Since raising cats, I often say: What do you want to do? Because it is difficult for you to interpret any expression from her face-of course, even if you think it is unhappy and indifferent, it is probably just your wishful thinking, just like interpreting the «smiley face» of a dolphin. Similarly, it is difficult for you to predict what weird behaviour it will do in the next second: opening the cabinet door, scratching the sofa, suddenly running hard, licking soap, urinating…
The story in this article is also a typical «translation» error of a human cat’s language behaviour: we naturally assume that certain expressions and behaviours of the other party may be wrong. Of course, through more examples, we will gradually deepen our understanding of cat behaviour, especially for people who rescue stray cats, such as their response to pain.
01. She Lived On The Ceiling
On April 30, 2021, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton – a cat – has been on the ceiling for 4 months. I thought she would no longer use dust as her home. In the beginning, there is always a little fluffy ghost shouting ghosts at the heating pipes at home, which is indeed a bit weird. But soon I got used to it. Some people’s homes have mice piercing the walls, and my home has a cat on the ceiling.
Now, I have set a trap. I will wait patiently for her to show up and look for the meow of the cat at home, and then I will use a very clever handwheel device to block her way back to the ceiling. Now she was in a dilemma.
Eliza poked out his head cautiously, and then a paw. She and I kept a large safe distance, ran up the stairs quickly, and I swooped over.
She quickly turned around, jumped on the edge of the window, and twisted and crawled into a 3-inch gap between the window and the suspended ceiling.
This night, this tabby cat successfully drove me crazy again, which has happened several times. The plan to adopt a stray cat went bankrupt again.
I think the root cause of coaxing Eliza maybe my untimely sense of responsibility. I’m writing a book about pests—the animals that cause us trouble. Stray cats have brought a lot of trouble. Studies have determined that at least 1.4 billion birds and 6.9 billion mammals are killed by them every year in the United States. And I was writing «it is necessary to keep cats indoors as much as possible», I think I have to practice what I want to promote. (Repository.si.edu/handle/10088/19537)
02. Our Acquaintance Didn’t Go Well
At the end of last December, the neighbour rushed into my yard, and he trapped Eliza, who was shivering and frightened. When we put it in the bathroom in the basement, the striped tabby cat rushed up the stairs and wrecked my kitchen, and then curled up in the small space under the bathroom sink, where no one could catch her. I put water, cat food, cat litter and snacks there and let her recover well.
I knew from the beginning that this cat is difficult to tame. According to my veterinarian, she is about 5 years old. Julie Levy, a veterinarian at the University of Florida, told me that the best time to «socialize» cats is «fifth to seven weeks, very early and very short.» But she has seen many exceptions-some cats decided to stay indoors after they tasted canned cat food at the beginning of the sixteenth week. An adult stray cat may relax in front of the person who tames it but will never give enthusiasm in front of a group of people. Levy said: “It’s like cats don’t say, ‘I like humans now’, but at most, ‘Okay, I like you now.”
Eliza had her ears cut, microchips implanted to prove that she was arrested, and sterilization. She continued to live on the lawn and porch of her neighbour’s house. This may mean that she has not yet shown friendliness and curiosity, and does not want to be adopted. But I am very confident. After all, there are canned cats and catnip. The new crown keeps us isolated at home and has a lot of time in our hands.
After getting on the ceiling, Eliza made her home here. Every night, she would come down and poop in the cat litter (and a piece of the suspended ceiling was used by her as a urinal). I spent several hours in the basement for this, putting a variety of selected snacks, as motionless as possible, listening to her carefully sliding down the pipe. I spoke to her loudly so that she could get used to my voice. In the end, she couldn’t resist the temptation of tuna gravy and got down by herself. However, as soon as she saw any movement of me, she would rush back to the ceiling and stare at me from the grille.
After a few weeks, Eliza became more courageous and could get close to smell my shoes. If I seal the ceiling at this time, then trust will collapse. So I didn’t do that. After a few months, she seemed to be more and more disturbed.
I’ve tried spending more time with her, and I’ve tried less; I’ve even tried pheromones, I’ve tried putting anti-anxiety drugs in her food, and I’ve tried toys; I’m willing to listen to everyone Of cat owners, animal behaviourists, ecologists and veterinarians seek advice. Someone even suggested that I kill her, and at the other extreme, someone told me that I should install an 8-foot (approximately 2.4 meters) high trail around the house so that she can enjoy the best roof life.
