The Cat Conversation

anneshirley

The Cat Conversation

anneshirley

I've noticed a number of threads where cats are the main topic of conservation, but I can't keep up with them all, looking for cat stories, so I decided to start a "cats only" thread.  Dogs are allowed only so far as they're involved with cats.  Same is true of husbands, children, plants (lots of cat stories involving plants), mice, and birds.  I'll start.

We have two cats Rachel and LoMein. I almost said, of course Rachel is a female but of course has nothing to do with it.  My very first cat, died many years ago, was named Rachel, because my first husband took a look and said "female."  He was wrong, but we kept the name as we had gotten used to it and we didn't think she'd mind.  My second husband is much better at these things, and the second Rachel is a female and LoMein is a male.  We're always forgetting how old they are, but I think rachel is 17 and LoMein is 16--exactly a year apart.  I'll save their stories for later in the thread.

Isabella4

I have a silly cat story.

I live on a farm, so we always have quite a few cats around.

Last year a teensy weensy kitten appeared, as if from nowhere....she must have come from somewhere....just no-one seemed to want to own up to being her mother, and had dumped her tiny and hungry, on my doorstep.

Long story short, I got landed being mum, and reared her on a tiny bottle for weeks 'til she was strong.

I love that kitty, she has remained stunted and odd shaped, has a big round head and a body 3 sizes too small for the head. I named her Doris.

Well guess what, I happened to tip Doris upside down last week while I was playing with her, and shes a HE..I shall never live it down...I am supposed to be the sage in the family when everyone has animal problems, and I can't tell a tom from a she !!!!

I haven't changed HIS name. Doris he will ALWAYS be..

Isabella.

anneshirley

Isabella--just like us. The first Rachel was so much a Rachel that I just couldn't change the name.  I should also say that LoMein was very strange looking when we first got him.  He had a very tiny tail and his back legs are quite a bit shorter than his front, and he can't jump very high.  But over the years, he developed a magnificent tail, and he's very beautiful.  Really looks like a female as his head is so small and delicate.  Your Doris may turn out to be  beautiful after all.  I plan to post pictures.  If you have any, can you post one of Doris?

junie

AnneShirley--not sure what kind of cat stories you're looking for but will tell you mine.   Grew up with outside cats around; my daughter grew up having her kitties--cats are wonderful (I'm more a dog lover, but enjoy cats!)

Several years ago, during my cancer tx, we had to have an elderly, very ill dog put to sleep.   We were petless for a long time--then decided that a cat would be less maintenance than a new dog.  So, we adopted "Homer"--the most beautiful animal in the world.  He was a Maine Coone Tuxedo (not sure if I got that quite right).   And, he was the most antisocial animal I've ever known.   Granted, we were hard on him!   We always had a lot of company in the house.  We traveled a lot between homes--we'd be 2 weeks here then 3 weeks there then back--he hated being in a cage in the car and howled the whole 4 hr drive each way.

We finally got settled in one house.   We still had lots of company.  We got a dog.   We still thought Homer was the most beautiful animal on the face of the earth.   We loved Homer!  Homer did not love us!   Homer began marking his territory!

Short story long--he peed all over everything in our guest bedroom.  I couldn't keep up with the laundry!  (We eventually had to buy a new matress and all new bed stuff for that room)...the final straw...

We had to put a big plastic shower curtain on top of our bed, and I woke up one morning to find him whizzing on the shower curtain, close to my head.  OK--much as I loved him, that was it!

Homer had issues that we were not able to deal with.   He was well fed; his litter was always clean; he had a private place to go away from the dog; we took him to the vet but could find no physical problem; he got treats.   The vet thought our hectic lifestyle might be a problem with him....

we found him a home with a homebound man in a wheelchair, who didn't have much company and never went anywhere--very calm and serene.   We're hoping that has worked out but have had no contact.

There will be another cat in our lives, just not sure when!!!

anneshirley

Junie--well I can understand.  It's pretty awful when they refuse to use their boxes, and it's usually because they're angry. And it's hard to know why. 

