BS: Cats

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 29 Feb 20 - 03:28 AM

Ha Charmion, gnashers and gnawers are dreadful aren't they? We once had a cat called SimpsonSam who loved to chew woolly jumpers. I always drape thick knitted garments on the radiators to 'finish them off' before putting them away in a drawer, and while we were out he would tug on one sleeve, pull the garment to the floor and get busy. He once chewed away an entire sleeve!
It's funny, our study too is on the windward side of the house, and rather chilly (French doors,and not double-glazed) so three weeks ago we had a new lot installed by an excellent firm. Cost an arm and a leg, but now the room is hermetically sealed and very snug. In summer we can open wide these swanky new doors into the conservatory and enjoy the sun. (Oh please let it be soon!)

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 29 Feb 20 - 09:34 PM

"Thundered"?
How, Eliza/Senoufou,
is it possible for
tiny Binky to "thunder" on the back door?!

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 01 Mar 20 - 03:36 AM

She was hammering on the cat-flap (which we now keep locked) with all her strength, using her front paws. She does this quite a bit nowadays and it makes an awful noise, like a drum! (Sort of 'bam-de-bam-de-bam!bam!bam!)
She's such a sweet, affectionate little cat, I really like her. But of course, she's not ours and I don't want to irritate the Travellers!
Sam the Skull is now looking more and more decrepit. I think he's deaf and his manner is a bit senile. I don't think he can have much longer, but I'm just hoping he can sit on The Bench with me in the warm summer weather just one more time.
:(

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 01 Mar 20 - 09:52 AM

An excuse for the ages: "My editor's cat ate my manuscript."

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 01 Mar 20 - 08:56 PM

Welcome,
Charmion's brother Andrew!
Take off your coat and hat,
and stay awhile,
now you're truly a Mudcat member.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: rich-joy
Date: 08 Apr 20 - 08:37 PM

I finally got to watch the film from Turkey named :

KEDI (The Cats of an Ancient City)

It was just beautiful!!
If you haven't seen it, and you are fascinated by Cats (and a city that appreciates them - ISTANBUL!), really do go and find it.

I've got to see it again, bcoz it was hard to keep trying to read the subtitles AND watch the felines in the wonderful scenery!!

Cheers!
R-J

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 01 Jun 20 - 03:17 PM

Did I hear a report from Eliza/Senoufou
that "Spirit" aka Sam the Skull
has the use of only one eye -- ?

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 01 Jun 20 - 03:55 PM

Yes keberoxu, he now seems to have a cataract in his right eye. But I'm proud to say his white coat is looking rather good, shiny and thick (perhaps a little bit due to Purina best cat food sachets?) and he's revelling in the hot weather in our front garden.
Regarding the little black-and-white cat, there's been an interesting development. I've recently taken the plunge and registered on our Village Facebook site. The owner of 'Binky' put a photo on there and asked if anyone was feeding her. Her name is apparently 'Pippin' (isn't that a lovely name?) and the lady was concerned her cat was getting a bit too fat! I replied, and we had a nice chat online. She sounds like a very good cat person, and I promised not to feed Pippin any more.
Great weight off my mind, as I did wonder whose cat she was.
Still miss our darling Smokey, Minty and Murphy, and I still shed a tear at bedtime - no SmokeyPokey to say 'Goodnight' to!

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 01 Jun 20 - 04:32 PM

bout this deluge of posts, but I forgot to recount the tale of 'Archie'.
Our neighbours' daughter is a trainee veterinary nurse, absolutely lovely young lady. She's involved in voluntary animal rescue too, and has a flock of sheep. A horrible, cruel farmer in another village shot dead a mother cat (a feral one) and left four tiny kittens, He was going to drown them, but our neighbour quickly saved them and found friends who could cope with such tiny babies, about 4 weeks old. Archie is the one she took in. He's fed with a little bottle, and is flourishing. She brought him to see me (in the garden) and he's an adorable sweetie. So small, but being superbly well looked-after.
Feral cats are usually useful to farmers because they kill vermin. No idea why that evil man did this.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Thompson
Date: 02 Jun 20 - 06:03 PM

I used to know someone who ran a pet rescue society, rehoming any animals (mostly cats) she found or were dumped on her. A community liaison police officer - not in her area, but in an area where she'd rescued a cat in very bad condition, with cigarette burns and other scars - asked her to tell him whenever she found an animal that had obviously been deliberately ill-treated, because this raised flags and the police would go and check the family, and invariably find that members of the family were being ill-treated in the same manner.
How delightful it is that Archie's found you and you've found Archie, Senoufou.
I'll probably never have another cat, as age advances, which is a pity for lots of reasons, but especially because I have two good names saved up: Peeve (for a standoffish cat) and Guimauve (for a plump cat).

