In this short video I explain the basics on how to teach your cat to be a little thrasher! Be sure you have the basics down on how to target train before you get started. The “Training” playlist on this You Tube channel or the Training and/or How To videos page on my website should get you started.
atlanta cat behavior
Willow
Thrashing Schwillow!
Willow’s tale of rescue is, quite frankly, one of the stupidest things I have ever done in my life. It could’ve gotten me kidnapped, murdered or who knows what. One Saturday morning I was the first to arrive at the practice to open it up. I was in the back and heard a knock at the door. I came up front to meet a strange man. I opened up and asked how I could help him, and he said he worked at the Johnson Ferry Baptist church across the street as a maintenance man, and they found a bunch of kittens. He said they got loose in the church and in the church parking lot, but he caught one. He said it was in the back of his van and acting CRAZY! I tried to ask how big the cat was, etc. but only got unhelpful answers. I promptly went to the back, grabbed a cat carrier, towels and my Bite Buster sleeves and figured I would catch this little bugger myself.
Could she have been more precious?
Little bugger she was. Very little. Wee in fact! The man opens the back of his WINDOWLESS, solid white, serial killer van with NOT A THING inside it except Willow, clinging to the grate that divided the back of the van from the driver’s area. What do I do? Oh, I jump right in without even thinking and then yell at the guy to “Shut the door!!” behind me, ya know, like he was not doing it fast enough and we wouldn’t want her to escape! Hindsight. So, he closed me in said windowless van, and I secured said vicious, CRAZY kitten (barely one pound, pouring green boogers from her eyes and nose), got her in a carrier, knocked, and he let me out. Thankfully, he let me out! In that instant I realized what an unsafe and stupid thing I just did without a soul in sight to know what had happened. But, got the kitten and the rest is history!
The photo I sent to Jake, preparing him for what we were about to "foster".
First carrier and car ride home!
Third eyelids up, she didn't feel her best that day.
I had no intention of keeping her of course. We set traps and tried to help the church capture the rest of the kittens. We tried for over a week with zero luck. That very same week we had a good Samaritan take in a small grey and white kitten. He was the only one left of his family. They had all been living in a sewer pipe in a subdivision and animal control had been called to catch them all, the little grey and white one was too elusive, and they were not successful in capturing him. The complete opposite of Willow who was the only one caught in her group.
Willow and Soren became fast friends.
I used the Hashtag #mustachesandmittens for obvious reasons.
They did everything together. Always best to raise kittens in pairs or the whole family!
I brought Willow home each night to foster until she could be reunited with her siblings. Have I mentioned that we have never successfully fostered anything, ever? Still failing! Hanging onto her for a few days turned into a manic mission to catch the rest of her litter so I could just keep the whole family! Afterall, gotta follow my own advice, I couldn’t bring a single kitten in here with a household of adults and seniors. After a week of completely falling in love with her, and being unsuccessful in trapping the remaining babies, we decided to adopt that elusive grey and white kitten as her new sibling. This, as you may have guessed, became Soren.
I love this photo of them. Two little peas in a pod.
They were fast friends in a matter of minutes, they both desperately needed each other after all. Kittens break all the rules and can often just be plunked together with some supervision and breaks and within days, they’re buddies. This could not have been truer with Schwills and Ren and what sweet pair they made!
Babies first stroller ride.
Mammas’ switch flipped and she went right into “Mamma-mode”, it was remarkable. She would groom, nurture, cuddle and smack and bite them too! All the things they needed. Our “justification” at the time for this adoption was well, obviously the rescue story, I had to keep her after risking my life, but Hitch needed friends. All of his friends and wrestle companions had died. He was so much younger than all of our other cats, so we thought Soren could grow up to be his new bestie, and we were right, but at that moment in time, would you have guessed that Hitch was the MOST fussed up and put out by the babies?! We were blown away, nothing but hissing and spitting at their door. He was NOT the welcoming committee we had anticipated, but at least we had Mother to assist us!
