How many Mudcats have cats!?

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 05 Oct 21 - 11:15 AM

Felis catus? My bad; I should have looked it up.

Meanwhile, back in the suburbs, my house panthers are shifting gradually into their cool-weather activity pattern. Well, not exactly "activity" pattern; it's really about where they choose to snooze -- i.e., on the bed and in the comfy chair instead of on the hardwood floor. When winter sets in, they will move back to the floor, in a cat-basket set on top of a heat vent. They tangle themselves together so snugly it's hard to identify the point where one cat ends and the other begins.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Oct 21 - 11:59 AM

That's OK. I thought it was what you said 'til I looked it up! (I'm a botanist, you see...)

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Oct 21 - 02:56 PM

quick video on origins

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Oct 21 - 06:29 PM

Rather superficial popular science which at least comes to the right conclusion! :-)

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Oct 21 - 07:23 PM

All in all carnivorous cats make better pets than bears. ":^/ Bears are known to eat people.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Oct 21 - 07:06 PM

Our new(ish) pussycat, Pollywollydoodle (short for Polly), now has three houses apart from the main residence. She has a catden just outside the front door, which we call the pollytunnel (see what I did there?), great for summer use, with an open front. She has an indoor fluffy cave which we will remove as soon as we start lighting the wood stove. Finally, we have the newly-installed winter retreat, as I mentioned earlier, the self-heating one. We're very pleased with it, though she is highly suspicious, for now. It's amazing what you can achieve with a cat via a scant handful of cat biscuits, however...

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 09 Oct 21 - 04:13 AM

You must be that chap on the Dreamies TV advert Steve!
I love Polly's full name - wish I'd chosen more imaginative names for all our cats over the years (Smokey, Misty, Minty, Sam, Murphy, Solo, Gussie, AndyPandy etc) But I needed names you can call outside in the garden to get the little blighters indoors.
I read on another forum that a lady proposed to name her cat 'Jesus' (!!!) Her friend pointed out that she would look an absolute fool standing outside calling "Jeeeesus! Time for bed Jeeesus!" hee hee

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Oct 21 - 05:57 AM

Polly is her official full name, Eliza. But you know how it is. It soon gets transmogrified (transmoggyfied?) over time. It's "PollywollyDOOdle!" at the back door, and "Pol" or "Pollywol" in the house...(The "DOO" part, by the way, is done in a loud, high falsetto: we have no neighbours...)

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Raggytash
Date: 09 Oct 21 - 06:14 AM

Back in the 70's my good lady used to "cat-sit" for friends in Liverpool. The only name the cat would respond to was Bollocks.

So you can imagine my good lady standing at the front door of their terraced street shouting out Bollocks! Bollocks! to attract the cat.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Oct 21 - 06:37 AM

Our cats have been called Pud, Sago, Fig, Toots, Mousse, Monty and Polly. Before we got married, Mrs Steve had a cat called Thick... :-)

I might have mentioned it before, but Toots and I once got our photos in the Guardian Saturday magazine in the This Is My Pet column. Also in the column that week was Catherine Zeta-Jones and her horse... :-)

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 09 Oct 21 - 11:56 AM

We did rather add bits on to their names:- SmokeyPokey, MintyPooPoo (he had a lot of diarrhoea as a kitten) MurphyPurphy, SimpsonSamson and so on. (I often call my poor husband (Ibrahima) "IbbyBibby", much to his disgust!)
I do love the name of the neighbours' cat who visits me, she's called Pippin. And our other neighbours have Delilah, Tiger Lily and Archie.
My pedigree British Black Shorthair was officially called Ashmere Augustus by his breeder. I won a Premier Medal when showing him at the Cat Fancy shows. But I called him Gussie!

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Oct 21 - 06:40 PM

Ashmere Augustus Aurelius is better than Wild Branta Canadensis Purrsuit. Our most talkative Siamese cat was named Kevetch.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 12 Oct 21 - 04:11 AM

You've taught me something Donuel. I looked up kvetch and it's yiddish for 'to complain'. Oi vey!