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Jun 20 - 07:44 AM

Is Catnip a performance enhancement drug, arthritis medicine, hallucinogen, stimulant or suppresent?

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Jun 20 - 07:54 AM

I love those two names Thompson!
I'm hoping that when the lockdown relaxes a bit, my lovely neighbour will let me come and visit Archie and maybe even help to feed him with the tiny bottle-and-teat. I bet when he's much older, he'll find his way into our garden and stretch himself out on our patio. (Most cats round here do!)
Donuel, it's true that most cats love catnip, but strangely ours have never shown any interest in it, despite my efforts to grow it in our herb garden. I think it's because they were Siamese.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Jack Campin
Date: 03 Jun 20 - 08:47 AM

"Kedi" is a subtle film. It isn't just about cats, but about the way cats and people interact. Each cat in the film links a group of people who might not have much to do with each other except that they end up co-owning the same cat - the usual way it works in Istanbul, antithetical to the American thing of each cat confined indoors in one household. The cats form a kind of social adhesive like gluons in particle physics.

We have two cats, Marblecake and her son Ollie. You probably know the story of Greyfriars Bobby in Edinburgh, the dog who spent years (in somewhat romanticized legend) keeping watch over his master's grave? Marblecake has been demonstrating what the cat equivalent is. Ollie killed a pigeon a month ago, ate a couple of mouthfuls of it, and left the rest outside the back door in a cloud of feathers. I buried it in a shallow grave under an apple tree. Every day since, Marblecake has spent part of the afternoon asleep on that exact spot. It's a touching display of devotion to her interrupted dinner.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: rich-joy
Date: 03 Jun 20 - 07:07 PM

Thanks for that evaluation of "KEDI" Jack! I really must go an watch it again this weekend.
(available on 2 film sites (Kanopy and Beamafilms) that Aussies (e.g.) can watch for free if you have a Library Card - fabulous idea!!!)

Cheers,
R-J

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 04 Jun 20 - 07:40 PM

Nice to know that Binky/Pippin has a home,
I remember you relating to us how much the little cat
was around your neighbour's.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Jun 20 - 03:15 PM

Jack thats a fascinating story. It might even work for ancient Egypt.
Cats do live longer as house cats and birds are safer.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Jun 20 - 04:56 PM

"Response to catnip is hereditary," says an article in Scientific American,
which rather validates your conclusion, Eliza/Senoufou,
about the immunity of your Siamese pet cats.

More about catnip:
a member of the mint family.
Volatile oil, called nepetalactone, in catnip
is what a cat smells, and it's all about the smell
and what it triggers in
the cat's amygdala and hypothalamus (brain areas).

And Donuel, according to this same article,
the cat responds to catnip as it would
to a feline pheromone --
behaving like a female cat in heat!

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 07 Jun 20 - 05:01 PM

Fortunately the local cats leave our greyhound alone!

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 08:40 AM

Bonzo 3 leg
My childhood dog was a long haired white greyhound,

a Borzoi named Semantic.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 09:56 AM

I always thought Borzois were wolfhounds, and greyhounds were bred for coursing hares. Is that wrong?

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 10:10 AM

Despite their breeding, greyhounds will chase anything from their own tails to tank transporters.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 09:51 PM

Of course they are different breeds but are nearly identical in speed and appearance except for the hair length of Russain Wolfhounds.
Irish wolfhounds are not similar at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 07:38 AM

Grrr! What are all these dogs doing on a 'Cats' thread eh?
As the cockney hardware shop owner used to say when we children climbed up his huge pile of sand:-
"GERTCHA!!"

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 09:27 PM

Now, now, Eliza!
Remember that when a dog-fancier's thread appeared hereabouts,
all the dog-haters came out of the woodwork
and started trolling like mad.
Let the dog-lovers take refuge here for a change ...

besides,
hounds are wonderfully mellow dogs away from the chase,
which cannot always be said of terriers,
as charming as terriers may be at times.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 10 Jun 20 - 03:14 AM

I was only kidding keberoxu! I love dogs just as much as anyone else, and no end of beautiful pooches get walked past our house twice a day, soaked to the skin from having jumped into the river to cool off.
But I'm not sure if the cats on here would welcome a pack of dogs poking into their affairs hee hee.
Bonzo, I'm glad Dreamy is still getting along nicely.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Jul 20 - 07:04 PM

How are all the Mudcatters
who are owned by their cats
doing lately?

(any progress in herding cats?)

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Jul 20 - 07:18 PM

Lucy the cat chewed the wire off our computer mouse today.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion
Date: 22 Jul 20 - 09:43 AM

I am spending many hours per day at my desk lately. Late in the morning, I can count on a visit from Cat Watson, now a robust 7 kilos of claws, muscle and floof, who stomps into the study yelling, clambers onto my lap with maximum fuss, and then scrambles up my left arm (it only hurts when I larf) to drape himself over my shoulder, relaxed on the support of my left forearm and his claws sunk into my upper back.

