How many Mudcats have cats!?

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Jos
Date: 07 Jun 21 - 09:09 AM

Maybe Isobel didn't recognise Watson when he came back from the cat hospital, as he won't have smelled like his old self at first.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 07 Jun 21 - 08:33 AM

Watson and Isobel have reconciled after several days of estrangement caused by Watson's overnight stay at the cat hospital. It was nice to have my lap so thoroughly occupied (kinda like France circa 1941) instead of the swearing and clashing of claws on ceramic tile that indicate feline hostility.

I assume that this return to bliss will last only until Watson has to return to the vet to find out whether the new prescription diet ($$$) is solving his crystalluria problem.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 06 Jun 21 - 09:16 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: The Sandman
Date: 13 Jan 21 - 04:14 AM

one

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Joe_F
Date: 12 Jan 21 - 10:35 PM

I have a yellow plaster cat permanently climbing the corner of the bookcase on my desk. I inherited it from my father, who brought it home from France in the 1920s. He treated himself to a year there after he won a prize for a book he had written. In France, it was (perhaps still is) traditional for farmers to decorate their roofs with plaster animals.

I see that we can't call the 1920s the '20s any more.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Jan 21 - 07:00 PM

Lucy and Lionus were annoyed when cooped up in one room while a new water heater was installed. I was annoyed when the old one leaked a bit.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Jan 21 - 05:41 PM

We need to hear from
Mudcatters owned by happy healthy pet cats
on how their four-legged friends
are helping keep them safe and sane during the pandemic.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Naemanson
Date: 18 Sep 20 - 06:12 AM

Two in the house and two in the sad little cemetery under the mango tree.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Mooh
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 10:04 AM

Charmion, thanks.

I haven't been around Mudcat much, not on purpose, just sort of drifted away as the guitar threads and Canadian content seemed to diminish, and some of the general humour lost. I do peak in for a read sometimes.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 08:12 AM

In this mud cat box
I'm posting this
to cover all my leavings

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 14 Sep 20 - 10:42 AM

Hey, Mooh -- great to see your name on the board again.

We had a tomcat like your George. His name was Bill, and he was both a biter and a pisser -- preferring doors and baseboards to bags, and responsible for the destruction of rather too many books on bottom shelves. But definitely just full of je ne sais quoi.

Bill was the source of a family joke, the one about the "free cat". He came into our lives at the back door, at which he pounded when he finally decided to get off the street, and cost us thousands over the 13 years he lived with us, not only in vet bills (nearly $1,000 in his first two weeks) but also to repair the havoc he so casually wrought.

Peace to you, too!

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Mooh
Date: 14 Sep 20 - 10:32 AM

Not anymore. George left us last month. No more biting my feet as I slept, no more pissing in random bags/kits/purses left open, no more pissing in random shoes, no more pissing on the bathroom floor beside a clean litter box, no more chasing the 90lb dog from his bed, no more biting the dogs in their sleep, no more friends arriving and making sure George wasn't present before they'd enter, no more vet visits where they had to call in extra staff to handle him. All that said, he did have his own je ne sais quoi, a style of his own, both endearing and maddening.

No condolences required, he was that one most challenging rescue. The exception that tests the rule.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Sep 20 - 07:27 AM

Ancient Egypt invented the ultimate final cat flap into the afterlife. More than any other animal, cats were mummified.
hundreds of thousands of them.
There are millions of human mummies. Grumbracher used to grind up mummies for a pigment called mummy white in oil paint for artists.
We used to have a tube.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 14 Sep 20 - 04:41 AM

I had to change our two cat flaps for Worthy/Snotcat. He was a bit too big to manage the standard cat ones we had before. I think the only “foreigner” we had through ours was Furball who decided he could let himself in and out before he decided he would settle here but that was fine.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 14 Sep 20 - 03:50 AM

If any cat has a choice of two cat-flaps, a large one and a small one, it will invariably pick the larger one.
But how funny that a scientist should design such a thing to let a cat out! Rather sweet of him.
The problem with cat-flaps is that they let other cats IN, and we sometimes had 'visitors', much to the indignation of our resident cats.
Our neighbours have a high-tech system - each of their three cats has a collar with some sort of electronic 'key' on it, which allows the flap to open. I believe this can be achieved using the micro-chip which vets put under the skin of various pets.
That tame red deer in our village ('BamBam') has been microchipped!

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Sep 20 - 02:54 PM

Newtonian Cat Doors
Did Newton bridge the worlds of the indoor cat and outdoor cat?

When he wasn't envisioning space cannons and figuring out what holds the universe together, Isaac Newton applied his considerable intellect to other problems -- such as ways to keep the cat from scratching on the door.

