BS: New Pets?

Subject: BS: New Pets?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 01:49 PM

Who's new by you?


Our newest denizen is OtherCat (with two kits). We are not sure yet what her second name will be.

She came to us by the back-porch method, with a diseased/deformed singleton adolescent "kitten" in tow. We fed them. She seemed fairly civilized, so when the offspring stopped coming along with her and she turned up one day VERY preggers, we put her in line to be the next mouser. Caught, housed where no escape could occur, fed, petted, plans made.

I had expected another scant and poor quality litter, but 6 bouncing babes soon surprised us. They were fun.... We kept the 2 runts, who are now teenagers.

OtherCat is mostly white, tall and slim, extremely fine-boned with elegant lines; she has a few calico patches, a calico/tabby tail, and hazel eyes. Hardly any voice-- so she will become the upstairs mouser that does not mew us awake at night. One of the teens will team up with her. She is a lightning-quick and a lurker-- loves to curl up in closets, and loves to ambush son Scratch. He's a pale red-gold/white tabby who is easily startled and who uses claws to cling.

What has surprised me most about OtherCat is that she has balanced being the best momcat I've ever had.... with a delight in weaning them and enjoying a teenaged playfulness of her own I would never have suspected. She nursed these 2 boys a LONG time, but while she does love to play with them she also plays by herself all day long if they are not with her. Especially on the multi-colored rug which seems to regularly spark off a play session.

Scratch's brother-- the smaller Tip-- is a little darker, with more symmetrical white markings in the tabby pattern, and a white-tipped tail.

All three of these have VERY long tails. Tip and our older cat Isis will form the downstairs contingent. Tip is not real bright, more cuddly, and I hope will become Isis' friend.


I'd love to hear about newbies at your place!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: gnu
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 02:16 PM

Awwww! I want pics.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Leadbelly
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 02:20 PM

Nice little story, Susan!
Please keep us informed about any news.
Hope, that you are a younger woman, because older people shouldn't take the risk to enjoy young cats because expectation of life goes up to 20 years. And nobody wants to let them left behind apart from the fact that there are relatives.
In general, cats are a valuable addition to life. I cannot feel happy without them since 40 years now.

Sorry for my english. Needs a little bit more routine.

Manfred from Germany

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 02:42 PM

Same old cats here, but they are getting along MUCH better in the new house than they did in the old one... and this neighborhood is much more cat-heavy than our old one was. I've seen them hanging out with a smoke-grey one (I know, they are all gray in the dark, but this one is daytime too), an orange one, two calicoes one with a lot of white one with a lot of black, a siamese, and the two little doggies in the house behind us named Storm and Hurricane. The only cat name I know is the orange one, gypsy, I think it's a tom. They are all nice and friendly but the grey one who tends to vanish like smoke. I think that one may be imaginary, like Ernesto in Cul de Sac.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 02:44 PM

What a lovely story! I absolutely adore cats, and have had them all my long life from babyhood onwards. Our first cat was Binky, a black moggy, apparently when I was nine months old!. There's something so sad and poignant about a stray cat trying to raise her kittens and scavenge for food. It's so kind of you to take this lady in and give her a good home with you. Cats are always so loving and grateful for this help. We now have three Siamese, Smokey-Pokey and Minty (blue-point) and Murphy (seal-point) Next door neighbours have four lovely British cats who come round all the time to visit. Whenever I've bought new kittens I've always had two siblings together so they can play and not feel lonely away from their mum. Manfred, your English seems fine to me!

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: LilyFestre
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 02:57 PM

We lost our beloved Wiggy, a cocker spaniel a few weeks ago and a few months ago we lost Jack, *MY* cat. Things here just aren't the same without them.

