reishka | One month of buttface (Reply)

Buttface being buttface

It’s been one month of attempting to curb buttface’s butty behaviour (har, har). I don’t know if we’re winning or losing. Some days it seems like a gain (he’ll start crying at 6:30 AM), and other days it’s a loss (he’ll start crying at 4:30 AM). We still haven’t pinned down exactly what he wants. Some mornings, he wants food. Other mornings, you give him food and he just stares at you… and then starts meowing again. Other times, he’ll sit in the window, staring out at the birds, and just meow his little head off as if his life depended on it. But what am I supposed to do? Put him on his little leash and harness at 5 AM to let him go outside and play? I don’t think so. I did buy a ThunderShirt — he doesn’t seem to mind it for short periods of time, but he’s a little monster of an escape artist and on more than one occasion he’s figured out how to wiggle out of it. He also does the “kitty flop”, and just lays there with the most pathetic look on his face. If I were capable of feeling pity for this cat at 5 AM, I might, but I’m not, so he’s just going to have to live with it. We’ve also started putting him in a crate when he cries with some toys; this works with some success some mornings, and no success on others.

As for the kitty pheromones .. Well, I don’t know if they’ve helped Locke calm down, but I’ve definitely noticed a change in Sash. We do something called “Saturday Night Game Night” once a month; a bunch of friends come over for some pizza, beer, and board games (or card games). Now, Sash used to run in the bedroom, dart under the bed, and hide the entire evening. But about a week after we started the pheromones we had a game night, and Sash stayed out of the bedroom! He wasn’t running around and getting close to people, but he didn’t feel the need to run and hide away, either — which is good. We have another game night tonight, so we’ll see if we can get a repeat performance out of him.

So, that’s where things stand. Not a huge improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. I’ll take whatever small wins I can get.