BS: Cats

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 25 Nov 19 - 01:52 PM

It's absolutely pouring with torrential rain, and at our back door sits the strange little cat I call Binky. And on our front doorstep sits Sam the Skull. Both are soaking wet to the skin, and I've given each of them a nice dish of best Purina cat food. Why are they still sitting there like two feline martyrs?
SmokeyPokey is still with us, albeit rather deaf and a bit senile.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Nov 19 - 01:04 PM

O! where, o where have our pussycats gone,
O! where, o where can they beeeee .......

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 Jul 19 - 03:46 PM

New York Times obituary for Walter Chandoha, with photos

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Jul 19 - 08:02 PM

ever see the photograph book by Walter Chandoha
of cats?

I grew up with it, big coffee-table sized thing,
and it's a delight.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Jul 19 - 12:20 PM

Look up a book called I Could Pee On That if you like cat poems.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: beardedbruce
Date: 11 Jul 19 - 04:14 PM

Sonnet 18/10/2001 To Jennifer’s Kitten            DCXV

So, playful kitten, shall I find a ball
Of yarn to help entice you closer? What
Bright bauble might attract your gaze, to call
You to my lap, that I might watch eyes shut?
Shall dancing feathers on a string be prey
To huntress in carpeted hall? Is toe
To be target? Do you with shadows play,
Or does your path through unseen jungles go?
Fierce fuzzy feline, proud puff tail held high,
What beasts do you pursue? Are monsters found
Behind the curtains, or do dragons fly
Invisible to those upon the ground?
You look at me, then march across the floor
On padded paws, and promenade out door.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 Jul 19 - 12:47 PM

and how are your
"stately, kindly, lordly friend[s]"?

Algernon C. Swinburne,
To A Cat

Stately, kindly, lordly friend,
Condescend
Here to sit by me, and turn
Glorious eyes that smile and burn,
Golden eyes, love's lustrous meed,
On the golden page I read.

All your wondrous wealth of hair,
Dark and fair,
Silken-shaggy, soft and bright
As the clouds and beams of night,
Pays my reverend hand's caress
Back with friendlier gentleness.

Dogs may fawn on all and some
As they come;
You, a friend of loftier mind,
Answer friends alone in kind.
Just your foot upon my hands
Softly bids it understand.

Morning round this silent-sweet
Garden seat
Sheds its wealth of gathering light,
Thrills the gradual clouds with might,
Changes woodland, orchard, heath
Lawn, and garden there beneath.

Fair and dim they gleamed below:
Now they glow
Deep as even your sunbright eyes,
Fair as even the wakening skies.
Can it not or can it be
Now that you give thanks to see?

May you not rejoice as I,
Seeing the sky
Change to heaven revealed, and bid
Earth reveal the heaven it hid
All night long from stars and moon,
Now the sun sets all in tune?

What within you wakes with day
Who can say?
All too little may we tell,
Friends who like each other well,
What might haply, if we might,
Bid us read our lives aright.

-- Littell's Living Age, Boston: Littell and Co., 1894, page 194

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Jul 19 - 02:48 PM

Of course Senoufou / Eliza doesn't post like she used to,
but at last report,
only one of her
old Siamese tomcats was left,
the other two having succumbed to illness.
More for Spirit / 'Sam-the-Skull',
the neighbors' cat who has become
a two-household cat,
spending considerable amounts of time,
and eating considerable amounts of packets, at Senoufou's house.
Hope they are all well.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion
Date: 07 Jul 19 - 12:08 PM

Cats vary in their expressions of affection, just as humans do, and I think it's anybody's guess what they learn from whom. I had a cat who came to me as a suckling kitten found alone in a flower bed; I have always assumed her feral mother had been killed on the street. Perdita received the same level of attention and affection as all our other cats (i.e., lots), but was always more restrained in her reactions than the others. No wild belly displays on the carpet, infrequent ankle-rubbing, almost no lap-sitting, very quiet purring. But she was definitely our cat, and we were most certainly her people; she rarely let us out of her sight for more than half an hour over a very long life.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 Jul 19 - 09:40 AM

The cat we got from a friend's litter was a great hunter, as was the only cat I ever got from a pet store. Current cat is a ragdoll, truly madly deeply affectionate, my only male. I like calicoes and torties who are generally female. But the affectionate bit usually comes from lots of affection when they were kittens.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 06 Jul 19 - 01:42 PM

I just learned something new.