However, we have 4 remaining cats and one very loving Bernese Mtn. dog and we are all loving on one another to get through the emptiness. There is talk of a puppy but I'd like to wait until Jeremiah is another year older or so. What kind? We have 2 larger breeds in mind but time will tell.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 03:08 PM

Our newest is an orange longhaired cat named Arthur. We think his dad is a norwegian forest cat, since he has tufts of fur between his toes. His mother was a generic short haired cat, thus the daddy suspicions. If you do facebook, there are pictures of Arthur, most recent one posted about a month ago. He's the youngest (just turned a year) and the biggest cat in the house. He weighed in at 1.94 pounds and will be the size of a pony if he keeps this up.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 03:10 PM

I've had two new cats in my life the last couple of months. Jerry (I call him Jericho, just because I like it) is a handsome all-black dude, sweet-natured and cuddly; he and my dog became friends the very first day. I became acquainted with him when his owner had to go south for medical treatments; I visited him in their nearby apartment three times a day, and after the initial period of brushing and talking and cuddling he would curl up on my lap or at my side and snooze while I read for an hour or so. If need be, I will adopt him happily.

The other cat came upon the scene a couple of days before Jericho's person returned home and this one is a cat of a different kind.

Sneakers (should be called Boots; he has two long white feet) is a big bruiser of a cat, tall and wide. A tabby- but that makes him sound much gentler than he is. He is demanding and assertive, and with my little dog, he is aggressive. Ellery has been spending almost all his time in my bedroom (where my computer is, and therefore, I)on my bed. Sneakers comes into the bedroom and stays at my feet; he has not jumped onto the bed. If he did, I would have to intervene; it is the only place that Ellery feels safe.

His owners are on a biking vacation out of state and Sneakers is to be here for a total of about four weeks. He is scheduled to go home this coming Thursday and I have no doubt but that it will be a happy day for him. It will unquestionably be a happy day for Ellery too.

I would still house-sit Sneak again- it's been better for him than to go to a cage at the shelter where he has gone before. But maybe not before next year. :)

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: ragdall
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 03:37 PM

It's been nine years since I said goodbye to my darling cat, Tuki. He was almost 18 and had been struggling with diabetes for two years by then. I feel it's unfair at my age to make a 20 year commitment that it's unlikely I can keep so I remain catless.

My neighbours have a dear little old cat who thinks that our yard is also part of her home. She visits daily, looking for mice and birds. I do all I can to prevent her from being able to catch the birds. Unfortunately, because she lived on her own for some time, she is very good at it. She also looks for cuddles, especially when her people aren't at home. We can't sit out on our deck for long without finding a cat in one of our laps. I joke that she's the best kind of cat to have. Her family feeds her and looks after her litter box and any vet bills, I cuddle with her and gets lots of kitty affection.   From time to time the kitty also poses for for my camera.

rags

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: gnu
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 03:46 PM

Yo rags! Yer one of my all time fav photogs. Yer work is amazing! Thank you.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 03:53 PM

Nice pics. Mostly. I could have done without the slain hummingbird. Ewwww. Good pictures, though. The cat is awesome.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Leadbelly
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 04:40 PM

Wonderful pics,ragdall! He looks like a little devil.

Concerning an own new cat which you don't intend to take because of higher age I would like to make the proposal to make a visit to an animal home (Tierheim in german) to select a poor older cat.I suppose there are similar institutions where you live.

At least in Germany there are a lot of these poor creatures waiting for a new home.It's a real misery.

Concerning birds: I tried a method called "water from behind",when feeding birds in winter time. After some monthes it worked. At least when I was watching them, haha.
They are so clever.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: JennieG
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 06:26 PM

Rags, what a beautiful girl!

We have two cats, Binky (The World's Friendliest Cat) who is 16, and Bianca the Beautiful but Brainless, who is a mere sprite of 10. Once Binky goes we will have a vacancy, but I don't think she could ever be replaced - she has the best personality of all the cats who have shared our lives over the past 40 years.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 07:08 PM

Wish we could plan a play-date!

