#i am a Feral Animal when i don’t have a solid home base that i control completely

[ocularpatdowns]

u can tell dennis is autistic cuz arguably his most unhinged behavior is during seasons 10-12 when he doesn’t have access to His Enclosure (his and mac’s apartment)

(also prolly why mac lovingly rebuilding the apartment was so heavy for dennis that he had to run away to north dakota cuz how dare mac perceive him that accurately???)

[stillness-in-green]

When MVA/MLA Arc gets animated, what will you be looking forward to the most? What (canon-compliant) additions and/or changed do you want or think Bones should make, if any?

There’s--a lot.  Does that surprise anyone?  There’s a lot.

o  I have been foaming at the mouth for voice actor announcements for almost a year now, particularly for Trumpet, Geten and RD.           Trumpet’s superpower is literally his voice!  I mean, nothing about that statement requires that voice be particularly entrancing, but it certainly seems like it should be, right??             Geten is a boku-type in the manga, but that was literally the only hint foreshadowing his pretty boy face through 21 solid chapters of Pure Feral Gremlin.  Everyone was shocked by Geten’s face reveal!  How do you maintain that surprise value with an actual voice actor in the mix?  Do you not even try?  Do you play up the disparity--in which direction?  I can’t wait to see what they do.           And Re-Destro!  Re-Destro requires so much range!  From his peppy, silly businessman persona, to the urbane commander, from the overeager yes-man to the raving zealot--who on earth do you get to believably cover all that ground?  I can’t even begin to guess, but I am living in anticipation of that article going up on ANN or the official Twitter sources.

o  I’m also much looking forward to getting official coloring on Trumpet and Geten.  Skeptic seems pretty straightforward--black, black, more black--and RD and Curious, we have color art for, but I wonder if Trumpet will also be all black clothes, to go with that dignified politician image of his, or if he’ll get some color to pep him up a little.  What color are those tinted shades of his?  His eyes?  The wicked-cool Sevens Loud?           I assume Geten is all wintery shades, but it’ll be great to confirm which ones.  I mean, we all assume he’s white-haired to better annoy Dabi with family parallels, but what if he turns out to be platinum blond?  And are his eyes blue?  Gray?  White?  What color is that awful parka?           Also, Re-Destro’s stress powers.  Having been writing them as black since at least August--Rorschach test blots are generally black, after all, and they’re the clear inspiration--I would much like it if the anime would have my back on this.  They made Destro’s mask a dark cinnamon brown, though, so I’m prepared to be unpleasantly surprised in this matter.

o  Predictable MLA adaptational choices aside, I’m also eager/anxious about how they’ll handle Spinner’s narration.  What I really hope is that they actually straight-up hand him ALL the narration duties--not just the stuff he dictates directly in the manga, but also e.g. the name and quirk explanation material that Present Mic normally gets, or the previews that are always handled by Deku.           The opening and closing sequences are another big structural thing, of course--based on the flashed snippets of Hawks and Endeavor in both our current and the previous OP, I’m expecting we’ll see at least a bit of something referencing the upcoming internship arc (which I expect to close out the season), but I hope the villains just walk away with the closing entirely.  I want my slice of life villainy ED, dangit.

o  Another thing I’m eager/anxious about would be Kotarou, and the Shimura flashback generally.  There’s a brittle edge of to Kotarou that I really love, and I hope he manages to keep it in the anime, despite the anime being generally not so great at moments that I would describe as “delicate.”  For example, I’d like it if he doesn’t get a super deep voice, and if they could manage to keep his pretty face, and capture how deeply bitter and tired he looks in the scene where he’s reading the letter Nana left him.           Also, I hope they keep the little montage bits and, crucially, the changes of clothes the family goes through.  We see Tenko in no less than five, possibly as many as seven, different T-shirts through the course of that flashback.  It seems like a small thing, but it’s one of the factors that makes me skeptical that AFO gave Tenko Decay, when so many days clearly go by between the opening with the man at the door and the tragic end.  It’d be nice not to see too much resurgence on that just because the anime can’t be bothered to come up with more than one outfit for the Shimuras.

I have enough issues with the anime’s usual adaptation choices that I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high on the actual content of the episodes.  The staff is diverting too much of its major talent to the movies (BAH) these days for me to expect the whole season to look all that great, and it’s never been particularly creative or daring outside of its climactic sakuga-heavy fight scenes anyway.  I’ve also long had a bone to pick with its scoring decisions, and am already eyeballing the climax of the RD/Shigaraki fight and imagining the minor-keyed terrifying dirge I fear the anime will play there, at the moment that Re-Destro (and, shortly afterward, Spinner) are supposed to be experiencing something akin to religious awakenings.           There’s also the issue of the violence and gore--judging by how the anime handled the scene where Shigaraki and Compress maim Overhaul, I have some severe reservations about how much blood they’ll be allowed to get away with, particularly in the scene where the League brutally decimates that CRC group and, of course, Shigaraki’s backstory.  I’m looking at MVA to serve as a preview for how all the same issues will be addressed in the War Arc.

That bit of pessimism aside, as to what I’m hoping they’ll add or change?  Well, off the top of my head.....

o  I would love to get a full episode devoted to the time the League spends fighting Machia.  Not that first tussle, but the six grueling weeks in the mountains.  There’s so much you could add there for character building and atmosphere that Hori didn’t so much as montage through.  Where was their food coming from?  How’d they pick out places to pitch camp?  How much access to news from outside did they have, and how frequently?  What were the circumstances in which Gigantomachia “told them himself” about his great sense of smell??  Stuff like that!             I don’t think we’re at all likely to get this--honestly, the series of late has had enough of a problem with trimming bits and pieces that I’m as worried about what they might cut as I am hyped about things they might add--but the one thing that gives me some hope is the training camp arc.  Specifically, the moment 1-A first gets to the Pussycats’ forest, they get jumped by earth golems, a fight that the manga off-panels entirely, but the anime spends a modest amount of time on, giving the kids a little bit of time to show off their moves and such.  I’d love to get something equivalent for the League.

o  On a similar note, I wouldn’t turn it down if they fleshed out some of those running street fights a bit.  One obvious thing comes to mind: there’s a weird jump in the manga between Skeptic and a horde of his golems being all but on top of Twice at the beginning of 233 and then that fight just--doesn’t happen.  There’s no mention of it at all.  I think the suggestion is that either Machia’s appearance or the tower going down interrupted it--Skeptic breaks off from his fight the same way Geten and Trumpet do theirs, shifting focus to protecting Re-Destro--but it’d be nice to see the anime touch on it.

