Learned cats and other pets?

[Katie-Ellen]

This is Jessi-cat, tuxedo elasti-cat and I am increasingly convinced, feline genius extraordinaire. She came to us for holidays and the fostering is now permanent.

The books are a draw...unless...could it be the cat-nip in that small packet you can see if you look carefully, resting on the biography of the courageous/comical/obnoxious Madame de Stael; Mistress To An Age.

Those sprinkles on the floor...that's her drugs den.
Cat-nip, she likes to get off her bonce on that stuff.

 

[Carol Rose]

She's so pretty!!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

She's lovely. Very companionable. Vet says she needs to lose a kilo. She is a fatty-puss, catterbox. Utterly gluttonous, but interested in everything, very vocal, talks back. She adores visitors, and with Tarot clients, there are lots of visitors. She lived as an indoor cat and with one human there, and out at work or away, he did his best, but she got bored and lonely, licked all her tummy fur off. She still does it, I brandish the sudocrem and she stops and runs off to do it in secret, but maybe in time she'll stop.

The other puss in the photo, face on a cushion, was Willow (Will Bills) who died 2 years ago, aged 17. So we have been cat-less and got used to it, were a little nervous of getting another, but she's nice to have about.

 

[Carol Rose]

Awwwww.. poor sweetie! She doesn't look overweight. Our cat is also an excessive licker, but she was that way when Nicole got her from an agency that fosters rescues. I think they just develop nervous habits, the same way people do!

 

[Amber]

She's a very cute kitty and catnip cats are the best cats.

 

[Marc Joan]

View attachment 1758

This is Jessi-cat, tuxedo elasti-cat and I am increasingly convinced, feline genius extraordinaire. She came to us for holidays and the fostering is now permanent.

The books are a draw...unless...could it be the cat-nip in that small packet you can see if you look carefully, resting on the biography of the courageous/comical/obnoxious Madame de Stael; Mistress To An Age.


View attachment 1759

Ha -- your cat cushion -- we just had one made for our neighbour, for her birthday, with a photo of her cats -- she is mad about cats -- has 6 or 7, I lose count.

 

[Barbara]

Ooooh, as a bonkers cat lady, I'm just going to have to reply to this thread. I've got one too. He found me.

Katie, Jessie is gorgeous. Very regal.

RE: bold patches: Mine did the stress licking too. I kept being woken up in the night by lick lick lick noises. He ended up with a bold tummy and back legs. I thought it might be a food allergy so I gave him a novel protein diet. Kangaroo! He loved it. (I'm a mug when it comes to cats) I also gave him Zylkene which is a natural product based on milk, I think, and is supposed to calm them. Have you heard of it? I don't know which of the two treatments worked, but his long fluffy fur grew back, and his grooming habits are normal. I suspect it was the Zylkene. He's a stressy cat. Five months after I found him he went from being a black cat to being a white cat, then back to being a black cat.

 

[Barbara]

Ha -- your cat cushion -- we just had one made for our neighbour, for her birthday, with a photo of her cats -- she is mad about cats -- has 6 or 7, I lose count.

6, 7? All I can say, Marc, is that one can't have too many Les Chats.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Robertson Davies rightly observed, that: Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Not to preach to the converted but I was ignorant and had to learn cats. They are thought to be cold by some who don't know them, those strange, beautiful eyes, but they are warm. Even passionate by temperament. The big cats too, disposed to affection and even passion. It's just that they will eat you if they need to, and a pat from that paw, you won't get up again, but it's not personal. They didn't ask to be made obligate carnivores.

One day, a hamster had died, I wept, cleaning out her abode. Will Bills just sat nearby, quietly watching, just being there, and it's not anthropomorphizing to say they understand; now confirmed by neuro-science studies and we didn't need those to tell us, if we only observe. Chris Packham, scientific evidence re cats? Pfff. Good chap but all he showed was that he doesn't know the basics of cat behaviour and etiquette. The blink and the yawn as social code for 'relax, friend not foe.'
There he was at the zoo, the lioness doing the greeting slow-blink away at him as hard as she could, and he didn't once notice and return the blink. It's not that dogs love us more, though they might, just that dogs operate in terms of pack psychology.

One day I saw a so-called cat 'parliament', a rare and extraordinary sight, as I was reversing my car into the front drive. I counted 9 cats, all gathered, together yet apart, dotted about in the shrubbery like so many sphinxes, stationed with one another quietly in their sights, Will Bills staring out, not venturing out there, though she'd have chased away a single intruder, utterly outfaced at this mass invasion of her territory.

More plundering of Goodreads quotes:

“I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.”
― Jean Cocteau

“The cat does not offer services. The cat offers itself. Of course he wants care and shelter. You don't buy love for nothing.”
― William S. Burroughs, The Cat Inside

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Ooooh, as a bonkers cat lady, I'm just going to have to reply to this thread. I've got one too. He found me.

Katie, Jessie is gorgeous. Very regal.

RE: bold patches: Mine did the stress licking too. I kept being woken up in the night by lick lick lick noises. He ended up with a bold tummy and back legs. I thought it might be a food allergy so I gave him a novel protein diet. Kangaroo! He loved it. (I'm a mug when it comes to cats) I also gave him Zylkene which is a natural product based on milk, I think, and is supposed to calm them. Have you heard of it? I don't know which of the two treatments worked, but his long fluffy fur grew back, and his grooming habits are normal. I suspect it was the Zylkene. He's a stressy cat. Five months after I found him he went from being a black cat to being a white cat, then back to being a black cat.

