originally posted by Hannah
Internet Bumper Sticker:
Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will pee on you while you sleep.
::laughs:: Thankfully I've never had the misfortune of 'meddling' with Luce's affairs to that extent. She and I understand each other too well. (Side story: We actually got in a yelling match once. I believe I had dragged her in off the porch against her will and she batted at my ankle and I told her in no uncertain terms to knock it off. Then she yowled at me in that nasty-cat tone. And I told her to shut up, and she yowled at me again, and we back and forth for a good minute and a half before I finally yelled at her to shut up and she bit my ankle. Of course I stalked off in a tiff, only to have an immediate, crushing guilt fit and return to her with a fistful of treats. She graciously forgave me. Fickle beastie.)
Hannah
originally posted by Kimberly Israel
We just recently adopted two kittens from our local animal shelter. My husband and I both grew up with cats and had been cat-deprived for several years since they don't allow cats in the dorms for some reason 
They're the most adorable kittens in the entire world! (no bias here or anything…)
Feylind is a female brown tabby with beautiful markings. She has hairs that are several different colors and spots on her belly and looks like a wild cat. When we went to the animal shelter she was just staring at my husband, watching every move he made. She really likes people; when we first brought her home, if she wandered to another room she would start crying until someone came and found her. Now she's gotten to the point where if we call her when she cries, she can come find us.
Squall is a male brown/black tabby with longish fur. When we met him, he had been dumped in the parking lot of the shelter a couple days earlier - this happens far too often - people don't even bother bringing the animal in and making sure it's okay… He really didn't like being in the cage. As soon as we walked in, he started meowing very insistently and biting the bars of the cage. When we took him out, he still cried until we put him down and let him run around. He's a very active kitten and doesn't like to be held unless he's sleepy, but once he falls asleep, he's completely off - nothing will wake him. He also likes noses - if your face is close enough, he'll try to grab your nose to bring it closer and then proceed to chew on it - we're trying to teach him not to do this, but it's so cute!
They both really like being with their people - even if they're playing just with each other, they still want to play wherever we are - including when we're trying to sleep. And if they're tired, they come and sit on us no matter what we're doing. If they're awake and not playing with each other, they want to come "help" in whatever we're doing. They have very strange appetites, eating not just meat and milk, but tomato sauce, pecan pie filling, bananas, and salad dressing.
And of course, like all cats, they own us more than we own them
originally posted by Blue
Stormcloud has added some new wrinkles to his human control methods. He now likes to meow for my attention, [probably because my attention span is far superior to his!] especially when I'm at the computer. I'll drop everything to give him a scritch behind the ears. He allows me two seconds of scritch time and then he's off!
This habit of his gets really annoying if I am in the middle of an important project on the computer, such as scanning a bunch of stuff in so I can clear some "real place" space in this dinky apartment. I try to close my door, so he will stay out, but he sits at the closed door and howls pitifully, to the point where Chet opens my door to let him in to shut him up.
This has been going on for about six weeks now, and as ever, the enigma of feline neuroses has me scratching my head. I'm sure by the time I think I have reasoned this one out, Stormy will have come up with a NEW neurosis for me to ponder.
Does anyone know if pet psychiatrists are expensive?
originally posted by R’is’n
*laugh* Ain't cats great?
How old is Stormcloud? My cat is 10, and increasingly 'bossy' with me and my husband. She will actually herd us towards the bowl, couch, and bed in the evenings. Or seduce us with a cutely exposed underbelly, then flip up and run, yowling, towards the desired object (even if the bowl is full). She'll even scratch at the bathroom door and miaow when I'm on the loo!
Yet periods of dedicated tummy scratching result in twitching tail and eventually, a snap of jaws and a squeak of a miaow. Then five seconds later, demand! I have wondered if we're just not hitting the spot, that a companion cat's licking might do.
I also experience computer related demands for attention. A previous cat, had no qualms about sitting on the keyboard, or in front of the screen, or on any paper you happened to be focussed on. Muddy paws on piles of marking was his favourite!
