Frustrating Ferrets

Postby cage_rage » Mon Jul 26, 2021 10:35 am

It happened years ago and yet I feel compelled to share this and maybe learn what other people think.
We moved into a flat of our own with my then-boyfriend. I wanted to have a companion animal to take care of, to return to after work. I grew up surrounded by animals, cats mostly, so the need for a pet made perfect sense.
I would've gotten a cat, naturally, but since my allergy sometimes manifests and sometimes doesn't, it was too risky. I thought ferrets would be perfect: active, playful, curious, intelligent and can be walked outside on a leash. I'd had no prior experience with them, so I did my share of research and even had a chance of interacting with these animals via an acquaintance who helped us get a pair of ferrets of our own. Needless to say I was very impatient to welcome them in our flat.
We got a pair of adult males. It was great at first and it goes without saying we were happy and took good care of them.
And yet things started to deteriorate. Them defecating and urinating profusely wherever they pleased despite our attempts at encouraging them to do it in one of their litter boxes (they had two), plucking the bars of the cage and biting into them (which ruins their teeth), making a noise at night despite getting enough playtime during the day to tire them out, the dominant male constantly hurting the weaker male to establish his dominance, and the weaker one simply being annoying by hiding somewhere whenever you reach out for him (this behaviour triggers me in any animal for some unknown reason) and wanting to have nothing to do with either of us. In some cases they were just being ferrets, and yet. Scruffing didn't work, time-out for a couple of minutes in a crate didn't work, because they'd pluck and bite the bars there too, making a lot of noise. And escaping the noise was impossible in a flat. I was frustrated. My idea of punishing their behaviour (and venting my frustration) was scruffing them and biting into the scruff, slapping on the snout (it happened three or four times) and flicking the nose. I would've never imagined myself slapping the snout of another mammal or being so quick to anger. Then again, I never thought of getting physical with another person, in this case with my then-boyfriend (five years of living with a person who forced me into a relationship, blackmailed, followed, and for the lack of a better word, battered me emotionally until I spread my legs), so I did learn a couple of things about how I handle frustration. Or not.
I'm trying to understand why I was so quick to punish them. I knew it would've been ''too much'' to throw them against the wall or floor, kick them, punch them. I retained that much awareness and I never felt an impulse to do that. But everything else... I kept telling myself it was wrong to punish them in any way, especially with that pathetic biting. The weaker male was annoying me in particular with his unwillingness to interact, hiding, cage-raging. Even walking him was frustrating. At the same time I was rushing to help him when his companion was taking things too far, bullying him.
Before them I'd never hurt an animal in anger, never had an impulse to do that (I used to have cats with different personalities and I cherished them equally, regardless of my age.) Dogs would sometimes annoy me because of the noise they make, sure, but I wouldn't whack a dog because it barks. I refuse to accept that the circumstances or the person I was living with had anything to do with that. I wasn't seething with anger and rushing to hurt them just for the heck of it. I enjoyed their company, taking them outside (as long as I got to walk the dominant male), took care of them. I've been racking my brains trying to understand why my love for animals wasn't protecting them. Was it just their behaviour? Them being mostly oblivious to my existence and preferring to play with each other rather than with me? They are not known for showing affection, unlike cats or dogs (another false idea I got from reading materials and watching videos of other ferret owners – the reality is you get zero affection and a lot of biting from them.)
The ferrets are gone, each died of illness due to their age. And yet my past is haunting me, because it crippled my trust in myself, my empathy and my self-control.
I apologize for a long post, but I wanted to explain everything in detail.
Currently, I'm living with a young cat and my heart is melting every time I see her. Her being a kitten was frustrating at times, I would get annoyed with her behaviour but that's where I'm not worried about my self-control. I'd rather cut my hand off than hurt a cat.
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#1

