ivan the terrible
This was in the NY Times yesterday
Lewis, the black and white cat from Fairfield whose attacks on passers-by nearly sent his owner to jail, was spared a death sentence on Tuesday when a judge ordered home confinement instead. He will also keep his claws, despite one victim’s request that they be removed.
I can relate to this. Once we had a cat who we called Ivan the Terrible. He loved to grab hold of your hand with his claws and teeth and play with it. A previous owner had played that game with him when Ivan was a kitten. It was amusing before he grew up into a big strong cat.
What made it worse is that he loved to lie on his back with his fluffy white stomach fur showing. Everyone who came along would reach over to stroke his stomach and he would close on the hand like a spring-loaded trap.
He was an outdoor cat and we lived in an older neighborhood in Houston where there was lots of foot traffic. Ivan would lie on his back on the sidewalk, tempting them. One day an irate stranger who had fallen into the trap knocked on my door and threatened me with a lawsuit. I let her yell at me for a while until she calmed down. I kept Ivan in for a few days in case she tried to retaliate.
He was just having fun.
June 22nd, 2006 @ 11:25 pm
Hi Bill, I ran across your blog and it’s fascinating. You must share what camera you use to take those beautiful shots of flowers. Mine never turn out so crystal clear. Lastly, do you still live in the Bluffview area?
June 23rd, 2006 @ 10:34 am
We have a cat that loves to wrestle. I think the best thing about Luther is he knows it is a game, and keeps his blows in check. Which doesn’t mean that after playing, you are not laced with tiny scratch lines from teeth and claw… but never intentionally shredded.
June 23rd, 2006 @ 11:37 am
We used to have an old stray that came up of an evening for a saucer of milk - Grey Boy was his name. He would act all lovey dovey, then faster than a speeding bullet, he would chomp down.
I think this seems to be a trait of male cats?
June 23rd, 2006 @ 1:06 pm
I bet you would have made the papers if you’d put at sign at each end of your yard by the sidewalk saying DO NOT PET THE CAT!
June 23rd, 2006 @ 7:05 pm
I use a Canon G5 digital camera, nothing particularly fancy. The hard part is getting the flowers to stay still!
June 24th, 2006 @ 3:16 pm
It is a trait of male cats, Pattie. It is a breeding instinct - when you scratch them on the neck, they respond by clamping down with their teeth, because that is what they do to the female - on her neck.
Suffice to say, the rest of the affair is equally sordid. One can know too much about the sex life of the domestic feline.
June 25th, 2006 @ 9:24 am
I haven’t quite figured out the scratch the displayed stomach, get a fistful of teeth and claws thing.
It doesn’t seem to be a male/female thing to me - and my father can vouch for this. A neighborhood female postured herself in just this way, and typical of a dog person he ruffled her stomach. He ended up with reconstruction surgery on his hand and wrist, which he endless and self-righteously, as a dog person, reminds me of forever and ever.
When cats are displaying that way, they don’t mean the same thing that dogs do. This is not a submissive dog gesture. You don’t want to accept the invitation. I’ve found that slipping my hand around the back of their head and cupping it as they lay upside down seems to be exactly what they’re happy to accept.
Half of our family cats, all of whom are the nicest you could hope for, will go for the blood, and half will tolerate the stomach treatment, from me anyway, but I suspect not from just anybody. I’m VERY careful when I accept the invitation to watch for the slightest sign of claws.
It’s a fascinating behavior to me. Thanks for bringing it up.
June 26th, 2006 @ 12:12 am
My Big Orange Baby Loki does the same thing. Scratch his tummy he will eat your hand. ANd he lays on his back just inviting it too!