I'll tell you the story of how LoMein got his name.  I mentioned that my first cat, a male, was named Rachel. I was devastated when she died of cancer and told my second husband once how much I had loved her.  He kept urging me to get a cat but I didn't want to go through the pain of losing one again.  He thought it was silly--he was right, and found a cat, female, in Brooklyn near his studio.  He brought her home (just a kitten) but she looked so much like the first Rachel, so that's how she got her name.  Basically, he brought the cat home for me, but she wouldn't go near anyone but Miguel, and even with him she was skiddish.  I told some friends in work and they said I should get a Maine Coon cat as they're very friendly.  When I told Miguel (English is his second language) Maine Coon, it sounded like LoMein (Chinese noodles), and he used to tell Rachel all the time if she wasn't nice to me I'd get myself a LoMein cat and then she'd be out in the cold.

We purchased a house in the Catskills and one day on our way to Copperstown looking at antiques, we saw antiques advertised.  Apparently one side of the building sold antiques and the other side was the local ASPCA. We entered on the wrong side.  LoMein was in a cage with his six other siblings and when Miguel walked up to the cage LoMein jumped over all the others to lick dh's hand.  That was it!  And, of course, we named him LoMein. He is so sweet, except if you touch his belly--ticklish I guess, then he takes a swipe at you, but never with his claws out.  He climbs on both of us about twenty times a day or more looking for affection.  But we love them both.

2up

my ex husband and i had a female cat named "ted" who lived in the closet of our first apartment............ i remember running down multiple flights of steps to rescue her when she ventured out to our balcony and fell off the ledge ....... i was at least 100 months pregnant and as big as a house at the time ............ now that is a memory that i hadn't thought of in well over a decade!

the cat survived btw .......... the marriage is a different story lol! 

anneshirley

Glad about the cat; sorry about the marriage.

I love cat pictures.  I'll have to look around and see if I can come up with the one where the cat flushes the toilet about thirty times.

I know I'm a case and a half, but I find my cats fascinating no matter what they do.  Of course, I'm the person who complained about my friends always talking about their children. 

Harley44

anneshirley,

Too funny!  I am a real cat nut, too!  I think they are just the best!  I'll try to post a pic, here.  I already posted on another thread...pets helping us through treatment...

I have two cats, Spike & Thor. Spike is a black & white tuxedo, and he was almost feral.  But now, he is just great!  He's not as scared as he was at first.  At first, we couldn't have visitors, he would run under the bed...  I often said that after my bc dx, I wish I could hide under there with him!    He hardly ever goes under there anymore!  He has come so far!!

Thor is an all black, Norwegian Forest cat.  We got him from the same shelter where we got Spike, but he has no papers.  We are not snobs about pedigrees and the like, we love them just the same!  He really does look like an almost purebred Norwegian... though.  He is very curious about the outside, so dh & I think he just got out unnoticed and wandered away from his owners.  Lucky for us, though!

Thanks for starting this thread!  I must have hundreds of funny stories about our cats!!

Harley

sccruiser

I'm glad you started this thread AnneShirley,

We are animal lovers. We had 2 dogs and 5 cats and a cockatiel at one time. We are down to 2 dogs and 2 cats. The coyotes got 2 of our cats, unfortunately. And thought they were the smart ones.



So, we have Princess Leia (who had a brother we named Yoda at one time but changed his name to Buddha--story for another day) who is 14. She is the matriarch in the family. She runs the roost and is the smallest of my 4 pets. My other kitty is Sisu and she is gray and white. Her tail curl over her back like a husky dog curls over its tail. Very strange for a kitty I think. She rules the outside. She goes out early in the morning and takes her stroll around the top of our mountain, visiting all three neighboring houses. I get reports often from the neighbors that she has come by. I think she's hunting for small critters, but I don't tell the neighbors that!



Leia is a torty, and she sleeps all day on the radiant heated ceramic tile floor in the bathroom. She doesn't move except to go out to get a drink of water. She won't drink the water in the house even though it's fresh twice a day. She likes the metal container on the cottage wall outside. AND she won't do her business outside, she will sleep outside in the summer on the patio, but wants in several times a day to use the litterbox.



Cats are so individual, no two are alike.



grace

saluki

I think I want to keep my coffee and my cats separate!