o  It’d be nice to get a bit of expansion on the nature of the bullying Spinner endured.  We’re told he was, but was it limited to verbal?  Did he get beaten up a lot?  Was there an online element?  Deku’s our only other reference point for “bullied kid,” and whatever one might think about the story’s development of Bakugou’s mentality, it’s been made clear in retrospect that there was a lot more too that than just the matter of Deku’s quirklessness.  I’d love to know how Spinner’s bullying looked in comparison (not least because of some of the theories about Spinner and Deku needing to come to some kind of accord to free Shigaraki from AFO).

o  Make the Villa (both here and during the War Arc) look more realistic.  By which I mean, I know Horikoshi is capable of drawing interesting and lived-in interior spaces--he has an entire chapter dedicated to it in the 1-A dorm room contest, after all--but he normally doesn’t bother much with it.  At UA, it’s not too distracting, because we know good and well that that whole building is probably maintained by Cementoss anyway.  Ditto places like Tartarus (intentionally, dehumanizingly barren) or the League’s post-Kamino hideouts (abandoned homes and industrial spaces).  But the Villa?            For heaven’s sake, it’s called a mountain villa.  It has a clear reception desk on the ground floor; it’s obviously some sort of high-end hotel, if not an outright resort or rentable retreat lodge.  Speaking as someone who’s worked in one, places like that don’t look as fuckin’ bare as the rooms we see there always seem to.  For fanfic purposes, I’m happy to go on telling myself that e.g. the pool and the bar and the restaurant(s) and the gym are in the building Cementoss doesn’t tear in half, but it’d be nice if the anime could class the whole place up a little, maybe put some real furniture and decor in the rooms that are in use.  (Yes, I know this is a ridiculous nitpick.)

o  This is less a change and more a correction, but for fuck’s sake, BONES, give us white-haired Shigaraki.  The climax of Deika is a solid time for it, given that it’s obvious in the manga that Shigaraki’s hair gets paler in Deika--you can see it in the way Horikoshi inks it (which is to say, the way he stops inking it)!  I think if we ever get white-haired Shigaraki in the anime, a somewhat better time as far as narrative justification goes would be when Shigaraki gets out of the tube in the War Arc; you could easily justify it as a side-effect of the surgery.  Still, I’d rather see it here.  I want white-haired Shigaraki, gleaming and brilliant through the scattering ash in that crater, a veritable angel of sacred destruction.           Honestly, more than anything, the crater sequence is the one I hope I love.  It’s probably my favorite single moment in the entire manga, as Shigaraki wins over Re-Destro, Spinner and Gigantomachia in the same moment, and finally comes into his own.  If they can at least nail that, I’ll consider myself pretty satisfied.

[decayandfanfics]

The great book of sayings

PAIRINGS: Tomura Shigaraki x FemReader

SUMMARY: He looks at you, his scarlet eyes fixed on yours, burning a hole through your head, every bit the predator he is, but you are as tough as it gets, so, against your better judgment and any well-founded logic, you answer his silent threat, the animalistic look he gives you with nothing less than a fearless smirk, irises burrowing into his pupils.A clever girl. He thinks, finally labeling you inside his head, cursing himself in the very moment he allows his brain to think of you as more than an asset. He is sure (he knows himself enough to know) he’ll think of this moment many times from now on.A clever pretty girl.

Reader is a typical college student until she gets herself tangled with the league of villains.

WARNINGS: Unhealthy/complicated relationships, violence, Tomura being Tomura, mentions of murder, heroes’ abuse of power, smut later.

A/N: I’m trying so hard to write crusty boy here really in character. At least after AfO is taken. Any misspelled words, english is not my native language so i’m trying Helen.

___________________________________________________________

Chapter 8 / Chapter 9

You show me the man and I’ll show you the rule.

Tomura thinks he knows nothing about beauty, but then she proves him wrong.

(He thought her pretty before already, but after seen it…he concludes she’s the most beautiful, terrific thing he’s ever seen. Not that he would tell her that.)

A feral dangerous creature living inside of her with no other match.

No other but him.

Oh...you have no idea...She told him.

It happens so fast. One moment she’s there, sitting in front of her laptop, pretty and quiet and serene. All harmony and light, resting softly under the sunlight, between her dumb succulents and the spices that fill her home. Then he can hear Dabi’s caustic laugh and the wrong words. He’s disrespectful, an instigator, skilled in the art of making others lose their composure like is his favorite game.

He hears the foul words, the berating, and the mocking aimed to him, while she sits wide eyed and impossible flustered by the kitchen table.

Dabi smirks triumphant, like he always does after giving everyone a piece of his drama and Tomura watches him, wincing, reminding himself again that Dabi is supposedly oldest than him and Toga, and yet he does his best to being an annoying brat.

Tomura knows better to just let him bark, his remarks mean nothing to him, he knows what he is, and he knows what he isn’t. He’s a freak, yeah. That too, but he isn’t a child anymore, so he let it slide, keeping his eyes glued to his phone arching an inquisitive brow, ready to just let it die there.

He just forgot about the stupid little stunts of bravery she has this tendency to commit. (An annoying dangerous trait that makes him chuckle with something akin to fondness.)

She’s having none of the bullshit, Dabi’s little remarks had fed her up after a whole week of spiteful teasing, her precious patience has run thin.

“blue eyes are a mutation too, so you are no one to talk about it.”

The moment she opens her mouth, Tomura feels something warm filling the hollow place where his dead heart should go and it’s so foreign to him that for a moment he panics and thinks (very stupidly) that maybe his energy drink-based diet is finally going to kill him, and he (barely in his sweet twenty’s) is having a stupid heart attack.

But the pain never comes, it’s just her, voicing a clever answer, defending him.

“A quirkless little bitch? Seriously, Dabi? Where you raised in a fucking barn that you know nothing but fuck this and bitch that?

He wants to make her shut it, but he can’t find the words. Not when her remarks are sharp and funny to hear. (Besides, her voice sounds so sweet when she’s throwing smart ass angry comments just to back him up.)

It warms him and enrages him equally. How dare she to defend him? He can speak for himself on his own and doesn’t need her to make any back up about an insult he doesn’t care for. Stupid pretty woman. Trying to shut Dabi, putting herself in danger for the likes of him...Is she insane? (later that day, he’ll conclude that she must be pretty fucking nuts to have them all in her home after all, but somehow the thought only makes him like her more.)

“yeah. I know stupid cunt too.”

