Well, I put it to the test. She got up (I did it while she was lying on my living room table) and tried to "walk off" the T-shirt I'd put over her back. When that didn't work and stretching so as to make her back tilt downwards didn't work either, she resorted to what knows will *always* work: She gave me one of her super-pleading (and in this instance, also somewhat reproachful) looks -- "This is *not* fun, mom, could you please, please, PLEASE think of some other kind of game?" -- and I took the T-shirt off her back again. The whole process lasted less than a minute. She'd never have sat still for a photo, though ...
Hehe, no, it's a clean win for her. Bloodshed wouldn't have been in the cards on this one, just a lot of squiggliness. She reserves the rare menace of bloodshed for the even rarer feline intruder into her realm / competition for her mom's love and attention. (Even then I've never actually seen her follow through on the menace, but from looking at her and watching her in those very rare moments, you'd swear my super-lovey-dovey-cuddly-cuter-than-should-be-allowed-to-live-furball had just mutated into the Beast From Hell. And that although she didn't even grow up as an only child!)
@Themis I think our fur balls might be related, lol. She's the sweetest most affectionate princess until another cat gets too close when she then morphs into a screaming banshee twice her size and all claws. Their version of "speak softly and carry a big stick". :)
LMAO -- precisely. Except that Holly doesn't so much as screech -- she just utters a very low growl, which despite being in the low guttural reigsters (and actually closer to a dog's growl than a cat's) makes the blood freeze in your veins -- yours and, more importantly, the presumed rival cat's.
My mom was taking care of my cousin's cat a while ago -- then a very loving and totally innocent 2 year old male who behaved very much like it had never even occurred to him that such a thing as danger and evil could exist in the world. So we thought we might just *try* whether he and Holly would get along. Well, big mistake; not least because Holly is in my mom's place so often that she actually considers it part of her territory, too. So, no sooner had she noticed poor unsuspecting Charlie did she morph into the above-mentioned Beast From Hell, her every long, fluffy hair standing on end, squirrel-bushy tail one big, fat fur-coated rod of iron, and her whole stance and her voice clearly and unequivocally telling him: "Make one tiny move -- just one -- I dare you -- and you're going to be toast. Less than toast. MUCH less than toast!!" -- Poor Charlie froze instantly, harder than Lot's wife, and the incident terrified him to such an extent that for days afterwards he didn't pass by the spot where his encounter with The Beast From Hell had taken place without checking and double checking whether it was safe to move in that direction. Whereas Holly, the instant she was back in my apartment and sure that she was still the undisputed queen of her realm and her mom's sole and uncontested darling, couldn't morph back quickly enough into my loving little butter-wouldn't-melt-and-aren't-I-the-most-adorable-kitty-in-the-world affectionate fluff ball ...!!
It was as good as closed doors -- several meters apart, no direct contact. :(
And Holly wasn't always like this. She totally loved her elder adoptive brother (who died in 2008); in fact, with him it was actually her who wooed very hard for (and eventually won) his love, scraping away at his reluctance and grumpy old man act one inch of closeness at a time for weeks on end. -- And when yet another cat (a kitten) joined the family, though Holly wasn't exactly thrilled, she let *me* feel her disagreement with the situation, but not the other cat -- might have been the mother instinct kicking in there, of course, but anyway, the reaction wasn't half as severe as vis-à-vis poor Charlie.
I meant that they really shouldn't be able to see each other. The ideal is to swap blankets or something first, then introduce contact through the door (where there will most likely be hissing and swiping underneath like that really creepy scene in the movie with the aliens who couldn't stand water) and the only let them see each other after a couple days of this.
Of course, she may just not like other cats (the territory thing). Personally, I'm not sure if I can get another cat even though my cat's lived with cats in the past and manages to coexist with my mom's cat when I'm visiting (much to her cat's displeasure). Actually, it's kind of annoying with my mom's cat (female) because she used to sleep practically on top of my cat if she could and now she throws hissy fits when she sees him.
@Themis - Yes! Easter was exactly this cat! When we brought her home as a kitten she immediately fell in love with our other two cats, a male and a female (both much older); they'd be lying down and she'd throw herself down at them and snuggle in. When the older female passed we brought Carlito home, blithely confident that this would be a breeze, and Easter lost her mind; she walked around for weeks looking like she'd just been electrocuted, and she gave me the cold shoulder for 6 months.