There are scent glands in the PAWS of cats.
When they do that kneading / nursing / "baking biscuits"
forepaw thing,
cats are leaving their scent on the object of their forepaws.

I knew about scent glands elsewhere,
but not on or in the paws.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Apr 17 - 02:24 PM

I am still haunted by the memory of a cat that adopted us.

We kids were in upper grades of grade school when this happened. Of course, it's hard to say who adopted whom.

My older sibling, with classmates, happened upon this kitten, lurking by itself around a filling station. Tiny kitten with a horribly bloated belly. Turned out to be female. The kitten was carried to our house to be fed.

She was mostly black, and never did get very big, although in time she matured to adulthood; since she was inclined to remain with us, we had her spayed and doctored.

The thing is, I never called her by name. Maybe the others in the house had named her, but I never did. It's just that this little black cat and I were so close. We had some kind of telepathic psychic thing going on. We would look at each other across the room and pay silent attention to what we saw in the other's eyes.

The silence is also critical here. This was a cat that made very little sound. Well, once she got underfoot, and my foot came down with my full weight on her flexible little person, and THEN, by God, she let out the heartiest miaow I could hope for. Otherwise, she never went around mewing, ever. She could make that funny little chirruping noise that reminds one of a birdcall. A very sensitive, alert, communicative animal she was, but she simply would not vocalize except as a last resort.

When I called the cats for feeding-time from the garage door, I always said "kitty kitty" anyway so names were not that big a deal.

Even the purring was different. More tactile vibration than sound, a very low-volume purring. With this cat one always had a sense of still waters running deep.

I was away at university, when a neighbor brought home a watchdog that I never got acquainted with; the watchdog wasn't there very long. No lead or fence, the dog was at large when outdoors. Before the watchdog was evicted in disgrace, it managed to slaughter both of our cats, stalking the garage door when the cats came out of the house.

That's the last pet cat I ever had.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: gnu
Date: 12 Sep 16 - 02:36 PM

Rap keeps rattlers just fer petting.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: mkebenn
Date: 12 Sep 16 - 09:28 AM

Rap, buy a rat snake, she'll feed her self, just add water. Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: gnu
Date: 11 Sep 16 - 01:40 PM

Senoufou... tis always best to "shop ahead". Smart move.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 11 Sep 16 - 01:32 PM

I think what it is gnu, we so love our pets we daren't refuse treatment or try to reduce the fee, in case they die or suffer. It's an emotional thing. Vets obviously know this, and while it's only fair they be paid for their skills and long period of training and studies, sometimes they're having a laugh, in my opinion.

We're going to try a new little vet's surgery we saw in a slightly less 'posh' area, and ask what their charges are, for future reference. It'll be interesting to compare the two price-scales.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: gnu
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 01:53 PM

Speaking of vet ripoffs, we took Cassie to the vet that the ex used to use. $18 for the shot but she would have to stay for three days at big $$$. I said, give her the shot and send me the bill but I can't afford the stay. The ex said something like, we should have her stay. I was standing next to the ex and prodded her in the back with a finger and said, "You know we can't afford that bill right now. She'll be all right. If not, we'll bring her back and whatever the bill ends up at, we'll pay when we can." She clued in and we left. I went straight to another vet... an old guy *I* knew but hadn't seen for quite a while. I told him the story. He said, "She'll be fine. Might need another shot next summer. I'd love to talk but it's busy today. No charge." and he walked out. Cassie's swollen pink lips just fine in two days. I got the bill from the first vet about a week later... threw it in the garbage.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 12:57 PM

Just kidding - love 'em really
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Greg F.
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 12:48 PM

Ours when younger used to bring in mice to play with mercilessly, tossing them around until they expired. And rats. And pheasants (posted with difficulty through the cat flap) And rabbits. And pigeons.... and even sloe worms.

Oh, isn't that just ADORABLE!

Cats should be kept INDOORS!