Dabi likes to cause havoc and now he’s pissed, so he throws a vulgarity aimed at her. Tomura feels the hot pang of anger at the other man, because the offense is not only an insult, but also a lie.  She’s not stupid nor a cunt. She's sharp as a knife and kind enough to share with them. 

“Dabi, cut it out.” He warns with a grimace, and now the fight has everyone tense in the room.

“I’m sure you do. Pretty useful to describe yourself I bet.” She snarls showing her teeth, an angry frown darkening her features and Tomura swears her eyes begin changing color.

“you sure like to bet, like how you are betting I don’t burn you alive for being an annoying bitch.”

This time Tomura gets fucking furious, something animal revolving inside of him at the idea of Dabi threatening her. But the fight is escalating so fast, he can’t say anything before she answers back.  

“Fuck off, Dabi. This might be shocking for you, but you don’t scare me.”

He wants to laugh at this, truly. Feisty little thing she is when angered, all her soft ways and nerd knowledge thrown out the window in a fit of cocky bickering and a part of him is living for the chaos of it.

“now, that’s pretty fucking stupid of you.”

“Dabi, shut up!” Tomura growls irked with the way her hair has begun to float over her shoulders, now completely convinced that she’s not quirkless at all.

“I’m not the one insulting everyone just because I cannot deal with some fucking daddy issues.”

God fucking dammit woman, just shut up. He thinks frustrated, giving her a look worth a stab.

“YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT” Dabi snarls before kicking the little table in the living room, breaking one of its legs with a loud crack.

“CUT IT OUT!” she screams this time, standing from her chair “I don’t have to know when it’s plainly obvious you have problems with authority.”

“you really think you are so clever, don’t you?” Dabi states, crossing the living room, aiming to her, so Tomura leaves his place in the corner to stand at her side without even thinking why.

“I know I am, asshole!”

Dabi stops his tracks, looming over her like a monster. His eyes scanning her face before looking at Tomura, who stands by her with his hands open in front of him in clear warning.

The black-haired man looks at her before moving to Tomura, his brows raised in surprise as he chuckles darkly.

Shigaraki hates the way he looks at him, like he knows his thoughts. Like he knows he’s been creeping into her room to watch her sleep and the sinister lustful visions that sometimes plague his dreams after some playful back and forth every time she defies him with some smart-ass comment.

“stupid woman. You should know better.”

And then…he just slaps the laptop out of the table; the computer smashing open against the cemented ground.

Tomura remembers this moment like one would remember the witness of a car crush or a catastrophe. A simple second enough to amaze him for a lifetime.

The way her eyes just ignite into scorching red lights shining like burning embers under her frown brow. Her hair floats free from gravity over her shoulders like a terrible chaotic crown as her mouth flash pearly teeth in a feral snarl.

He watches how she claws her right hand, fingers curling, knuckles tensing and Dabi is suddenly choking under the pressure of some raw power. His limbs twisting painfully in horrific motion and unnatural angles in complete agony.

A second later and before anyone could grasp what’s happening, her other hand pointing pinky, index and thumb to Compress, Toga and himself, keeping them frozen in their place, a strange rigid pressure making him feel like he’s full of cement and any movement will shatter his bones and snap his spine.

He can’t move, he can barely breathe. Feeling like if every fiber of his being, every muscle, every cord is solid hard under his skin, unavailing him to get away.

But he can watch, so he watches her terrified and amazed.

Her quirk is rare, and powerful and dangerous. But she keeps it locked away, sleeping soundly, safely caged inside her ribs, like the best hidden weapon, perfect for torturing bodies and bending wills. Buried deeply under her layers of kindness and humor.

One twitch of a finger, and Dabi’s neck would snap in two and they can do nothing but just watch when little blood vessels begin to burst in the white of his eyes as he pants desperate for air, his veins contorting furiously under the marred skin of his neck and the flames scatter in some random parts of his body without any control.

Tomura swears he can hear Dabi’s bones crackle under the invisible force as his spine bends backwards in a sickening angle.

And, as sudden as it begins, ends.

Her hair falls and her eyes are no longer red. Dabi breathes again falling to his knees and for a moment Tomura thinks he will cry out of pure fright.

For a moment he wonders if Toga and Compress want to cry too because that felt like certain death, but is sweet, somehow. Something within him squirms joyfully with the notion of her own violence. She is as dangerous as him, no damsel in distress, no little girl in need of care, no simple quirkless girl, but a horrifying woman. A dangerous and powerful creature with a quirk made for torment, just like-

He looks at her, just to find a sad disappointed face. A thick trail of blood began sliding silently from her nose, tainting the perfect bow of her lip. Only then he notices the bloodshot eyes and how the color has run from her face.

She stands quiet and bitter watching between her hands and Dabi trying to catch his breath. Her face giving away guilt and self-loathing (two feelings he’s very familiar with.) but unlike him, she is no tormentor, she grasps no joy in watching Dabi suffer, nor do she wish of making them quiver to the sight of her.

She is kind, and brave, and witty. Humorous girl, quick at wordplay and puns; buying vitamins and oranges for them and something about no one getting scurvy under her watch.

He wants to laugh hysterically at her sight because she is magnificent, and for a moment he thinks that the boy with the destructive touch and the girl with the tormenting gaze sounds like a hell of a name for rulers and his heart shivers in excitement, but she is crying and clutches her guilty hands against her chest and ask them to forgive her for using her quirk on them.

She didn’t mean to; she didn’t want to. She likes them all very much, so she promises she’ll never hurt them again, and somehow it reminds him of something, but he cannot place a finger on what exactly.

He feels the sorrow drowning him. A grudge so horrid it makes him want to vomit and scratch his neck raw because something in her resembles something in him, but he cannot really grasp the motive of such connection, only knowing it has something to do with the hands he carries around like a symbol of his own distress and a little black-haired boy crying in some familiar backyard.

The sound of the bathroom door startles him and she’s no longer in the living room, but he can hear the quiet sobbing coming from behind the door.

Finally, Dabi decides to just fall backwards against the cold floor, still panting, an arm over his eyes.

Only then Spinner breaks the dreadful silence and ask the question they all want to make.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT.”

Chapter 10

[vol-ia]

The Incident

A Perfect Spell story about Mori having to pick Chris up from school for getting into a fight! You’ve heard of mama bear, now get ready for papa kitsune.

Word count: 1598. PG: implied violence, implied animal cruelty.

Other Perfect Spell stories: https://vol-ia.tumblr.com/post/164697611963/philomela

https://vol-ia.tumblr.com/post/166005091008/write-tober-2

Mori walked up to the administration desk. Nobody seemed to notice.