@Tannat - after the above lesson learned with Carlito, we did exactly these things for a whole month before introducing Wasabi and no dice. Her reaction wasn't as sustained as it was with Carlito, but we still went a year with random banshee screaming at all hours of the day and night. Of course it didn't help that Wasabi had an undiagnosed thyroid condition (just recently corrected) that made him keyed up and aggressive. 18 months in and we're starting to hope for a lasting detente. :)
I didn't mean to imply that following my suggestion would work, just that it should have a somewhat higher success rate than just letting them loose. I'm just lucky my cat's pretty chill. And even with that, I actually took him to the vet because I didn't think he was eating enough when I got Emma (younger cat who's already passed away).
It's a tried and true suggestion I've seen out there in many places, and it makes sense. and who knows? It might have worked; she might have actually tried killing him if we hadn't done it slowly. :P
With Holly, my vet thinks it's just a question of age, and of having been granted alpha status by the other cats. A new cat would mean a change in her life routine that she's just no longer willing to tolerate, plus competition for her humans' attention (and that's a biggie with her anyway, because she lost her mother at birth, so she just attached -- and has been literally clinging -- to the human who raised her instead of her actual mother ... me). And of course, following my vet's advice not to try and introduce another cat into Holly's life after the two others had died only reinforced her exclusive status in my life -- and vice versa.
This is one reason why we would NEVER introduce a new cat into the household - Belinda is an only cat, has always been an only cat, and she would go batshit crazy.
The other reason is that Belinda has FIV, and should have as little contact with other cats as possible.
My mom was taking care of my cousin's cat a while ago -- then a very loving and totally innocent 2 year old male who behaved very much like it had never even occurred to him that such a thing as danger and evil could exist in the world. So we thought we might just *try* whether he and Holly would get along. Well, big mistake; not least because Holly is in my mom's place so often that she actually considers it part of her territory, too. So, no sooner had she noticed poor unsuspecting Charlie did she morph into the above-mentioned Beast From Hell, her every long, fluffy hair standing on end, squirrel-bushy tail one big, fat fur-coated rod of iron, and her whole stance and her voice clearly and unequivocally telling him: "Make one tiny move -- just one -- I dare you -- and you're going to be toast. Less than toast. MUCH less than toast!!" -- Poor Charlie froze instantly, harder than Lot's wife, and the incident terrified him to such an extent that for days afterwards he didn't pass by the spot where his encounter with The Beast From Hell had taken place without checking and double checking whether it was safe to move in that direction. Whereas Holly, the instant she was back in my apartment and sure that she was still the undisputed queen of her realm and her mom's sole and uncontested darling, couldn't morph back quickly enough into my loving little butter-wouldn't-melt-and-aren't-I-the-most-adorable-kitty-in-the-world affectionate fluff ball ...!!
And Holly wasn't always like this. She totally loved her elder adoptive brother (who died in 2008); in fact, with him it was actually her who wooed very hard for (and eventually won) his love, scraping away at his reluctance and grumpy old man act one inch of closeness at a time for weeks on end. -- And when yet another cat (a kitten) joined the family, though Holly wasn't exactly thrilled, she let *me* feel her disagreement with the situation, but not the other cat -- might have been the mother instinct kicking in there, of course, but anyway, the reaction wasn't half as severe as vis-à-vis poor Charlie.
Of course, she may just not like other cats (the territory thing). Personally, I'm not sure if I can get another cat even though my cat's lived with cats in the past and manages to coexist with my mom's cat when I'm visiting (much to her cat's displeasure). Actually, it's kind of annoying with my mom's cat (female) because she used to sleep practically on top of my cat if she could and now she throws hissy fits when she sees him.
@Tannat - after the above lesson learned with Carlito, we did exactly these things for a whole month before introducing Wasabi and no dice. Her reaction wasn't as sustained as it was with Carlito, but we still went a year with random banshee screaming at all hours of the day and night. Of course it didn't help that Wasabi had an undiagnosed thyroid condition (just recently corrected) that made him keyed up and aggressive. 18 months in and we're starting to hope for a lasting detente. :)
The other reason is that Belinda has FIV, and should have as little contact with other cats as possible.