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 12 Oct 21 - 08:34 AM

Kvetch is an excellent name for a Siamese of a certain disposition.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 12 Oct 21 - 11:17 AM

It is indeed Charmion!
Someone posted a funny cartoon on our village Facebook.
First picture, timid little cat emerging from a cat-basket, saying "Oh, th...th...thank you s.s.s.so much for rescuing m..m..ee!"
Second picture, headed 'One month later..', cat sitting arrogantly on sofa while new owner enters "How dare you, you peasant! On your knees! I am the Lord of this house! Fetch me some roast chicken and a bowl of cream! Now!"

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Oct 21 - 11:20 AM

I'm a sucker for pets with pets. There are tons of pics with dogs and their cats napping together. Even gorillas love cats.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 15 Oct 21 - 08:03 PM

In the music section I have started a thread which is actually
about the point of view of a cat, in a poem from the 1800's.

The thread is titled
Trans Req: Warum kuessen sich [die] Menschen? which is
the subject of a tomcat's speculation:

Why do human beings kiss each other?
The poem is originally in German, hence the 'Trans Req'.
I recommend this excerpt - very witty.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 17 Oct 21 - 08:17 PM

I have often seen cats touch noses in greeting, keb. I think cats understand kissing just fine; the songwriter, however witty, might have been less clued in to cats.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 18 Oct 21 - 04:00 AM

I popped next door yesterday afternoon to post an envelope through our neighbours' door. (I donate to their daughter's 'sheep sanctuary' from time to time.) They have three super cats. The eldest ('Tiger Lily') was sitting in their window, watching me and smiling.
Sadly, their letterbox is rather fierce, and I got my hand trapped in it. Nobody was in, and I tugged & tugged, trying to free it. Tiger Lily watched with great interest, and I swear she was actually laughing!
I envisaged spending the rest of the day with one hand poking in through their front door, but fortunately I eventually extricated myself.
Tiger Lily looked a trifle disappointed!
Honestly, cats do actually smile and laugh if one understands their body language and facial expressions.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Oct 21 - 01:57 PM

Linus (Lion Ass) had a nightmare and woke up to springing 3 feet in the air of the end of my bed. I do not know the kind of monster he was dreaming of but it must have been fierce. He cautiously scouted the room for almost 2 months before he returned to snooze on the bed.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 09:36 AM

I may have posted this before but a brother and his cat did have a real shock with lying on the bed one night. It came in the form of a 6' carpet python. I think Tim got bitten but was otherwise unharmed. I gather the cat stuck very close to Tim for a long while after this encounter.

I believe Tim does have a tendency to leave his house open to all sorts though. I doubt it's still around but he did have lizard (blue tongued skink?) that I think liked cat food as a regular visitor.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 11:26 AM

Good heavens Jon, a six-foot long carpet python (called Monty?) and a blue-tongued skink? I suppose this was not in Norfolk!
Reminds me of Hissing Sid, a very long grass snake that our five cats cornered in our neighbour's back garden. It was coiled up under a large plant pot supporter, hissing like anything, while they all stood round fascinated, poking it with tentative paws. Neighbour and I gently got it onto a big shovel and popped it into the ditch, after I'd shepherded the five miscreants indoors. They didn't half give me some dirty looks for spoiling their fun!
Grass snakes, although about five feet long, aren't venomous, but can give a nasty bite. This one had been eating my neighbour's koi fish in her pond. It may have been a female, because we found some baby grass snakes in a puddle later that year. We left them to shuffle off. (It's illegal to kill native reptiles in UK)

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 11:37 AM

No, not Norfolk, Sen! Queensland, Australia.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 12:57 PM

Oh phew Jon! we often have our window open at night, and I don't fancy waking up to find a carpet python in bed with us!

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 04:41 PM

The time we visited Oz in 2006, I was walking along this road near Perth when I spotted a bloody great big huge monster of a lizard jobbie, staring balefully at me from the undergrowth. When I related this, terror in my eyes, to the rellies, they laughed at me, saying that these dinosaur-manquées (can't remember its name now) were everywhere and were completely harmless, unlike that redback spider that I found hiding under a bog seat, waiting to bite me arse...

I'm stayin' 'ere...