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 12:10 PM

That should be 'slow worms' of course! Sloes are for gin, and very nice too.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 12:08 PM

At the time Sandra, I'd have paid a million pounds to save Minty, as he's very dear to us. My husband was in Africa visiting his family, and Minty is his favourite cat. I wanted him to be still alive when 'dad' came home. And one could ask, "What price to save a loved one?" I could have had him euthanased, but it's so hard to face. I reckon vets know this. It made me think about the NHS and how awful it would be to have to pay for treatment of a human loved-one, as in Africa.

Gnu, we're about 500 miles from Dundee.

Regarding 'mousers', it's quite true that eating mice gives cats tapeworms. And while cats will eat MOST of the mouse, one finds a dismembered head or a lone tail lying about on the carpet. Not pretty.
Ours when younger used to bring in mice to play with mercilessly, tossing them around until they expired. And rats. And pheasants (posted with difficulty through the cat flap) And rabbits. And pigeons.... and even sloe worms.
And all my (male only) cats through the years have weed on anything that takes their fancy. Siamese are terrible for that. Even directly into sockets, causing sparks to fly out. (We've taped plastic sheets over ours!)
To be honest, cats are a bloody nuisance. (But have enriched my life immeasurably over the decades) Terrible buggers...

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 11:54 AM

The degree to which individual cats will tolerate folk music varies widely, but it's never a good idea to leave an instrument case open if there's a cat in the room. "Oh, you mean that's not a litter box? Well, I thought it was! Maybe I wouldn't have made that mistake if you people were paying more attention to me and less to those noisy things in your laps and under you chins!"

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: gnu
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 11:20 AM

How far are you from Dundee?

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 10:43 AM

charge what the market bears & the market for a beloved pet ...

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Senoufou
Date: 10 Sep 16 - 05:07 AM

Can I have a self-indulgent moan here please?
Our little Siamese 'Minty' suffers periodically from triaditis, involving inflammation of the pancreas, gall bladder and liver. He had an episode three years ago and the vet pulled him round, but it cost £600. This summer, he fell ill again and nearly died, but having spent three nights in the vet hospital on a drip, he survived once more. This time, the bill was £800. Minty cost £400 to buy as a kitten. He's cost us an arm and a leg over the years. We can't get Pet Insurance as all our cats are elderly and it wouldn't be possible.
Now, my sis is a hospital doctor, and told me that re-hydration drips cost pennies, and she reckons these vet's bills are a total rip-off. The poor little cat only lay in a cage (didn't eat or drink) with one nurse doing very little. He had antibiotic tablets. But no operation or intervention. I think these fees are exorbitant. In Dundee (where my sis is a doctor) she made enquiries and the vets there would have charged about £80-£100. I'm so glad Minty survived and am grateful for the vet's having saved him, but I do think they having a laugh to be honest!

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Sep 16 - 07:54 PM

Obviously they're singing doggerel.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Jack Campin
Date: 09 Sep 16 - 07:42 PM

A picture too heartbreaking to ignore:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/e4/d8/1b/e4d81b6f0573def29cea8a33fcce042a.jpg

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion
Date: 16 Feb 12 - 03:39 PM

Ebbie wrote: "That cat ... ended up knowing what time I should go to bed. At a certain point she would dance on my pillow squalling for me to come into the bedroom."

We are well accustomed to having our behaviour monitored and regulated by the cats: they get us up in the morning, they inform us when dinner is due, and they announce bedtime. In fact, felines are downright normative.

What I find remarkable is that they always seem to know the time. Cats can't read the clock, but they want us up by six o'clock in the morning whether it is black dark (i.e., the dead of winter) or broad daylight (half-way through June).

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Becca72
Date: 16 Feb 12 - 02:34 PM

Richard,
A cat knows what "Fuck off" means; they just choose to ignore you.

The key to spraying is to stop it before it ever starts by having them neutered before they come into maturity. If a male cat starts spraying and is then neutered it is far more likely to continue post-op.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 16 Feb 12 - 08:33 AM

Castrated males do not usually spray.

But cats are a nuisance anyway. At least a dog will learn quite speedily what "fuck off" means .

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 16 Feb 12 - 07:22 AM

I only had two cats and a dog all of which were female so I can't really give an opinion but I enjoyed the friendship of all three each of them had a personality of their own. The main reason for that was because I was the only female in the house. But I am sure that if we had decided to have a male cat I would have loved it just as much. The other deciding factor was that I had heard that males tend to spray urine marking their territory. It probably would have been trainable but my ex-husband wasn't very keen on the idea.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: beeliner
Date: 15 Feb 12 - 09:32 PM

We have one of each, my wife calls the male "Homopuss" because he seems to prefer the company of male humans.