A nurturing Mammas.
Foraging lessons.
Lined up for evening meds time. Take the time to teach them early, meds are delicious!
Mammas cancer has started to grow here but she is still training!
They did integrate beautifully. These were the first babies I had the chance to raise since I had learned so much more about cats. They were clicker trained starting at just a few months of age, they were introduced to foraging from day one, leash and harness training-check! Cat stroller-check! We were going to do this right! I took them with me to work every day so they would learn that cat carriers and car rides are not scary and so they could get handled by multiple people. In fact, in that week before Soren joined us, I even kept Willow in my purse and took her to a doctor’s appointment! She napped the whole time, no one had a clue I had a 1.5 pound bundle of scrumptiousness in my bag!
Pic of her hiding in my purse at the doctor's office!
So inseparable they even used the litter box in unison!
In love.
Some pics are blurry because the little monkey never stopped moving!
I absolutely adore this series of photos!
She looks so over him!
These two became inseparable lights of our lives and Hitch warmed up to them beautifully, eventually, once he got over the fact that he was no longer the baby! I would say they became a gang of three!
Willow and Hitchinson.
Clearly, they became quite close.
She shared her personal catio with her friends!
I don’t even know what to say, Willow had so much freakin’ personality and was a super star! Best clicker trained cat ever, she was riding a skateboard at just a few months of age! She was gorgeous and a supermodel social media star, she LOVED to forage and was excellent at it. One of her cutest traits was her super cute squeak, she chirped more than meowed, and she would give “air butts” from across the room!! She could be six feet away from you sitting on the kitchen table, you’d say her name and she would head butt nothing at all! Just the air! Or she would headbutt you or an object but just b-a-r-e-l-y touch it, an air-butt!
Just learning how to skate.
Sharing the board with Samson.
This girl LOVED her skateboard!
She was also a mighty hunter and a bit “Lassie-like” (“Timmy, er, uh, my gecko fell down the well!”). She would catch these damn geckos and bring them into the house from the catios. On more than one occasion, her prey got away from her. She would COME GET US TO HELP!!!!! No lie, it was amazing. One situation I can recall very distinctly, a gecko was stuck up under the master bathroom vanity. I start walking up the stairs and she comes running out of the bathroom chirping at me, spinning in circles, the fur on the base of her tail all puffed up (this happened when she was very excited) tail whipping from side to side (she expressed a lot of words wither tail) and she led me to the bathroom, one specific corner and sure enough there was her prey. Much to Willow’s dismay, said gecko was saved rather than pulled back out onto the bloodletting field. She did the same thing when one went under the washer dryer! Except this time, we had a guest, so I have a witness who saw that she “asked” us for help. Same thing, chirping, puffy tail, spinning in circles trying to take me over to where she needed me to “get something for her.” Absolutely remarkable.
Could they be any cuter?
Bunk beds!
Cuddling with big brother Simon!
Hanging with old man, Lefty! They spent a lot of time together.
Mammas, Wiccas, Willow and Soren. So many good teachers!
Hitch and Willow.
My biggest regret was hiring a cleaning service when Willow and Soren were about 6-8 months old. I had never done this before and will never do so again. She completely changed and became super wary of guests, nose phobic and overall, just very skittish from this moment forward. I was always home to supervise so no one was nasty to her, but the noise and multiple people coming into the home just those few times changed her forever.
She communicated early on that she would like a catio outside this window.
Her wish was our command.
Did I mention she was also a master forager?
Then a few years later along comes Finn and Tonka. Things were fine until they were not. I have many photos and videos of the introductions going well, I even have video of Willow backing Tonka up on a cat condo and putting him in his place, but at some point, those tables turned, and he forever wanted to hunt her. It was a devasting change I had to cope with, we tried and tried for years to integrate him. Short version, if you are bold and brave and like to play rough, he is fine with you. If you are shy, timid, and easily charged and terrorized then he is a bully. No combination of medication has been able to change this in him, but by this stage we were committed to everyone, and this is why we now have “Willow’s Place” an upstairs catio daddy built just for her! Two cat wheels, one upstairs and one down, because she needed all of her favorite amenities, and she ended up spending the bulk of her days upstairs so we did all we could to ensure she had access to her favorite things in addition to time sharing and rotating cats around the house.