Month after month, Eliza’s caution and gaze made me feel like a declaration of war. It turns out that some cat owners can empathize with me. Rebecca Evans is a psychologist at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. She found that many cat owners assign personality traits to their pets. For example, they may regard pets’ unbehaved behaviour as “seeking revenge”. Evans proved that if the owner thinks a cat is «pleasing» or more outgoing, then he will like it more; while a nervous cat is less likeable. So what about Eliza, if she is not extremely nervous?
03. No Heart Should Be Hurt For Bravery
I did project my thoughts on her. I saw her shyness and withdrawal and guessed she didn’t like me. The «master satisfaction» in my mind collapsed. Her dark brown stripes seemed to me not docile, her face was also suspicious, and she looked bad-tempered. I don’t want her to harm other animals outside, but this kind of getting along is not easy for us now.
Before the end of May, I have to get her out of the ceiling. I’m tired of living in the «cat in the ceiling», an old terrier of the early 21st century, and she needs to go to the vet. I want to give up. After the veterinarian has dealt with her potentially bad teeth, she will go to the rescue station. The people at the rescue station might let her be a working cat and catch mice in the barn. I think so. I tried my best, but this cat doesn’t want to be my cat. I finally realized that she is not a tough guy.
In the end, I caught her with a handbag and sent her to the operation, feeling frustrated. On the way I drove home, the vet called me. Eliza’s mouth is worse than we thought. The photo shows a brown abscess with pus and rotten teeth. The operation cost is not small. The vet was silent for a while after learning of my plan. She said: «Otherwise you come back to pick her up and give her up. Let the people at the rescue station spend money.»
In my heart, heaven and man are at war. I think if I abandon her, she won’t live long. Maybe that is a good thing. Not much time is better than suffering from illness on the street or in the barn. But even if she drives me crazy, I still love her brave heart. I told the vet to start the operation.
That afternoon, the one I picked up was a tabby cat that hadn’t worked well and was not awake, with only 3 small teeth left in his mouth.
The cat I brought back is not what it used to be. Even if the painkillers are over, she wants to be caressed. She likes to comb her hair, and she likes to wander around my feet, with her tail upright, rubbing her head against my hand. She bit my finger with her toothless gums, and the touch of her hand was like playing with moist plasticine. We cancelled the appointment to send her to the rescue station.
This cat wants to be my cat. I realize that I have been ignoring this. The relationship between humans and cats once depended on my feelings and subjective interpretations of her behaviour—what I saw and needed, and what I thought I could control. But I didn’t really think about cats in this relationship. When I face an animal with its own past and motives, control is just fantasy. What we really need is understanding.
After I took her to the vet, I really understood what her withdrawal meant—the intense pain. Daniel Mills studies animal behavioural medicine at the University of Lincoln. He told me that the facial expressions of cats are difficult for humans to understand, but they do show signs of pain. He explained: «It basically shows that the nose and mouth are tightened, and the pupils are constricted.» Eliza’s eyes are usually narrowed into a thin slit, which looks suspicious. He said that such squinting «represents severe acute pain.»
Sure enough, I found a paper for veterinarians describing the cat’s pain. I can be sure that Eliza can be seated with the picture above: the ears are stretched forward, the eyes are half-closed, and the tight snout makes the cat appear. A stinky face state.
Mills said that veterinarians are usually trained to deal with acute pain; if you poke a cat’s broken leg, «you will be bitten.» Chronic pain is more difficult to recognize, and many cats will show withdrawal. Eliza was unwilling to accept my invitation softly, which made me regard this shyness as coldness and retreat as anger. The state after she got rid of the pain, let me know that these emotions were actually caused by me, and had nothing to do with her.
04. New Life Begins
Now, Eliza is free and courageous in the room, attacking the scarred bedpost, destroying cat toys, and running to her favourite snacks. Is she happy? Of course, she couldn’t tell me. But her beard is facing forward, her fur is smooth and greasy, and her grunt is not small. Evans said: We can only evaluate based on what we see, there is no way to evaluate based on what they are. What I can do all cat owners can do is to satisfy the cat’s needs and seek understanding instead of throwing away our emotions.
At least so far, she has no interest in the ceiling.
Yeah!