From Working class cats

----------------------------------------------

Slave labor or Caligula can keep his coffee?

Asian Palm Civet or Toddy Cat

I like my cats and I like my coffee though I prefer to experience them as separate discreet elements.

Not so with those that enjoy a cup of Kopi Luwak coffee. Adele one of our friends at catsworking.com reports:

Asian Palm Civets are being stalked in various parts of Asia. Humans collect their turds after the civets eat red coffee berries, which they can’t digest properly. People think the berries are much yummier after they’ve been run through a civet. [article]

Bear in mind that while these berries are inside the civet, they’re mingling with its regular diet of fruit, insects, birds’ eggs, and the carcasses of small mammals and reptiles.

The coffee sells for $120-600 a pound because only about 1,000 pounds of civet-excreted beans are gathered each year. It’s sold mainly in the U.S. and Japan, but in Australia, a single cup can go for $46.

Adele also points out that this not the first time the bodily waste products have been harvested from these animals. In a more dubious instance, “People used to whip them and stress them out to collect their musky sweat as an ingredient for Chanel No. 5 perfume. Fortunately, Chanel gave that up in 1998.”

Caligula can keep his coffee. Not, just because it passes through the animal, but because of the unfair labor conditions that will certainly emerge to insure greater profits for this coffee. Given the Chanel incident, I find it implausible that the model of simply “following them around” with a pooper scooper will persist. Another model of “farming” the cats will inevitably replace stalk and salvage model. Diets will be geared towards improving the the coffee not the cats health. I also imagine that the civets will be feed much more coffee beans than they would prefer in order to increase the product.

sccruiser

Susie,

I think we better start now and begin an adopt a civet program. Those are cute little rascals. I too will keep to the regular type of coffee, not only because of the poopy program, but who can afford to spend that much on coffee. I think the $10 a pound I spend how is enough. And yet, I am beginning to spend more than that to buy fair trade coffee--wish that would increase in amount of coffee available so price will come down--isn't that just the American way of capitalism. (

Harley44

Susie,

EEWWW!!   But, the civets are so cute!!

Harley

ADK

Okay - I have to chime in here.  I have three cats, Tobiko, Miso and Hamachi (we like Japanese food - we used to have a Sushi and a Sashimi, too).  I am like every other person who is owned by at least one cat, they are the cutest thing on the planet (IMHO).  You probably have seen their pictures on other threads, but do you mind if I put them up here, also?  They told me that they belong here.

Above is Hamachi (she is also my avatar)

This is Tobiko

And this is Miso

ADK

How about one of the funniest pictures I have seen?

ADK

How about another?

anneshirley

I don't like coffee so am out of this, but ugh! 

Anne--your cats are beautiful.  God, but I love cats.  I wish I could have twenty, or thirty, or thousands.  And all their personalities are so different.  Ours are so different but both are sweet.  LoMein is a pain though as he's always trying to get on top of me, walking all over my computer, etc.  What I love about him is his persistence. It doesn't matter if you don't want to pick him up in a particular moment, it's what he wants. 

Some times in the morning as I'm on my way to the kitchen, he jumps from table to table trying to get my attention.  In the end, it always works.  I plan to post pictures of mine later today. 

snowyday

I'm an animal lover and shocked that they did that to Civets for perfume, now that I know that I don't know if I could ever buy Channel No 5 ever again. (not that I can afford it now) but man that's cruel.

I have two cats that I adore and feel guilty now because I feel rotten and don't give them the same play time as I used to. They get brushed and petted and talked to but play time has sort of been lost. Last week my poor little cats were sick one had the runs and really stinky and Emmie had the pukes (projectile no less) so I put them on water and a spoon full of food three times a day, three days later it's finally stopped, still don't know what started it, think a plant and got rid of it, odd becaused they have never eaten a plant before, I even went outside shoveled out some grass washed it off and gave it to them they ignored it. So have to find some cat grass.  I'd be lost without my cats. Pearl

Harley44

Pearl,

Yes, I agree!  Humans are so cruel, and just for some perfume! 

How are you feeling...?  I just read your other post, a few hours ago.  Hope you're feeling better.