You try typing like that.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Jul 20 - 10:37 AM

I'm binge watching a chaotic gory series called er, posting and having a cat rub my leg precisely at the severed nerve. ow
16 lbs is big for a shoulder sitter, unless you're a full back.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion
Date: 23 Jul 20 - 10:00 AM

Watson has always been a shoulder-sitter; it's a habit he developed as a teeny kitten. I have a lovely photo of Himself making coffee in the kitchen with Watson perched like a parrot on his shoulder -- but Watson was then about six months old and very, very cute up there. Now he's nearly seven (and 7 kilos), and that kittenish behaviour is less cute than domineering. The message I get is unmistakable: "Enough about you; let's talk about ME!"

Neither of us is a fullback, we do not own hockey pads, and Himself turned in his body armour when he redeployed from Afghanistan. If somebody would invent a Kevlar dressing-gown (bathrobe), however, I would be first in line to buy one.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 01 Aug 20 - 10:41 PM

Eliza/Senoufou,
what news of the orphaned 'Archie' rescued and nursed by
the young veterinarian in your neighborhood?

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 02 Aug 20 - 03:46 AM

My neighbour posts the most lovely photos on our village Facebook of Archie. He's grown a lot since she took him in, and looks very happy. He's often sitting in their front window, with the lace curtain draped around his face, like a bride. Apparently, he likes playing with small crusts of bread, scooting them around on their conservatory floor and posting them under furniture.
She's the best person to have found him, being professionally trained and an ardent animal rescuer. Her flock of sheep are all 'rescues'.
Archie has had his first injections, and it won't be long before he has to have what she calls his 'crown jewels' removed! Has to be done - entire male toms smell and get aggressive. They also roam far and wide.
MickeyPickey (aka Sam the Skull/Spirit) is visibly failing, but still spends most of his time on our front bench in the sun. He's twenty now and can't have too much longer. But he seems happy and likes to sit with me and be gently stroked.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Aug 20 - 10:01 PM

When did the neighbor's white cat, "spirit",
turn into MickeyPickey?
I thought he would eat anything ...

maybe this will be his last summer.
Lovely that he gets to sit with you in the sun.

That's fun to have photos of Archie on the Facebook site.
What colour(s) is the kitten?

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Aug 20 - 03:47 AM

Archie is white with sweet little black splodges in random places. The one over his right eye is very funny - he looks a bit like a pirate. The latest photo is of him trying to join my neighbour in the bath!
Poor MickeyPickey (my husband coined this new name!) is indeed rather picky now. We get the special cat food for 11+ age, which is more easily digestible, but he just licks it and eats about a third of a sachet. A lovely female blackbird waits politely until he's had enough, then she grabs the chunks for her babies in their nest in our garden. The fat old hedgehog finishes off the plate in the late evening, and some wasps appear to lick the dish clean, so everyone gets fed!

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Aug 20 - 05:36 PM

A fat old hedgehog ...
shades of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle
and Wind in the Willows.

Eliza/Senoufou,
your existence is sometimes like a storybook.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Aug 20 - 05:53 PM

Hee hee keberoxu,I've often thought the same thing myself!
Unfortunately, the fat old hedgehog leaves long black smelly tokens of his appreciation on our lawn!
Another 'storybook' part of our village life is Bambam the tame red deer. He was rescued as a small fawn by a lady who lives in the Old Rectory (she's actually French!) She fed him with a bottle and he grew enormous (red deer are very big) He's been neutered, and now he follows everybody around down by the river, and swims/paddles with all the children. We're a bit worried because he wanders along the village street at night and could be hit by a cattle-feed lorry if he's not careful.
People come from surrounding villages to see Bambam. The parking down by the river is getting a bit OTT. But a massive oak tree suddenly fell on a car last Friday. Luckily nobody was in it, but a branch broke a lady's neck. We had Police, firemen and the Air Ambulance zooming in.
This village is absolutely crazy sometimes!

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Aug 20 - 02:56 PM

An amazing factoid is that cats have about the same number of neurons in their brain and solar plexus as we do.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Aug 20 - 11:50 AM

And what do cats use all those neutrons for? From where I sit, teetering on the top edge of doors and nagging the humans look like top priorities.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Aug 20 - 01:30 PM

Your remarks, Charmion, call to mind
Martha Grimes' mystery series featuring Inspector Richard Jury,
his Superintendent named Racer,
and the office cat, Cyril,
who delights in tormenting Racer especially when Jury is present.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Aug 20 - 06:03 PM

Cyril. Now that's a great name for a cat.

