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Cat-alogue


taxi4ballet

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I'm a cat person with 3 dogs...and 3 cats! I relented in the last few years and agreed to dogs as my husband has put up with cats since we met at 18. We've had many over the years but we will always remember our special ginger tom who passed away a couple of years ago. He was like your Blackie Thequays - followed the children over the road to infants school and knew when they were due home. He once brought a raw chicken home through the cat flap and we had only lived in our next house for a couple of weeks when he arrived home with a fish about 12" long and we later found out our neighbours had a pond full of large fish ...

 

But the strangest presents were from one of our current cats - over a period of a couple of weeks we would have toys appear on our front door mat. A sponge ball, a small rag doll, a cuddly stuffed fish and others. We couldn't work out where they were coming from until one day we spotted our cat carrying a toy over the garden fence from our neighbours Wendy house!!! We were so shocked we took the collection back round to them and said we'd found them in the garden - they would have thought us crazy if we'd explained how they got there! Then just as suddenly as he started bring them he stopped. Or perhaps the neighbours locked the Wendy house

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We too had a cat (Mitzi) who used to go for walks.  She regularly used to come to the post box if I asked her to come with me but sometimes she would just follow me without being asked.  She tried to muscle in on my dates by following my boyfriend and I into town!  She also knew when I came home from school and if the mood took her would be waiting somewhere along my route to walk back with me. 

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Just Ballet,  your post made me laugh! This happened to us, but we were the victims of the theft. My youngest daughter kept losing all her soft toys, and some we found at the bottom of the garden and even over the fence at the back. We thought she had been throwing things out of her window. Once we found her large velour unicorn halfway down the garden. We then blamed our own cat, but it seemed unlikely, as she was only a kitten at the time, and some of the toys were decidedly bigger than she was. Then we found my daughter's coat, the type that has a fluffy hood, stuffed halfway through the cat flap of our house - it was clearly too big for the culprit too drag out. The culprit - our neighbour's cat. We then installed a microchip cat flap that only opens for our cat - and the thefts suddenly all stopped!

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I wonder if your cat had a bit of oriental in her Porthesia. My cat Toscar who was half Siamese and half Burmese (supposed to be a Tonkinese but the breed hadn't been stabilised by then so when two Tonks were mated they often reverted back to type)

Anyway these orientals like walking with people and Toscar liked this too. When he was a kitten I tried taking him out on a lead which worked for a while but he didn't really like it but did like to just accompany you.

In fact I met my partner R while taking Toscar out for one of his early lead walks.....he had never seen a cat on a lead before so ran over to ask me what kind of cat he was......and could he try holding the lead etc and then one thing lead to another!

 

Another thing Toscar enjoyed was playing hide and seek. He soon picked the idea of this game up. I would rush down the corridor to say the bedroom and hide behind the door....then I'd call out and he would rush down as far as the kitchen have a look there and then make his way to bedroom very slowly if I suddenly revealed myself he would then tear off back down the corridor to the lounge and hide behind one of the chairs and if you took too long he would rush out or pounce on you. And so this would go on till one of us got bored with it. He would also retrieve little balls and bring them back to be thrown again. But definitely "walkies" was something he particularly enjoyed.

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My neighbour has just got back from her holiday, I told her about her cat catching the mole and she laughed, she said he is always catching all manner of unlikely creatures, and moles are a particular favourite of his.

 

I bet the groundsman at the football field up the road is wondering where his mole problem has gone!!!

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LinMM I'm afraid that I don't think there was any pedigree of any sort in Mitzi.  She was found by someone working at the same place as my dad and they didn't want her as they had a cat so she was our first cat, in those days unwanted cats only went one way.

 

One of our other cats used to retrieve balls and bits of paper and bring them back.  She had this little spongy toy rugby ball that we used to throw for her.   She was from a litter found on a local farm by our vet.  Her mother and a couple of her siblings unfortuanately had to be destroyed as they were to wild to be rehomed, but she and the other kitten we had had a few months previously hit it off.  Unfortunately, we did not have either of them for more than a couple of years.  The male Cei died first and she (Sian) went within 6 months.  She had loads of tests but the vets couldn't find anything - I think she died of a broken heart. 

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Well, if any cat-lovers want to see what their feline friends get up to when they're not around they should watch "The Secret Life of Cats" next week. Apparently, a sizeable minority of cats are serial killers!

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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

I've just discovered this topic and loved reading it. Papagena could be the twin of my Guendalina!

Looking forward to your blog post about marmalade cats since my oldest cat Filippo is one. He's definitely a serial killer type when he's outdoors while being the sweetest, friendliest, butter-wouldn't-melt-in-his-mouth cat when he's home.

Edited by afds
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I've just discovered this topic and loved reading it. Papagena could be the twin of my Guendalina!

Looking forward to your blog post about marmalade cats since my oldest cat Filippo is one. He's definitely a serial killer type when he's outdoors while being the sweetest, friendliest, butter-wouldn't-melt-in-his-mouth cat when he's home.

 

I'll be sure to post a link to my discussion of "marmalade" when it goes up on my blog. Papagena also has a split personality: lovey-dovey with all human beings and then turns into the hissing, spitting, ear-flattening, snarling Demon Cat from Hell as soon as she sees another cat. This is definitely an only-child family (though I really wanted another kitten).