I love it. She makes us laugh, and forget our own disgruntlements.
When she finally has a lap, she's happy. Especially when I give her a bit of energy therapy, or a neck rub. She loooves the neck rub. Once, she got so relaxed from the energy, she rolled off my lap. Her expression! Classic.
originally posted by George
energy therapy??? you mean reiki for cats? 
originally posted by George
Blue,
either your cat is on drugs or your apartment is haunted!
originally posted by Blue
More than likely drugs. Chet had a baggie of catnip out a few months ago that Camas and Stormy were very keen to get into. I kept telling him to put it into a tupperware or rubbermaid container because the smell was driving them up the wall… or at least, further up the wall than they already were. Well, Chet put the stuff on top of his five drawer filing cabinet, saying they'd never be able to reach it. I said, "Houdini leaps 9 feet without thinking about it. A six foot filing cabinet is an absolute obstacle!"
Sure enough, one night after I let the cats out to eat, I started hearing all sorts of bizarre behavior. I figured they had gotten the baggie of catnip, but I figured I would let Chet make the discovery.
Well, there was catnip strung the length of the hallway between my room and Chet's. When he got home, he hollered at the cats, but I told him to put a sock in it, because HE did not secure the nip properly. "But they know they're not supposed to be up there!" he yelped.
"Oh, yeah, we BOTH know that OBEDIENCE is the stock in trade for cats, especially these two nutcases!"
Chet ended up doing more than one very thorough vacuuming, but occasionally I still see them rolling around and acting nipped up in the hall.
Sunday the Hutt was ruled out as a suspect for two major reasons: Firstly, she does not seem to like catnip. Secondly, she's too fat to jump up onto the filing cabinet [or anything else for that matter] to cause the trouble the boys do. For that reason, Chet calls her "Daddy's angel."
originally posted by Blue
This is from a list I belong to, that I thought would be fitting for this forum. # 3 thus far is true, at least until I can get my grubby little mitts on a copy of TK. I believe my score is 25, if I added up the points right.
Are you a cat addict?
1. Do you, or have you ever owned a cat(s)?
2. Have you felt like you are the pet?
3. Do you spend more time playing/cuddling with your cat(s) than reading a book or watching TV?
4. Does your cat(s) eat better than you?
5. Does your cat(s) furniture look nicer than the people furniture?
6. Does your cat have more toys than you do?
7. Do you spend more on the cat toys and food than you do on treats for yourself?
8. Are your cat(s) considered family members with complete voting rights?
9. Do you move over at night so the cat(s) have more room in bed?
10. Have you bought/considered buying a bigger bed so the cat(s) have more room?
11. Are nose prints on windows a permanent fixture?
12. Do you/have you ever gotten down on all fours and batted a cat toy to entice your cat(s) to play?
13. Do you mimic the meows and purrs of a cat?
14. Can you purr while inhaling and exhaling?
15. Do you refer to yourself/spouse/partner as Mommy/Meowmie or Daddy?
16. Do you refer to your cat(s) as "furbaby" or "furkid"?
17. Have you ever moved for the comfort of your cat(s)?
18. Have you chosen a spouse/partner based on your cat(s) recommendation?
19. Have you ever just watched a sleeping cat?
20. Have you ever gone to the store to buy a necessary item such as toilet paper, shampoo, etc., only to find yourself driving away with cat toys, having completely forgotten why you went in the first place?
21. Have you ever changed your sleeping habits or positions for the comfort of your cat(s)?
22. Have you ever found yourself sleeping in the exact same position as your cat(s)?
23. Have you ever rearranged the furniture so that your cat(s) have better access to windows?
24. Does your collection of cat-related books, magazines, or videos take up an entire bookshelf/case?
25. Is the cat theme a primary decorating technique?
26. Have you ever caught yourself bird-watching with your cat(s)?
27. Is cat hair a major food group?
28. Have you ever opened a can of cat food and thought "that smells kinda good"?
29. Do you like cats better than most people?
30. Do you feel guilty if you go out to eat and not bring back something for your cat(s)?
31. Do you spend more on your cat(s) than on yourself?
32. Have you turned the TV to an animal show so your cats can watch?
33. Do you spend more time on cat-related chat boards and pages than anywhere else?
34. Do you read snippets of cat magazines or books to your cat(s)?
35. Are cats the most fascinating creatures on earth?
Add up all your YES answers to get your cat-itis score!
