Dear Sparkle: What Is Wrong With This Tortie Kitten?

Dear Sparkle,

I am an orange tabby who loves my big brother and tortie sister, but they are a lot older than me and I’ve been friendly with the neighbor’s cat. So my human thought I would enjoy someone younger to play with and she brought home a tortie kitten (seems to be a theme here, doesn’t it?). But I think there is something wrong with her! She sits in most of my favorite spots and hogs the toys. I find myself growling at her, even though I’ve never growled before in my life! Since you have Binga, I thought you might know what to do about this troublesome tortie.

Signed,

Rucker

Dear Rucker,

I hate to say it, but the only thing wrong with this tortie kitten is that she is a tortie — and that’s something you just can’t fix! In fact, I think you are lucky — if this had been Binga, she would have hogged your favorite spots and toys, and then growled at you! Smacking her is useless because chances are she will just smack you right back. Torties are feisty kitties who give as good as they get… or better! I bet your older tortie family member was quite a pistol in her day. There are some torties who buck the bossiness trend, but they are not very common.

You want to know the secret to dealing with a misbehaving tortie? You have to change your own reaction to her! That is really about all you can do. Torties are happy just the way they are, so they have no reason to change. Let me give you some tips on adjusting your own attitude: instead of growing at her, maybe you should pretend something else is more interesting than what she is hogging. It is bound to spark her curiosity and she will want to have whatever it is too. Then you can take back what was rightfully yours. Or here is another one: instead of letting her make you angry, get on her nerves on purpose! Torties are really fun to annoy because it is very easy to do. I do that all the time with Binga, purely for amusement. Just remember, torties always act before they think, so if you do the opposite, you should be able to have the upper paw. The moment you react to their bad behavior, you’ve lost. Good luck, and who knows? When you look at her from a different perspective, you might find you like her after all.
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