"My Daddy built this just for me!"
One of the last tricks I was working on with her shortly before we lost her was to teach her to jump through my arms in the shape of a hoop. She was the first cat I had ever taught to do this, and she did so perfectly and beautifully for the very first time the morning of the day she died. I never had the chance to capture this on camera. Very sad indeed.
Sitting up on the balance beam.
Enjoying Daddy's scoop.
July 19th, 2021 was like any normal day. Willow would come flying downstairs, hop on her skateboard and ride it until she hit some carpet or a chair leg to stop its roll and then take her morning meds! This morning, however, we practiced our new trick, jump through my arms in a hoop. Best to do these things in the early morning hours when the house was quiet, she was less distracted and wary of life. We did our thing and I left. When I came home that evening I was sitting in the driveway for a bit talking on the phone with a client and answering their cat questions. Little did I know what was happening inside and little did I know if I had just come inside sooner….
Jake more often than not does evening chores, canned food dinner, scoops the litter, does evening meds. He had done all of those things. I went upstairs to use the bathroom after my hellacious commute home to find Willow collapsed on her side in a puddle of urine on the floor. She was warm, right next to her food bowl, she had just eaten some of her dinner, took about 3 steps and died. I did chest compressions, tried to give her CPR, and was frantic. If I had just come inside sooner…I’ll never stop regretting that, not ever. Only just a few minutes and I may have been there if nothing else to hold her as she passed. Willow was only seven years old. She had not even made it to her first senior vet visit. She had no signs or symptoms of anything at all so one can only guess it was the silent killer, heart disease. Needless to say, we were devastated, and still are. I miss her every day, she was so special and so full of personality. She was one of my very bestest girls, trained by Mammas, and now she will not be here to pass the torch to the next generation. I also just hate that her life was so stifled by the addition of Tonka. So many regrets with this one. Some of them all you can think of is how you could have done better.
And it all started with a potentially life-threatening rescue on my part. And I would do it again without a second thought!
We miss you so much Schwillow!
She was precious beyond words.
So pretty in her special vest!
Soren really misses his best friend and sister.
Teaching the “Up-Down” Pattern Game to Cats
Pattern games are a simple set of exercises that provide a predictable and secure structure for animals in order to help them normalize changes in their environment (potential “triggers” for reactive cats). Patterns are safe, predictable, repetitive, voluntary and normalizing!
Pattern games were created by Leslie McDevitt for use with reactive dogs, but there is nothing stopping us for using these tools with our cats!
A Food Puzzle Tutorial: How to get the most out of our food puzzles, their interconnecting qualities and how to combine with commercial toys for increased challenge!
This video details how to best utilize the foraging toys made here at Fundamentally Feline. We offer toys for beginners all the way to the master forager. Our toys also nicely compliment commercially available food puzzles and this video will show you how to do just that! Our toys can be purchased at https://www.fundamentallyfeline.com/s…
Mr. Wallace (OG-Wally)
Wallace looking terrified during the professional photo shoot.
Mr. Wallace came to us under some pretty challenging circumstances. This story is a delicate one to tell.
I will start by saying that not everyone in this profession is capable of rescuing and managing a lot of cats/animals. I sit here and share all of these animals with you, boasting about how many we cared for at one time and how great their lives were, how clean our home was and still is, how great the medical care that they have all received has been. And it is all true, we practice what we preach here. But the fact of the matter is, not everyone is capable. Many people do not have the time (or won’t make the time), many do not have any help and are just one person and, over time, caring for double digits of pets can become physically and emotionally exhausting, and some people just check out. They might decide to travel, they may rehome their pets, they may just stop upholding the standards of care the pets had been accustomed to, they may just check out altogether, which is what Wally’s human did.
