Days Since Lady Jane Grey Has Bit Me: 0

[lydy]

I have taken to sitting in the media room after work for an hour or so to be social with LJG. I was petting her, and she draped one front leg over my petting hand. If she were Naomi, this would have been an invitation to scrubble her belly, so I did that thing. She instantly did a hug-bite-kick, and now I have a slash on the heel of my hand, and two puncture wounds. She stopped, instantly, and I put my hand on her head in the "mother admonishing kitten" way, and told her that she had behaved badly. She did not struggle or protest being disciplined in such a fashion. That's interesting because she normally does. She tends to squirm and vocalize; this time she just lay there, looking a bit repentant. I got up and put antibiotic creme on my various injuries, and she was still on the couch when I got back, and responded well to being petted (on the head, not the belly). I really need to not pet her belly, I think.

Meanwhile, ouch.

Comments

[quility.livejournal.com]

I've had cats where that meant rub my belly but Aska is the variety that means "I've got all my point bits available now and would like to use them." :( and she isn't repentant. "If you didn't want to play, why'd you put your hand in the attack zone??" She has me trained. Luckily she isn't comfortable enough with guests to do it to them.
I'm sorry you got hurt. May you heal quickly.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

Lady is genuinely repentant. She is surprisingly anxious to please, for a cat. This makes it me extremely optimistic.

Just at the moment, and she and Nuit are sitting about one foot apart. Lady issued her challenge-song when Nuit settled down, but then got bored and went back to sleep. Nuit only gave a short, melodic response, and then also went to sleep. Just as I was typing this, Lady woke up, looked at Nuit, and lay her head back down. This is downright amiable. Pamela also saw Lady and Ninja engaged in what, if they were toddlers, would be called parallel play, where they were both galloping up and down the hallway, though not actually interacting with each other. I really think this might work.

[quility.livejournal.com]

YAY! *fingers crossed* :)

[mplsfish.livejournal.com]

My ex husband used to pet Wally's belly, then turn to me and say, "Look Liz, he likes it....OWE!!"

Over, and over, and over.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. That's... not very good.

Lady and I are still learning each other. She's very affectionate and sociable, but clearly has not been completely socialized. Me, I'm used to cats that love to have their bellies rubbed. When it's Nuit, we call it polishing her stars, because she has white patches on her belly, and her name means Night, so of course they're stars. Arwen has loved having her belly rubbed since she was a tiny, tiny kitten, and Naomi has always thought that this was a normal part of being petted. Ninja...Ninja loves everything and everyone, and having his belly rubbed is just part of being petted, so he's happy. Lady Jane is the only cat in the house that has objections, and it's been a long time since I lived with a cat who has said objections, so I forget. This is not her fault.

I feel badly that I accidentally pushed her buttons. She means well, but she gets over-excited. And it upsets her when she hurts me. I suspect she's worried about being abandoned or rejected. I don't know how it is she came to me, but clearly she was someone's cat at some point in her life. I want to do well by her, and she seems to want to do well by me. That's a good basis on which to build a relationship, you know?

Gods, I am besotted with my accidental cat. I seem to have a tropism for grey cats. Lilith, my best cat, was grey and white. Arwen, the cat that I love best who's still alive, is a muted tortie, mostly grey, with white and peach bits. And now there's Lady Jane Grey.