Using all of the senses in your writing.

[Chase Gamwell]

Yeah... Toby is the eight-pound-er. Izzy is the fifteen-pound-er. My wife's friends all nicknamed him Puma.

That's one of the reasons why Bagheera is named Bagheera. He looks kind of like a puma. He's also a mighty 15 lbs or so...

 

[Nicole Wilson]

That's one of the reasons why Bagheera is named Bagheera. He looks kind of like a puma. He's also a mighty 15 lbs or so...

Oreo, too. He's about 14 I think. Doctors are pretty sure he's part maine coon because he has such large bones.

 

[Chase Gamwell]

Oreo, too. He's about 14 I think. Doctors are pretty sure he's part maine coon because he has such large bones.

Yeah...I'd bet. It's funny to watch Bagheera and Anastacia interact since she's only 10 lbs. He's just so HUGE.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

Yeah...I'd bet. It's funny to watch Bagheera and Anastacia interact since she's only 10 lbs. He's just so HUGE.

My little one (only about 8 pounds) beats up my big one. Big one is kind of a pushover and the little one just runs EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME. It's madness.

 

[Chase Gamwell]

My little one (only about 8 pounds) beats up my big one. Big one is kind of a pushover and the little one just runs EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME. It's madness.

Cats tend to be melodrama incarnate...

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Cats tend to be melodrama incarnate...

No, they are EVIL incarnate! Which is why ours is nicknamed the Malevolent Beast from Hell. I have not slept through the night in FIVE YEARS because of our *&^$#%^& cat! (and, truly, I love cats. This one, however, must be part hell-hound)

 

[Chase Gamwell]

No, they are EVIL incarnate! Which is why ours is nicknamed the Malevolent Beast from Hell. I have not slept through the night in FIVE YEARS because of our *&^$#%^& cat! (and, truly, I love cats. This one, however, must be part hell-hound)

My wife has always been a dog person and still hasn't gotten used to having kitties walking all over her at night...

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Mine is outside all night, but hurls himself (all 6kgs of him) against the front door (2 metres from my head) for hours on end, miaowing to be let in.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

If he weren't my daughter's cat, he would have been taken right back to the SPCA where he came from...

 

[Chase Gamwell]

Mine is outside all night, but hurls himself (all 6kgs of him) against the front door (2 metres from my head) for hours on end, miaowing to be let in.

You monster, you should let that kitty in right MEOW!!!

 

[Bernard Stacey]

Mine is outside all night, but hurls himself (all 6kgs of him) against the front door (2 metres from my head) for hours on end, miaowing to be let in.

Wait - you sleep by the front door...?!

 

[Robinne Weiss]

The house is very small. Two bedrooms are situated on either side of the front entrance, and my bed is situated such that, yes, my head ends up about 2m from the front door. The bedroom door doesn't latch well, and tends to bang with the wind and earthquakes, so we leave it open.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

You monster, you should let that kitty in right MEOW!!!

Yeah, that's what he thinks. But if you let him in, he will immediately howl to be let out again. I actually can't get him to go out at night without brute force, but as soon as I lie down and turn off the light, he howls to go out. It would be truly funny if it weren't so tragic...

 

[Paul Whybrow]

If you don't know it, I recommend Suzy Becker's 'Everything I Need to Know I Learned from my Cat'. My old cat Pushkin (named after the Russian poet) was with me for ten years, coming to America as my companion for three of them. He kept me honest, making me sort my priorities out, and I miss him every day.

http://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-Learned-From-Then/dp/0761147667

 

[Jennifer Stone]

I have a ginger tom named Ares, two royal pythons called Zeus and Hades, I like the mythology names, gone for Greek Gods at the moment. Once we move into a house in the next year, we'll be getting a dog. And maybe another cat. Hubby doesn't know about the cat yet

 

[Chase Gamwell]

and earthquakes

I love how nonchalantly that's dropped in there, but where the hell do you live?!

Yeah, that's what he thinks. But if you let him in, he will immediately howl to be let out again. I actually can't get him to go out at night without brute force, but as soon as I lie down and turn off the light, he howls to go out. It would be truly funny if it weren't so tragic...

There are these automatic doggy doors for cats. You put an RFID tag on their collars and when they get close to the door it opens. That might be an option to keep that little devil in check?

we'll be getting a dog

Getting a Schnauzer puppy for the wife this December. She's hella excited...my cats will be far less so...

 

[Kitty]

Mine is outside all night, but hurls himself (all 6kgs of him) against the front door (2 metres from my head) for hours on end, miaowing to be let in.

6 kg! That's flipping huge! My cat only weighs 3.2!

