Cat Aikido

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[gdandscompserv]

Our cat charmed his way out of the animal shelter and into our home about a month or so ago. He seems to be a good cat and we all like him, however, as long as Smoky lives in my house he's gonna take a bath! So in he went. He was HATIN' IT! He wanted out. In the beginning of the ensuing struggle my initial reaction was to "manhandle" him, which I attempted. Smoky responded in kind with some nice forearm scratches. Oh-oh I thought, this could get ugly. The conflict was rapidly escalating. I remember watching in horror as an acquaintance of mine caught a wild cat that darn near tore his arm off. My next reaction was to speak softly, breath, and reassure him that I wouldn't hurt him. Although he seems a bright cat, I'm sure he didn't understand my words but seemed to understand my intent. We both calmed down and it went a little smoother from there. This is one of the things that I feel aikido does for me. It provides me with a more peaceful way of dealing with conflict, both on and off the matt.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b379/deserthippie/peace.gif

[Dazzler]

If it happens again you could try nikk-meiow on his front paws!

I'll get me coat....

[Edward]

Well, cats usually do not need to take a bath, they do their own cleaning and grooming. If you really have to give him a bath next time, I would suggest wrapping him in a towel.

[DonMagee]

I'm very lucky, 2 out of 3 of my cats like water a lot. To the point they have jumped in the shower.

[crbateman]

Reminds me of years ago when I discovered my parents' cat had been rolling around in his litter box (covered in poop). I turned on the shower and tossed him in... He instantly went :hypno: mental on me (or catatonic), and stared wide-eyed at the ceiling, emitting a mournful wail. He never forgave me after that, running for cover under the furniture as I would come down the street. I really felt :sorry: but he needed that badly.

[JAMJTX]

Cat's pretty much hate water and will fight to keep out of it. There are some exceptions. If Smoky is an adult cat it's unlikely he'll ever learn to take a bath. Plus, they are generally clean animals and don't really need it. What you might want to look into is the "dry bath". I use them on my dog and they may work for cats. Check at your local pet store.

If you want to check out your cats Aikido skills, you can learn a lot about ukemi by tossing old Smoky in the air. Watch him tuck and roll.

[Mike Hamer]

I have tried kotegaishi on cats and dogs. I find that nikkyo works better on dogs because of the way their paw is shaped kotegaishi would just severley injure them.

[Sonja2012]

Our cats are awesome at aiki nage (throwing themselves in front of our feet) with perfect maai and timing. :p

[Kevin Wilbanks]

Unless the cat has been involved in some type of severely dirty mishap, your cat does not need a bath. If you want your cat to fear you and start displaying unpleasant antisocial behaviors, tormenting it with regular baths is a good way to get started.

An understanding of cat behavior is not something that you can simply make up based on your experience with humans or derive from the principles of Aikido. Cats are especially tricky because their ways of behaving and communicating are not intuitive to primates, nor are cats particularly 'trainable'. Making the relationship between you and your cat work is almost wholly dependent on your adaptability and your efforts to bridge the communication gap.

Instead of guessing about the basics of cat care and ways to productively relate to your new cat, I suggest getting some books on the subject. I would try fishing around the web for recommendation lists like this one to get some ideas:

http://cats.about.com/od/book1/tp/booksonbehavior.htm

[Mark Uttech]

I have three cats: Danke, Domo, and Tenkan. Danke is by far the oldest of the three, and I learned a curious thing from her; that older cats are more careful when treading on messy desktops. It is the younger cats who, more often then not, are surprised and lose their footing. I suppose that because they are younger, they can take the sudden tumbles that occur and these tumbles become their lessons.

In gassho

Mark

[gdandscompserv]

Unless the cat has been involved in some type of severely dirty mishap, your cat does not need a bath. If you want your cat to fear you and start displaying unpleasant antisocial behaviors, tormenting it with regular baths is a good way to get started.

An understanding of cat behavior is not something that you can simply make up based on your experience with humans or derive from the principles of Aikido. Cats are especially tricky because their ways of behaving and communicating are not intuitive to primates, nor are cats particularly 'trainable'. Making the relationship between you and your cat work is almost wholly dependent on your adaptability and your efforts to bridge the communication gap.