8 or less: You have caught the bug, but are still relatively sane. Just give it time.
9-16: You have a mild case of cat-itis. Seek no medical treatment; there is no cure. Now is the time to begin playing with cat toys and seeking new toys around the house. Work on that meow, the tone is slightly off.
17-26: Your condition is severe. Cats have a firm hold on your life. This is the point where anything cat is more interesting than people. Your purr may still need work though.
27+: You are now an honorary cat, you may groom yourself when and where you please. You have the purr and meow down pat. It is not unusual to find yourself thinking as a cat.
(link removed)
Flippy in Melbourne, Australia.
originally posted by Jay_Jay
LOL! Speaking of cats, I often wake up these mornings to find a sleeping cat either curled up on my chest, or nestled between my legs.
I've been sleeping in my old single bed some nights, too, now that I'm alone, and it is AMAZING just how much room a 7 month old kitten can take up!
Blue, what's with your e-mail addy? I sent you an e-mail 2 days ago, and it looks like it's bounced. Here's the link I was trying to send…it mentions cats briefly, and is absolutely hysterical!
(link removed)
Okay, this SHOULD have gone under the "Horses" topic, not cats…
originally posted by Blue
Hi, JayJay. I just got your e mail this morning. Hotmail is hiccuping, I guess.
Anyway, for anyone interested, with the exception of those sending spam, of course:
(email removed)
originally posted by max
We just found out our big house cat, Bagheera, uses the toilet. We find this impressive because no one ever trained him!! My daughter reports "I heard tinkling in the bathroom and I knew it wasn't granma because she was still in bed. And when I walked into the bathroom Baggy was sitting on the toilet seat". Well I AM impressed. Bagheera was mostly an accidental addition to the house. [grinning at ya]
originally posted by PurplePenny
I have a favour to ask! Please would you all think positive thoughts for our cat Clara Bo on Monday. She is going in for a thyroidectomy and I'm scared. It is quite a routine operation but, in common with most hyperT cats, she has a slight heart murmur so there is a higher risk of complications.
The vets are very confidant because apart from the hyperT she is a very healthy little cat. That doesn't stop me dwelling on the negative aspects and I'm worried that I'll ill-wish Clara Bo (I'm trying really hard to be positive but the worries just keep popping back into my head). So, please, she needs all your positive thoughts to counteract my negative ones.
Clara Bo came to us from the Blue Cross last summer. She was a tiny, tatty, matted, deaf, bag of skin and bones. She had been found, near death, in a ditch. Nothing is known about her and they could only guess her age (she looks much younger now than when she came to live with us). They were finding it hard to get her hyperT controlled. We have several years experience of feline hyperT, I run an online support group, and Clara Bo was such a mess that the Blue Cross said that they couldn't even get people to look at her let alone think of adopting her. How could we refuse when they said "She needs you."?
Her thyroid is now well controlled, her weight has gone from 2kg to 3kg and she has regained some hearing. The vets don't believe us about her hearing, they say it is just that she hears some frequencies but not others, but that isn't the explanation because she now reacts to the same sounds that she ignored before. The first time she heard me call to her it actually made her jump
Thanks everyone,
Penny
originally posted by Blue
Consider it done!
originally posted by Blue
I have kind of a strange question to ask on behalf of a friend, and I am perpluxed and pezzled.
The person in question is the nurse I see on a regular basis to make sure everything is functioning since the spinal cord injury. She has two lovely [and fixed] female cats. One of them, whom Cindy refers to as her "needy" cat has come up with a curious new habit that is driving her up the wall - it has to do with hygiene, so I can understand, with Cindy being a nurse and all.
