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Cat-alogue


taxi4ballet

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Hi folks, since we have a dog section I thought I might start one for felines (and their humans) too!

 

I'm currently looking after my neighbour's cat while she is away. He's lovely, and is probably the largest cat I have ever seen outside a zoo. I'm sure there is some tiger in the mix somewhere.

 

Anyhow, I went to feed him this morning and found last night's kill on the doorstep. I know cats bring some funny things back on occasion but this time I'm flabbergasted.

 

He's caught a mole... :blink:

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Well here's a bit of a crossover tale.  Chunkydog and I were walking home from the field at the bottom of our road couple of months ago and I'd let her off the lead as the road is quiet.  She spotted a cat and inevitably chased then the cat turned on her and I had the hilarious site of naughty Chunkydog running at full tilt down the road being chased by the cat!

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Oh Janet, that reminded me of the time my cat was chased by a indignant blackbird.  Mind you that blackbird ruled the roost, so to speak, as it used to tell me off verbally for going in my own back garden!

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Well this is a cat thread but the blackbird story reminds me when I lived in London a blackbird built a nest in one of the flower boxes on the balcony. We placed a slow release camera on the nest and got some lovely piccies.....but the point is......when the babies started to fledge...they seemed very tiny still and managed to hop off the balcony(third floor) to garden below so I rushed down to try to rescue and put back in nest but got chased by a very angry blackbird who was really diving at me and didn't appreciate the "rescue" at all!!

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Taxi, I'm glad that you've started a thread on cats. I was thinking of doing so myself as we have a cat and two kittens (actually they've just turned one) and I was going to ask if anyone else has had the problem of their mother cat turning nasty towards her kittens once they were fully weaned ie at four months old. The mother seems to tolerate the kittens most of the time now but for about four or five months she would hiss, growl and lash out at them whenever they came near her. The problem was exacerbated by the male kitten "not respecting her personal space" and coming up really close to her a lot.

 

As far as kills are concerned, our old cat frequently brought pigeons, both alive and dead, in through the catflap. Cats vary tremendously in how much they bring in. If you have a cat and hear a piercing animal squeal the chances are that your cat has caught a frog. The sound is incredible.

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Aileen, I've had experience of mother cats withdrawing affection from their weaned kittens, sometimes really quite aggressively.  I think it's pretty normal.  But the weirdest scenario was one kitten who continued to suckle up to the age of 18 months - the mother cat had several litters and actively "called" her adult daughter to feed amongst the new kittens.  I tried to stop it, without success and the problem only resolved itself with the sad death of the mother under the wheels of a car.

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Taxi, I'm glad that you've started a thread on cats. I was thinking of doing so myself as we have a cat and two kittens (actually they've just turned one) and I was going to ask if anyone else has had the problem of their mother cat turning nasty towards her kittens once they were fully weaned ie at four months old. The mother seems to tolerate the kittens most of the time now but for about four or five months she would hiss, growl and lash out at them whenever they came near her. The problem was exacerbated by the male kitten "not respecting her personal space" and coming up really close to her a lot.

 

 

Nature's way of preventing inter-breeding, I suspect, especially as the male kitten would have become fertile by 5/6 months - perhaps his mum just didn't fancy him ! :wacko:

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I have two cats as well as two dogs. The youngest cat, a male, adores our female Labrador, and they sleep curled up together during the day. They will always greet one another lovingly if they have not seen each other for a little while :)

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Taxi, I'd heard about feline inter-breeding and made sure that the mother and the kittens were all neutered as soon as it could safely be done. We enjoyed the kitten experience very much (the mother had five kittens and we gave three away) but we didn't want any more kittens, not least because of the cost of vaccinating, worming and de-fleeing (as well as feeding) them. I couldn't believe it when I was presented with a bill for £350 to vaccinate five kittens.

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At one time we had two female cats who gave birth within days of one another.  Each had her own comfy box to cuddle with her litter.

 

Well, after a while mother #1 left her box to eat, have some water and generally stretch her legs.  Whilst she was doing this mother #2 went into the other box and one by one carried the kittens into her own box.  When mother #1 came back - all her kittens were gone!

 

She went into mother #2's box and took back a few kittens.  Then eventually when mother #2 left her box to eat, drink etc., mother #1 went and took all the kittens.

 

By the time this happened a few times no one knew which kittens belonged to which mother - and no one seemed to care!  All the kittens ended up with two mothers which is a lot more convenient for hungry growing babies. 

 

I had another cat (Prima Ballerina Assoluta Margot Fonteyn de Arias) who arrived at my house already preggie.  This was her first litter. One morning I heard her howling.  I ran outside and she was standing by the door - shaking and crying..  One kitten was still attached and I heard kittens mewing from every direction.   Margot was simply overwhelmed.  I found kittens under bushes, in the grass, in the dirt, in flower pots - SEVEN in all.   A lot for a new young mother.

