Cool Development with a Cat

[W Shaw]

A little background... Finn, my Norwegian Forest Cat has been the center of my life for 15 years. Hasn't had to share my attention with anyone. He lets no one near him but myself, and -- rarely and very cautiously-- my sister. So I was concerned about how he'd react when I brought my little rescue tortoise home 2 months ago. At first he was simply uninterested. Appeared to think he was a rock. Then he got briefly creeped out when he walked by and realized the rock was walking. Eventually he realized that Ronan's actually a live person, and since then he's been a bit jealous if I happen to be dealing with Ronan's needs when he wants my attention. Otherwise he still seems totally uninterested.

Yesterday my sister dropped by near Ronan's snack time, so I offered to let her feed him his snack. Very interesting reaction from Finn. He rushed right over and supervised VERY closely, with his fur standing a bit on end. Absolutely riveted from start to finish. Not sure what was up, but it looked like protective behavior, He was clearly uncomfortable with her touching Ronan. So... maybe he's starting to get attached to the little guy.

 

[wellington]

Be on the safe side and be sure he can't get near your tort unattended. Cats can hurt them just like a dog can.
That said, my dog is very jeolous of my torts getting my attention. However, she is jeolous of anyone or anything getting attention. She needs it all about her

 

[dmmj]

I'm no cat expert but isn't fur standing up a scared reaction?

 

[wellington]

I'm no cat expert but isn't fur standing up a scared reaction?

Can mean both.

 

[wellington]

Btw, would love to see a pic of your cat. Please

 

[W Shaw]

I'm no cat expert but isn't fur standing up a scared reaction?

Not necessarily. It's an indicator of arousal (in the biological, not sexual) sense. So it can be fear but also aggression or general exictement

 

[cecely]

Hey! I just posted a reply to your thread about your tortoise head bob behavior and mentioned how cats do that as a greeting. So, you probably already knew that since you have a cat as well!

My older cat also does not register my tortoise (Nanu) as a living thing. At one point, I thought maybe he just couldn't see him or he was going blind so during a particularly active soak, I put the tub right in front of him. He looked down at the weird rock walking around for a few seconds then just looked back at me like "...really?", yawned and sauntered away. He's a bit stuck up, that one.

On the other hand, my younger cat is extremely interested and I've caught him sitting in the enclosure once, substrate all up his butt. Thankfully, Nanu was buried in for the night but now the enclosure is in my room until I finish cat proofing it. I probably have to do that this week as my cat just learned how to open doors.

Anyways, back to your question (sorry, as you might know once you start talking about cats it's pretty hard to stop haha) I agree that your cat is showing attachment but in cat language I think attachment is more territorial and protective. He was probably irritated that your sister was putting her weird scent all over his cool new thing.