Postby Leo Volont » Tue Jul 27, 2021 1:57 am

Good Morning Cagey (may I call you that for short). Hey, quit punishing yourself for having made the disastrous decision to get Ferrets. You know it took Human Beings 15 to 10 Thousand Years to grow our bond with Cats, and over 50 Thousand Years for Dogs to be become Man’s Best Friend, and now Horses are coming along. Not only have the Dogs and the Cats and the Horses been Behaviorally Modified but so have WE. Dogs DO respond to Dominance Behaviors. Some Dogs NEED their Human to assert Dominance because if they don’t they will think they are in charge and that makes them nervous because they KNOW that they’re in way over their heads, with not knowing how can openers work or where the Bags of Food come from… they know they NEED us but they wish we would show them that YES we are indeed taking Charge. Cats also respond not so much to Dominance Behavior but to Social Behaviors, for instance, I will SCREAM if they jump up on me IN THE WRONG PLACE and so now my Older Cats are fastidiously careful. I yell when one jumps up on my computer keyboard (God only knows what can happen with all those CTRL and SPCL Key combinations… they could Wipe My Drive or something. Oh, the funniest thing I ever saw between my Mother and the Family Pet Cat, Kitcat, was, well, Kitcat wasn’t allowed upstairs and Mom would make her scoot and chase her down with a broom, BUT the kids were upstairs and Kitcat wanted to visit us at night or during the day if we were in our rooms, BUT her food dish was downstairs, so one time Kitcat was on her way down the stairs and Mom turned the corner and was coming up and THEY BOTH FREEZE. So she says “Oh Damn! I guess it’s okay” and then Kitcat just strolls down past her. Yeah, Kitcat was OUR Pet but Mom carried most of the load and they grew fond of each other. Now, I have a problem with Old Foxxy Buddy… probably Senile Dementia from too much anesthesia during Pillow Ear Surgeries… kept coming back. I should have just had them either cut Foxxy’s ear off or just let Foxxy deal with the pain until the ear resolved itself (you see stray cats with those deformed ears… well, they ain’t dead and they don’t have dementia because Vets don’t monitor oxygen levels… as long as they don’t KILL your cat whatever they do they do to save time and money. But now he YOWLS. Yeah, that’s gotta stop. He had been my favorite cat, but now to TRAIN HIM Socially, even though he is impaired, I have to yell SHUT UP and if that doesn’t impress him then give him a Smack hard enough that it isn’t an Affectionate Thump. Yeah, it makes me feel bad, BUT I’m Old and if Foxxy outlives me then his LIFE will depend on finding another home and that won’t happen if he is a Yowler.

But, earlier what I was saying about HOW EVOLVING WITH ANIMALS SHAPED US TOO. Cagey, We Have Been Conditioned To Display Dominance To Animals. Especially if you are an Old World Race. Yeah, Pacific Islanders let Cats and Dogs walk all over them. But Old World People INSTINCTIVELY take charge over Dogs, Cats, Horses.

AND WE KILL RODENTS! Cagey, why did you put up with Ferrets who were such little pains in the butt? Yeah, we THINK we have to take care of them for Life because we ADOPT them, but REALLY? I learned my lesson. I had a Ferrel Cat Feeding Station and the Last Alpha had been a Half Socialized cat named Betty… the first time I saw her she was eating out of a dish at somebody’s door, but they moved and she came and took over my Feeding Station. But then somebody paid some kids a Bounty to kill all the cats or they did it for FUN. But Betty was take enough to come inside and NOT want back out (I tried to rescue my Best Friend Outside Blacky but he camped out by the door and yowled and so I let him out and he got shot. Well, Cagey, I LOVED Betty but she had been a mistake. She really was a serious Alpha and made my other cats miserable. I cat I had for years, Sweetpea, felt she lost territory and wouldn’t come out to eat, so after the Killing Stopped I decided to feed her outside because she was starving inside, well, live and learn… when a cat thinks it has lost territory they go to find another Territory and you never see them again. Well, LUCK saved us and Betty must have taken a Pallet because after two years she suddenly just dropped over Dead one evening. Broke my heart. But then I saw. My other cats came alive… they came back to the way things were and I realized that Betty had hoarded me and I lost Sweetpea because of Betty… and did Sweetpea deserve that? It happened again… I took in a Parking Lot Cat that had been hand socialized by a nice lady who couldn’t afford to get her spayed, so I did and tried taking her in. She HATED my Big Roary Bear Red Tabby and would scream and hiss and hide, and my Little SiameseTommy, a kitten I had rescued and brought back from death’s door, who CHASED Roary Bear around, showing “Angie” that there was really nothing to fear from Roary Bear… big but a Gentle Giant… well, Angie did something to terrify my little darling Little Siamese Tommy who had taken to hiding and not coming out for Food. So NO! Not this again! I tossed Angie out on her little butt, and we had sort of bonded. She would roll over and let me thump her tummy, but I had more than her to think about. Angie had her chance to conform to the Family she found and didn’t do it. And now it is better now. Roary and Tommy hadn’t really gotten along and Roary would Hiss instead of Play with Tommy but apparently the Angie Episode gave them both perspective. I noticed Little Siamese Tommy frontal attacking Roary and wondered what had gotten into him and then Roary DIDN’T Hiss and chased after him. It had been three years and FINALLY they were playing.

