Off the Mark by Mark Parisi for May 18, 2023

To love a kitty is to know when you must stop the belly-rub.

Eventually the flower of claws will be activated.

Loved the look of surprise when ours thought she could hold my arm down with her paw and I lifted it when she started to bite.

My cat will let me rub his belly until my arm falls off. It’s when I stop he sinks his claws in me.

Nopes. Me no give belly rubs to kittys.

Ain’t that the truth :-)

Stay within the rib cage area and watch for a thrashing tail.

Yep, that’s about right.

Good advice.

When my son was really young, he used to call all meat ‘chicken’. So, according to him, by that category, beef and lamb all taste of chicken

This is true!

Tweety said it best: “Bad old puddy tat!”

There is a boat cat who roams the harbor area for a couple of months when he is in port. He wears a vest to show he is not lost and wanders about freely regardless of tourists and their dogs. Everybody who wants to try gets three petting strokes before he tells them to back off. I’ve never seen anyone ignore his warning swipe.

For best results and to avoid bites, rub doggies bellies.

Something definitely rubs him the wrong way.

cats are inconsistent jerks

Dogs will nip when they’ve had enough petting/become overstimulated, just the same as cats.

Ooo…he hit the murder button!

Cats give off signals as they become agitated, but most people ignore them until it’s too late. Most cats will start to tense up as they get irritated, or they will stare.

My cat will lick my hand two or three times before biting.

Yep.

You know your cats Mark, rubbin too hard or rubbin too long…

They do have subtle ways of letting you know.

I wanted 5 scritches not 6.

My most recent cat would kick my arm with her back feet when she felt the belly rubs got a bit too intense. No scratching. No biting. Just kicking.

Heh, that’s exactly what it’s like! :)

Reason #85 why I don’t own a pet.

Once had a cat who loved to be combed. She would roll over and let me comb her belly, just as content as can be. She was short-haired so there wasn’t much to comb out but she loved it.