Newton never married and cultivated few friendships, but he did make room in his life for cats and dogs. Sources vary on exactly how this relationship played out. Some contemporary historians label him an animal lover, while other accounts tell doubtful tales regarding a pet dog named Diamond. Some historians even doubt he owned pets at all
The story goes that at the University of Cambridge Newton's experiments were interrupted constantly by his cats scratching at his office door, so he summoned the Cambridge carpenter and had him saw two holes in his door: a large hole for the mother cat and a small one for her kittens. Of course, since the kittens simply followed their mother through the larger hole, the smaller hole remained unused.

"Whether this account be true or false, indisputably true is that there are in the door to this day two plugged holes of proper dimensions for the respective egresses of cat and kitten," wrote a Newton contemporary some years after the scientist's death [source: Wright].

The jury is still out on this story. Newton could have invented one of the world's most popular cat accessories -- or somebody at Cambridge just liked to drill random holes.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 12 Sep 20 - 01:41 PM

Poor Ebbie,it's heartbreaking to lose a pet, dog or cat. It hurts so much.
A lady came to our door this afternoon. She lives opposite Sam the Skull's owners. She told us that the poor little thing died at 2am this morning. The chap who is the owner's boyfriend found him dead beside his water bowl. He thought it could have been kidney problems, and has buried him in their garden.
I'm afraid I cried, imagining the little animal in the night suffering and no-one coming to help.
However, he was very old, and perhaps this is for the best. I don't think his owners were exactly perfect cat-lovers. Husband is very sad too. Ah well...

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Sep 20 - 12:21 PM

The universe had better not forget about
Mudcat member Ebbie,
who has a dog-shaped hole in her heart that needs filling.

Sadly, Mudcat BS threads about the joys of being owned by a dog
tend to get flamed by dog-haters ...

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 12 Sep 20 - 11:13 AM

Rich-joy, if my experience is anything to go by, the Universe is working on the challenge of putting the right cat in your way.

It is entirely possible, however, that the Universe is more interested in finding a human who’s right for a certain cat than in connecting a certain human with the cat of his/her dreams.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: rich-joy
Date: 11 Sep 20 - 11:44 PM

Well, it's been 9 months today (the 12th Sept, Down Under), since my beloved tuxedo cat, Hector Lysander, returned to Source to be with My Beloved Paul (77 months today, since he departed :(
- and even though I haven't finished decluttering and cleaning the house by a long shot, I am really hanging out for my next feline companion.
I even went to meet one this morning (I want a chunky ginger Tabby tom!) but we weren't the right fit.

My Hector loved to be held with his arms draped around my neck (actually, anyone's neck would do - especially blokes' :) and I need a cat that likes cuddling!!!

Someday My Prince Will Come, perhaps ..... surely that's not only in Disney cartoons :) - but it keeps the thread musical on Mudcat, haha!

Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 11 Sep 20 - 12:49 PM

Hee hee keberoxu, he certainly did! I'm finding comfort in remembering our little moments in the sunshine outside on The Bench, and the hundreds of plates of best cat food I gave him, plus bowls of milk etc and diced chicken. The trouble with pet-ownership is their lives are naturally much shorter than ours and we have to brace ourselves for The End every time.
I've just spoken with our lovely neighbour's daughter the Vet nurse, and she still hasn't been able to find out what happened to Spirit eventually, but she too thinks he's no longer with us.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 Sep 20 - 11:55 AM

The saga of Spirit the white tomcat,
who seems to have felt crowded out of the household
that he shared with humans and numerous other cats,
has enlivened Mudcat threads no end in recent times.
It sounds like "Sam the Skull" 's story is near its end.

I too wonder at the disregard and indifference of the humans
who are responsible for their pet cat.
Thank goodness that the tomcat lives in a neighborhood
where there are compassionate neighbors when he is in need.

I never shall forget Senoufou/Eliza's account of the night
that the bedroom window, screen-free, was open,
and Spirit/Sam jumped up to the window from outside
and down into the bedroom
and scared the heck out of her.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Sep 20 - 10:20 AM

Har, har, Andrew.

Likewise, Eliza. Cats don't stay where they're not content, so I think you can be confident that Sam was happy with you on The Bench. And he is now and always has been his own cat, so he dispenses his presence where he pleases.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 10 Sep 20 - 08:36 AM

Haha Charmion, Watson sounds such a scream! Cats do like to sniff feet. Our Siamese would probably have done a passing wee on each player's leg, just to be friendly of course.
No sign of MickeyPickey/Sam today, and I just hope he's either passed away or has been taken to the vet. He couldn't have gone on in that state. Although he wasn't actually my cat, I do miss him already. And I hope his last few months over the summer were happy ones on The Bench at my side. (gulp. tears)

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 10 Sep 20 - 08:32 AM

Perhaps a gut reaction on Watson's part?