Gosh, how long has it been since I wadded up paper balls and threw them for kittehs?!?!? And every last one chased. Just in time, too-- they are now exploring the upper regions of the living/dining room.

We're ahead of them with this, though:

Stay AWAY from the knick-knacks on the mantel, you kittehs!!!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: ragdall
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 11:09 PM


From: Ebbie - PM
Date: 19 Aug 13 - 03:53 PM

... I could have done without the slain hummingbird. Ewwww.

Ebbie,
Not sure what you thought you saw? 'Twern't any hummingbirds at all in that set and certainly no dead ones. The only bird in the kitty photos was a Pine Siskin that self-deleted with the help of my window and was removed much later by Miss Tidy.

gnu,
Thank you. It's wonderful to have such and enthusiastic fan.

Leadbelly,
   Getting an older cat has been suggested to me before. It won't work for many reasons, such as I don't have an income sufficient to pay vet bills that increase with a cat's age and I have no idea how much longer I can live where a cat is allowed to be. Cuddling with the neighbours' cat works well for both of us for now.

   There is no point in wetting down the kitty during freezing weather to deter her, she doesn't bother the birds when I'm outside with her. She is all innocence, purrs and cuddles.

rags

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Aug 13 - 01:53 AM

My apologies, Ragdall. After seeing the hummingbird feeder and then a dead bird I thought the photo you named 'Skulking Away' was of a hummer.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: GUEST,Don Wise
Date: 20 Aug 13 - 02:04 PM

I took on Marty from one of the local animal refuges at the beginning of April last year. A lovely 11 year old red&white tom. He came with a few problems however: FIV, diabetes and a pancreas problem. But that wasn't enough-the vet at the animal refuge had realised that he is insulin resistant and had therefore decided that there was no sense in subjecting him to further injections and blood tests and that he should go to a home where he could live out his remaining days in peace and comfort on his special diet. I notice a very gradual 'run-down' and there have recently been a couple of small problems but 16 months on Marty is generally doing well. There's a net on the balcony so that he can't run lose. A young tom comes by quite often and silent cat conversations take place. The young one stays below the balcony after he realised that trying to jump up was doomed to failure because of the net and because Marty immediately went on the defensive.

Some birds are so stupid and/or cheeky that they deserve their fate. Blue Tits use the balcony net for gymnastics- this cost one it's life after it performed right in front of Marty's predecessors. More recently, one flew bold as brass through the open cat flap into the living room. Marty initially couldn't quite believe his eyes but quickly made sure that it was a one-way flight.

As I write this he's curled up on the scanner.......

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: ranger1
Date: 20 Aug 13 - 02:11 PM

She's not exactly new, I've had Kaylee for over two years now, but she is always coming up with new ways to amuse me. She used to chase her tail, until she caught it last month and discovered that 1) it does actually belong to her, 2) unless she released it, she wasn't going to be able to move, and 3) there were human witnesses. Now, she chases shadows. I have given up buying toys for her, she's better at entertaining herself than any toys I buy, and she never plays with them anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Aug 13 - 03:14 PM

Don, the visuals on that text.... thank you!

ranger1, can she really resist the paper-fan "butterfly" on the improvised fishing pole???? Or the longer-lined fly-fishing ground prey!!!!?


One of the kits here appears to be a ground-hunter and one is def a flying-prey hunter. Today the boys have switched areas/adults to see who Isis will adopt, and so that each can benefit from OtherCat's LR tutoring. Poor Faulkner(dog).... TBTG this house has so many doors and gates that he also gets NON-cat time, tho he does actually like cats. This is a BIT much energy for his age!