When they fight, which is frequently, it's usually the female who is the instigator - or is that instigatrix? The fights are usually about 10% antagonism and 90% recreation.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: gnu
Date: 15 Feb 12 - 03:52 PM

That's cool, Ebbie.

I used to nap every day after lunch for 40 minutes with the office phone ringer muted. I would give this certain call (sounded like a cat) and even if Maggie was a hundred yards away outside, she was there to snuggle up to my chest (never on top of me) in jig time.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 Feb 12 - 03:31 PM

That cat, gnu, ended up knowing what time I should go to bed. At a certain point she would dance on my pillow squalling for me to come into the bedroom. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: gnu
Date: 15 Feb 12 - 02:52 PM

Nice story, Ebbie.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 Feb 12 - 02:23 PM

Like leenia, I found that a cat needn't be a mouser in order to scare off the mice. When I had a mobile home in the woods I had mice. So I got a cat who seemed never to pay attention, but every night I left the kitchen cabinet doors open and I never found another sign of mice.

Speaking of feral cats, at another place there was a feral mother cat that neighbors said had a litter every year out by the railroad tracks. When I moved there, they were perhaps8 or 9 weeks old and wild as cougars.

I wanted a kitten so I started putting out food and little by little setting the dish closer to the back door. The mother never came close but the kittens couldn't resist and one day a kitten went into the kitchen. I closed the door- that ended up being a wonderful cat.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: gnu
Date: 14 Feb 12 - 08:24 PM

Good on ya, Bluesman. Enjoy. And, condolences. It's never easy.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 14 Feb 12 - 06:25 PM

Just bought two persian kittens tonight, had to replace my dear 18 year old which I had to have put down two weeks ago. It is like having children in the house again !

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Feb 12 - 12:01 PM

Oh yeah, gnu. >;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: gnu
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 07:54 PM

There it is, 9. They are them and you are you. Unfortunately, there are bad pets and bad pet owners. Your heart was in the right place and that's what matters most. Kinda like interaction between humans, innit? >;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: GUEST,999
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 07:10 PM

Camels have been domesticated for five thousand years--and they still don't like people.

Cats can be a blessing or a curse. Feral creatures are just that: feral.

My skunk--don't know where he lives--, Charlie, is a calm peaceful creature who will walk near me, not spray me (he knows my voice because when he's around I say stuff to him like "Yo, Charlie, how's it hangin'" or "You're out early tonight, arent you?") and I know he harbours me no ill will. However, Charlie is a skunk with sharp claws, teeth that could be detrimental to one's well-being and a spray that can cause blindness if not treated very quickly. So, I would never try to pet him or cuddle him. I can think of easier ways to get punctured and ripped to sh#t.

I adopted a feral cat years ago. It was clear to her that he was welcome to the house--actually ground floor of an apt building--but also that I didn't like her any more than she liked me, so let's agree to keep out of each other's way. We did for the eight or so months she stayed around. (She got all pissed off with me near month two because I trapped her and took her to a vet to be fixed and given a check up, etc., but what are ya gonna do, ya know?) Feral means 'leave me t'hell alone, thank you very much', but somehow I think she knew at least one person liked her. I don't know her fate. I like to think she went to live on Mt Royal, but it's as likely she was killed by a car. Tough little thing, no doubt the result of some thoughtless so-and-sos who didn't have the common decency to spay or neuter their house pet. Anyway, since I don't particularly like cats, I'll end here.


Except I want to know one thing. Basically, other than they're wonderful warm creatures and all that, I do NOT like cats. Period. I think they are fairly stupid creatures with a very narrow association to do with anything that requires thinking. So why me? The damned things rub against my legs, come sit where I am, just generally be a nuisance. I tell them in plain English accompanied by hisses and snarls that I think "You are the most useless thing I have encountered since my pet rock ended up in the river (I was teaching it to swim) and left home." You let a dog know you don't like him and he'll keep away. Tell a ^%&(*#@$ cat that and all of a sudden you're his best bud.