 

First I picked her up - wiped her up and put her in the box I had prepared.  Then I cleaned up each kitten and put it, too, in the box. Each time I thought I had found them all - I heard another one mewing.  Finally, everyone was happy and they suckled and she cleaned each one (obviously I hadn't done a good enough job).  

 

I had Margot for 19 yrs.  She had a sense of humor.  Her favorite trick was to ring the doorbell, wait for me to come, and then run up a tree.  I could practically hear her laughing.  When she died I wrote her a letter and all these years later when I read that letter, I still get teary.

 

Effie was Margot's worthy successor and kept me company for 16 yrs. She was within a very few hours of being euthanized by the local animal pound when I found her.  It took me three trips to pry her loose from that place of  horror.  Her beautiful picture hangs above the computer as I write.

 

After Effie - no more cats.  I can't take losing any more of my friends.  It's just too hard.

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I've always been spared the cat "gifts" since my little Bella is the fussiest most spoilt Princess-Cat.

 

Ive tried to coax her outside on several occasions to which her normal response is to watch me almost pityingly before flicking her tail and continuing in her pampered indoor existence, which in fairness only cements her position as MY cat since I'm very much an indoor person.

 

Speaking of pampered, does anyone else's cat get into bed with them? Bella finds her spot and sleeps snuggled under the duvet like a human, or on warmer nights on the pillow.

 

Funny little things aren't they cats, I find them much more like humans than dogs are. Patience (our dog) has a much simpler personality with 2 speeds energetic or slow, whereas Bella is far more complex and has varying moods which can change at the drop of a hat.

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We used to have a ginger neutered tom who would spend hour upon hour laying next to mole hills much to our amusement, his patience paid off and although we never saw him catch one we often found them deposited on the back doorstep. He was an under duvet sleeper too! Hot body next to me but paws kneading my husbands back.

 

Our current cat's favoured prey is weasels/stouts, I was horrified by his first one but as we took him in as an adult stray he had obviously honed his hunting skills to survive the past few bad winters. Wood pigeons are another favourite so this years veg garden might be more productive! Funnily enough he ignores the small garden birds allowing them to feed just feet away. 

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Since I see there are a lot of cat lovers on balletcoforum, just thought I'd mention that fortuitously, my post on my "Wordlady" blog today (because I'm into words as well as ballet and cats) explains why striped cats are called tabbies. Check it out:

http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2013/05/why-are-striped-cats-called-tabbies.html

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I've just read the blog Katherine.  I wonder why we don't call dogs Tabbies too.  My previous dog was a brindle.  She was running over the sand dunes one day and I heard a little boy say to his dad "Oh there's a tiger Daddy"!

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Katherine, is that a picture of your own cat? S/he is quite similar to our male kitten.

Yes, that's my Papagena (who is currently sprawled over my lap with her head and front paw on my left hand, making it challenging to type...

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I've just read the blog Katherine.  I wonder why we don't call dogs Tabbies too.  My previous dog was a brindle.  She was running over the sand dunes one day and I heard a little boy say to his dad "Oh there's a tiger Daddy"!

 

interesting question. (now typing with only right hand...)   suspect it is because stripey cats are more common than stripey dogs? so we felt we should have a word for it.

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Both our kittens (one male and one female) are very affectionate, but their mother is not. After her kittens were weaned I think that she got really fed up with them and she went nearly crazy during the two week period when we had to keep her indoors, with the kittens, following her spaying. Her wound wouldn't heal because every time we took pity on her and took the plastic collar off or let her outside for a short time it always opened up again. For several months, when her antipathy towards the kittens was at its greatest, we would hardly see her as she spent most of the day, and night, outside although she would come into the house for a short period late in the evening if we went outside and called her. She's not completely antisocial but she doesn't sit on your lap or snuggle up to you. I think that she's just more independent and less of a homebird(!) than her children. It's amazing how different cats' personalities can be.

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Neither of my current cats are lap cats :( Tia comes for a cuddle but likes to wrap her paws around my arm and then out come the claws as she kneads.  My right arms usually has little scratches all up and down it.  Fortunately she gets bored after a few minutes and goes away -  it is rather painful! 

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My last cat Toscar was hopeless at catching birds. He usually aimed a bit high....trying to catch pigeons. He did all the right moves the crouching and the slinking along flat on tummy but when he went in for the kill the pigeons just flew up and landed just a little way off and carried on with their business as if to say "missed again" or "you'll have to do better than that" .