So, yeah, Cagey, am I RIGHT? Well, nobody is keeping score, are they? But, Cagey, WE ARE ANIMALS TOO. We sometimes need to stick out Idealized Sense of Humanism, and Spirituality in a drawer and stop Anthropomorphizing ourselves and relate Animal to Animal with our Animals.

Oh, you’re a ”Girl” , which often opens up the conversation more than with talking to knucklehead guys, but do you know who Emily Bronte is, you know, she wrote “Wuthering Heights” the WEIRDEST of the Best English Novels. She died at 22 just after “Wuthering Heights” was published. But her sister, Charlotte (another of the Greatest English Novels “Jane Eyre”) well she did a Tribute Novel about her sister Emily called “Shirley”. In one section of “Shirley” she meets a wolf during her walk and when she goes to help it, it bites her. Well, she knew if she told anybody then they would hunt the wolf down and see if it had rabies or whatever and the World would die. And so she hid the wound and to disinfect it she took a red hot poker out of the fire and cauterized the wound. THAT was Emily Bronte! Well, no, a biography came out and the House Maid told a story that that Emily had a pet “dog”, actually a Dog-Wolf hybrid and the House Maid, when she was knew said that the dog menaced and growled at her and so she was afraid to do her job and Emily said “Oh, I’m so sorry, let me take care of it, please wait here”. And Lady Like Emily climbs the stares, goes into the room up there and closes the door. Well All Hell Breaks Loose! Emily is Raging and Screaming and obviously hitting the Dog-Wolf with something and it is at first barking and then Howling then finally whimpering for mercy. Emily opens the door and comes down, her hair a bit mussed and she is straightening her dress and she says “It shouldn’t any longer be a problem. Please let me know if Wolfy ever again steps out of line.”. yeah, Cagey, just READING Emily Bronte you get the feeling she is on a different plane from the rest of us. But she was a Human with Humans and she was an Animal with Animals. Isn’t that the way it should be?

Now, YES, thanks for the advice. NEVER TAKE A RODENT. I hear that you don’t want a Fox either, not in the house and not in the garden because they’ll borrow everywhere.

But, look down the Threads, Cagey, I’ve done some General Essays on Anger Management. “Anger Management Short Term and Long Term” and one about “Creating a Better Personality”. I go by the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy school of Psychology. On YouTube I have my “Leo Volont” channel but that is Spirituality and Politics
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#2

Postby cage_rage » Tue Jul 27, 2021 7:14 am

Cagey is just fine. Thank you so much for taking your time to reply.

From what I gathered you find certain forms of discipline acceptable. So do I. The problem however, is in the intention: if you do cause pain or discomfort because that's what it takes to correct certain undesirable behaviour in an animal (especially if the behaviour may be harmful to it or others), I am all for it, as long as you know how it's done and you don't take it too far. But in my case it was sheer frustration. Maybe on some level I hoped the creature would take the bloody hint by connecting my negative reaction to its actions.
So in your case smacking Foxxy sounds justified. You wish the creature well.