In a way, it was kind of nice. After so many centuries of upheaval and effort, to have a kitsune be gently ignored in a busy office was something of a milestone. In another, much more present way, it was deeply inconvenient and needed to stop right now.

He gently cleared his throat, leaning in through the window and glancing around for the least busy looking person.

“Yes, hello! I am sorry to interrupt you but I was instructed to come and collect my son?”

***

Mori found Chris sitting in the waiting room outside the principal’s office. He looked sullen and withdrawn, and was clutching a cardboard box. He was dirty, his hands and uniform both stained, and he had dried blood on his fur around his nose.

He heard Mori come in, and looked up at him with wide, watery eyes.

Elise was much better at this sort of thing, but they’d called him, so he would have to do.

“Are you alright?”

“No.”

“Okay. I will speak to the principal and then we will go home.”

“Okay.”

Mori took a deep breath, wishing that none of this was happening. “I understand there was another boy involved?”

“It was Lewis.”

Ah. The Bennet family.

“I take it that Mrs. Bennet is currently speaking with the principal, then.”

“She wants them to expel me.”

“I expect she wants a great many things. I will be back shortly.”

Mori practiced his long trained sense of self control, forcing his tail to not swish back and forth as he straightened up. He could hear two voices on the other side of the door, now that he noticed it, one exercising a soothing, practiced calm, and the other, shrill. He took a deep breath, and stepped forward to open the door.

***

“We were all offered, assurances, that the little animal would not be dangerous!” She glanced at Mori when she spat the word, a poisonous look.

“This ‘little animal’ you are referring to would be my son, yes?” Mori interjected, trying not to growl. It made humans nervous when he growled.

“Yes! Lewis has a black eye, a sprained wrist, and bruises all over, and photos day is next week! And it’s all because your feral brat attacked him, unprovoked!”

“Mrs. Bennet,” The principal interrupted, “According to everyone involved but your son, that is clearly not the case.”

“...Are you suggesting that my precious boy is a liar?! I’ll have you fired for defending that animal, you and the whole faculty!”

“Please refrain from shouting, or using slurs. We’re all adults, madam.” The principal had interjected on his behalf, but Mori could feel his eye starting to twitch.

“I’ll say whatever I damn well like! You and this school and this whole damn town are in the pocket of this fox family and don’t think for a minute that I’ll let you get away with sweeping this incident under the rug!”

“The school has a series of rules and procedures for dealing with schoolyard violence. Unfortunately, it is a thing that comes up from time to time when you keep a thousand teenagers in the same building every day. We will be following those procedures to the letter with regards to this incident, and if you are dissatisfied with our conduct, you are of course more, than welcome to raise a complaint with the board of education.”

“Don’t think that I won’t! Lewis could have been killed! That freak out there needs to learn self control, or he should be made to be leashed and muzzled like the rabid dog he is!”

The principal’s mouth tightened. Mori understood that he and Chris were on very friendly terms. Chris had a solid rapport with most adults. Mori spoke first, saving him the hassle of trying to reason with the woman.

“Mrs… Bennet. Just to be sure, you are accusing my son of losing control and attacking your son in something like a blind, ‘feral’ rage, correct?”

“Yes!” She opened her mouth to complain more, but Mori continued.

“Did you know?” Mori clicked his fingers, causing a small flame to spark up at the tips. The woman gasped. “Kitsune are born into a knowing of fire.”

“F-... D-don’t you threaten me!”

“I am not threatening you, I am just teaching you about my species, in an attempt to clarify a miscommunication. Do you agree?” Mori motioned to the principal, who had leant back slightly in his chair.

“...Of course.”

“But-!”

The flame on Mori’s fingertips flared, causing the woman to gasp and fall silent. After a moment, Mori continued.

“Often, my kind cast our first spell of fire before we can see properly. Long before we can talk. We learn the language of fire first, and see our own light before we ever see the light of the sun. For many of my kind, fire comes easier than speech, easier than thought. Maybe too easily.”

Mori juggled the flame from fingertip to fingertip, playing with it as he had so often in his youth.

“It is, perhaps, a failing of my species that we tend to solve so many of our problems with fire. But, you probably understand, when it’s what you know best… Well, they say here, that when all that you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail, yes?”

The flame grew, engulfing Mori’s hand. It was cool against his fur, although he knew the heat it was projecting would be singeing the eyebrows of the woman sitting next to him.

“And you mean to suggest that my son lacks self control? If he was truly the wild beast that you delight in suggesting he is, well…”

Mori snuffed the flame out.

“Your son would be dead.”

There was complete silence in the room. Mori clapped his hands together, popping the bubble, making an effort to force some cheer into his voice.

“It is fortunate for us all that you are as wrong as you are unpleasant to talk to. Now, if there’s nothing else, I understand that my son is to be sent home early today?”

***

“Omae wa hontou ni taido ga warui na…” Mori muttered to himself as he pulled the door shut behind him. Some people, honestly.

Not so long ago, dealing with belligerent people had much less civil and a lot more straightforward. Clearly, the present was better than the past and its violence, but sometimes, Mori found himself wistfully reminiscing about the good old days, back in the 1600’s when he’d been young and strong and nobody in their right mind dared to talk back at him about whatever inane garbage was polluting their minds.

Sometimes, the weight of centuries was very heavy indeed.

Still, there were reasons to remain here, in the present. Mori crouched down, touching Chris gently on the shoulder, startling him out of whatever trance he had been in.

“Ready to go?”

“I… Will they let me back?”

“Based off of the accounts of everyone involved, it has been determined that you will not be expelled. You and Lewis both will be punished for getting into a fight, although if it’s any consolation, he has been suspended for a week and you have only been suspended for the rest of today and tomorrow.”

Chris whined, cringing down in his chair, clearly more focused on the suspension than the leniency. Mori could barely stand to see his son so upset. There would be plenty of time for holding him later, once he was home and away from this place.

“D-do you think the witches’ association will want me still if I’ve got a record?”

“That is what y-?” Mori stopped himself. “...From what I’ve gleaned, they consider multiple childhood misdemeanors to be a requirement for entry.”

“Oh.” Chris looked back down at the box he was cradling. Right. The box.

“This… This would be the bird that was mentioned, yes?”

“Yeah. They were gonna just… Throw it out, like it was trash. It was alive, this morning.”

He sounded so small and fragile as he said it.

“We can give it rites and lay it to rest in the garden. I’m sure that will appease the bird’s soul.”

Mori heard a tiny sound. There was a small wet spot on the box.