The one I thought would go with OtherCat is an escape artist. I cannot WAIT till he is heavy enough to neuter, because the doors are calling him. The almost-free clinic here sez 4 lbs. is their minimum. I have a fish scale waiting and ready!!!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: ranger1
Date: 20 Aug 13 - 03:17 PM

Susan, she cares not a whit for store-bought toys. Not the catnip-scented feather balls, nor anything made of paper. Shadows and feathers direct from the chicken are her faves.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Aug 13 - 03:37 PM

Store-bought??!?!?!? We're strictly homemade here.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 21 Aug 13 - 10:26 PM

While we have our two regular house partners, who live indoors, we also seem to have been adopted by a number of "strangers."

Our elder "real child" Bela (named for Bela Lugosi by LiK) was a more or less normal adoption. Her personality is reflected in her two nicknames, "Princess" and "Slut." She seems to have reached the age of senility and is frequently "confused" but remains friendly with almost everyone. Striped grey and her doctor says she's unusually "pretty."

Our other "homey" is Vincent (LiK named him for Vincent Price, of course) was thrown on our front porch one Halloween night by a party that immediately drove off in a hurry, so he's sort of a drive-by victim. We guessed that he was less than 7 weeks old then. We advertised widely, checked with the vets and Humane Soc., then took him to the vet and got him chipped, vaccinated, and registered. Two months later some neighbors showed up and tried to claim him, but by then he owned us. They adopted his brother and left him behind a couple of months later when they moved, but we could never get close enough to the brother make friends. "Vinnie" thought he was still a kitten for about the first 6 or 7 years but has begun to show lap cat tendencies at 8. Solid black (and quite handsome), so we obviously keep a close watch at Halloween.

Last December, one morning about 4:00 am I saw a "stranger" huddled in the sleet on Lin's "planter bench" (actually more of a plant killing bench the way she uses it) that's right in front of the window. Weather report said it was 14F (-10C) with sleet on the ground, and it looked "lost." It was wearing a collar, but the collar disappeared the next night. Some demented person felt sorry for it, and put some dry food and water out, and the cat demonstrated appreciation by displaying signs of starvation. Behavior suggested it might have been recently "lost or abandoned" by someone who moved, but we can't be sure.

As a result of continuing to put food and water out on the bench - now more a habit than necessity, we have four "casual friends" but no way of knowing which are homeless and which might "belong" to neighbors who are "careless about their care." We guess how wild they are by how far they run when the door opens, before they stop to see if you're dangerous. "Safety separations" seem to be decreasing for all four, but none have allowed any close approaches.

The one that's most obviously fully feral has a collar on that appears to cause some difficulty eating, but there's no way to get close enough to be sure or to do anything about it.

In addition, we have one "unknown critter" that dug a hole under the door on a storage shed in the back yard almost a year ago. "Something" goes in and out, but nobody has had a good enough look to identify what it is. Recently a second hole (that actually looks like a door) has appeared in a side wall of the shed.

I caught one fairly good glimpse of a "rump and tail" going in the front door. The rump was grey, and the tail was grey with a black tip. There may have been one or two "rings" on the tail; but not enough to suggest a raccoon, so we continue to think it's a cat. It's not one of the four that come to the feeder. (At least it had fur so it wasn't an armadillo.)

We're not really sure how many "new pets" we have, but we seem to have some new friends who hang around pretty regularly.

John

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: GUEST,Don Wise
Date: 22 Aug 13 - 05:11 AM

Marty's rundown seems to be speeding up as of today and I feel that The Death of Cats is starting to hone his scythe/check his hypodermic.
When he was in the animal rescue he was sent to a clinic to find out exactly what was wrong with him. The clinic sent him back with the recommendation he be put to sleep.......That was 18 months or so ago. I think he's had a good 16 months with me....so far.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 22 Aug 13 - 01:35 PM

JiK, it sounds like you have a TNS program attracted to that bench! I would trap that collared one for sure.

Don, it takes a big heart to foster an end-of-lifer. Goodonya, and keep feeling your way thru it. The figure of Death for cats.... maybe it's Top Cat in a new role?