Ferrets, despite their appearance, are obligate carnivores, just like cats. Their wild brethren (polecats) hunt successfully in the wild. Ferrets were domesticated with an intention of hunting with them. And yes, sometimes I wonder myself, why an animal that is so difficult to be litter trained (because ''accidents'' do and will happen despite how well-behaved your ferret is) has become a pet to so many. Some argue it's better domesticated than cats. If so, cats are way better at it, considering little was done to modify their genetic makeup.
Yes, I should've given them away to someone, who has more patience and experience with these critters. In hindsight, it was either this or trying extra hard to correct my behaviour. But I suppose you can see a pattern here: staying in a damaging relationship for years AND keeping the pets that drive me against the wall. Unhealthy commitment to things that are just that – unhealthy.

I do understand where you're coming from by saying we're animals too. Despite being self-aware I am an animal just like them. And yet self-awareness demands that I control my destructive impulses. I can and I am expected to control myself. A ferret is just a ferret. It knows no better. The experience with them taught me, that I can smack another living being in anger. Someone, who had had no history of being violent.
I'd never had to live with an annoying animal under the same roof before I got myself the ferrets. An animal that doesn't only annoy me because of its behaviour, but also because of its character (referring to the weaker male ferret.) All that hiding, alertness and plucking the bars made me want to grab him and give him a good shake. All only because it dared hiding or running away. So I do have some issues to work on, because it does sound like I have some sadistic inclinations.

The story of Emily Bronte beating up her wolf-dog into submission was amusing, thank you for sharing it. Regardless whether it's true or not (it isn't, according to ''Emily Brontë Reappraised''.) Well, positive punishment is practised up to this day. It works with dogs.

And no, I wouldn't recommend a ferret, especially if you're into animals that are clean, bond with you, show affection and like peace and quiet. I've learned my lesson.

Thank you for directing me to other threads. Too bad it's post factum. I should've sought help much much sooner.
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#3

Postby Leo Volont » Tue Jul 27, 2021 11:52 pm

Good Morning Cagey, Heck! I'm talking to one very educated Gril. You not only KNOW who Emily Bronte is but you're read literary critiques and biographical material. How cool is that!? Oh, have you heard what they SAY in the popular Literary Circles (people who like to read Fine Literature but don't actually study it) that you either LOVE "Wuthering Heights" and HATE "Jane Eyre" or the other way around. But, really, I think both are great but just prefer "Wuthering Heights"... Oh! and I spotted a JOKE in "Wuthering Heights" that I don't think any Critic has ever noticed... and it take Emily about 168 pages to set up. You know the Old George Servant Guy who NEVER in the book has any kind of really coherent lines... I would always think that if Shakespeare and Thomas Hardy can make Common People talk so that WE can understand them, then why couldn't Emily just put in a little more work? SO flash forward to the last chapters of the book when when that nice sweet couple of kids are falling in love and decide to plant a flower garden where George had planted turnips or something and he find them and has a raging fit and the girl explains to Nell "George was so angry we couldn't understand a thing he said". WHAT!? It suddenly all clicked. For ONE VAGUE JOKE we had to struggle trying to decode whatever that Old George had previously been mumbling about. Has anybody beside me caught that?

OH! yeah, back to Anger Management Business... yeah, okay, I got you... the frustration lead to anger and you want to be in control of yourself. Also, Anger just doesn't go away in a moment. The CORTISOL that is the hormone, or whatever, that mobilizes the anger doesn't just go away after the blow up but takes at least the rest of the day to metabolize away. That is why the Anger Episode keep replaying in our heads and who really needs that? .... Well, Some People NEVER think at all, and so IF Cortisol energizes their mind into a lot of I SHOULD HAVE SAIDS and I SHOULD HAVE DIDS well that might be the only thinking they ever do. However, as we learn from the Cognitive Behaviorist Therapy School of Psychology ( see Aaron Beck, the Father of CBT, but Albert Ellis with his Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy ACTUALLY arrived at the basic IDEA but screwed himself because by what he CALLED IT nobody understood what he was talking about, and so Aaron Beck jumped in and published about the same thing but people were able to say "Uh huh, okay".) that usually all those obsessive thoughts that we get after an Anger Episode would just egg on more Anger and we are luck y we DIDN'T say or do those things as they would have gotten us into MORE trouble. SO, when we DO get angry we should use that Cortisol Buzz to think of what we REALLY SHOULD HAVE DONE from the Anger Management Perspective.