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Sep 20 - 07:25 AM

Poor Sam/Spirit. He should be in a warm nest at home, not out in the street.

In other news, we had a (socially distanced) tune session at our house the other day, and Watson appeared to check out the guitar player’s ankles. He did not approve of the fiddle, which I think is too loud for his taste, but took his time to assess each player. Then I suspect he repaired to the bedroom to report his findings to Isobel.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 10 Sep 20 - 03:54 AM

We've had a very worrying time with 'Spirit' aka 'MickeyPickey' or Sam the Skull. He's refused any food for days and was getting thinner and thinner. He sat on The Bench in the pouring rain soaked to the skin, so I lifted him into our sitting room and put him on the sofa on a thick warm blanket.
He seemed so weak, so I rang our delightful neighbour's daughter (the veterinary nurse) and she came round (socially distancing of course)
She kindly carried him back to his house up the road, but no-one was in.
Yesterday I noticed he was lying on his side in the road gasping. I hurried across and lifted him onto the pavement. He couldn't stand up, and he's just skin-and-bone.
The vet nurse went out later but he'd vanished, yet his owners were still out. She's tried messaging them but no reply so far. We're both very worried and a bit angry at such neglect.
May have an update later, but we both think it's the end for the poor chap. Oh dear :(

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Sep 20 - 08:35 PM

Is it time for a Mudcat cat update?

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 26 Jun 20 - 06:51 AM

So sorry Bat Goddess. I completely understand the necessity to do the right thing when the time comes, but I also sympathise because the grief is terrible. I'm still not over losing our SmokeyPokey - had to be done, and the vet was lovely about it, but tears still come at odd times. Sweet little memories...
A big hug to BG. xx

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Jun 20 - 05:34 AM

As it started to rain I saw a frisbee sized terrapin turtle making his way down our backyard sidewalk. The cats are more intrigued by teasing squirrels.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Jun 20 - 08:55 PM

Commiserations to Mudcat member Bat Goddess.

I hear she had to perform
the ultimate mercy
for one of her cats.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 12 May 20 - 09:57 AM

Grackles are very cheeky indeed. They are large and noisy, and I rather suspect the robins were tired of sharing a tree with them.

The cats think it's all a wonderful drama, staged just for them.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 12 May 20 - 02:48 AM

I just looked up 'grackle' and it's a very handsome bird isn't it? Looks quite cheeky!
Yes keberoxu, that was our band of marauders posting an adult pheasant through the cat-flap by pushing from behind outside and pulling from the front inside the house! And carrying a huge rat like two men with a stretcher (seen by the furniture-restorers at their unit quite far from our house) Also poking and tormenting Hissing Sid, the 5ft long grass snake, as he lay curled up behind my neighbour's patio plant pot.
Not to mention Simon the seal-point Siamese in the house-before-that, who often stole items from clothes lines, and particularly loved bras!
Brought me several through the cat-flap, and I had to go round the neighbourhood with a very red face, trying to find the owners!

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 11 May 20 - 07:27 PM

Today’s pleasure was watching the cats watch a pair of grackles tangling with the resident robins on our patio. Better than any movie I’ve seen lately.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 11 May 20 - 07:23 PM

Yes, Senoufou, I recall a post --
was it from you, or from another person owned by cats? --

describing how all the cats in the house
assisted the cat that went out hunting, and
brought a trophy back to the house,
but found it too large or difficult to get it through the cat-flap;
so all the cats gathered around the cat-flap,
indoors and out,
manoeuvering the prize through the flap and into the house ...

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 09 May 20 - 04:10 PM

When we had five cats in our last house, (a mixture of three Siamese, a pedigree British Black Shorthair and a poor tabby stray) they all used to roam about in our large garden and over the ditch into the farmer's fields. The cat-flap was never locked, so they could come and go all night as well.
The 'offerings' that came through that cat-flap were mind-blowing. Poor terrified living creatures, dead ones, guts and bits. We had harvest mice, rats, a large pheasant, baby rabbits, wood pigeons, slow-worms and so on.
I rescued many of these and put them safely back into the field. But some sadly needed dispatching, which was very distressing. And others scuttled into other parts of the house. We had a mouse hiding in the dining room, a rat under the fridge, a pipistrelle bat clinging to the curtains. It was utter madness and I was ashamed at the carnage, being a member of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.
In our bungalow here in this village, we didn't let the three remaining cats out at night, and they grew so old and decrepit they hardly went out at all except to sit with me on The Bench. So no gruesome offerings, thank goodness.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 09 May 20 - 01:30 PM

My indoor cat does the same with my socks on a daily AM basis.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Raggytash
Date: 09 May 20 - 12:56 PM

The mention of rabbits reminded me of my fathers cat, Spot. Dads house was two storeys at the front but three at one side and the back. Thus the door from the basement led out onto the garden and then fields.

