Tell some stories about the cats in your life. v.2

[cathairetic]

This is version 2 of the thread: The introduction is below. Please continue posting.

I have always had cats.... well, at least since I was four. I wanted a dog but my mother knew that we couldn't have one in a one room apartment so, when she heard of a litter of kittens that needed homes, we went to pick one out. I wanted a girl cat that would have kittens. My mother, all-wise, picked out a cute grey and white tom kitten and named him Alice. I didn't know the difference for a long time. By then I was used to calling him Alice. My uncle referred to him as 'Al.'

Now that I am an older woman, I have had many, many cats over the years. Our back garden is a cat cemetery and they each have their own headstone with name, dates and a personal comment. They have been my best friends, better than people most of the time. Most of them lived to be at least fifteen years old, many older. Some died young from cancer.

Right now we have just three cats: Charlotte (after Brontë), a tortoiseshell female, Marlowe who is a tuxedo cat and named after the English poet Christopher Marlowe, and Esmé, my 15 year old tortie point Siamese. I thought the name Esmé sounded classy for a classy cat.

What stories can you tell about your cats?

[obbesivelunafan]

I just got a new cat called Dusty, since are other cat mysteriously dissapered. I have had her for about 9 months. She was a runt who got fat. Her name is Dusty because the first few days she ran and hid under a couch and would not come out. When she did she was covered in Dust. She is not a good hunter,the best live thing she ever caught was a butterfly. She sometimes finds old
stuffed animals brings it into the backyard, plays with them and pretends they're real. One time she tried jumping on to a fence, but she fell back and landed on her back. She also loves eating berries.
I was feeding my turtle (Ornate Box Turtle) some berries, and snails, then Dusty comes and starts eating at the berries. Since then the turtle runs (or tries) with his food.

[cathairetic]

Instead of the Tortoise and the Hare we have the Turtle and the Cat! You know, if you would feed Dusty at least once a day, the turtle wouldn't have to run with the berries.... just kidding of course. I think having Dusty around would be very entertaining. Can you post a picture of Dusty,please? And tell her that the snails have more protein than berries.

[Freaky]

We have a trampoline, upon which my cat, Gussy loves to lie. Apparently, a couple of mornings ago he was seen prancing madly around the mat and then leaped against the protective net and promptly ate something. When he realised he'd been watched he acted as though he was really put out, lay down and continued sunbathing!

I've also been told that he frequents an elderly lady's house...but she never feeds him..just gives him cuddles. She recently lost her husband and then her cat so loves to have the companionship that my cat gives her without the responsibility!

[KarateGirl]

Originally Posted by Freaky

I've also been told that he frequents an elderly lady's house...but she never feeds him..just gives him cuddles. She recently lost her husband and then her cat so loves to have the companionship that my cat gives her without the responsibility!

Awww, that's nice of you to let your cat visit there .
Amber (my cat) met me at the top of my drive today which was nice because I'd just had a really tough 3 hour exam. I guess she's smarter than she looks.

[cathairetic]

It is 90 degrees here today so no kitties are going out but I wouldn't let them out even if it were nice. They got out yesterday and I don't know when Marlowe came back in. I went to bed and told my husband to please get him in before he retired. At 4 am I heard this horrible cat fight outside so I asked my husband if Marlowe was in. He was. Phew!

Tomorrow I am sending my dear husband to the vet to be there by 7 am because there are no appointments on Saturday. All the cats need their immunizations and Charlotte needs a microchip implanted. I can't believe I've had her for a year and haven't had it done! What if she were lost? The cats are all way overdue for their shots but I can't carry them because of my back. I am confined to a recliner or chair and if I go out I am doped to the eyeballs for the pain. I am having back surgery on July 10 to fix it.

