Ok so I’ve got this cat, her name is Molly.  She’s like 13 years old and I’ve had her for about a year and a half.  When I saw her at the shelter, she was curled up on a nice bed and didn’t really move, so I figured she’d be a fun lap pet.  When we brought her home, the first week or so I was afraid that she was going to die just like that – she wouldn’t eat, she wouldn’t drink, and she barely moved.  We took her for her free checkup and the vet said that this and that might be wrong with her… my mom stood firm in her belief that we’re just giving Molly a nice home to live out her life and we won’t spend excess money to save her from this and that disease.  I was super sad but wasn’t about to shell out the money myself so we decided to just see how it went.

I think about 10 days in is when Molly started to move around.  She explored the house and I even caught her drinking from the toilet (aha! so she wasn’t dying of thirst).  Soon enough, she was as spry as any cat and even went around the house acting like she built it, owned it, and ran it.  While I was happy that she was totally fine and actually quite active, I discovered that she actually doesn’t like being held.  So much for my lap cat idea.  Sometimes she gets into these terrible moods, where she’ll growl at you for no reason.  She’ll get mad because you walked by, because she walked by you, because you did this or didn’t do that, etc.  I didn’t want to encourage this behavior, so whenever she got grumpy, I’d keep pushing.  If she didn’t want me touching her I’d hug her.  Sometimes I’d growl with her, or give her a stern finger.  Unfortunately, this hasn’t worked and I think I’ve figured it out – we’re both super stubborn.

The more you push, the more I push back (and the more you push back).  So, our little battles escalate until Molly gets so upset that she attacks or runs away.  I can’t help it though; nothing irritates me more than backing down when she’s the one initiating the negativity.  I was hoping to train her to see that when she got mad, I didn’t leave her alone, so trying to scare me wouldn’t work.  But it seems that all she sees is that she’s not happy and I’m annoying.  It’s a pity!  I’ve never tried to start a fight with her, but that seems to be how it all ends up.  And that’s what stubbornness can get you.