Spot was a large Tom-cat he used to catch rabbits, presumably ate the majority of them but ALWAYS left the back legs on the steps leading from the basement as a "present" for Dad. He did this every week, sometimes on two or three occasions.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 09 May 20 - 12:36 PM

After almost two months of isolation, with both of us working at home (you in your small study, and I in mine), Watson (black tomcat) is now the factory timekeeper. He gets us up in the morning, informs us when it's time to stop reading the paper and get to work, and then at five o'clock starts yelling to announce the cocktail hour. If I'm still at my desk at six, he starts relentlessly nagging, standing on the desktop in front of the monitor and scrambling over my shoulders.

His vocabulary is limited, but he never fails to get my attention.

Sister Isobel (also black, rather smaller and much quieter) stands by and gracefully accepts the benefit of timely meal delivery.

Most of the migratory birds have returned from their winter quarters, so the cats spend much of their time chittering at the mourning doves that hang about on the back fence. The rabbits grazing on the lawn don't excite them nearly as much; I guess the cats consider the rabbits a bit out of their weight class.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 May 20 - 11:35 AM

Time for a check-in for the Mudcatters' cats.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 30 Apr 20 - 04:50 PM

Sam the Skull lives with two other rescue cats, and I noticed this morning one of them was keenly watching from way up the road opposite as I popped a dish of food onto the front doorstep. Sam wolfed it down, and his little mate (black with white feet) was most interested. I hope I don't end up with a horde of blooming moggies in a queue at the door each morning!

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 30 Apr 20 - 11:12 AM

refresh.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Apr 20 - 12:49 PM

It's grand to hear that your sister can walk a bit outside,
especially after being almost at death's door.
Charmion says the cats are helping her and Himself sit and read.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 14 Apr 20 - 02:48 PM

Amazingly keberoxu, Mela had left only one mouse's tail and its ears (yuk!) on the wooden floor in my sister's hallway. Phew!
I spoke to her an hour ago (not Mela, I mean my sister!) and the little cat is more cuddly than ever and snuggles up on the bed all night. She's nine years old now, and we reckon she really missed her live-in servant!
Thank goodness for village shops, because my sis can get cat food and treats just a short walk away. She doesn't feel up to driving just yet.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 Apr 20 - 02:24 PM

I wonder, Eliza/Senoufou, now that your sister is recuperating at home,
if she found that her Mela had turned the home into a trophy lounge ...

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 07 Apr 20 - 09:39 AM

My aunt's cat, Allegro, was a mighty hunter who ate the entire corpse EXCEPT the gall bladder, which he would leave in a high-traffic area apparently on purpose. Allegro was famous for having slain a weasel that got into the house, and -- again -- eating much of it. The weasel was a bit much even for Allegro's appetite so, as well as the gall bladder, the head remained to allow identification of the victim.

Our cats adapted easily to our shift from full-time employment to pensioner status and, now that the isolation rules have us at home all the time, they are self-appointed keepers of the household routine. Watson (with Isobel in reserve) gets Himself up at or before the crack of dawn, depending on when he detects the first twitch of an eyelid and, if the smell of coffee doesn't extract me from the scratcher, either Watson or Isobel returns to the bedroom at about seven o'clock to do the job.

I have a big, fat book manuscript to edit, so I spend the day battering the keyboard. Watson comes to the study at five o'clock if Himself has not already delivered the afternoon treat, and again at six o'clock to bring me downstairs to make human supper.

I think he might have been a foreman or maybe a sergeant in a previous life.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 07 Apr 20 - 03:37 AM

Mela apparently always eats the meaty bits from poor creatures, then leaves a nice selection of guts, tails and heads on the floor. By now it should look like a charnel house!
Naughty naughty Sam the Skull came to our BACK door this morning. That's BinkyWinky's terrain. Hr had such a smirk on his face. I got a dish of food and waved it in front of him to get him into our kitchen, through the house and out the front door. If not, there'll be a terrible fight when Binky comes forth in about an hour. Sam is a savage gnasher of any rivals.
I then put out some bits for the birds on the lawn, and a huge selection of my avian friends arrived. Crows, starlings, blackbirds, a robin, the fat wood pigeons.
Husband calls it my zoo!
Speaking of which, I heard about that poor tiger with Covid in the zoo Donuel. Interesting but very sad.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 09:41 PM

Bronx Zoo tigers have covid 19
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/science/tiger-cats-coronavirus.html

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 07:35 PM

Yes, Senoufou/Eliza, exactly so:

Mela is the Mighty Huntress
and Queen of her Territory,
so of course she brings the remains and displays them.
Proudly, no doubt!

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 06 Apr 20 - 10:53 AM

Eliza, fingers crossed for your sister.