Wally’s story began when I was asked to pet sit for a co-worker. This was 20+ years ago now, so things were a bit “looser”. I was handed a key and a note with a few scribbled down instructions. That’s it! The end (You should see my pet sitting notes-I am like a crazy person). After work one October night, off I went for my first visit to this house. Upon arrival, nothing super crazy, unkempt yard, dingy carport type area, an old bungalow that needed fixing up. Inside was a different and much more alarming situation, no working lights, none, zero. It was dark, mind you. I had never been there before, I had no idea where anything was, I was completely at a loss. This was long before cell phone flashlights. I had to keep the refrigerator door open for light. It was a bit frightening to say the least, it felt like I was in a scary Halloween movie, and I would soon be fighting for my life. Seriously.
There was no food in the fridge, the oven was full of picture frames and prints, there were stacks of unopened gifts on the dining room table, and many other strange details I will not disclose. Most sadly, when I made it out to an area, I’m not quite sure what to call it, kind of like a finished carport recreation room, there was some light from the streetlights coming through the windows. I saw a 20-pound bag Science Diet Light dry cat food; the bottom corner of the bag had been chewed through and there were only a few pieces of kibble scattered around on the floor. There was some food in the few bowls I could locate but clearly, I needed to come back with supplies. I could not find any other food; I could not find a can opener or where the litter boxes where. I called Jake in tears, I was horrified, this was a colleague for Christ’s sake. I filled the water bowls that I was able to locate and left to come back the next day, with some light bulbs!!!!!
So handsome!
Multiple staff accompanied me back to the house the next day. It was really something to see the home in daylight. It did not really look as if anyone lived there, but 15 cats did, and they needed our help. Little did I know when I took this pet sitting gig that this would basically my first hoarding case. We scooped all the boxes and gave food and water and tried to put eyes on everyone, but the cats were so terrified that all of these strangers were in their home, they were tough to locate.
On the third day, we made the decision to confiscate the cats and bring them back to the vet clinic to provide medical care and safe haven while we figured out what the hell we were going to do. Upon arrival at the clinic we set everyone up in boarding cages, cats that we knew were friends we boarded together so they could have that comfort and we went through the list of patients in the medical record to be sure we got everyone. But someone was missing…we had turned that house all kinds of upside down catching these cats, but we had to go back. Wally was the missing cat, we finally found him up inside a box spring in what was possibly a guest bedroom. Needless to say, the whole ordeal was traumatic for all involved and went on far beyond the scope of this story.
Cat's cats NEED to live with other cats!
Wally grew up with dogs and liked them too!
So, long story long, Wally, became Mr. Wallace to us! And he lived under furniture in our home for YEARS. He loved the other cats, Charcoal was his absolute best friend, he even liked the dogs. For years we never saw him use a litter box, almost never saw him eat, we rarely touched him except for monthly heartworm prevention and nail trims. This was fine with us, he was safe.
Wally was clearly a very shy, poorly socialized cat. He was a cat’s cat and not interested in humans so much. Eventually these cats were all released from their boarding cages and lived in the clinic until they found homes, Wally lived under the cages. He was never seen and impossible to show to adopters. Jake came to meet him and well, he looked at a white blob of fur under the cages. There were a few reasons I was drawn to Wally. First, it is no secret I adore “the Meezers” (Siamese cats for those unfamiliar with the term), we didn’t have a flame point after all, Wally was like completing our set! Ha! But obviously, it was his story and his trauma that really tugged at me. Having been to the house and helped to rescue him myself really connected us, at least as a human, I do realize that Wally could’ve cared less about me. I felt that even if he got adopted, he would likely be adopted because he was pretty and then returned because he was so timid. See how I could twist and justify how they needed me? Many of you are not at all blind to this, I know it! We had a house full of cats, we did not “need” another cat, but he would be happy there, have feline friends and zero expectation from us to be something he was not.
