Cats and Juliet 05-19-09

Juliet and The Cat

I’ve mentioned several times that Juliet is very territorial. I often sit outside with her at night. The first time we had her out there, we noticed how much she dislikes cats and bats. When a bat flies overhead, she’ll look up and chatter at it. When a cat came by, she went ballistic. She was on a chain and couldn’t get to the cats but it was very clear that she would love nothing more than to charge that cat. Once she got it, I’m not sure how things would have gone.

I started saying the word cat every time I saw a cat after that. I’d say “Cat Juliet, cat” and I would also point at the cat. After a couple of weeks of that, there is no doubt she understands the word cat.

Now when I say cat, she will snap to alert mode and look around for the cat. One cat likes to walk by her cage, just out of reach. Well it did. That cat takes her a wider path now unless Juliet is not in the cage. So now I know she can recognize human language and knowns what it means.

She’s become less interested in the cats now. She’s established that she’s not afraid of them and they are afraid of her which seems to have been her purpose. She will still chatter at them and display aggression but she’s not nearly as enthusiastic as she use to be.

She also responds to her name. I had read to teach a monkey its name, say its name every time you feed it. So I did, that worked well. The prior owner use to call her Joy but she knows we call her Juliet.

Tagged with: Philippine Monkey

Filed under: Monkey Diaries

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!