Instead of guessing about the basics of cat care and ways to productively relate to your new cat, I suggest getting some books on the subject. I would try fishing around the web for recommendation lists like this one to get some ideas:

http://cats.about.com/od/book1/tp/booksonbehavior.htm
Soo...are you suggesting that I shouldn't be swingin' him around by the tail either?:eek:

I've been livin with cat's most of my life. I can only think of two that exhibited anti-social behavoir. But it's my house and my rules!:D If they don't like it they can go back to the animal shelter.:p

Now, before ya go a callin' peta, don't worry, ole Smoky gets plenty of love around our house. But it damn sure won't hurt him to have a bath once in awhile, your pet psycho-babble specialists be damned.;)
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b379/deserthippie/peace.gif

[mriehle]

Been a fair amount of humor in this thread and I, for one, appreciate it.

But to be serious for a moment about feline aikido...

First I have to say that cats do have in common with humans that they have distinct personalities. Generalizations about cats only go so far. I've had cuddly, sweet cats that seem to thing they are lap dogs and I've had evil feline demons who I was happy to neuter and would have destroyed outright if it didn't violate my fundamentally gentle nature. Mostly I've had cats who are content to receive attention when it's offered, can live without it, appreciate their food bowl being filled and are more friends than pets.

Part of Aikido With Cats is accurate observation of a cats personality. Conflict avoidance.

But, no matter how good a cat is, there is going to be a time when you must do something to the cat it isn't going to like. And the cat is armed. People recommend wrapping the cat in a towel, which is fine once you get the towel around the cat. Obviously (all kidding aside) Aikido techniques aren't really going to work on a cat, but the principles will.

Especially:

Respect and use the way the skeleton actually works. This allows control without pain.
The part of the claws which do damage is the pointy bit.
Calm, respectful control without anger or malice works best.
Zanshin.


I've found the best way to control a struggling feline is to hug it close to my body (controlling the head) with one hand wrapped around the front claws and one hand around the back claws and tail. Getting the tail is important, I've found. Once you have the tail the cat stops struggling.

It's surprised more than one person who's seen me do this to a cat how easily it's accomplished. I suspect any aikidoist who knew what they were trying to do could pull it off at least as easily as I do, though.

And, I'd bet there are similar tricks for dogs. There certainly are for birds (cover the eyes, get the eyes covered and all is well).

[charyuop]

Wow, this stories of cats brought me back of many years...
I used to have a cat I named Crazy. We had a special relationship, I was very rough with him, even tho I have never hurt him, and he was very rough with me (No Double Meaning here thanx hee hee).
We never played like every other cat-human couple. I would put Crazy on the bed while I was on my knees on the floor so that my face and his were at the same level and started teasing him. After a while he would raise on his back legs and started attacking me with his front legs. I would try to block him and slap him on his face, very gently tho. In that period my arms were always full of scratches up to the elbow (and not only one or 2 scratches). I remember once he almost got my eye, but the little rascal must have understood that he really hurt me bad coz he ran away without me saying anything.

Even tho this rough relationship whenever he got in trouble with my parents he would immediately run and hide behind me. A dog ate him one summer, I remember I spent almost one week everynight just crying.

[Kevin Wilbanks]

Soo...are you suggesting that I shouldn't be swingin' him around by the tail either?:eek:

I've been livin with cat's most of my life. I can only think of two that exhibited anti-social behavoir. But it's my house and my rules!:D If they don't like it they can go back to the animal shelter.:p

Now, before ya go a callin' peta, don't worry, ole Smoky gets plenty of love around our house. But it damn sure won't hurt him to have a bath once in awhile, your pet psycho-babble specialists be damned.;)
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b379/deserthippie/peace.gif

Ummm. I see. All I can say is that I hope you are one day kept as a pet by a 1500 pound ogre who insists that every human in his house get icewater enemas, what they really need or want be damned.

[Ron Tisdale]

kept as a pet by a 1500 pound ogre who insists that every human in his house get icewater enemas...

Ok...OW...

B,
R :D

[gdandscompserv]

Ummm. I see. All I can say is that I hope you are one day kept as a pet by a 1500 pound ogre who insists that every human in his house get icewater enemas, what they really need or want be damned.
as long as he lets me sleep all day, prowl all night, feeds me 2 meals a day, keeps my bathroom clean and looks after every need i have; i'm down with the occasional icewater enema. might even do me some good, as some twisted form of misogi.:D
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b379/deserthippie/peace.gif

[crbateman]

...i'm down with the occasional icewater enema. might even do me some good, as some twisted form of misogi.Yeah... REALLY twisted... :freaky:

Don't you know there's a water shortage??

[Bitbull]

I have always believed that cats explode when in contact with water...:confused: