Photogenic Animals - Black Cat Photo Storm!

There are specific traits many people think about when they call something photogenic, and they are all wrong, especially for nonhuman animals. Pepper has taken to being more photogenic with each picture I take of her, and it's because she is losing the shyness she had when she first arrived.

For those who don't know, or don't have the time to read back through this blog, Pepper was really depressed when she first arrived because of being rejected twice and neglected. So taking photos of her was bit and miss, the best ones were when she slept, or was unaware of the camera being pointed at her.

But now she poses, looks at the camera when she's not busy, even smiling for the photo sometimes. She has come to enjoy it. All animals are photogenic, the photographer is responsible for bringing out the beauty in them.

Pepper is no exception, and she is not a particularly exceptional looking cat, though her fur is so soft and luxurious it's impossible to resist petting her. What makes our companions so wonderful in photographs is the bond between the human taking the photo and the other animal, you can tell when someone they know is behind the camera or not because they will ham it up for the human they know better.

Wildlife photographers are not interested in the animals putting on a show, we love their photos for capturing the beauty of nature as it is, so this does not apply to them. I do envy wildlife photographers though.

The trick to taking great photos of your companions is to regard them as you do your human friends. Act casual and natural, take the shots as they come, and don't worry if they are not perfect. That last part is important, because the images will always be perfect for the viewer, so stop worrying about the color or breed of the animal, or even if they look at the camera.

Most of our nonhuman companions are becoming very familiar with the idea of being photographed, to them it's just an easy way to make us happy. For us it's a way to keep them alive forever and remind everyone of how awesome your friendship was.

To those who have this stupid idea that black cats "make horrible selfies," stop being selfish. Black cats are no less photogenic than a Persian. This is nothing more than some vicious rumor started by some idiots who probably think seeing a black cat online is bad luck, stop giving superstition and ignorance validation.

So I propose a world wide black cat photo storm, lost pics of your black cats everywhere, thousands of pictures, old and new. Keep doing this every day until this stupid notion dies, so fewer cats have to.

Grass - The Best Way to Unwind

Pepper is talking a lot more these days, even waiting for me at the front door when I am gone. Her behavior is becoming more social and trusting of me, knowing I won't allow her to he harmed is helping her open up a lot more.

She seems to have grown bored of the hallway, but still won't trust the elevator. I may have to carry her into the elevator some day, with the leash and harness on. Perhaps when she sees it's harmless she may accept the beep and mechanical noises without fear.

Her new grass garden was ready this morning, she loves it. Pepper constantly thanks me for it, meowing and head bumping then jumping up to her garden and nomming on the grass. It has four types of grass in it, and a large, heavy, wooden pot.

I had bought a small "refill" and used a container to grow it when I first brought her home, she loved it enough that I figured the larger one was worth the investment. It offers her comfort when I am not around.

This morning she was extremely hyper and affectionate, calling out to me every once in a while. Her voice was gritty the first month because of URI, but now it's clear, even kitten like.

Pepper purrs the instant I pick her up now as well. It's odd though, she does not like the lap yet, but loves to be carried around. I think she is still associating the lap with medicine and nail clipping. So I am putting her on my lap, not letting her get off until she purrs, she is starting to relax.

This leads me to also believe that most of the people she has known well have pushed her off their lap when she wanted affection. Her reaction is one of fear, not distaste. So I say to anyone adopting a cat or kitten, let them on your lap. They will stop kneading if you simply let them know it hurts by stopping petting them.

They do not learn to not knead with claws if you just push them off your lap, instead they just learn that the lap is bad. Read further back in this blog for more detailed explanation on how to teach a cat well.

Happiness is a Best Friend

Pepper loves chasing a laser light, some cats don't. A neighbor told me how his cat, Ollie, chased the laser until he figured out where it was from. The reason for this is the curiosity, for some they chase it to try to catch and study it, for others it's a toy. Pepper not only knows that I control it, she also knows what makes the little red dot.

She chases it purely for the fun, and if it vanishes when she still wants to chase it, she looks at me, then the pointer, then me again. It is her method of asking for more play time, and she knows I will almost always keep playing until she's bored. For Ollie it was more about not knowing what it was that made it fun.

I have been encouraging Pepper to be curious now, even helping her discover new things. She has learned to recognize what doors open in which ways, and what the handles look like and how they function. She will sit in front of a door she wants me to open, watch me open and close it over and over, then walk to a different door and do the same thing.

I had no idea what she wanted the first few times she sat in front of a door, but when she started exploring the hallway outside the apartment J soon figured it out. She explored the rooms I could gain access to, like laundry and trash bin, but was always more interested in the doors. It's not just doors, faucets and light switches too.

The one thing that seems to really interest her is the closet door, a double sliding door where they overlap in the center. She understands how they open on each side, sometimes she explores inside a little bit, but then she stands in the middle as if expecting it to open in the middle as well. Lately she shows less interest, perhaps she figured out it won't open like that.

