This is What Happens When You Are Overly Sheltered and Pampered

Last night was such a nightmare as Feliz (my cat) turned into an uncontrollable little monster. I've slowly realized that it must have been his upbringing. For an adopted feral cat, he has been treated to royalty way too much while growing up. Now I am suffering the consequences of my own actions. Don't get me wrong, I still love him more than anything else in this world and I will never plan on eating him anytime soon. I'm glad he's not a child otherwise I will sound like a cannibal mother in the society. It's just that I've become a bad mum by overly sheltering and pampering my cat.

He started his usual attention-seeking tactic like climbing the window screens while I fried some fish. Yeah, fish, Feliz just goes wild when he smells the yum yum fish guts 10 meters away, especially when it's some proper cat meal and not some artificial, probably cancerous convenient dry food. He just knows what ticks me off and how to get my precious attention straight away. He knows how much I really hate him ruining the window screens because it will make way for the jungle bugs that also tick me off. He catches those nasty insects for me. I tried spraying the window with some of the things he really hates like Eucalyptus and Menthol oil. There are also a lot of other places for him to climb outside. However, like a spoiled and ungrateful cat he is, he likes to get what he wants and when he wants it no matter what.

There's nothing wrong with being pampered and sheltered, you want the best for your kids/pets/partners. You just need to apply it moderately. In the case of my cat, he's supposed to grow up as a normal independent cat, capable of having food on his own even when I'm dead. Nobody cares about the children on the street here, let alone cats. The reality is that it's a really bad world out there. Hungry dogs try to steal his food all the time and yet he allows it. Sadly, people are too biased as they usually prefer dogs to cats. Cats are deemed insignificant here. However, the feral cat community won't take any shit from dogs and humans, they scare the big dogs collectively. Power to the poor feral cats!

Meanwhile, the feral cats remained calm even when there was some raw fish being prepared for cooking. They might not have eaten for days or they might just be full, who knows? That's just the feral life. I'm just amazed that they seem to behave like nice little cats: disciplined, independent, patient and warriors. They are used to the hardships of the real world.

Feliz has become such a fairly demanding and shallow cat. When things go badly, he still needs to go back to his cat instinct in order to survive, and learn the cat skills needed to deal with whatever life throws him. If I raise Feliz in a padded room, he will not realize that he can get really hurt when he is finally let out into the real world of sticks and stones. He won't even have the luxury of dying painlessly and peacefully around here.

I think Feliz should learn how to live with or without me and not be such a royal pain in the back, like meowing incessantly when he is not getting his food right away. What's worse is that he will change his usual soft meow to a diabolic deep tone to imply that he is being such an impatient and entitled little punk. I don't want him to turn into a cat from hell like one of those first world obese and overly sheltered hairy cats.

Who says that you can't change others? I learned how to design a routine and change his behavior, it applies to people too, like girlfriends or boyfriends. You just need to follow the loop: cue-routine-reward. Change the bad routine but keep the same cue and reward. My cat is behaving badly so I figure I need to change his routine and reward him for his good behavior.

My goal now is to make him patiently wait and only eat when it's time. I don't tolerate that begging behavior either. However, I have gotten used to giving in to his demands, especially when he looks at me through his half-closed eyes and all that trying to look cute when he needs something. Mind you, cats can be such manipulative cute little freaks. I've become a spineless mum who bends to his will all the time. I showered him with too much attention. Love was too concentrated. Feliz might be aware of my own neediness so now he takes advantage of it. He knows I'm always available to him. He will just come to me anytime to be hugged or pet even when I'm in the middle of writing an essay. I know that's sweet for some of you but it has become an annoying distraction. I slept uncomfortably while he slept comfortably. I was sleepless and stressed out and turned into a completely diabolic cat mum.

Now don't tell me that the solution to my cat problems are dogs. You know that I've had enough of dog problems in the past. Feliz and I have been through a lot and he knows that I need him too. There's no way I can keep myself sane without him by my side. I don't know how to love and care anymore but Feliz makes me human. Can you blame me if there seems to be no one else worthy of all my loving these days?