And as @Chase Gamwell says - why not get a cat flap! But you don't have to worry about collars - you can get cat flaps that you programme to your cat's microchip! We have one and the only tricky bit was catching the cat and forcing her through to register her chip - she's semi-feral so that was fun

 

[Marc Joan]

6 kg! That's flipping huge! My cat only weighs 3.2!

And as @Chase Gamwell says - why not get a cat flap! But you don't have to worry about collars - you can get cat flaps that you programme to your cat's microchip! We have one and the only tricky bit was catching the cat and forcing her through to register her chip - she's semi-feral so that was fun

I had no idea you could do this. We had a magnet operated flap, but stopped using it because the magnet was cumbersome (even on our 6.5 kg cat, yes 6.5, but alas most of that is stomach). Microchip-operated is a fantastic idea.

 

[Kitty]

6.5 kg! You'd need a specially big cat flap to let that one get through! What's with all you Litopians and your monster cats?

 

[Chase Gamwell]

monster cats

Doesn't matter what size they are...all cats are monsters!

 

[Chase Gamwell]

I look forward to seeing your work in the Houses. This sounds intriguing...

Super late response to this, but I'm looking forward to getting in there. My latest chapter is all weather and sound. Since it's an adventure, I thought I'd throw ye old fantasy-ish trudge through the wilderness (even though I'm writing a sci fi novel lol). But I'm really interested in seeing whether my use of sound is effective, gimmicky, or just plain plain.

 

[Kitty]

That I cannot deny!

 

[Chase Gamwell]

Rawr!

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I love how nonchalantly that's dropped in there, but where the hell do you live?!



There are these automatic doggy doors for cats. You put an RFID tag on their collars and when they get close to the door it opens. That might be an option to keep that little devil in check?



Getting a Schnauzer puppy for the wife this December. She's hella excited...my cats will be far less so...

I live in New Zealand, just south of Christchurch. We've had nearly 15,000 earthquakes here in the past 5 years, since a M7.1 on a previously unknown fault a few kms away. That's why I'm pretty nonchalant about that...nothing under a M5.4 phases me anymore. Of course, I can now not enter a room without immediately assessing the quake hazards and exits...and visiting my family on the east coast of the US completely freaks me out--NOTHING is quake-proof there!

And, theoretically a cat flap would be fine. Except that every door in the house can be standing wide open and he will still howl to be let in and out. He wants to be served. Honestly, the beast is evil. I've tried spraying him with water every time he hurls himself at the door, and all it has taught him is to leap at the door, then run. Stop laughing, dammit! It isn't funny...well, okay, it's hilarious except when it's 3am and I've been lying awake listening to him for the past 3 hours. No problem, really, 'cause the goats start calling for me at about 4.30 am (morning milking is at 5), so what the hell...may as well just stay up an write.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

6 kg! That's flipping huge! My cat only weighs 3.2!

And as @Chase Gamwell says - why not get a cat flap! But you don't have to worry about collars - you can get cat flaps that you programme to your cat's microchip! We have one and the only tricky bit was catching the cat and forcing her through to register her chip - she's semi-feral so that was fun

Yes, he's clearly part panther. He's not even terribly fat. Last time he was at the vet, her response when she pulled him out of the cat carrier was, "He just keeps coming!" Big boned. And with an attitude to match.

 

[Chase Gamwell]

I've tried spraying him with water every time he hurls himself at the door

Try compressed air...that works wonders on my cat...

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Try compressed air...that works wonders on my cat...

I was just imagining our 80 year-old air compressor roaring away in the bedroom in order to drive off the cat...Oh, but you mean the little cans No, the water works well, in that he hates it. The truth is, he doesn't really want to come in; he only wants to torment me. I'm sure he'd react exactly the same way to compressed air, and find some way to get me out of bed while avoiding it. I'm tellin' ya--devil's spawn.

 

[Chase Gamwell]

I was just imagining our 80 year-old air compressor roaring away in the bedroom in order to drive off the cat...Oh, but you mean the little cans No, the water works well, in that he hates it. The truth is, he doesn't really want to come in; he only wants to torment me. I'm sure he'd react exactly the same way to compressed air, and find some way to get me out of bed while avoiding it. I'm tellin' ya--devil's spawn.

You could always try putting a harness on the cat. I put one on Anastacia one time. She flopped on the floor and didn't move for hours. It was HILARIOUS because she was so pissed, but had no idea what to do about it...

 

[Nicole Wilson]

You could always try putting a harness on the cat. I put one on Anastacia one time. She flopped on the floor and didn't move for hours. It was HILARIOUS because she was so pissed, but had no idea what to do about it...

OMG I'm stealing this!

 

[Jason Byrne]

My little one (only about 8 pounds) beats up my big one. Big one is kind of a pushover and the little one just runs EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME. It's madness.

Izzy and Toby are exactly the same. Izzy will try to play with him and get worn out, and then get fed up with Toby's incessant bouncing and smack him.