“If I’d… If I’d done something sooner, t-then maybe it might still be alive.” Chris’s voice cracked, raw with sadness. “Why can’t I fix it? I-I messed up and I wanna fix it.”

“There’s no spell that will heal death, son.” The words sounded a lot calmer than Mori felt.

Remaining calm and being strong for him was important, now. He could feel it. Mori considered his next words as best he could, mindful of the potential negative repercussions.

“...As a… A witch. You will sometimes be called upon to act, that we might not lose something we can never get back. Magic can be dangerous, yes, but also powerful, and as caretakers of that power, we must be responsible. Do not act in haste, but also... Do not be afraid to act.”

Mori gently took the box from Chris. Inside, the weight of the bird shifted slightly. It was surprisingly heavy.

“I won’t let it happen again.”

Mori could have wept. He was so young, and tender, and caring. Too young for such anguish. Instead, he smiled.

“Come on, let us get you home and cleaned up. Your mother will mur- ...Uh, yell, at me, if she comes home and finds you scruffy like this.”

[josephlrushing]

Arlo Pro 3 2K QHD Wire-Free Security 2-Camera System Review

Maybe you’ve lost packages to porch-pirates, or maybe you have a stalker ex; perhaps you live in an isolated area, and you need to know what’s going on when you’re not home. For those reasons and many more, adding security cameras around your home’s perimeter can give you peace of mind, and the Arlo Pro 3 system is a great choice to consider.

The Arlo Pro 3 system boasts having a fast and easy wire-free setup; it has up to a 160º viewing angle, an integrated spotlight that you can manually operate or set to shine automatically when motion is sensed, night vision in color, and 2K video for clearer detail and colors. The Pro 3 camera has weather-resistant housing that makes it safe to use outdoors. The camera has a built-in microphone and speaker so that you can engage in a two-way conversation with someone should the necessity arise. There’s even an alarm that you can trigger which might startle and scare off a burglar — assuming you live in a populated area with neighbors who haven’t already become too jaded by false car alarms.

There are various Arlo Pro 3 2K QHD Wire-Free Security Camera system configurations available. I was sent the $499.99 2-camera system; a $649.99 3-camera system is also available, or you can start with the 2-camera system and add additional cameras later for $199.99 each.

The 2-camera system comes with the two Pro 3 cameras, two removable and rechargeable batteries, one magnetic charging cable, a smart hub, an ethernet cable, a screw-in wall mount with mounting screws, a magnetic wall mount with mounting screws, a power adapter, a quick start guide, and a window decal warning potential burglars that you have the cameras.

Side Note: Believe it or not, those window stickers saying you have an Arlo video camera might actually make a good crime deterrent! I recently read an article about what thieves said might discourage them from robbing a home, and it was mentioned that getting a camera and making it visible would work. Here’s the corresponding video; the part about getting a camera is at the 2:30 mark.

So back to the Pro 3 cameras. They measure 3.5″ long by 3.1″ tall by 2″ wide, and they weigh a solid 11.2 ounces each with battery installed. The bulk of the body is matte white plastic; there is a shiny black plastic front on each camera that houses the camera, the motion sensor, a bright LED spotlight, a microphone, and a speaker.

The back of the camera has a threaded hole for the mount attachment.

The button on the bottom opens the camera for battery removal when pressed; the magnetic mount for the USB Type-A charging cable is close by.

When you press the button, you can slide the camera and battery out of the housing. If you purchase the optional $49.99 charging station and a couple of spare batteries (at $49.99 each), you’ll become very familiar with this move because once done, you can easily rotate batteries in and out of the cameras for continuous monitoring. If you don’t buy a spare battery, you’ll have to either remove the cameras from their mounts for magnetic wireless charging, or you’ll have to bring the power to the cameras and attach the cables to them where they hang. It takes about 3.5 hours to fully charge a battery with the included cable charger; the charging station does it a bit more quickly at 2.9 hours. Battery life on the camera can last from 3-6 months with normal use, but (obviously) if you have a lot of activity, the batteries will need to be charged more often.

There are two types of mounts included in the box, one magnetic wall mount and one screw-in adjustable indoor/outdoor mount. Each mount comes with a set of screws and plastic drywall wall anchors.

The Arlo Pro 3 comes with a smart hub that must be set up in order for the cameras to connect to the cloud and display their information in the Arlo app.

On the back of the Base Hub, there’s a sync button, and USB port, an Ethernet port, the power cable port, and a reset button.

After downloading the Arlo app and creating your account, follow the directions in the app to connect the base station to your network and add your cameras. You’ll have a chance to name the cameras, and the names are easy to change later if needed — I did this repeatedly until I settled on naming the cameras North and South.

You’ll be walked through the different features from the app …

Since it’s the first time for you to turn on the cameras since they came from the factory, you’ll likely have a camera update to take care of before you mount them.

As the cameras use WiFi to work, you’ll have to make sure that anywhere they are installed has a good, strong signal. You can always check your network signal under each camera in the Devices Tab.

Because I’m headed to different sides of our house with the cameras, I labeled them. Murphey’s Law says that if I have two unmarked cameras, I will try to install them in the wrong spot.

I wasn’t sure if it really mattered if we used the screw-in mount versus the magnetic mount, but since the north side of our house is more exposed, we opted to install the screw-in mount there.

And since the camera on the south side of our house is under cover, I figured the magnetic mount would perform well there. I should mention that the magnet in the magnetic mount is very strong; the camera will be held securely even in the strong winds of hard rain — which we experienced a few days after installation.

  Included with the Pro 3 system is a three month Arlo Smart trial. An Arlo Smart plan gives you up to 4K cloud recording with 30 days of video history; person, vehicle, animal, and package detection; custom activity zones, and e911 emergency call service (in the US only).

A multi-camera plan for up to five cameras is $9.99. I am planning on paying for it when the trial is over because I have found those features to be very useful.

Setting up the custom activity zones allows you to pick the exact areas from which you want to receive motion alerts. I foolishly set the yellow area and called it “driveway” … we have four cats and a dog.

They set this alert off all the time, but the good news is that the camera is able to tell us that it’s an animal. The app preview is also kind enough to highlight the animal in question when it sends you a motion notification. I love this feature!

We live in an area with a feral hog problem, and I have a terrifying story of confronting a small group of hogs knocking over and getting into the cat food bin on our back porch when I thought I was about to catch a raccoon in the act. With that incident in mind, I figure it’s only a matter of time before we have a feral hog sighting on one of our cameras … ugh. I’ll add it to this review when it happens.