She is learning which doors I can open, yet often gets persistent about doors I can't open, looking at me with that "come on, just do it" expression. It is so nice to see her curiosity blooming now, as it seems to overpower her fears. She is still very cautious of new animals, especially hairless apes.

I bought a deluxe grass garden for her too, I used a refill in a small container to see if she liked it. The grass seems to calm her when she's agitated and she enjoys rubbing her face in it and chewing on the individual blades. When she gets use to walking with me, she will love one of our local parks, for now I will keep her supply of live grass steady.

Her health is also improving. The Humane Society takes great care of the animals, but many become depressed or heart broken about being discarded. Pepper was a bit depressed, and she didn't do much, and ate only the food that the shelter gave me for the first couple of weeks. Now, with her playing and exploring more, and her mood improved a lot, she is looking much more fit.

Pepper's claws are powerful, she is shredding the cardboard scratching thing I got her, it is the only thing she uses her claws on. Seriously, I have never seen a cat this frightened of using their claws. She worries I'll punish her for kneading on her bed, won't use her claws to hold on when frightened, and never claws the carpet. I am worried that she won't use her claws to even defend herself.

I bought her some fancy, all white, porcelain dishes, she did not like the plastic bowls I got her originally. The new bowls only cost $1.50 each at Daiso, but they are fancy dishes, and she does prefer them. She use to take the food out of the plastic dishes before eating it, and would not drink water from plastic dishes at all.

One problem is that Pepper is a stoner cat, she loves her catnip and gets lazy when she sniffs it. At first I didn't notice a change, between getting sick from the stress of moving in and her being depressed there was almost no difference. Now that she is acting more alive and happy, it's pretty clear that the catnip makes her really relaxed.

The Kitten Konundrum

The Kitten Konundrum is where people think the younger ones are so cute and adopt because of that, then discard the cat or dog once they become adults. This was far more common when I was growing up, but still happens today. It's sad that humans would adopt based on cuteness, and a very shallow idea of what's cute at that.

I prefer to adopt kittens over adults for one reason only, the kitten has an easier time adjusting their personality to suite me. I always plan on being with them for the long haul, until they grow old and die with a smile on their face for having lived a good life. This is one of the only two valid reasons to adopt kitten instead of an adult.

The second reason, and why I get as young as possible, is to delay the inevitable as long as possible. Cats and dogs have much shorter lifespans than we do, adopting only kittens a human could have five or six cats their entire life. It is hard to see them go, and was a reason I went without for so long before adopting Pepper.

Pepper is six years old now, that is no more than 14 years I get to spend with her. I am 39 years old now and will probably live another 40 years. Giving optimal health for Pepper, that's less than half my remaining life, which means I will have to deal with another best friend's death again. This is the reality I was considering when adopting, a reality I had prepared for before allowing myself the companion.

I suffer from depression, what that means is that I dwell on things, negative events stay in my focus longer and all problems become mountains to climb. Pepper offers a distraction for me, pulls me away from a problem long enough to regain focus and shed the frustration. In return I dote on her, giving her everything she needs and wants, as long as it won't endanger her health.

Today, Pepper has opened up a bit more. She no longer cowers when I reach to start petting her, which she was always a bit nervous at first. She knows I will accommodate her love for water straight from the faucet, even picking her up to set her next to it. She is eating a small amount of the canned food as well, she was afraid of it at first.

She doesn't go under the bed except to test if I am paying attention to her now. She comes right back out from under the bed when I call her. When I am at my table she sits in the windowsill where I can see her. I see her sitting up more often as opposed to the crouching position.

She lays out on the carpet a lot now, relaxed. When she first came, she would only lay in a ball or on her paws ready to bolt if threatened. The elevator is becoming more of a curiosity for her each day, I am hoping when we go to the vet it will be on a leash instead of putting her back into the cat carrier.

These adjustments are the hard part about adopting an adult cat, set in her ways and hurt in the past, she has to learn to trust again.

New Friends

A dog spent about three hours with us today, her name is Caramel. I was watching her for a neighbor while he had to go to an appointment. Based on my experience, people tend to be too pushy and expect nonhuman animals to make friends and get along much too fast, you really have to let them go at their own pace.

Caramel is very cat friendly, she even seems to understand them well. Pepper is not yet stranger friendly, but shows no difference between cat or dog. So I let Pepper observe from her perches, where she feels safest. Eventually she figured out that Caramel could not get onto the counter or windowsill and just watched from there.

Pepper won't claw anything, she hasn't even used her claws to defend herself yet, so I knew Caramel would be safe. When Caramel did have a chance to get near Pepper, my girl took a defensive posture, which is really just a glare with ears back, at the approaching stranger. Caramel sniffed for just a bit then backed away to explore more of the apartment.

