Tough Kitties

Either Gordita and Stitch are rough and tough kitties or they don’t care about the fact that Little J is pulling and kicking at them. I’ve yet to figure it out because they show such an indifference to it. For some reason when I’m cradling Little J on my lap both cats (not at the same time of course) like to jump up and squeeze themselves on the part of my lap that is not taken up by 10-month-old baby. Sometimes it’s a knee and sometimes it’s a whole knee and thigh.

Little J, who believes she is a baby cat, loves when they do this. However, she’s also in than sensory stage and loves to run her feet through their fur. And by “run her feet through their fur” I mean that she likes to kick her feet and heels against them to feel their fur on the bottom of her feet. They for some reason don’t mean to like it. They both give me an annoyed look when it happens though. It’s another one of those times I swear they’d roll their eyes at me if they could. But, they stay there and take it. I always try to tell Little J “We don’t kick the kitty.” She, of course, blatantly ignores me.

Little J also has yet to learn the finesse of how to give a good cat pat. She either roughly pats the cats. And by “roughly pats the cats” I mean she kind of smacks them in that gentle, firm and awkward baby movement. Lately though she has also started to pull at their fur. I’ve noticed that when I nurse her she pulls at her hair in the same manner so I don’t know if it’s another sensory thing or if it brings her comfort of some sort. Maybe she thinks she’s comforting the cats by pulling at their fur. I’m working on the “be gentle with the kitty” technique and showing her how to appropriately pet the cats. I figure she will get it eventually.

However, once again, the cats sit there and take it from her. Usually if I can’t get her to stop I’ll shoo them off my lap, which is pretty much every time they jump up to share my lap with her. I’d assume that if I were a cat I wouldn’t be sitting there taking this treatment from her. Then again that’s me assuming and we all know what happens when you assume. Maybe a part of them secretly likes the rough handling. I did already mention how I think Stitch is a masochist. Or maybe they’ll just do anything for a little affection and attention. Either way, they’re some tough kitties. I wouldn’t mess with them.

Here is an example: Little J is deciding whether to pet Stitch or whether to pull his tail that he keeps flipping in and out of reach of her grasp.