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Anne Lister
Date: 22 Aug 13 - 04:29 PM

Some of you will remember that we lost our much loved Fitz just before Christmas. Half Bengal, half Birman in ancestry, almost totally Bengal in behaviour (not necessarily a good thing) and a total love as long as we weren't telling him off and cleaned his litter tray to an almost OCD level. He was also an adrenaline junky and discovered the main road, across two fields, on a winter night. He was eight months old and growing into such a beautiful cat. I have shed so many tears for him, but at least we found out the end of his story.
After Christmas we realised that Persia, although she had seemed to be constantly at odds with him, was missing him almost as much as we were. So we set about searching. I'd have liked a similar mix of breeds although that would probably have resulted in another nutter (two opposing sets of characteristics is bound to lead to some element of mental health issues!) and then we saw an on-line ad for a one quarter Bengal kitten.   Drove to see him and fell in love instantly. Luckily the "foster parents" liked us immediately, too, and so Mylo came home with us. He's one quarter Bengal, one quarter Snow Shoe and one half moggie. He's smokey grey and white, with the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen in a cat (he seems to look inside your heart), and he's also amazingly long and thin. A sort of greyhound version of a cat! He's now ten months old and we love him to pieces.
Persia has coped with his arrival remarkably well although again there's a lot of scolding and keeping him in his place. They can both sit on me as long as they don't make eye contact. She allows him to eat her food, amazingly. He loves climbing - he's stopped climbing the curtains and walking along the curtain poles now, but he still climbs everywhere in search of pesky flies. He's a good hunter, bringing in a regular haul of squeakers of various sorts, and brought in a fair number of live baby bunnies a month or so back, as well. (Which he abandoned in the living room, presumably bored .. bit of a shock when you're watching tv to suddenly realise there's a bunny under the easy chair!) Recently he's taken to just bringing in decapitated heads and green wobbly bits (to quote Pratchett) rather than the whole squeaker, which isn't too easy to deal with first thing in the morning.
But best of all, he's a real cuddler. He loves to sleep between us, moving from the bottom of the bed to the middle, down under the duvet and then, some of the time, up by our faces where he hugs us with cushioned paws and gives us lengthy nose to mouth kisses. He's also very verbal, and appears to understand that questions require answers.

He's inspired some poems and short stories .. may have an announcement about that in due course.

The only other thing to say is that his "foster mother" has since told me that after our visit she had discovered a stash of other emails enquiring about him which had somehow been mis-filtered out of her in box. Somehow my email made it through. Looks as if he was meant to be with us!

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Janie
Date: 22 Aug 13 - 10:24 PM

Sum Yung Sun, recently moved out on his own with his girlfriend and longing for a dog - he grew up in house full of dogs and his Dad currently has custody of the dog he helped raise from a pup - adopted a young dog from the local pound several weeks ago. Not a pup, a young dog - probably 12-18 months old. I fear he has made a grievous mistake in his selection and out of his compassion and the impulsivity of a 19 y.o. brain. She had been at the pound for almost 3 months and was slated to be put down since she had not been adopted yet. We have often had pound puppies but took a long time to decide, going back again and again to observe and handle the dogs before making a decision. He walked into the pound, a volunteer pointed out this dog and mentioned she was slated to be put down soon if not adopted, and the rest is history.

His dad has a remarkable gift with dogs - a dog whisperer. And even he has his doubts, but our lips are sealed, even while we wait for the other shoe to drop.

The vet speculates, and both his Dad and I already had similar speculations, that she is a Pit Bull/English Setter and perhaps hound mix. Anxious and neurotic as can be. Attached very quickly to our son and his girlfriend and very anxious and afraid with anyone else. He brought her over to my house to meet me about a week after he got her. I'm pretty good with dogs but she would not make up to me at all, and when he left her with me while he went out to pick up Chinese take-out for supper she paced and whined and exhibited extreme separation anxiety.

Destructive if left alone too long in their apartment. She has destroyed stuff one would never expect a dog to mess with. His X Box!!! Eh?