And one more thing. There was a Siamese cat in NYC that took a liking to me (yippee) and I admit to scratching behind her ears for a few minutes. It was at a party in Brooklyn. Anyway, some loud mouth took issue with another loud mouth (me) and started towards me with a loud voice. I stood up to deal with the situation and the damned cat was in between us with a 'do not mess with my friend look' on her face and one leg (front right if I recall) up, claws extended somewhat and the surliest and ugliest disposition I've seldom seen other than in humans. The guy stopped and sat down. I scratched the old gal behind the ears for a few minutes. OK, so she was ok.

Then there was the hungry one in Alberta. Poor little thing. I fed her for months until I could find a good home for her.

And the one in north Alberta that came to me to die. His belly had been ripped open by a dog, and it was bad. I'd left food out for him for about two years, but he never was trusting of people, so I didn't think we were friends or anything like that. I went out one morning and there he was. I later traced the blood back and he'd come about 200' in that condition. I wrapped him in a towel, took him off the reserve and shot him. I left him for the scavengers because we all know very little goes to waste in this world, but now and then I think of the old guy and hope he understands.

Then there was Lucy. She was a twit. She also had some issues, so I kept her until she was over her issues and found her a good home. Last I heard she was doing fine.

I don't like cats, but I do know there are as many personalities--good and bad--in the cat world as there are in the human world. One cat, one personality. Ya gotta read 'em right and they'll do what they're s'posed to. Read 'em wrong and all they're gonna do is piss ya off, and you them.

NOW, salut!

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Raptor
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 07:01 PM

Guest999 please see the Great Music thread in the ubove section.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 05:24 PM

Feral cats can be a bad idea. Our neighbours took one in from the local cat rescue centre. (Very commendable, and I support these charities with contributions.) He's called Alfie. He'd obviously learned to scavenge and beg, poor little soul, as he'll whizz through any catflap or open door and wolf down any food he can find, even though he's now very well-fed. At night he explodes through our catflap and snarls at our three Siamese cowering in their bed on the counter top. He then hoovers up all the food, then vomits copiously all over our kitchen floor before exiting. I've now stopped putting food down unless I'm there to supervise. I haven't told his owners, as I understand completely that Alfie has problems and no-one's to blame. Feral cats can be so difficult to 'civilise'!

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 02:43 PM

We have just adopted a second cat, a female Siamese who came to us with a reputation for submissive timidity. Ha! Not so's you would notice. Cat 1, a large aging tom named Bill, is still trying to figure out what the hell happened while Cat 2 eats his dinner.

Cat 2 came to us from a home with three other cats (all male) and two untrained dogs, plus four humans, two of them teenagers, all packed into a frankly cramped row house. We are quiet, middle-aged readers, and there are only two of us.

All of which is to say that living conditions have a powerful effect on feline behaviour. Cats are affectionate if you handle them gently and frequently, and talk to them (they soon start talking back). Even cats who don't like sitting on laps will hang out with people who avoid abrupt loud movements and encourage them with appropriate stroking and scratches. It helps if you don't mind sharing the bed with your cat ...

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: lefthanded guitar
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 02:04 PM

leenia you are absolutely right. My cats were great mousers, they were indoor/outdoor cats and were raised by a very good mother.

I also feel in general, boy cats are more outgoing and affectionate and better mousers, but it's not true of every cat, of course.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 11:09 AM

...the other white meat.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 10:11 AM

Sometimes the mere presence of a cat will keep mice out of the house. The cat doesn't have to be a hunter; the scent of a cat scares the mice away. But I suppose it depends on how cold and hungry the mice are in any given winter.

My sister-in-law once saw her dog and her cat posed in the kitchen door, watching something with great interest. She checked, and they were watching a mouse with its hind feet clamped on the edge of the cat's dish, drinking its milk. The pets evidently thought they were watching "Wild Kingdom."

If you want a nice pet, get a kitten from a mother that was a nice pet. Make sure the kitten has been handled and is used to people. Don't adopt a feral animal. Those are tips that may not guarantee success, but they will stack the odds in your favor.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: ranger1
Date: 07 Feb 12 - 10:00 PM

LOL, Bruce. I needed that.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Feb 12 - 09:07 PM

Then there's Herbie and the cat ain't sayin' nothin'.

Subject: RE: BS: Cats
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Feb 12 - 09:06 PM

and the it goes with the turf mousers.