With the Pro 3, you can also opt to pay for the CVR plan, which records 24/7 non-stop to the cloud with a continuous video plan. As you might imagine, this plan is not inexpensive at $9.99 per camera per month for 14 days of continuous video recording and $19.99 per camera per month for 30 days. But if you honestly need this type of surveillance, I’m guessing the price won’t be a deterrent.

That sounds like a huge battery drain to me, but if you need that kind of protection, you’ll probably also want to add a $79.99 solar panel to each camera.

You can make using the Arlo Pro 3 as simple or as complicated as you’d like. Once you’ve charged the cameras, connected them to your WiFi, and mounted them, you can simply use the app to keep up with all notifications. At any time, you can tap the number under each camera to see all the trigger events for the day.

Clicking that will open up a list of captured video for the day — each ranging from 10 seconds to a bit longer if the camera captured continuous movement.  As you can see in this screenshot, a red wasp colony has decided that the camera is mounted in a desirable spot for constant cameos; hopefully, we can figure out how to move them along painlessly as our weather warms up. Even so, you can be assured that birds will try to sit on your cameras; so far, them doing so hasn’t knocked either of the cameras off-kilter.

Have you ever been stung by a red wasp? It’s not fun.

  If you want to dig in a bit and customize your views a bit more, there are plenty of settings that can be tweaked individually for each camera …

Even though all of the alerts we’ve received and videos we’ve captured have (so far) been what I’d consider normal movement around our home, I love the idea that even when I am on one of my frequent trips, I can see exactly what is happening around my home as it happens. Tapping the number to the right of each camera’s name will show you the motion recordings that have happened that day; they reset to 0 after you look at them, so you can always tell when there are new clips to peruse. The three green dots pull up the subscription CVR if you’ve opted for a subscription on that particular camera.

At any time, you can opt to go live by tapping the arrow in the Devices list on the corresponding camera, and when you do that, you’ll have a full-screen live view that can be pinched and zoomed if you want to look more closely at something interesting.

If you tap the live view screen, you’ll have the option to turn the sound on or off, speak to someone (or yell at a pet to get off your car) by tapping the microphone.

Note the color of my jeep in this photo and then in the next photo.

There’s also a flashlight option that you can manually toggle which beams a VERY bright LED at the camera area; you can adjust the strength of the beam with the slider. Notice that when the flashlight is manually toggled, the items in the camera are in color — even in the dark. That’s a cool feature. The flashlight will also automatically pop on at night when motion is detected to record footage of whatever is happening in color.

Night vision in color with the LED flashlight

With Arlo armed and running, any time there is movement, I get a little popup notification. Again, this can be a bit much because of our constantly prowling pets and that red wasp family from hell,

Under general settings, most of the options are self-explanatory, but let’s take a look at the options under Arlo Smart, namely smart notifications, package detection, e911, and Call a Friend.

Click any of the photos to start a slide show.

If you don’t want to pay for Arlo Smart after the trial period is over, “you can still add up to 5 cameras to your Arlo account, live stream, and receive motion and audio notifications.”

One last feature that I’d like to touch on is Arlo’s ability to use different Modes including Armed, Disarmed. Schedule, and Geofencing.

  The Arlo Pro 3 wireless camera system can send alerts to your Apple Watch if you wear one; you can also use Arlo with the Google Home Hub and the Amazon Alexa Show. All you have to do is add the Arlo skill to either platform on your device, and then you’ll be able to ask Alexa or Google to show you the view from a particular camera. Obviously, this only works with the Google and Alexa devices that have displays. Also worth mentioning is that if you have the Arlo Pro 3 with the VMB4540 Smart Hub that it ships with, Apple HomeKit is now compatible. If you have an earlier Smart Hub or base station, HomeKit will be supported in the future.

Using the Pro 3 system is actually very simple once you’ve adjusted the settings to your preference, and having the cameras in place gives me great peace of mind. If I want even more security around my home, I could look into adding the new Arlo Video Doorbell, the upcoming Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera, the Arlo Light, an Arlo Baby cam, or even the wire-free LTE Arlo Go for more remote applications. Arlo has something for nearly every application to make sure that your home, business, or property are monitored and safe.

The Arlo Pro 3 retails for $499.99, and it is available directly from the manufacturer and from other retailers including Amazon [affiliate link].

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample

What I Like: Easy to set up; App is intuitive and easy to use; App allows you to micromanage each camera and its features; Arlo Smart is a subscription service that adds value to your security system; Instant notifications when there is motion; Pro 3 has a floodlight that films in color when activated at night; You have two-way communication when the camera is in live mode; You don’t have to pay for a subscription to get monitoring; Long-lasting battery; Can be mounted anywhere reached by your WiFi signal; So many available accessories and add-ons so you can create your perfect system

What Needs Improvement: The Arlo Pro 3 needs to be placed in an area with solid WiFi, so be mindful of that when considering where to install them; Add-ons and subscriptions can make this system expensive

from Joseph Rushing https://geardiary.com/2020/03/02/arlo-pro-3-2k-qhd-wire-free-security-2-camera-system-review/

[ssteezyy]

Ask the Cat Behaviorist: Mikel Delgado Answers Questions About Cats Who Wake Up their Guardians, Aggressive Cats, Cats Who Bury Their Food, and More

Welcome to our regular “Ask the Cat Behaviorist with Mikel Delgado” segment. Once a month, we’ll post a reminder for you to post your questions for Mikel. She’ll answer as many of them as she can each time, and I’ll publish her answers in a subsequent post.

Mikel is a Certified Cat Behavior Consultant at Feline Minds, offering on-site consultations for cat guardians, shelters, and pet-related businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area, and remote consultations around the world. She obtained her PhD in Psychology at UC Berkeley, where she studied animal behavior and human-pet relationships. Mikel is co-author of Jackson Galaxy’s forthcoming book, Total Cat Mojo: The Ultimate Guide to Life with Your Cat.

Cat buries her food dish after eating

Hi! Multi-cat household and one of our four kitties relentless buries her food dish when she is done eating. She will bury anything nearby (toys, blanket edges, etc.) into the dish, making a big mess. And this is not like a few paw swipes at it and she moves on – she will go on for a while at different angles and bury, bury, bury. Even when we try to stop her (redirect her attention or shake the spray bottle), she continues or stops only momentarily and goes back to it like she is in some kind of OCD brain lock.

Why would a cat do this? The other cats have learned this behavior from her now and will take a few swipes to bury their dishes too, though with much less fervor.