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A brilliant book for cat lovers:

 

The Unadulterated Cat, by Terry Pratchett and Gray Jolliffe

 

It's a highly amusing and irreverent look at what cats are really like, with brilliant illustrations too. My copy is old and battered, and has kept me entertained for years! :D

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Speaking of books about cats - one of my favorites is:

 

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter (Oct 7, 2010)

 

A tiny kitten was left in the town library's book outside depository on a very cold winter night.  The librarians found him when they sorted through the books - he was barely alive.  They named him "Dewey" and he took up residence in the Library.

 

I really loved this book.

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Favourite cat books include one called Tabby Max which was a favourite of the girls and The Mousehole Cat. which is one person's take on the legend surrounding Mousehole, the pictures are beautiful. Even have a video of The Mousehole Cat.

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Been to the vets today for the annual innoculation.  Poppy is having to go for a scan and blood tests tomorrow as there is nobbly lump where one of her kidneys shouild be.  I know she is 15 but this has thrown me a bit, fingers crossed for tomorrow :(

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Hope its not bad news porthesia. As you say fingers crossed.

I don't actually have my own cat but in the winter when it is dark outside and we have not yet drawn our curtains we frequently have a ginger cat and a small black and white one sitting at the patio door watching the telly. 

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It's not good news, renal failure in both kidneys.  Surgery is not considered by the vets to be beneficial but there are dietary aids and other supplements that can be given.  She seems happy and enjoys life at the moment so I am going to give those a go

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Sorry to hear that, porthesia, I've been through the same thing with ageing pets a few times and know how it feels. As long as she seems happy, the diet/supplement plan is the way to go, along with all the love and attention which is really all we can give our precious friends at such times.

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When my cat Toscar(he is dead now) started developing kidney problems our local vet said on a January visit."don't expect him to be around at Easter, he's only got a few months left.

Well after reading an article in a Health Magazine about him we decided to take Toscar to a homeopathic vet called Tim Couzins. he changed his diet(mostly fresh chicken and fish!!) and gave him some pills (which were a nightmare to administer.....we had to hide them in bits of chicken...but would still find the odd one on the floor) and Toscar survived nearly another two years!! (About 20 months)

 

He was certainly no more expensive than our local vet and spent from between 20-25mins with him every time we went.

Even though it was nearly 20 miles away when Toscar did suddenly take a turn for the worse he offered to come over to the house to put him to sleep if we felt it necessary.....but luckily we did not have to make that decision in the end as he died here in our arms after suffering a stroke one afternoon.

We felt that as long as he was eating okay and not in any pain (that we could detect) and seemed happy enough.....he was always a big purrer then we would let him live out his life(a thoroughly spoilt one by then).

So Porthesia I am sorry to here it is not so good news but heres wishing you lots of lovely times still to come and you will cherish them more because you know about her situation.

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The vet told me when Effie was ill that kidney problems in elderly cats was very common.  She was put on a special low salt diet which she hated.  I had to sneak a tiny bit of tuna into the special diet food just so she would eat it.  The look she gave me was one of  utter disappointment that I would even attempt to fool her.

 

Effie also became quite deaf and we had to be very careful not to approach her from behind because she would get so startled.  I moved her comfy bed next to my feet under the computer table, so that she was near me but also it felt like a very protected "cave" to her.  She lasted about a year until, finally, the situation had to be faced.  She could barely stand. 

 

She knew.  I knew she knew and she knew I knew she knew.  The only way I got through it was to keep telling myself that I was in a position to give her the gift of peace - she was obviously in pain.  It's a gift we as humans with our complex laws and society, are unable to give one another. 

 

I told her that Margot, who had gone to her peace 15 yrs before, was waiting for her - and that the two of them should wait for me.

 

Effie left in 2005 and I've not had another cat friend.   I told myself - no more - I can't go through this again.  I had Margot for 19 yrs and Effie for 16 yrs. 

 

Enjoy your friend while she is with you and then give her the final gift of your caring.  Your reward is the knowledge that you gave her a good life. 

Edited by Anjuli_Bai
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I don't actually have my own cat but in the winter when it is dark outside and we have not yet drawn our curtains we frequently have a ginger cat and a small black and white one sitting at the patio door watching the telly. 

 

I have a photograph of two of my cats watching the show jumping on TV. These two were also fond of anything with David Attenborough in, and I used to switch "Life of Birds" on just for them! They would watch Top of the Pops as well...

 

Another one used to like snooker, and would look round the back of the telly to find the balls when they disappeared into the pockets.

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Well I've collected her from the vets and apart from being shaved in a few areas and being a bit indignant with me she's looking quite perky.  We have special Hills cat food for her, tablets and a pump spray. As long as everyone is happy with her and she appears happy then we will continue.  She is no longer on a diet.  Unfortunately the other cat, Tia has been putting on weight (I think she's had a few trips to Poppy's bowl!!) she is on different Hills Metabolic diet cat food.  They are going into catteries when we go to fetch dd from school, but I have been to see them today and they are not phased.  Lots of cats on these tables apparently. 

 

Thanks everyone for your kind words and thanks to taxiforballet for making me smile and putting the thread back where it belongs :)

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