Oh, Cagey, did you read my Essay, see below, "Anger Management Short Term and Long Term"... from reading Dr. Ronald Potter-Efron (he is a popular Self Help Anger Management Author but has a few College Textbooks to his credit and has done work with SPOUSAL ABUSE where HIS viewpoint is that MOST beating occur because SOMEBODY gets RAGE Angry (and often it is the Female though they don't usually do as much damage unless they grab a knife off the kitchen counter or whatever) BUT the TIDE he is trying to work against is the Prevalent Opinion that Spousal Abuse is ALWAYS Men and it is because they are Ideologically Motivated to Maintain a Patriarchal Society. Yeah, poor Dr. Potter-Efron.. his studies are simply not politically correct. BUT Ronald Potter-Efron IS a modern current up to day Cognitive Behavioral Therapist, AND in his Book "The Angry Brain" he discusses the Cortisol Dynamic with the Amygdala Gland and that the muscles actually start tensing up before the Mental Higher Functions even KNOW there is been a scoring Trigger... the High Mind is delayed out by between one and two seconds. WELL, from THAT it struck me that MY Jaw always clinches JUST BEFORE I start cussing and swearing. Okay, WHAT HAPPENS IF I UNCLINCH MY JAW BEFORE I START CUSSING AND SWEARING? Cagey, I think it TURNS OFF the Amygdala. I suggest the possibility that Primitive Humans KNEW about this Turn Off Method.. and it would have come in handy, you know, mistaking sticks in the path for snakes, mistaking the village garbage pile Dog for a Wolf, you know, all the things that living in the Jungle can make you jumpy about. But, yeah, I discuss that in detail in my essay, see below, "Anger Management Short Term and Long Term".

But NOW, my turn... about Animals. I decided that NOW that Foxxy knows what "shut up" means (he will run to open the door in the lower kitchen cabinets and 'hide' but in side...knowing that I never pursue him and I can just close the cabinet door on him. So, NOW, I have doubled up on his Quality Times... he like Brushing, and if he MEOWS then I say a quiet but stern "shut up" and give him a 'representative' smack but no harder than the usual affectionate 'Thump' but then got back to the Soft Voice and the Brushing and he seems to learning. Yeah, I think all those Operations and Anesthesia did mess up his head, BUT, what I learned from "The Angry Brain" that mammalian brains are both 'plastic',,, that when damaged the Brain will shuffle and juggle sections in order to reboot necessary functions, AND that new brain cells are created life long. For instance, I thought my Norabora was a Dead Girl... she had a stroke and would would stagger and fall instead of walk, and lay in puddles of her own pee and would hardly eat, and I would bath her and make her drink goats milk and then, well, from being like a death like skeleton she just started to come around... in just a matter of months she's put back nearly all her weight and she still has a funny gait when she walks but she can jump up again. SO, I think I can WORK WITH Foxxy and get him to stop that Yowling.

Oh, about your Relationship. I can see what that would have you concerned. The way I look at it, why would anybody who can afford to live alone ever want a roommate? Even when the Romantic Relationship is a good one, well, living together would tend to ruin it, right? When we are DATING then we see each other at OUR BEST and only for a limited amount of time and we can control our peevishness just by looking at our watch and knowing it will soon be over. But Living Together. I know MEN must get on Women's nerves... dirty laundry, dirty dishes, clutter, farting, crude language. And Guys don't like all the complaining and nagging about dirty laundry, dirty dishes, clutter, farting, crude language, etc. In Ancient Times Men and Women had their own Living Quarter. What we have TODAY was actually designed for Poor People... our homes and apartments were designed to be Mating Sheds so that we would have babies that would grow up to be Child Labor (Child Labor was preferrable and they actually TRIED to work them to death before they would reach adulthood, but if they did, the idea was to BREED THEM... sort of Industrial Survival of the Fittest.