He had a lot of friends!
Naughty, naughty! Someone found the fireplace.
Oh, dear, Mr. Wallace.
There is no miraculous “and then one day…” tale to tell. The day he found the fireplace proved stressful as that resulted in a surprise bath, further reinforcing his idea to steer clear of humans! He just very gradually came out of his shell and learned to trust us. He eventually even made his way to the sofa! It was AWESOME. Sadly, we waited many years for this so we didn’t get to cuddle and enjoy each other for as long as we would have liked.
At the surgeons to see what was wrong.
He developed a very rare and weird kidney issue. One day I saw him urinate on the floor and it looked like he peed dried coffee grounds!!! Turns out, it was dried blood coming from his kidneys. These particles were clumping together and obstructing his ability to urinate. It was super weird. We have never seen anything like it before or since, but Wallace could not pee! At the age of 17 he ended up having a perineal urethrostomy, (a P/U surgery), which basically means he had his penis removed and was turned into a lady so he could pee! He surprisingly held steady for quite some time post op, kidney disease and subsequent anemia finally got him.
His urine with the dried blood!
Lip Lickin' good!
Best friends, Charcoal was with him in his last moments.
Fiercely hunting catnip stuffed mice.
Doing tricks!
Mr. Wallace often looked like he should have top hat and cane. To us, he looked like Mr. Peanut from the Planters nuts commercial. He was just precious. He was so very sophisticated looking. He was also a very polite beggar. He even started to allow guests to interact with him in his senior years and would gently pull their arm towards him requesting a bit of cheese! Just like Wallace from Wallace and Grommit, Wally liked cheese! So cute.
I am very grateful that Jake and I are capable and able bodied to do what we have done and to have saved all of those we have saved. Together we have fulfilled one of my lifelong dreams which is not something everyone gets to say.
Politely begging for cheese!
Mr. Wallace
Wally and Simon, surprise cuddle session under the foot stool.
Kodiak Bears
A thoughtful pose taken during our professional photo shoot!
Kodiak was brought into the practice where I was employed at the time. His original name was Issac. He had been abandoned outside of an apartment complex and brought in by a local cat rescue. He was a stunning cat, but Kodiak had some baggage. He was all four-paw declawed (AND LEFT OUTSIDE!) We performed our usual intake protocol getting him ready for adoption, but in doing so we discovered how mutilated his little feet were. Nonetheless, we put him in our adoption room in hopes of finding him a new family. He was marveled at and inquired about daily; he was super handsome after all.
We learned quite quickly that Kodiak was a biter, likely why he was left outside where he was defenseless having no claws. We began warning people not to touch or pet him too much. It is a bit challenging to adopt out a cat when you have to tell people not to interact with him. He was so soliciting of affection and good looking making him a bit hard to resist. Finally, we had a taker. A cat savvy parent that understood he was a bite risk but wanted to take on the challenge anyway. We adopted Kodiak to her with specific instructions on managing the behavior. Fingers crossed off he went to home number two.
A few weeks later Kodiak was returned for biting. It happened a few too many times and a bit too hard, so the family decided it was not the right fit. So, does declawing keep cats in their homes? The answer is vehemently no.
We decided to look a little further into Kodiak’s aggression by x-raying his feet and discovered he had some bone remnants from his declaw. Since the cells for the nail come from the bone, if the entire P3 bone is not completely removed, you get regrowth of nail under the skin. We decided to do surgery to “fix” this, which basically involved re-declawing him. We did not offer declawing at this feline only practice so it was my first experience with the procedure. I was horrified and sobbing upon his bloody recovery from anesthesia. I will liken it to slaughtering your own cow for a steak dinner. For the majority of people, if they had to kill it to eat it, probably wouldn’t. If clients could watch a video of a declaw surgery and the cat’s recovery post op before electing to do it to their beloved cat, they wouldn’t. Sheltering clients from the gruesome facts is an enormous part of the “cover up” that is happening in veterinary medicine.