 

However there was a cat a few doors down who had no such problems. I was washing up one day when suddenly I saw this cat go flying through the air from one tree to another and landed with perfect timing right on top of a pigeon! When I told the owner about this feat a couple of days later he was not at all surprised and said "she" is always bringing in pigeons et al and wouldn't be surprised if he came home to find a dead fox on his doorstep(joke). However he reckoned....having had a few of both sexes....that female cats were almost always better hunters than males. Has anyone else noticed this...or the opposite!

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Yes the decline of old age gets to us all it seems cats included!!

Someone mentioned earlier in this thread about their cat liking to go under the duvet and Toscar did in his last couple of years and he would purr and purr non stop! I think it was some sort of security thing as he hadn't done this since he was a kitten.

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One of my friends took two of our kittens. Recently her teenage son phoned her at work to say that there was a dead fish in the hall and it was red. She assumed that it was a goldfish from the neighbour's pond.

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Donkeys years ago, before I was born, my dad was a keen fisherman, and started catching a lot of the same type of fish. He didn't know what they were, so he used to bring them home for the cat.

 

One day a friend of his came round, saw one of his catches and asked why on Earth weren't they eating the fish - turned out that for months they'd been giving the cat brown trout!

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When my cat,Blackie was born along with her brothers and sisters 12 years ago I thought she was dead. Out of the litter she was the last to be born,and lay still and lifeless.While their mother cleaned and fed all the others, the "dead" one lay all alone, as cold as anything. I was just thinking about having to dispose of her, when a friend of my son`s , who had come in to see the kittens, asked to see the dead one .I didn`t really think it was a nice thing, and didn`t want the boy to become upset, so I said no. However, he pleaded with me to have a quick look at the dead kitten. So I relented. By this time she had been lay alone for nearly an hour. Suddenly the boy said, i`ve just seen her stomach rise and fall; she`s breathing.! I thought of course, that he had imagined it, but he insisted I come and double check for myself. Lo and behold she was alive.!  The mother fed and looked after this kitten along with the others, but there wasn`t the same bond there, and she would hiss at her. Anyway I still have just this one cat,and she`s a real character. I`m sure she sees me as her mother. She follows me around the house everywhere. Sits outside the bathroom door and waits for me to come out. Follows me into the garden and watches me put/bring in clothes on/off the line,then comes back in with me. Likes to eat her meals at exactly the same time as me. Loves vanilla ice cream [but not the red sauce!],and will wait at the garden gate, watching me walk over to the ice cream van until I am back in the house with her [and my] treat. When she gets soaked I get her dry with "Blackie`s Special Towel", ,and she will jump up on to the top of the sofa and patiently wait while I get her towel and she lets me completely dry her. She sleeps in the double bed next to me every night, on the other pillow. Goes to bed at the same time as me. If she has fallen asleep on my knee, and it`s getting towards my bedtime [around midnight, not usually any later],I tell her it`s time to go out to do "wee wees",and out she goes,for ten minutes.Then we have this routine. While I am in the bathroom,brushing teeth, pyjamas on, etc, Blackie always goes into the kitchen for one last time in the night for a bit more food and milk or water. It` s as if she is waiting for me to get ready. If I take too long, she will come upstairs and hang around outside the bedroom,as if to say,"Hurry up Lisa, I want to go to bed". She never jumps on the bed until I am in first, and the duvet is suitably pulled up.Then it`s a ten minute cuddle and appropriate kneading.Then she sleeps on the pillow next to me. Unless she needs to go out, she will usually still be asleep next to me when I wake up in the morning. When I get up,she gets up.  Oh, I often have to keep her indoors if i need to nip to the local shop around the corner for something. She always tries to come with me, and I have to tell her to go home. If she IS out and I have to go to the "little shop" as I say to her, she will run behind me and hide in a garden so she thinks I can`t see that she`s following me. But I always tell her,"Don`t go near the cars", and "Go home". She`s better when I explain to her I have to do "Big Shopping in a taxi car". She seems to know I will be gone some hours, but sits at the windowsill outside waiting for me to get out of the taxi with all the bags of shopping. Never had a cat like her.There is such an understanding between us. She will be the last cat I will ever have,as I would like to travel again in a few years, when Sean, my son,will be doing whatever he will be doing.There would never be another cat to replace her in my affections anyway. And to think I thought she was dead.!

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A much-loved but sadly passed on cat of mine had a habit of trotting up the road to greet me on my way home. She used to do it every day, no matter what time I arrived, and I put it down to her recognising the sound of the car's engine. She never did it with any other car (thank goodness), only mine.

 

So... how come she did the exactly the same thing, and come out to greet me on the day I bought a new car and drove it home?

 

How on Earth did she know it was me?

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