How do I help this cat?

[Tobi]

Oh LPC, thank you for the suggestion about Valerian. I forgot to mention that before.
I have seen Valerian growing somewhere about....will find some and try it. I will wear surgical gloves! LOL!

I'm not sure about the harness and lead...because she likes to be totally free, doesn't like to be restricted in any way, or held to anything. Her character has a semi-wildness about it, even though she is sweet and sociable. I am wondering if she might sense restriction by using it, and not feel free to just dash off if she wants to?
A harness and lead would have worked for my Dushka many many years ago! But then -he wasn't really a cat, he was a reincarnated electrician! haha

[Catherine]

Quote:A harness and lead would have worked for my Dushka many many years ago! But then -he wasn't really a cat, he was a reincarnated electrician! haha

I am sure there is a story here. This is the first time you have mentioned Dushka.

I have never heard of valerian being used for a cat. I am only vaguely aware of it as a plant.
It seems that  it has been introduced to North America and there is some concern about its effects ecologically.

It is odd that it attracts cats somewhat like catnip. Cats seem to have a lots of plants that favour them.

I hope you can sort Sally Cat out and keep her happy.  She is a really free spirit even more so than most cats. You don't want to see her anxious or unhappy.

[LPC]

For Timmy (my mother's cat), we used to use valerian tincture. Tobi, you are the tincture expert! Should be no problem for you!

[LPC]

PS "a reincarnated electrician"? A cable chewer? He liked playing with cables?

[Tobi]

Dushka lived from 1979 -May 1984. He was killed in a terrible road crash accident which also killed a man and his dog.

Strangely indeed, we came eventually to live in the same house in which the man and his dog had lived. That may sound rather brutal, but is a long complicated story I won't go into here....


Dushka was a beautiful cat, mixed-breed, short haired, grey/white/, big, and looked like the Egyptian "Bast" statue except for his colouring. He never knew a day of ill-health in his life. When I lived in the mountains, he lived with me and used to go up mountains with me!
He was gentle and sweet-natured, and very intelligent.
The myth about him being a "reincarnated electrician" came from his fascination with how electrical items worked. No he never chewed cables or ever even touched them! But I would see him staring at a boiling kettle....following the lead back with his eyes, right to the socket, and back again. He did this with lamps as well, and other electronic things.

[Catherine]

Interesting. It is as if he knew that the cord somehow powered the machine. I wonder if he could sense electricity.

It is sad that his life was short, but it sounds like it was a good one. He must have been another free spirit cat.

[Tobi]

Yes I have often thought that either he could literally see the energy in the cord and socket, or he could sense it somehow from those points. I think we only know a tiny bit yet about what animals can see, hear, and perceive generally.

[Catherine]

Animals do seem to have other senses that we know very little about.

Remember the old days when they said dogs only saw in black and white.  It turns out dogs have much more intense senses than we have. If they see differently, it is not less than what we see.

[LPC]

Tobi, you posted somewhere about dogs seeing ultra violet light, which we cannot see. Do you remember where that was?

[Tobi]

Yes it was on another forum.
I wanted to post it here that evening, but didn't want to dislodge some new threads which had just been started, and otherwise couldn't see where to put it.
It might be OK now. I shall dig it out!