I had forgotten the office cat in the Richard Jury stories. I was put off Martha Grimes by her irritating amateur sleuth, Melrose Plant. If only Richard Jury preferred the company of Cyril instead.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 20 Aug 20 - 06:24 PM

Chacun à son gout, Charmion:
I can see how the character Melrose Plant is not to every taste.
Probably the reason that I can stand that character
is that I have been in no position to meet anybody, in my life,
who speaks with his posh accent
or his affectations, and so on,
so I don't really fully get what he must sound like --
but Canada is different, you must be acquainted with his type somewhat.

Have you read more recent Richard Jury/Martha Grimes installments?
Somehow I believe that Racer,
the Superintendent stalked by Cyril the cat,
has gone by the wayside over time.
I don't know about the cat, though.
And I believe that Jury has risen in rank
although I don't recall how high.

I found haunting, in recent years, the installment about
the "Kindertransport" during the Second War,
with one of the children drowning
during the Channel crossing
and consequences that still had their effects decades later.

But yes, Cyril is one memorable, if fictional, cat.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Aug 20 - 07:55 AM

For me cats have a huge vocabulary of facial and body language from head to toe. Unlike dogs they even seem to be able to express the sardonic.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 22 Aug 20 - 08:11 AM

That's so true Donuel. I pride myself on being able to speak 'cat'. There are several gestures they instantly understand, For example if I lift my chin and close my eyes, all cats know that's a greeting. Much better than a big smile, which can be a bit intimidating.
The little rescued kitten next door often sits in their front window, and as we pass by I do that gesture. He always responds with the same 'chin lift, eyes close' greeting.
Poor old Sam the Skull (renamed by my husband as 'MickeyPickey'!) is still around. He's so visibly failing it makes me sad. But he still loves to sit with me on The Bench and eats about four sachets of Whiskas cat food for 11+ yr-olds. I also slip him a bit of diced chicken breast and a tiny bowl of milk. He sits in our front garden facing our bedroom window from 4.30am onwards, wistfully waiting for me to open the curtains. Breaks my heart, poor old thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 Aug 20 - 10:57 AM

Charmion,
if your home acquires a Roomba,
what will the cats make of it?
Especially Sergeant Watson??


There are YouTube videos demonstrating the fact
that Roombas attract
a cat's undivided attention ...

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion
Date: 22 Aug 20 - 03:39 PM

I have decided that a Roomba probably would not work for us — our house is full of Afghan and Pakistani rugs with fringed ends. Also, the cats probably would not like it. Watson would eventually decide to ignore it, as he does the normal vacuum cleaner, but Isobel would freak. The natural habitat of the Roomba is a sparsely furnished condo with wall-to-wall carpets, where the owners are out all day, and that is the opposite of our house.

I haven’t looked at anything by Martha Grimes for at least twenty years; I read about eight of them back in the 90s, and abruptly stopped when I realized that I could not stand another dose of Melrose Plant — I have met a couple of people a bit like that over the years, and they were indeed intolerable. But Martha Grimes also put very odd child characters in her books, and I did not like them, either. The whole gestalt was a bit twee. Except Cyril the cat.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 Aug 20 - 06:27 PM

... are you quite sure, Charmion,
that Watson would not want to play with the thing?
After all,
it would not have one of his Humans pushing it about,
like the vacuum cleaner.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion
Date: 24 Aug 20 - 11:54 AM

Actually, Keb, Watson might not ignore a Roomba -- he might do his level best to kill it. Judging from his performance with respect to mice and various toys, he could well succeed, and those things are expensive!

But the most off-putting aspect of the vacuum cleaner seems to be its roaring, whooshing noise, closely followed by the way it bumps into things, causing massive disruption in what should be a day of lounging and snoozing punctuated only by meals. A Roomba would not only roar and whoosh, it would also bump into things. So, on the whole, no.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Jos
Date: 25 Aug 20 - 02:41 AM

"The natural habitat of the Roomba is a sparsely furnished condo with wall-to-wall carpets"

That is, a condo whose owners are happy to pay for the device and the electricity required to have their carpet cleaned all day long when it is not getting dirty?

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Aug 20 - 09:46 AM

Got it in one, Jos.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Aug 20 - 10:10 AM

On a whole 'nother note, I wonder if any of youse followed up on rich-joy and Jack Campin's enthusiastic comments about the Turkish documentary film "Kedi: Cats of an Ancient City". If not, you really should.

It's stunningly beautiful just to watch, showing the city of Istanbul at its best -- its best, that is, if you like looking at working-class areas of old cities. The camera follows the cats through their daily lives, and the only human voices on the soundtrack are people talking about their relationships with the cats. There is no voice-over narration telling viewers how to understand what they see and hear.

As Jack Campin said above, it's a subtle film. One thing I noticed about it is that all the humans in the film interact with the cats in gentle, respectful ways, even when shooing one away from a place where cats are not entirely welcome.