Yes, I just LOVE cats, too!  I have posted a pic of my cats, but I'll have to post one here, too.

Hugs

Harley

ADK

Anneshirly,

Tobiko does that same trick in the morning with me, too.  He will jump up on the dining room table (contrary to the Hamachi photo, they are not allowed un on the dining room table ) or the sideboard in the hopes I will stay home with him rather than go to work.  I have started ignoring him which really ticks him off.

dhettish

Hi Everybody,

I love cats. I have 11 cats and 2 dogs. I was a volunteer for our local humane assoc. before bc and just can't resist the new kitties. Only 2 have come from there. Their names and ages are : Eb 17, Snickers, 16, Millie 15, Banjo 10,

Smudge 9, Spook 8, Mr. Baby 7, Willie 4, Petey 3, Salem 3, Possum 2.

Petey is my sweetest cat. I wanted to call him sweetie pie and my husband refused to name a male that and named him Petey. So now he is my Petey Pie.

With this many cats, we do have the occasional spraying. Suddenly one of our cats has begun to spray the toilet????? I come in the bathroom and there is urine sprayed all over the seat??? Not sure what is going on there.

Nothing like snuggling up with a cat or two or more after you have had your chemo and feel bad. Purring puts me right to sleep.

I love all the stories about names because that is hard trying to find names. My husband and I take turns naming them. Mr. Baby really never got named. We just called him baby when he was a baby. After about 4 years, I decided he was old enough to be called Mr. Baby.  

Debbie 

ADK

Hi Debbie,

Are you sure it's the cat and not DH?  Just kidding.

sccruiser

Anne, your cats are adorable. I love the tuxedo kitty. have had many of them in my life and every single one I have taken care of or that friends have, have the most distinct personality. No two are alike but I found the one trait they all have is they are people oriented. All my tuxedo kitties bonded to one of us and stayed bonded. And no matter how many cats we brought into the house, these tuxedo cats just went on with their day and totally ignored them.



Now I have a gray and white female who won't use the litter box (even though we use the crystals and it is kept clean as dh and I check it often daily) and if I don't let her out she finds a throw rug, towel or bathmat on the floor and pees on it. I have thrown away so many rugs. I watched her one day outside, and she sprays like a male when she pees. Her name is Sisu, a Finnish word that means stubborn or tenacity of spirit. She was found by a friend when she was 10 days old. It's a miracle that she survived so that's why I named her that. She sleeps in the crook of my arm every night. If I sleep in late, she stays with me. What I really love about her is her tail. It curls around like a husky dog. I've never seen a cat do that with his/her tail.



Debbie,

I love the Petey Pie name. My sil has a orange tabby she calls Petey. First time I've come across that name for another cat. Yes, sometimes it gets hard to come up with a new name.



My dh is bugging me to get another cat. Every time he goes to PetSmart he comes home to tell me which one he wants. Thankfully he's not like me--I just bring them home and once they are in the house that's all she wrote! I have to put up with a cranky dh for a day or two but it's worth it. I would love to have more cats. I don't get another one now because Sisu is so possessive.



I am feeding a feral cat under our house. He just showed up about 2 weeks ago. Comes for food every day, and I see him often as I always keep a big bowl of water outside for the animals. He looks just like a cat I rescued from the neighbors who ignored him, didn't even get him fixed or shots. Mmmm..I wonder if he is the son? I've named him Junior.

anneshirley

Grace--When we brought LoMein home he used to pee everywhere but in his box.  We were redoing all the floors at the time, and I just walked around after him with the box and if it looked like he was getting ready, I'd stick him in the box.  But I doubt I could have done that for very long.  He does on occasion go in the bathtub, whereas Rachel has been perfect for 17 years.  Never once has she not gone in her box. 

When LoMein was old enough and we had him fixed, he started to use the box regularly, but I spent a lot of time putting him in the box and helping him dig.  Even today 16 years later he never covers anything up.  In fact, Rachel some times goes in and does it for him.  He also tends to stand close to the edge.  He misses a lot.  Has she been neutered?  Maybe that will make a difference.  Or it is possible that she doesn't like the litter?  Maybe you should keep changing until she finds one she likes.  Or possibly the box is too small or in an uncomfortable place, for her.  Just some thoughts. 