It has been so nice out until today. The temperature was always in the 60's or 70's. I knew it was too good to last. The normal summer temperatures arriving mean that the cats and I will remain indoors for the duration. Heat makes me terribly ill. I had to go out today with three grandchildren and the heat got me. As soon as we got home, the seven-year-old was on the phone to PaPa to "come home please, because Grammie is very sick." He did come home... to a family room full of Kentucky Fried Chicken containers, messy grandchildren and some innocent looking cats. I had to go upstairs as soon as I got home to get in a cold shower and then I went to bed. The kids decided to eat lunch anyway. Oh My!

My only comment on this situation is that the cats were far less messy than the grandchildren.

[Freaky]

Originally Posted by KarateGirl

Awww, that's nice of you to let your cat visit there .
Amber (my cat) met me at the top of my drive today which was nice because I'd just had a really tough 3 hour exam. I guess she's smarter than she looks.

I don't get a choice as to where my cat goes, he's a rule to himself!

It's nice when cats are social and greet you isn't it? My cat is normally waiting for me when I come back from taking my daughter to school. My son is always very pleased to see him...although I'm not sure how fond Gussy is of Zac (he's nearly 2 and his greatest pleasure is kicking Gussy!)

I just remembered something about a previous cat (who I sadly had to rehome because she didn't like Gussy and then a new baby, and became very unhappy). When I was very pregnant and stripping the wallpaper in what was to become the baby's room, Chloe (cat) used to come in and meow until I picked her up. She would then lie on my very pregnant tummy and purr. It made stripping the paper very difficult but it was too lovely to stop her!

[KarateGirl]

Originally Posted by Freaky

She would then lie on my very pregnant tummy and purr. It made stripping the paper very difficult but it was too lovely to stop her!

Lol!!! Didn't that make carrying the baby even heavier?

[Freaky]

Originally Posted by KarateGirl

Lol!!! Didn't that make carrying the baby even heavier?

Yes, but I was more concious of how difficult it was to strip paper with only one arm...it was very tiring! I had to support Chloe with my free arm so as to help with the weight distribution. Every so often I would change hands, and not being left handed, this was very difficult.

[ulk]

Originally Posted by Freaky

It's nice when cats are social and greet you isn't it?

Definitely! My cat almost always meets me on my way back from school, and trots along the last 200m to my house.

Also, when he was younger, my other cat, Thor, used to catch fallen leaves blowing in the wind, and proudly bring them home to us, because he was too slow to catch anything else.

[Freaky]

Originally Posted by ulk

Definitely! My cat almost always meets me on my way back from school, and trots along the last 200m to my house.

Also, when he was younger, my other cat, Thor, used to catch fallen leaves blowing in the wind, and proudly bring them home to us, because he was too slow to catch anything else.

Oh you should be so grateful for that - that it was leaves and not anything else. We've had mice, birds...and when I was about 7 or 8 months' pregnant with my first child - a frog! I was talking on the phone to my sister and saw this thing hopping about...I had absolutely no idea how to get it out of the house. In the end I shepherded it out of the house using a box that some baby equipment had come in

A lot of things seem to happen to me and my cats while I've been pregnant...I'm sure it's not just then but they do tend to stick in my brain!

[cathairetic]

What is it that attracts cats to pregnant humans? I have pictures of me greatly pregnant on the sofa with my giant tummy piled up with cats.

[LadyArwen]

Oh my cats are loving the heat! They love spending the day on our screen porch

[obbesivelunafan]

Originally Posted by cathairetic

Instead of the Tortoise and the Hare we have the Turtle and the Cat! You know, if you would feed Dusty at least once a day, the turtle wouldn't have to run with the berries.... just kidding of course. I think having Dusty around would be very entertaining. Can you post a picture of Dusty,please? And tell her that the snails have more protein than berries.

Yep, she is very entertaining, today she tried catching the turtle , but kept
missing even though the turtle was completely in it's shell. She also hissed at a pair of scissors, a fence, and a stuffed animal, she is very entertaining. I'll try to get a picture of her in a few days. She is a pretty weird looking cat, you don't find a lot of fat runts around. She has also stold some strawberries, shredded carrots (we have to hide it sometimes so the cat does not get it),
and very rarey have I seen her eat, worms.