That's really interesting, Barbara. Thank you. Vet suggested flea treatment...just as a precaution. She doesn't have fleas, and the treatment makes her feel off colour, I can tell, but she had been for a long time on a biscuit only diet, and now she's eating meat and the fur is coming back. Will look into this Zylkene.

 

[Barbara]

That's really interesting, Barbara. Thank you. Vet suggested flea treatment...just as a precaution. She doesn't have fleas, and the treatment makes her feel off colour, I can tell, but she had been for a long time on a biscuit only diet, and now she's eating meat and the fur is coming back. Will look into this Zylkene.

Interesting about the dry food thing. Apparently the biccie diet isn't great for cats at all. I looked into cat diets when my furry boy lost his fur. From what I gather, not only is dry food prone to harbour bacteria which will be transferred from the food bowls to the cat while they eat, but it is also far too removed from what the species would eat by nature. The lack of oils and water doesn't help their skin either. It's so hard to get them to drink. I'm a great believer in 'you are what you eat', so I invest in the best food I can find. Anything for the boy. Having said that, I draw the line at catching mice for him.

Mine goes funny after the flea thing too, just for a few days, even the spot on products. And it takes a team of two to put it on. He knows. He always knows. You could always treat the carpets and beds, not the cat, especially since she doesn't go out. I hope she settles down. It's so difficult to see them being like that.

 

[MaryA]

Such a beauty, @Katie-Ellen Hazeldine. I'd love to have a cat but my garden has so many wild birds (including an African ground woodpecker), a Cape mongoose, squirrels, genets, the odd rock hyrax or dassie, that a cat would throw the whole garden and neighborhood off-balance because young cats are skilled and ruthless predators. I do find cats very intuitive and remarkable companions.

For now I make do with dogs. I love dogs but they are very different in terms of presence and attunement.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Wildlife disaster if they're skilled hunters. Will Bills never caught one single living creature...thank goodness...apart from a slug, once, but the parent's cat, Moth. catches birds. Horrible! And mice and weasels, but currently is in hiding, won't go out, because he got pecked by pheasants.

We feed the birds, but they come at dawn.

Jessicat crouches, tense with longing, but is not allowed out till they have had their fill. And they seem to know it. I suspect the hen blackbird of winding her up, hopping about as if to say

 

[Carol Rose]

The cat is my spirit animal. Just sayin.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

No comment. Seriously, it could develop into a longgggggggg story, I kid you not. Haven't had a cat in 13 years, but had a dog (2 actually) during most of that time. Wish I had one now. But the wife is hoping to adapt a cat this weekend, so we'll see.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

We need to get to the bottom of this...

Why Do Cats Show You Their Butts? A Scientist Explains | Inverse

(Simon's Cat: Simon's Cat - Home )

 

[Katie-Ellen]

There are these...but, no. What when puss needs a poop?

Anyway, regardless, they don't smell, they have unbelievably strong antiseptics in their saliva, and 'even the smallest feline is a masterpiece'- Leonardo da Vinci.

 

[Barbara]

We need to get to the bottom of this...

Why Do Cats Show You Their Butts? A Scientist Explains | Inverse

(Simon's Cat: Simon's Cat - Home )

Brilliant

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Robertson Davies rightly observed, that: Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.

He obviously never met my cat. Quiet? I haven't slept a full night in 7 years, because the damned cat talks all night (except for the time he accidentally got locked into my office for the night--pure bliss! He was not amused). Loveable? Hmm...when he's not randomly attacking people, I suppose... Wise? The foolish animal has come in beaten up every day for the past month. I don't know who he's fighting, but he's obviously losing every time, but goes back for more.

And I would never claim to be quiet, loveable or wise, myself. Nope. I'm afraid I have to disagree with Robertson Davies on all counts.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

She loves all visitors...except for the window cleaner.

Mmmm.

In fairness, she hears the whack of the viper broom, and then the squirting of its fangs on the window before she sees the man.

 

[Carol Rose]

She loves all visitors...except for the window cleaner.

Mmmm.

In fairness, she hears the whack of the viper broom, and then the squirting of its fangs on the window before she sees the man.

View attachment 2366

What a beautiful kitty!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

God bless your kits in heaven for the joy given and received @Carol Rose.

Even the smallest feline is a masterpiece- Leonardo da Vinci

 

[AliG]

But why, when your cat sits on your keyboard, do you feel compelled to somehow work round him? Not use Z-B keys, perhaps? Mind control, methinks.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

This one doesn't do that particular thing. But I know it IS a thing they do Maybe it is because they seem so happy, and their folks are loth to disrupt that picture of happiness.

 

[Carol Rose]

Thank you, @Katie-Ellen Hazeldine

I think cats sit on keyboards because they love the warmth and slight vibration of a laptop. Both our cats loved to be close to the laptop when I was writing. They each learned not to walk on the keys, although when Kitty wasn't getting enough attention from me, or when Shadow didn't feel like going around the laptop, they'd both walk right over the keys anyway. LOL!

 

[AliG]

With a bit of encouragement and guidance, Carol Rose, they could have produced a great work: kitty litter-ature.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

The exclamation mark and the question mark resemble cats seen from the rear...one startled, with an erect tail, the other curious, as shown by its looped tail. I wonder what they're looking at....

 

[Patricia D]

I'm a dog person who also appreciates cats, but my dog doesn't so I don't own one. Bless our animal companions.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

We like dogs too. Oh yes. And hamsters. And...

They're an education too. All of them.

I ain't keeping no snakes though. No disrespect to snakes but my daughter works as a vet nurse.

They 'star gaze' when they are ill. Lie belly up. Loki the zoo python was found star gazing one morning, poor soul, and didn't make it. But if they are well and happy and big enough, they are liable to start measuring you.