Hey everyone else in the notes, I’m the grandson of a professional cat judge and breeder and you literally have to just. Hold cats. To make them used to being handled. Like, they’re gonna get pissed but you’re not hurting them At All I promise. This lil guy is just miffed he’s not being hurt and he’s not thrashing out he’s just an angry baby pls calm down
Just so y’all know here’s the same cat 7 months later 🙂
Look my dudes, dudettes and associations within – idk how else you expected the op to hold the squirming anger beast, because I guarantee you any other grip would have resulted in a drop and a lot of scratches and teeth. Yes, this kitten is angry. No, *not* handling said ball of fluff is not going to teach it anything aside from gtfo no human can ever touch me.
When my sister and I rescued a litter of four they were dirty, malnourished, could barely see from infections and terrified. Terror was also a good reason for them to be angry, which we understood. We obviously didn’t want to scare them more but they needed care, cleaning, medication and food via a syringe. We had to reach in to the carrier to get them out and of course they reacted with attempts at hissing (which when you’re that tiny its more like ‘pop pop pop!’) and squirming. After we started giving them all the things they needed and days to get used to us they became the cuddliest babies ever. They also flourished in health. The runt who had the worst prognosis is now so big he can’t fit in a regular cat carrier. They’re all giant fluffs and one of them is such a mama’s boy he cries if he doesn’t know where my sister is.
Cats are (usually) a product of their enviornment, and as you can see from the op’s reply this angry goblin has become a cuddly lapcat because the op didn’t shy away from teaching him that human touch is good and loving.
So calm y’alls mammaries jfc. OP knows what they’re doing.
SHES STILL A GOBLIN BUT NOW JUST A LOVING ONE, UR RIGHT
Aside from the Discourse™️, the very angry floof being told “you’re so grumpy! You’re the grumpiest!” in a baby voice is my new favorite thing.
can confirm, sometimes u have to make tiny trash kittens VERY ANGRY in order to do what’s best for them
As a foster parent who has had kittens of varying socialization levels, I can also confirm that sometimes you just gotta get in there and show them “hey, a person touched and handled me and I didn’t die” over and over and over again until they just start to get it.
One of my current fosters, Travina, came to us in mid November at 8-10 weeks old; past prime socialization. Another week or two and she would have probably been a completely feral cat, but she was still willing to come up and snatch food directly out of your hand, which meant she was still in the ‘stray’ category, and thus had a chance.
It took almost 2 months of figuring out her likes and dislikes, but with time and a lot of pushing her out of her comfort zone, she’s gone from a kitten that runs if you even look at her from across the room to one that mews and trots to you if you call her name from halfway across the house.
And THAT’S why we baby talk the angry fluff balls while they hiss and spit at us.
