slow process that Paw Work.  In the mean time I took her to the groomer every six weeks, there was one person there who Mazy would allow to trim her claws.   I would hold Mazy up on a wooden counter draped over my arm, using my other hand to slip little dots of mayo on her mouth to distract her as Kathy trimmed her claws.  Mazy would growl and growl and growl, but she allowed Kathy (and ONLY Kathy) to do it. And the Paw Work continued at home. 

 In time (three years) she began to allow me to snip one claw at a time.  Eventually I could get a whole paw in one session.  Another year passed and I was able to get both front paws all at once. Fast forward three more years, and by Mazy's sixth year here I was able to do the hind feet too, and now can do all four paws in one session!

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