That was it. Caramel is willing to be friends but also seems to know to give Pepper her space until she'd ready. I was in control of the situation, though I was allowing it to play out on it's own I could step in before either got hurt if one of them showed any aggressive behavior. That is the key to introduction, let them decide the speed.

Eventually the two will become friends or indifferent. Indifference must be acceptable, you cannot force friendships, but indifference can later become a friendship if they are not pushed together. Younger nonhuman animals tend to become friends much faster, and if they have only positive encounters with strangers the younger ones will be very friendly.

Older nonhuman animals tend to take a lot more time and patience if they have either had a lot of bad experiences, or no experiences to learn from. Pepper is the latter, she doesn't fear nonhuman animals at all, but has no idea what to think about them because her only exposure to strangers was at the shelter where it was a gambit if behaviors.

There is a chance an adult cat will always be a loner, they won't like any strange nonhuman animals, ever. These are also the ones quick to growl or scratch your hand if you ever pet another animal. So it is advisable to pet another nonhuman animal first, get their smell on your hand, then allow your friend to smell your hand.

How they react to this will tell you if they are capable of making friends. For Pepper it was curiosity and indifference, so I knew what to expect their first long encounter. This was why I did not mind watching Caramel at all, Pepper knew Caramel existed before meeting her and I knew Pepper's reaction as well.

All in all, it was a great experience for all of us, Caramel finally got to hang out with me, she has always been excited to see me in the lobby. Pepper got to watch and see what Caramel was about. I got to see enough Pepper's reactions to know her pace for future introductions.

In a few months I may be watching Caramel for a few days, it is possible they become best friends, based on their reactions to each other. Caramel has been around cats all her life, very positive experiences, which is why she understands them so well.

The Troubles of Anger and Punishment

So, Pepper got angry with me a few times now, one time it was beyond my control. I decided to touch on the subject of anger because of this. Humans show a wide variety of behaviors when we are angry, it is no different for the other animals. This makes it difficult to really understand when they are angry and for what reasons.

It is not always the last thing you do which makes them angry, maybe you moved their favorite place to sit in the sun last week and they just noticed because it's been cloudy since then. So you have to look for the cues, one common one is the isolation.

The nonhuman will almost always avoid the person they are angry with until they forget why they are angry. You must give them time to stop being angry before trying to apologize or they may take longer to forget they are angry. However, sometimes they get comfortable where they are don't let you know.

So, you check up on them once in a while, give them some small pets to let them know you are not angry with them, then let them have more time to themselves. Eventually that anger fades and they decide they want more attention, this is when they have accepted your apology and forget to be angry.

The other behaviors can be dangerous or destructive, and these you have to deal with delicately lest they learn them. Knocking pots off the shelves is one of the most common for cats, it's also one that will cost you a few plants. You have to ignore it, do not give them any attention when they do it, pretend they are not there.

It is also good to not clean it up until they are done with their tantrum, they most likely want to see you work. If you ignore the behavior well enough, and long enough, they give up and try something else. If you rush to clean it up and acknowledge the animal in any way, even punishment, then they will know they can get attention from it.

Another common one for both dogs and cats is the wild defecation. They seem to be doing it randomly, but it's not. It is premeditated, unless there is a medical condition. This is the most difficult one to deal with.

You have to clean up the mess, while not acknowledging the animal. Yes, this means not punishing them. If it is purposeful then it's because they want your attention, so giving them any attention of any type will, again, turn this into a learned behavior. This is the most difficult behavior to make them stop doing if they think they well get attention for it.

If it is a medical problem, you may want to make a vet appointment just in case on this one, then clean it up and let the animal know it's alright. They didn't do it on purpose you have to let them know they are not in trouble for it or they may get angry at you and start doing it even when it's not an accident, and then it becomes a learned behavior.

Sitting in your way is not out of anger, but it can be an apology. Sitting on a keyboard, your lap, or even in your path, is actually begging for attention. Both dogs and cats are notorious for this, and if they were angry a prior to this act, it is an apology from them.


Our human children do this as well, so if you have raised human kids, you know the technique already. Same idea here. Attention is everything to our young, and our domestic animals. It is more valuable than all the riches, and more important than even food. Though there are times when the domestic animals will not want attention, like my Pepper who prefers to mope away from me.

I do often see people fall into a cycle with domestic companions, one resembling abuse. The only real difference between this cycle and abuse is that it's not intentional. Never strike a domestic animal in any way, it will turn into a cycle of them being angry and misbehaving for more attention and considering punishment as acceptable attention.

Anyone who has rescued abuse and mistreated animals can tell you, the cycle takes more time to break than bad habits. You have to spoil the animal rotten for a very long time to get them out of that cycle. So don't start the cycle. Ignoring them is the only real punishment that they understand, especially when they want affections. To them, any attention is better than no attention.