Photo taken during the Cats101 filming on Animal Planet!
More before smartphones photos.
Kodiak could no longer be trusted in the adoption room. He was a liability, so he lived in the back of the hospital where I became extremely attached to and empathetic for him. I’ll never forget the day I saw him scratch on one of the posts at the clinic, it made me choked up that he knew just what to do, remember cats also scratch to scent mark so even without claws the behavior is performed. So I took him home and Jake and I became home number three that I know of, and this would be his last stop because we do not give up on animals, no matter what. The baggage was still there, and we learned to recognize and work with him but you ALWAYS had to watch yourself around Kody Bears. He proceeded to have more re-growths on different toes at different stages of his life. Kodiak was declawed initially and then re-declawed 3 subsequent times. We know more now and we know better; we should have opened up all four feet and just corrected his botched declaw from the start, perhaps two feet at a time, but hindsight is 20/20. Kodiak developed one last regrowth in his senior years but I couldn’t do it to him again. I chose to medically manage him and treat him for chronic pain instead.
Italiano Bears on the counter, "helping".
Shadow and Kodiak.
Fireside Bears.
Kody had another good friend at the clinic, Charcoal. Honestly, I was having a hard time choosing between which of the two I would adopt. One Saturday when I was off from work, I got a call from one of the other techs asking me to choose because a family was interested in both of them but only wanted one cat. I was in tears, I couldn’t! I know I picked one, I think it was Charcoal, but I honestly cannot remember. I was nauseous when I arrived that next Monday morning wondering who was going to still be there waiting for me. They were both there! We adopted them as a pair. You will meet the stunning Charcoal next month.
Kodias Bears! So many nicknames for this one, OMG! Bears was also quite the chef, he assisted Jake in the kitchen nightly and ate most everything offered that was of course non-toxic. We used to call him “Italiano Bears!” His dream was to go to Italy and have bruschetta, boy oh boy did he love cheese. No matter what we called him, his name always ended on the plural and that carried over to pretty much everybody, we don’t know why, it’s just what we do! He also enjoyed sparkly puff balls and regularly did the “calling” behavior that I so adore.
Bears, Wiccas and Charcoal.
Charcoal and Bears cuddling with Grant below.
Being a "real artic bear" in he snow.
Trying out my new stethoscope.
I LOVE this pic! Eleven on the bed at once is our record.
This cat remained unmanageable at the vet for the rest of his life. I would bring him up for his annual visits and we would examine and vaccinate him in the car. The vet’s office was associated with horrific pain. Another result of these procedures is that cats often miss out on veterinary care due their temperament, or they must be sedated for appointments due to their increased aggression.
One morning I woke up and found him deceased in the red room/extra bedroom. I yelled to Jake who came running out of bed, he and Jake were super tight. It was ok, for Bears this was the best way for him to leave us. I hate not being able to say goodbye, I much prefer to nurse and spoil them. I know everyone is different, but I personally loathe it when they are ripped away from me, but for Bears this was for the best. He hated the vet and the last thing I would’ve wanted was a struggle at the time of euthanasia.
His "school boy" photo.
Living at the clinic post housefire.
Beached whale Bears.
If you must alter a species to the extent of a 10-toe amputation (or worse, all 18 toes) just to be able to live with them, then I ask, why have you chosen this species with which to share your home? Scratching is an innate feline behavior; it would be like asking a dog not to bark or a bird not to fly.
I leave you with a quote from Jeremy Bentham, “The question is not “Can they reason?” nor, “Can they talk?” but, “Can they suffer?“
The answer? Yes, indeed cats can suffer and they do so at the hands of their doctors every day in this country. It is time to end the suffering. I hope this story has moved you to join the crusade to end declawing in the United States. Please consider joining or donating to the Paw Project and help us end this madness.
On behalf of the memory of Kodiak Bears please stop the suffering.
