Considerate kitty [View all]
Ember is 5 years old and very playful. She's an only cat
and was separated from her littermates very early, so she never learned how to "play nice." She's rough and tumble in her favorite game of ambushing me.
She always left her claws out when she tagged my legs during an ambush. I tried acting hurt to teach her to pull in the claws but it never worked ...until ...
One day Ember rushed out of her tunnel as I walked by and swatted my legs as usual. I was wearing capris and loafers, no socks. Her claws caught a surface vein in my ankle and it bled a LOT for a small vein. Ember froze in place and stared at the blood running down into my shoe.
I hobbled to the battroom to clean up. Used up a lot of paper towels staunching the blood flow. The whole time, Ember sat in the doorway staring at me. When the bleeding stopped, I put on anesthetic and a Band-aid, washed out my shoe, and sat down in the living room. Ember followed me, sniffed the Band-aid, and looked into my face. Then she disappeared.
About an hour later, I went to the kitchen, passing her tunnel on the way. She rushed out at me as usual, then paused suddenly and gently tapped my leg with her claws held in.
She still ambushes me, but now she always holds her claws in and taps gently instead of swatting. She's an indoor cat and has never hunted. It's as if she suddenly realized what lethal weapons her claws are and is afraid of hurting me again. So she self-adjusted her play habits.
What a sweety.
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