King Street Cats has a special cat with special attention needs. Her name is Hazel and she holds a special place in the volunteers' hearts here at KSC. Please consider adopting her with patience and love because she sure needs both. The following is a shortened version of a write up from an amazing animal behaviorist, Janet Velenovsky, owner of Kaizen Pet Training
& Behavior, who took the time to help us with this amazing cat.
Hazel is a very athletic adult female cat with stunning black
fur and luminous yellow-green eyes. She is spayed, all claws intact and in good health with an estimated age of 8 years. She is very intelligent and
confident, and can be insistent. From a behavior standpoint, Hazel can be
considered a special needs girl. An appropriate adopter for Hazel needs to have
experience with cats, the ability to give her focused attention several times
throughout each day, and willingness to learn and solicit help as needed to
manage her behaviors.
Hazel enjoys human
companionship and interacts freely. She is not a cat who wants to be picked up,
but she will tolerate it once you develop trust with her, and in certain
situations. Allowing her to walk and stand on her own is a good default
position wherever possible. If we need to handle her, put her harness on, or
crate her, food incentives are helpful. Hazel actively solicits
attention by rubbing, chirping vocalizations, and head-butting. While being
petted, Hazel often exhibits arousal by turning her head and lightly putting
teeth on the handler’s hands or arms.
It is essential that a foster
or adopter for Hazel learn how to respond to this action appropriately. To
decrease her tendency to escalate to biting, it is best to redirect her to
another activity. Scolding, yelling and physical reprimand will result in an
aggressive response on her part. Calm interruption and redirection are called
for.
Hazel enjoys chasing strings and small toys. She requires at least a
couple of good workouts per day. (She’ll do 15 “figure eight” laps in a row
while chasing the string, and still ask for more.) She is capable of jumping to
3 and 4 foot heights, and enjoys perching on high viewpoints. This cat will
require enrichment in the forms of window views, forays outside (she is trained
to walk on a harness), catnip fests, food puzzles, play sessions, and possibly
clicker training.
Hazel will also use nipping
and biting to indicate her frustration at not getting what she wants. If Hazel
is excessively hungry, or is bored and wanting interaction, she uses this
tactic to get a response from humans. The key to dealing with Hazel is to
understand the motivation behind her actions, rather than responding in anger
ourselves. Appropriate responses – which
will decrease her unwanted behavior over time – are to disengage from her and
redirect her to a toy or food, or get her engaged in some other activity.
She is cautious
when interacting with dogs, avoiding them if possible, and will swat to increase the distance between her and
the dogs. Once space has been established, she will sit or lie nearby. A relationship could be developed between Hazel and one or two
well-behaved canines. As for fellow felines, it is possible she could be
introduced to one or two cats very slowly (potentially taking 2 to 3 months to
accomplish the process) and learn to co-exist. However, a role as an only cat
would be fine with Hazel.
Engaging the help of a
certified behavior consultant is recommend for introducing Hazel to any other
pet in a household, and for any arising behavior problems. Kaizen Pet Training
& Behavior will provide an initial behavior phone consult at no charge for
an approved adoptive family.
Here is Janet's company information:
Janet Velenovsky, CPDT-KA, CDBC, KPA CTP, ACCBC
Owner, Kaizen Pet Training & Behavior
"Improve Your Pet, Improve Your Life" (TM)
804-883-1014 (home office) :: 804-241-8405 :: (cell phone)
janet@velenovsky.com :: velenovsky.com
facebook.com/kaizenpets :: twitter.com/kaizenpets
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