But in your case I gather that your "boy friend" has imposed himself on you and really doesn't take no for an answer and that you appraise the situation such that it is probably safer and less of an expenditure of Life Energy to just go along with it. Heck, I was the one who was talking about Animal Instincts. Your Innate Body Wisdom may actually know what it's doing. I wouldn't want to rock that boat. BUT, there's always another town when you get off the Airplane. Guys are FAMOUS for it. "Honey, gotta buy a pack of Smokes. Back in five minutes. " and he gets into the car with two suitcases and a steamer trunk and you never see him again. Usually the Female version is to wait until Boy Friend goes to work and then throw all your stuff really quick into the back of a U Haul Truck and Split. If you have joint bank accounts or joint credit cards, then take them all to cash and close them out. If you have time, then get the locksmith to come out and change the locks. that way HE will think you are still inside but that you aren't opening the door which buys you a little more time.

But,heck, Cagey, you're smarter than me! Your Brain Gears are turning. I know you will think of something. So, yeah, keep us updated. Oh, you can visit my YouTube Channel... it isn't Bronte Quality but the stuff does go through dozens of Editorial Rewrites and so it is better than THIS. yeah, Take Care, Cagey.
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#4

Postby cage_rage » Sat Jul 31, 2021 8:07 am

Good morning!

I did read ''Anger Management Short Term and Long Term''. Once more, I regret not having discovered that or something similar when I was in a dire need for it. Then again, like many, I didn't recognize my anger as a serious issue. Many things were wrong back then. On some level of consciousness, a pocket of it, you do understand that things are wrong but this awareness hasn't reached other levels, where they call you to real action. It took me almost five years to do so...

By the by, I found a similar topic on this forum called ''Rage, Torture, Remorse, Repeat''. I could relate to a lot the user described, even him mentioning the urge to hurt animals that show fear and avoidance. Why? It hasn't escaped my attention that many decent pet owners respond this way to timid animals. Is it because you feel annoyed by their lack of trust in you? Because they resemble your behaviour in certain situations?

As for my misbegotten relationship: I ended it years ago. The relationship and what it did to me deserves a separate topic altogether, I'm afraid. And I guess you can hardly call it a relationship if you live under one roof with a person from whom you hide a hammer, because you fear being bludgeoned in sleep.

I left the ferrets behind too, never looking back, never missing them. Another reason this whole thing makes me feel bad. Two years of living together with these critters and not developing an attachment towards them.

A curious observation: I visited numerous forums looking for people with similar problems, read articles on pet abuse. Whenever I read about extreme cases of people abusing cats or dogs, I feel genuinely sorry for these animals. However, reading about ferrets getting hurt or killed evokes absolutely no compassion in me. Except for schadenfreude. Even the fact that in some parts of the world they are treated as pests doesn't move me. Perhaps I'm asking for too much from myself: life with them was for the most part nothing but trouble, I've had mostly negative experience with them, never developed a bond or attachment towards them and now I demand that I feel sorry for their kind...
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#5

Postby Leo Volont » Sat Jul 31, 2021 10:03 am

Good Morning Cagey,

The "Golden Rule" is a funny thing. We know it as "Do unto others as we would have them do unto us". But another formula would be "Do unto others as they would EXPECT to be done to". That little miserable Ferret FEARED you and EXPECTED harm. All you did was oblige it. That little Weasel was almost asking for trouble.

Yeah, I'm glad you read that essay below "Anger Management Short Term and Long Term" because when you learn how to shut off those Cortisol Releases, well, that will protect you from acting out IMPULSIVELY. But don't keep punishing yourself because you MIRRORED behavior. You WANTED to be kind. You WANTED to be loving. You only gave the thing what it expected from you.