I've been nagging my DH for another but he's afraid that another cat will get between the two we have.  They get along very well and rarely fight.  I don't think at their ages that a kitten would bother their relationship.  But my suggestion is we get a brother and sister from the same litter.  

I tried posting some pictures today but no luck so far! 

ADK

Grace,

Yep, the tuxedo is a people pet.  We replaced our windows today and of course, he wanted to help as much as possible.  It's funny, we had a friend doing some work in our kitchen.  He really didn't like cats.  by the time he finished up with our kitchen, he liked Tobiko so much.  He even asks for him when we see him.  Our friend worked on the kitchen for three days.  Tobiko kept him company and advised him .  The other two are really shy and hid under the bed all day.  We had a tuxedo before Tobiko called CP (couch potato).  There are a lot of similarities in their personalities.  Have you noticed what climbers they are?  CP used to jump to the top of the bathroom door and meow at us when we walked by.  CP also would climb up on top of the curtains - one morning I wasn't awake or dressed and walked into my living room with no curtains up  - he was in the process of picking up the curtain by the hooks & dropping it.  I woke up pretty fast.  

sccruiser

What cute stories about Tobiko and CP. I LOL!!



Reminds me of our first two kitties--both tuxedo--named Stanley and Oliver. Stanley was a skinny little thing, and Oliver was a big ham. Oliver's favorite thing to do was get up on the top of the shower door and watch you. I was always afraid he would lose his balance and fall in. Stanley didn't like the bulldog that lived two doors over in our apt building. he tormented that poor dog every day. Just stayed far enough out of his reach--the dog barked and cried all day long. It was sad.



When my daughter was 18 months old we still had Oliver. I came in the living room one morning, and she was watching Sesame Street, sitting on the cat like a stool. Poor Oliver, he put up with so much and never ever scratched or bit her.



Our next Tuxedo was the most gorgeous long haired male cat. He just appeared at our door and would not leave. I invited him in and for two days he slept in the hallway on a pile of newspapers. The third day he jumped up on the bed, and forever after slept with us. He was an amazing cat. Used to go outside and lay on the sidewalk at certain times of the day--in the morning when the kids were waiting for the bus, and on the weekends when the runners came around the corner all day long--just laid in the middle of the sidewalk waiting for anyone to pay attention to him.

He got so comfortable being in the front yard that we had to put him in the house when we went for a walk. The first time we didn't even notice him until we were a 1/2 mile from the house. He just walked along behind us, stopping to sniff at spots along the way. I think he was really my favorite kitty and my most favorite tuxedo.



Anneshirley, again thanks for starting this thread. It's nice to have a place to share our cat stories. And they are all so interesting and often make me chuckle!

Harley44

Don't you just LOVE tuxedos??  I love 'em!!

They have such GREAT personalities!

Harley

candie1971

Hi,

I love cats too. Right now I only have 1 but I have had up to 3 at a time.  When I was married to my 1st husband, he brought me home a dark grey cat from the Humane Society for our 1 month anniversary cause he knew how much I liked cats (and the marriage didn't last,go figure..lol). We used to play cards alot ,so we played a marathon to see who would name the cat. He won and named her Honey. Then a few months later we got Shisha. We let both cats outside as we lived in a wonderful neighborhood and just loved to be outside. We lived in a small apartment that had once been a garage and Honey loved to go out thru the front door and then hop up on the windowsill to come back in. Since Honey and Shisha we had Mushroom,Pumpkin,Puddy,Patches and now my precious Sweetie-Lizzie. I loved all the pics of cats I have seen so far on this thread. I'll be back to tell you my stories of my cats til the present. Cats are so comforting.

Hugs and prayers,

Candie

anneshirley

" mce_src="" alt="" border="" hspace="" vspace="" width="" height="" align="" />

anneshirley

The above cat belonged to the village of Montelone in Italy.  The town supported lots of cats without having any particular owner.  Isn't she cute?

Emelee26

The cats are soooooooo cute...

Here's 2 of mine trying out the baby stuff...