[HPC]

Yesterday my cat was sitting in the yard while me and my mom were leaving to go to a place, and she was sitting up in a way that made her look like a prarie dog. The funny thing was she stayed in that possition like a prarie dog and didnt come back down quickly like a cat.

[Freaky]

Originally Posted by cathairetic

What is it that attracts cats to pregnant humans? I have pictures of me greatly pregnant on the sofa with my giant tummy piled up with cats.

I guess there's something in the hormones we emit! It's like when you're sad, cats tend to pick up on that too.

It was a real shame that my cat didn't like the external baby as much as she did when the baby was still internal.

[cathairetic]

My son was almost six years older than his three sisters. The three girls were born in a period of 28 months. When he was born and he came home from hospital I put him down on the sofa. My cat Tam jumped up to sniff him and settled right down with him. She was always with him after that.

My cats always loved the babies and I didn't mind if they slept in the cot. I thought they were just one more interesting thing for the little immobile humans to look at. I used to plaster the sides of the cots with pictures and changed them often. All four babies grew up to be geniuses who are animal lovers. Go figure.

The cats even used to go for rides in the pram. Later I had a twin stroller with a pillow in the middle. First it was two babies and a cat, then three babies.

New TV documentary from the BBC: Make your baby a genius. It has been found that letting the domestic cat into the crib stimulates the infant mind. Etc, etc.

[Freaky]

Originally Posted by cathairetic

My son was almost six years older than his three sisters. The three girls were born in a period of 28 months. When he was born and he came home from hospital I put him down on the sofa. My cat Tam jumped up to sniff him and settled right down with him. She was always with him after that.

My cats always loved the babies and I didn't mind if they slept in the cot. I thought they were just one more interesting thing for the little immobile humans to look at. I used to plaster the sides of the cots with pictures and changed them often. All four babies grew up to be geniuses who are animal lovers. Go figure.

The cats even used to go for rides in the pram. Later I had a twin stroller with a pillow in the middle. First it was two babies and a cat, then three babies.

New TV documentary from the BBC: Make your baby a genius. It has been found that letting the domestic cat into the crib stimulates the infant mind. Etc, etc.

Yes, I don't mind if my cat climbs into my babies' pushchairs, cots, etc., I think you'd have to have a very heavy and very stupid cat who would be able to suffocate a baby (maybe newborn I'll grant but my cat wouldn't have stuck around long enough!). I would be more concerned that Gussy would scratch my kids, because unfortunately if you get him in just the wrong place he will scratch...but yet again, he's proved fairly tolerant and will rather move out of Zac's reach than stick his claws into him.

I can't believe you had three children in the space of 28 months! I bet that was hard work.

[cathairetic]

Originally Posted by Freaky

I can't believe you had three children in the space of 28 months! I bet that was hard work.

Taking care of the babies or being pregnant? They only came one at a time so it wasn't as if I had triplets.

Today I bought nice collars for Marlowe and Charlotte. I had the devil of a time getting Marlowe's rabies tag on his but finally succeeded. His collar has narrow black edges and the center part is sparkly white. If light shined on him in darkness he would reflect big time. Charlotte's new collar is fuschia pink with two lines of light pink on either side of a narrow sparkley white band. She will reflect in darkness also. Both collars are break-away so I don't mind that the cats have them, I just don't want them to lose them. I took the bells off the collars because I thought it would drive the poor puttas mad with all the jingling as they walked.

It's too hot to go outside. We have had the a/c on since last Thursday and it will probably not go off until September. I hate summer heat. Plus we have a giant water bill because of the intensely planted front and back gardens. I keep turning down the thermostat to 70 and my husband moves it back up to 75. It's not so much the heat but the humidity that comes with it that is so terrible. The a/c wrings the moisture out of the air and makes life tolerable. Marlowe lies around on his back trying to get cool.

[KarateGirl]

^Awwww!!!! That's so cute! We have bells on our cats collars so they don't go for the birds.