Jeepers... is that what you are doing with your Roommate? If you FEAR HIM then you REALLY got something to FEAR. Animals sense FEAR and it just pisses them off. Cagey... are you really sure you shouldn't blow town. Your Roommate is probably not even a Bad Guy, just like YOU were not a Bad Person with that Little Weasel. It just pushed your 'buttons'. And YOU are pushing HIS buttons. You two do not belong together. You could get hurt and he could go to jail. Why are you playing with dynamite. If he doesn't have the sense to leave you then you should be the Adult and leave him, right?
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#6

Postby cage_rage » Sat Jul 31, 2021 12:23 pm

The ferret in question was like that from day one, cautious, as you would expect from an animal in a new environment. Only with time it became apparent that caution an avoidance is his permanent state.

I'm sorry, English is not my first language, perhaps my replies are confusing. I am in no relationship and have no roommate. The person that I mentioned in my previous posts is the same person I broke up with a couple of years ago. And it was with him that I had these ferrets. So everything I've described so far is about my past, not my present.
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#7

Postby Leo Volont » Sat Jul 31, 2021 1:10 pm

Hi Cagey, No, your English is fine... but my reading comprehension could be a lot better. Yes, I am certainly glad that I was mistaken about you being at risk. But, I should thank you because it was a fascinating mental connection I had made. I used to be a Head of a Troubleshooting and Repair Team for Factory Assembly Lines and Critical "Line Stopping" Equipment, and I'd tell the New Guys that an Idea can be a GOOD Idea without necessarily being the Right Idea. For instance, the Line shuts down but people said they saw Smoke, heard a Grinding Noise, and the Lights in Control Box Number 3 Flickered. Well, you want your Guys to come up with EVERY REASON why there could be Smoke, a Grinding Noise and Flickering Lights in Control Box 3. Whichever one you think of first is a good place to start, right?

So, yeah, I guess I'm still a Systems Failure Analyst.

But I think I was right about how and why that Little Weasel triggered you. You were only giving it what it expected of you. It is the opposite of the new young Cat that who has recently joined my Family. He was not just trusting and friendly with me but all my other cats... even the ones that have issues with each other. They return his Trust and Friendliness. He has actually lifted the Energy of the House. My Old Foxxy Buddy Cat is now 17 years old and that is what HE did when he was younger. I could have 7 Cats in the House and everybody got along well because Foxxy set the Friendly tone... until I brought that Betty into the House. But, yeah, Young Franky is the Changing of the Guard, a New Day. I even knew it from the first. It was lucky we even ran across each other. I was on my evening walk and usually I go around a certain parking lot to get my full exercise, but I had worked hard that day and decided to save a minute by cutting through the Parking Lot, and I had been on the phone arranging meetings and so I still had my hearing aids in. I heard what sounded like birds behind me and there was a llittle Grey (in the Cat Show Circuit we call that "Blue") with White "Tuxedo" markings with a trace of a White Third Eye mark on his forehead. He was running after me wanting me to stop for him. And so I did. I GASPED because I had always wanted a Tuxedo Blue and this kitten was perfect. So I went back for him, but he seemed to have second thoughts and started to run under a car when I said "Oh No YOU Don't! If you make me crawl under a car for you, I'll go home without you and eat a Big Pile of Food All By Myself!." AND HE JUST STOPPED... he looked over his shoulder at me and then came walking back and let me pick him up. HE TRUSTED ME THAT QUICKLY. I knew he was special and all the other cats knew he was special. Some of them hissed at him ONCE but when they saw his reaction they decided that hissing was simply out of place... they all just like him... maybe Cats know when others cats are BEAUTIFUL too.

So don't beat yourself up for treating a Little Weasel like a Little Weasel.

Take care, Cagey. Again, I'm glad you're okay.
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#8

Postby cage_rage » Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:26 pm

Your relationship with cats is touching on so many levels. These felines are fortunate to cross their paths with you.

Thank you for sharing and again, thank you for taking your time to share your insights with me.
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