Pepper's Tests of Courage

Living in subsidized housing, we have to put up with a lot of crap fueled by stereotypes. One of the most annoying is this idiotic notion that, just because we're poor, we don't know how to take care of "pests."

I use quotes because the real pests are mostly human. Anyhow, they had this bug sniffing dog inspection, supposedly to find bed bugs. I had to take Pepper out of the apartment, and she didn't want to this time. Needless to say, she had a problem with strange humans. One of them said something about avoiding the dog, I informed him "it's not strange dogs she's scared of, it's strange humans in a place she doesn't command."

To her, inside her home she is safest, so even if a stranger comes into the apartment, she doesn't worry about it. But out of the apartment she feels like she is not in control and gets nervous. Luckily she doesn't panic, instead she tries hard to get back into the apartment. I took her into the laundry room during the inspection, the dog seems to need to focus or something, sounds like a lot of woo woo to me.

She was a bit worried, it was easy to see as she kept wanting to go back home, but the sounds of the air vent distracted her a bit as her curiosity kicked in. When they were finally finished she went straight into the apartment and checked out what was moved or changed. Finally satisfied she rested a bit then was almost back to her usual self.

She was angry with me most of the night though, though I could not have avoided it I understood and did what I could to show she was okay. The stress made her vomit once she calmed down too, this time she knew she wasn't in trouble and just watched me clean it up.

All in all, she handled the situation well. They say bad things happen in threes, this month it has been four, but only because they upset Pepper most. The latest will set back her getting use to the harness a bit, but now she knows the most important lesson ever:

Pepper will always be coming back to the same home from now on.

Kitty Language and Personality

One common misconception about cats is that they are independent. The reality is that they are very expressive. The problem is that most people don't recognize their expressions, which are a form of language they use to communicate to us.

This pseudo language develops based on their environment and living situation, with a few cues that are almost standard. One example is the tail twitch, where they wag the lower half of their tail quickly from side to side, often signifying annoyance or anger. Pepper uses it to show she wants or needs something.

The wide wag is a sign of happiness or playfulness, combined with other cues to make the meaning more clear, such as pointed up or down. This one is almost universal, I have seen no cats use this cue for anything else yet. Even Pepper seems incapable of keeping her tail still when she's happy or playful.

Essentially, the human companion will learn these when they spend time with the cat, it's simply a matter of paying attention. However, when we do not try to recognize these, the cat will think we're ignoring them and pay us in kind, by ignoring what we tell them. Though they can live on their own, we engineered them to depend on us for affection and attention, they crave it.

So now we have the other side, how do we communicate with the cat? They communicate with body language and tone, it's also what they understand best. The tone in your voice is one of those nearly always understood forms of communication, almost all mammals will use the same tones for the same meanings.

So to ensure they understand you best, make sure your tone and body language demonstrate your meaning. Felines have almost no interest in learning the complex vocals we use for language, to them it tells little about what is meant. So when they are good use happy tones and body language.

When they do something wrong there is rarely a reason to punish them, and never a reason to strike them even a little bit. To a cat there is no "gentle tap" when they are being punished, and they will resent being struck and only act up more. We do have a tone they understand very well, they use it for their kittens all the time.

To let a cat know that they are doing something wrong or dangerous, use concern. Think of them as a human child and tell them gently, firmly, and with only a slight emphasis, not to do it. Watch them, make eye contact if you can, and don't pet them when saying it. The loss of attention is another useful method for a few behaviors.

The loss of attention or affection should only last during the negative behavior, then resume once they stop, they figure it our very quickly for a few common problems. The first is the kneading, when they are under the bliss of pets, they often use their claws without thinking about it during the kneading response. Simply stop petting them until they withdraw their claws.

They will test it for a bit first, trying just the claws, longer or shorter push/pull motions, and eventually without the claws. Cats are pretty smart, they can figure out the difference in such occasions. Another instance is during play, they sometimes bite or claw without realizing it hurts us.

Wrestling with the cat can be fun, and entertaining, using just your hand they roll onto their back and play fight. But their claws hurt, so most people don't do it much. This wrestling is a lot of fun for the cat though, so they may even resent you not entertaining them. So, do the hand wrestling, then when their teeth or claws hurt you just stop, don't pull away, don't get angry, don't reprimand them at all.

Just freeze your hand in that position and look at them without an expression, or show pain in your eyes. Once they release enough that it no longer hurts, play some more. Like with kneading, they quickly figure out why you stop.

The above will likely counter everything you have read in the books you buy, remember, they are trying to sell books, not help you and your best friend get along. If you have tried other methods, it may take a while for the cat to stop being angry before this one will work again, patience is what a cat's friend needs most, but don't return to the old methods or it will take longer for the feline to trust you again.

I hope you and your feline friends all the best, and Pepper says "mrreow."