They have to have new people stay outside and bring her out to meet them before friends enter the apartment or she continually barks and growls at them. Some of their friends she continues to exhibit fearful (and therefore hostile) behavior once they enter the apartment - relentlessly.

It is a matter of time before she bites some one out of fear. She is slowly destroying the furnishings and electronic equipment in their apartment. She is not house broken and gets almost psychotic if they crate her while they are out. She was obviously neglected and possibly abused as a pup, and the lengthy stay in the raucous shelter obviously did not help.

Such pathos.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 10:49 AM

We only have 2 cats of our own. Molly the almost black with calico and white patches who is shocked everytime she sees anyone and Lily the grey who adopted us by refusing to leave the washing basket in the utility room!

Where we just moved from however we were plagued with strays, all of whom were named. Pepe (la Pew) was the elder statesman - A big smelly but beautifully happy old Tom. The Commander, who was a nasty black and white who wanted to rule the street if Pepe would only let him. Anderson, who we were pretty sure was the the comANDERs SON (Gerrit?) Mim, a petite female who made more noise than all the others put together. Boo, the pure white 'ghost' with blue eyes who used to run into the kitchen, grab a mouthful of food and run out again. And Maven the black kitten - so named because when we first saw him he was obviously recovering from the 'snip' and had a shaven patch on his side - Shaven Maven.

We moved some 6 months ago and now we have a whole set of new moggies to get to know. No strays as far as I know as they are all collared. Only a couple of names up to now - Mr Creeps who appears to stalk our two, appearing in odd places just after they leave, and another black kitten. We now live in Sutton in Craven so his name was obvious - Maven in Craven :-)

Make the most of all your pets, whether you own them or they own you!

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 01:09 PM

Janie, that has to be pretty tense!

Great descriptions, Anne and Dave.. I feel like I know them.

~~~~~

No yowling from the Second Floor contingentast night, so that seems like it will work. Isis is grooming herself for the first time since we've had her and Scratch now purs for Hardi.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Feb 21 - 04:38 PM

Refreshing this thread for one of its regulars,
who has recently adopted a new pet.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Ebbie
Date: 03 Feb 21 - 02:05 PM

Thank you, Keberoxu!

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Senoufou
Date: 05 Feb 21 - 04:59 PM

Next-door neighbour's daughter (the veterinary nurse who is a shepherdess with a flock of twenty-two sheep) has taken in a new ram, a Herdwick sheep (from the Lake District area). She's called him Horatio, and he has the most magnificent set of curly horns (two pairs!). In spite of being a ram, he's incredibly gentle and affectionate. She visits her herd early each morning, and fills up the treat balls (plastic roly-poly containers with tasty grains inside) Every sheep has a name, and they absolutely love her.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 05 Feb 21 - 06:16 PM

Our greyhound, contrary to popular belief, totally ignores cats during her walks. She is never off lead of course unless in a secure field, but her nose is sometimes no more than 2 feet from the cat we pass at the end of our road.

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: keberoxu
Date: 06 Feb 21 - 03:20 PM

Ebbie shared on a different thread
that her dachshund had a talent , or something,
for wrapping himself around lampposts, did I read that right?

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 07 Feb 21 - 05:37 AM

Sen, is your neighbour a fan of C.S.Forester?

Subject: RE: BS: New Pets?
From: Senoufou
Date: 07 Feb 21 - 01:07 PM

Haha Mo, as in Horatio Hornblower? Possibly.
She takes in 'rescued' sheep, and offers them a sanctuary in her field. It's called the Same Star Sanctuary. (She's a vegan and is upset by how animals for food are treated) She sometimes brings one or two home in her truck, and shows them to me. Merlin, a small brown sheep, was very sweet. He was on a harness and came up to greet me (last summer)
I never knew just how affectionate sheep can be! Unusual but very nice 'pets'!