She is a 10 year old calico who was found as a kitten with her litter on a farm with no momma cat and we adopted both her and her sister. They are both very sweet and this one is especially cuddly.

Could it be some kind of protection thing from an unsafe kittenhood? (Nicole Hatton)

Nicole, Such an interesting question! This is one of those cat behaviors that we don’t have a solid agreed-upon reason for. There are a few different theories about why cats do this – some think the cat is saving their food for later, others think they are hiding a scent that might attract predators or other animals. Whatever it is, this is probably a behavior that helped cats survive throughout their evolutionary history, even if it doesn’t serve much of a function now (and as you have described, can be messy and annoying!).

Anytime I have a cat who is “obsessed” with something, I think about how we can give that cat other things to do – and of course my favorite things would be to add more interactive play – particularly before her meals, to see if that helps her settle afterward. You could try feeding several smaller meals per day so there are no leftovers for her to bury. I’d also recommend trying food puzzles with her! There are many options available that can work with both wet and dry food. See foodpuzzlesforcats.com for ways to get started!

Cat attacks tip of his tail

My cat keeps attacking the tip of his tail (Elaine Hughes)

Elaine, Tail-attacking can have a few different presentations. In some cases, it’s just a very young playful cat who needs more interactive play and enrichment to keep him busy. But with some cats, it can be quite serious. The cat might seem obsessed with or upset by his tail – you might even hear some growling. Some cats will even start to injure their tail. This tail obsession can be caused by pain or a condition called feline hyperesthesia syndrome (FHS) – a condition that unfortunately is not well understood. We think it’s a neurological condition, but often it is a diagnosis of exclusion – meaning other things are ruled out, and what we are left with is FHS. I would start with a vet visit to see if any other causes can be ruled out. The treatment for FHS often includes medication, but other stress-reducing interventions, such as increased exercise and enrichment, and providing your cat with as much routine as possible, can help.

Cat stopped using the litter box

One of my furbabies has suddenly stopped using the litter box and I don’t know why (Tracy Bayne)

Tracy, There are several reasons that cats can stop using the litter box, so I’d need a lot more information to offer you a useful modification plan. The first step would be making sure your cat gets a clean bill of health from your veterinarian, especially if they are older and more prone to illnesses such as diabetes or kidney disease which can impact litter box behavior.

The second thing I would recommend is taking a long, hard look at the litter box and make sure it suits your cat’s needs, not just yours. Do you have enough boxes for the number of cats you have? Are they large and open and not all clustered in one location in your house? Is there a box on every floor of your home and are they easy for your cat to access? Do you use a soft, clumping, unscented litter? Do you clean them regularly?

The third step is making sure your cat is living a relatively stress-free, enriched life. Play, routine and other forms of environmental stimulation are important to cats. If there is tension in any cat relationships (or with anyone else in the home) – you’ll want to resolve that – possibly with an experienced and qualified cat behavior consultant.

Cat with PICA

I had a cat with PICA. Of course back then we didn’t know anything about it. But she liked fibers and buttons. She would pull blankets and rugs apart to eat. One time I took some clothes to a consignment store and was called to pick up the damaged things. It turns out as she hid in her favorite sleeping spot in the closet, she was chewing on the bottoms of my clothes. She pulled strings out, ate beading and buttons. Luckily she never had any blockages. (Janine)

Janine, Thank you for sharing your experience. It points out the importance of knowing your cat’s favorite spots and habits! Many people don’t realize that their cat chews on non-food items until they become sick and have an x-ray! I’m so glad your cat never had a blockage!

Hyperthyroid cat won’t eat

My cat is hyperthyroidism and recently high blood pressure when I try all the pres, freeze dried whipped, mouse high end foods she won’t eat them. She loves her fancy feast. Teega is 6lbs a tiny 14 yr old feral runt.. can anybody talk to her. Thanks LISA

Hi Lisa, I don’t “talk to cats” in the sense I am not an animal communicator. I believe in taking a behaviorally-based approach to behavior issues. That said, I’m not sure that Teega has a behavior issue. It sounds like you need to work with your veterinarian to make sure her treatment is working for her. Perhaps an appetite stimulant would help; what many people think is just “snubbing�� food can be signs of nausea or digestive upset that can be managed with medications. When cats are older and have medical issues, I also think you should feed them…pretty much whatever brand of cat food they like, as long as your vet says it is okay!

Demanding, destructive, aggressive cat

My cat is bad with me, my husband and our home. He demands affection (he rubs against us, a lot), but when we pet him he bites eventually. We tried to teach him to stay away from places (like the table) using water on a spray bottle, but he broke the bottle, two of them! We tried to use the tape method to keep him away from stuff, but then again, played with the tape and ignored it. If we try to keep him away from places like the bed or a window, he quickly goes back to THAT place and looks at us, like challenging us.

He bites randomly, scratches drawing blood, I’ve had bruises from his bites. He also tries to destroy everything, he makes glasses fall, scratches the sofa and curtains (they are ruined now), the bed, my plushies, but he also has some toys: a scratching post, catnip figure, balls, a thing with balls that move; his cat litter is the best quality I could find where I live, gets cleaned every day, the house also is very clean, he has two beds, a fountain with running water, and the best quality food I can afford. But for the sake of me, I can’t get him to be calm. He suddenly runs around the entire apartment, with his eyes dilated, his claws at its maximum, I just want him to be at peace with us, and play with us, and not bite all the time. He’s around 10 months old, he’s adopted and we have around 3 months with him. Will this stop? Should I do something different?

We also started to get him into his cage to eat or do stuff that provoke him. Please, help! (Elia)

Hi Elia, It sounds like you have a teenager! Just like the human kind, teenage cats are notorious for their button-pushing, high energy, attention seeking behaviors. I see this often in my consulting practice! Sometimes the best solution is a kitty companion of a similar temperament, but that isn’t possible for everyone. But in most cases, rather than being “twice the work” – it ends up being much less work than dealing with a singleton who is bored!

What your kitty likely needs is more exercise and mental simulation. I would start with two or three intense play session a day, where you use different interactive toys to get him stalking, running, chasing and pouncing! Try toys like a feather wand, cat dancer, or any other toy with a string or wire that YOU move like prey to get him engaged. After play, try a meal or snack to help him calm down. He might also benefit from food puzzles to get him working for his food! Also, it’s important not to use your hands as toys, because that sends mixed messages to your cat – sometimes hands are for gentle things, and sometimes they are for biting and scratching. So no rough housing please!