The cat licks her a lot. This is something the cat started recently, and Cindy can't figure it out. It grosses her out, and she does not want to punish the cat, just break her of this new habit, because there have been times when the cat has awakened her in the middle of the night.
About the only suggestion I had was that maybe the cat knows the human skin gives off salt, and that might be what she is after, but I don't know.
Does anyone? If it IS salt the cat is after, is it a symptom of a larger problem? If not, is the kitty just trying to see how Cindy tastes before dipping her in catnip and slow roasting her?
originally posted by max
blue, it sounds like she is into mutual grooming but I couldn't say for sure. just push her away every time she does is and say no. cats only pretend to not understand no, she'll get the idea after awhile. [smiling at ya]
originally posted by PurplePenny
Blue, thanks for the positive thoughts. We've just picked Clara Bo up from the hospital and she seems very well considering she is only one day post op. She is purring slightly in her sleep which probably means that she is still in some pain. The thyroid was abnormally large (that is, large even for a hyper active one) so it has been sent off to the lab., I hope that it isn't malignant (the majority are not).
Cindy's licking cat - Do you know whether anything happened just before the licking started? It is odd for it to have started suddenly. It sounds as though it could be attention seeking and it could be the result of something stressful happening. I think that Max is right - the way to break the behaviour is for Cindy to push the cat away whenever it happens. Since she is doing it at night it might be a good idea to shut her out of the bedroom.
originally posted by Jay_Jay
quote:Wednesday, December 11, 2002 - I had a strange thing happen on the weekend. I was visiting Mom and Dad, and Mom mentioned that she'd lost her wedding ring the previous day. They've been married 58 years, so the ring was very worn, and apparently it cracked, and slipped off without her noticing. The last place she recalled seeing it was the family room.
So, I went down to the family room to check her favorite T.V. chair. I lifted up the cushion, and saw something that amazed me, and brought tears to my eyes. Cat whiskers, embedded in the fabric of the underside of the chair. There were 3 of them. The cat that these whiskers belonged to departed this life sometime around 1985, at the age of 17. This was his favorite chair. I remember him deciding it was bed time…he would worm his way in behind me, brace his legs, and try to push me out of the chair!
After we got home from having a lovely lunch in a restaurant, I returned to the room, and gently removed the whiskers from the cushion, and put them in an envelope.
Why do I feel rather unsettled by all this?
Four months after I posted the above, my Dad was admitted to the hospital, then to a nursing home. He died just over a year later (May, 2004). In November of 2004, my husband passed away. Now, last week, it was my mother's turn. She passed away on Easter Monday, at the age of 92.
Three whiskers…three deaths.
Coincidence?
Anyone wish to comment?
originally posted by Trys
Sorry for your loss Jay-Jay.
May mother, who was something of a white witch, always said that things come in threes, whether it was good news or bad news.
Trys
originally posted by Jay_Jay
Well, in that case, Trys, I'm long overdue for some good things to happen!
I think my 14 year old German Shepherd is on her way out, too, but I now have another black cat, an 11 month old male I've named Shadow. He's skittish with strangers, but a great lap cat, and spends the whole night on the bed, cuddled up against me.
A couple of weeks ago, he spent most of the night sleeping on my foot. The next day, I could hardly walk…my knee was all wonky from trying to move my foot in my sleep, and not being able to!
I'm very glad to have him, though. Nothing quite as comforting to chase away loneliness as a warm, purring ball of fur curled in your lap!
originally posted by Blue
JayJay, are you all right?
I send my deepest sympathies to you for your losses. It has not been a good year in that arena for me either. I am about to track down the angel of death and give him a good stiff kick in the behind and tell him to leave my family and friends alone for a few years.
As for the three whiskers, I don't think it's a coincidence. I gave up believing in coincidence a LONG time ago. I hope it means that three good things happen to you soon. I also hope that Shadow shows no mercy in the "Cute li'l ol' kitty cat" department and provides you with the friendship and comfort you not only need, but deserve.