You didn’t mention any vertical space in your home, but you need multiple cat condos or shelves, and they should be placed in areas where they serve a purpose, such as giving him a view of a bird feeder or the outside world. Regarding the petting, with young cats, they can go from relaxed to wound up in a flash, and even when they are soliciting attention, they may suddenly reach a threshold for petting tolerance and bite. The best way to prevent this type of biting is to again, tire him out with as much exercise as you can provide, and then be careful to limit the petting. Always stop before he gets irritated, so he is left wanting more, not less attention. If you watch carefully, you may notice some subtle signals that he is getting overstimulated – such as ear movements or muscle tightening. Those are your cues that it’s time to stop petting – NOW!

When he broke your spray bottle, he was sending you a message: this type of punishment is useless! I spend a lot of time convincing my clients that the spray bottle isn’t going to get them what they want. Some cats don’t mind the water, but what often happens is that it just breaks the bond between you and your cat and potentially makes your cat even more wary of you.

Instead, I like to focus on clicker training and positive reinforcement to tell him what behaviors you DO LIKE, instead of focusing on “NO!” and “get down from there.” A “NO!” isn’t helpful, because it doesn’t tell your cat what to do instead…but if you clicker train him to sit, or go to a mat, or roll over, you are telling him what you like, and what will get him the rewards he wants, such as attention.

For counter surfing, you can use a better type of “remote punishment” – meaning the punishment is not associated with you. Double sided carpet tape can be sturdier than commercial products designed to deter cats. The motion-sensitive air cans are also effective for keeping cats off counters.

High energy kitten causes trouble

KITTEN TROUBLE!!!! I found a stray kitten on our doorstep about four months ago and he won’t stop being just downright naughty. He flings dirt out of pots so we spray this cat deterrent thing and he doesn’t care much. He attacks our other three cats (I know we shouldn’t have that many but we do have a large house) so we play with him and play with him but it’s never enough and it’s causing a lot of stress so we had to go to squirt bottle. He knocks everything over and he’s obsessed with going into any open door such as cabinets and the front door. He wakes up my father who works hard nights with his meowing and stampeding across the halls like a bat outta hell. He’s not afraid of anything but car rides and he’s causing lots of stress. So what should we do? I understand he has a lot of energy but I don’t want to throw him back out on the street. Please help. I bet it isn’t the easiest life for him either. (Leah Bonetti)

Leah, Thank you for taking in a homeless kitten!! (see my response above to Elia about having a teenager!). He does sound a little bored (which may have more to do with his personality than what you’re providing – some cats just NEED way more play and stimulation than others).

Just like with Elia’s kitty, I would recommend focusing on positive reinforcement, and remote punishment for the naughty behaviors. For the dirt-digging, cover the dirt with large rocks to take away that temptation. Childproof your cabinets to prevent him from opening them.

As far as his relations with your other cats, he might need an age-appropriate playmate, playtime with you, or some solo time to prevent him from driving your other cats nuts. Try to bring him together with the other cats when he’s had playtime, followed by a hefty meal, to help him settle down and be more calm.

The kitten might also benefit from food puzzles and automatic toys. He needs plenty to keep him busy. I’m not usually a huge fan of the automatic toys, and they certainly can’t replace interactive play with you, but they can supplement it. The Hexbug Nano is my favorite, but there are plenty of options out there these days.

Finally, consider how you can add some vertical space and other enrichment, such as a bird feeder that attaches to a window, to entice him to look out the window and get some mental stimulation while learning to sit back and relax a little!

Also, I don’t think four cats is too many ! It all depends on what you can provide for them, and how well they get along!

Cat wakes guardians up at night

Every night around 1 am and again at 5 am our cat comes into the bedroom and knocks things down and scratches at the furniture, keeping us awake. She’s done this once in a while ever since we adopted her, but it’s been about a month now that she’s been doing it every single night. We spray her with water which makes her run away but she comes right back a minute later. We have an automatic feeder that now has been set to feed her at 1 and 5 am, but she eats and then comes right back to doing it. (It didn’t start out feeding her at those times so I know it’s not positive reinforcement causing the problem.) We also play with her at least 30 minutes every evening (we play until she’s tired) with a fishing pole toy. We can’t shut her out of the bedroom because it’s where we keep her litterbox, and if we put the litterbox somewhere else and close the door she’ll scratch at the door all night which our downstairs neighbors can hear and they already hate us. I’m honestly out of ideas and am desperate for a solution. I’m so tired of losing sleep. Please help! (Caroline)

Caroline, Your complaint is a common one, in fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve answered it in a previous column! I’ve already commented this time around on how I feel about the water bottle. I’m not a fan.

Cats wake their humans up during the night because they get something out of it!! Solving this problem usually requires a two-pronged approach: changing the cats routine so they are up more during the day and sleeping more at night, and then changing YOUR behavior so your cat does not get attention for her middle of the night antics.

To get your cat on your schedule requires more mental stimulation and activity during the day. The fishing pole toy in the evening is good – but you have to consider the rest of the day when she is probably asleep (no doubt exhausted from her nighttime antics!). Try food puzzles to get her working for ALL of her food. Vertical space near a window will allow her to people- or bird-watch during the day. If you’re not feeding your kitty on a schedule, I recommend switching to scheduled feeding, or at least withdrawing some of her food in the later part of the day, so you can put down a final meal at your bed time. I know you mentioned that even with the automatic feeder she is still waking you up, but the goal is to get her to settle at night. Another great way to get cats to settle is a heated cat bed that you only turn on at night.

Now comes the tough part. We know that more than food is motivating this. That means the attention you give her – even if to you it seems “negative” – is reinforcing the behavior. You have to completely ignore her nighttime behavior. COMPLETELY. If you break down after 2 hours or 2 days, you will have taught her that if she tries long and hard enough she will break you down (and yes, she will probably try even harder to get you up before she gives up).

I’m not opposed to giving her a room of her own at night for a few weeks to break the habit. If that is what it takes to stop you from waking up and responding to her nighttime activity, then that is a much better short-term solution that can lead to long-term behavior change. A piece of cardboard with double-sided carpet tape attached to the door as well as on the floor by the door is one way to stop cats from scratching on the door.

Sleep is really important to me so I completely empathize with your situation. Unfortunately, this is one behavior problem that requires as much human behavior change as kitty behavior change! The good news, is that if you stick with the program, she will stop keeping you awake!

The post Ask the Cat Behaviorist: Mikel Delgado Answers Questions About Cats Who Wake Up their Guardians, Aggressive Cats, Cats Who Bury Their Food, and More appeared first on The Conscious Cat.