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 05:45 PM

In deep winter, I have been known to grumble that my ancestors picked the wrong destination when they left their various old countries. Then I read something — pretty near anything — about Australian wildlife, especially snakes, and promptly start counting my blessings.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 06:13 PM

Like everywhere, it's never as bad as the stories you hear...

A few weeks ago I was weeding my greenhouse when a huge great big ground beetle nipped my finger. Unheard of, I hear! It WAS my fault...

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 22 Oct 21 - 04:06 AM

My fearless husband always picks up gigantic spiders from our bathroom with his bare hands and pops them outside. Meanwhile I'm running round screaming in terror. Once, a particularly large and ferocious-looking specimen actually bit him. I expressed great concern, but he merely shrugged and smiled. He's my absolute hero.
When staying alone in Senegal many years ago (in Casamance) I kindly offered to put their goats away for the night in their little stable under the water tower. As I was patting them and saying goodnight (in French Goatese of course) I suddenly noticed a huge hairy bloomin' monster of a spider beside me on the wall. It moved, ready to jump I think. My goodness, I fled screaming and the African owners fell about laughing.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Oct 21 - 07:53 AM

Candidate for NYC mayor Curt Sliwa, advocates for cats to be taken off kill lists to be euthanized. He says Cats solve the rodent problem, lowers our blood pressure and interact well in our society.
He also believes you can't be a peace maker with a 9 milimeter strapped
on your hip.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Oct 21 - 11:22 AM

Those are interesting statements for a public figure to make, Donuel, but not enough to indicate that he would be a good mayor.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Oct 21 - 08:23 PM

He has been in our news for 50 years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Sliwa

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: JennieG
Date: 29 Oct 21 - 02:26 AM

Yes, we here in Oz do have things which will kill you......but show me the country which doesn't.

I have lived in Oz all of my (long-ish) life and only seen one snake in our garden, the year we first moved here - 2010 - it was a brown snake, one of the deadliest, although a young one. It moved quicker than we did, let me tell you. We are careful not to leave footwear outside overnight, as that could be asking for a bitten toe in the morning; some spiders do like a nice cosy shoe.

On our various visits to Canada we have lost count of the number of folk who have said to us "we would love to go to Australia, but you have things which will kill you".....to which we have replied "well - you have bears which aren't always friendly, and moose which can kill you on the road too! And those big whales, orcas....."

Here's a song for you, Steve......Redback on the toilet seat

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 29 Oct 21 - 08:49 AM

The thing about dangerous Canadian wild animals, Jennie, is that most of them are pretty big, and you have to be blind drunk as well as stupid to miss them when they’re close enough to take exception to your presence. A moose on the highway, a bear helping himself in the veggie garden — not hard to spot. Also, the most threatening beasts avoid humans, and most Canadians are city-dwellers who have to travel a far piece to get up close and personal with one. Stay off their doorstep, and they stay off yours.

Note that raccoons, skunks and coyotes do not belong to this class of wildlife. Living as I do in delightful, suburban Stratford, less than 1,000 metres from cropland, I keep the garbage under close arrest and the garage and garden shed firmly shut to discourage those species from visiting my patch for more than a cursory look around.

Oh, and the cats stay in, not only to keep them out of the line of fire but also to prevent them from messing with the many birds that live in my hedge. Their job is clobbering any mouse that dares to venture into the house, which they handle with enthusiasm and dispatch.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Oct 21 - 09:13 AM

Australian spiders!

Earlier in the century a friend's teenage English nephew was visiting & was worried about all our dangerous wildlife, so Auntie & her songwriting partner re-wrote the 12 days of Christmas & laminated pics of each creature which we held up as we sang the verses. The poor lad is probably still getting psychiatric help!

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 29 Oct 21 - 11:20 AM

Jennie, the tale of the redback spider is more than a song, it's an epic of several cantos!

It confirms my conviction that, despite its usual population of heavy-lift mosquitoes, a Canadian backhouse crapper is a more reassuring comfort station than its Australian counterpart.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Oct 21 - 12:03 PM

Sliwa founded the "Guardian Angels," an ad hoc group of public defenders in the New York City subway system. I saw them a few times on their rounds - and was not particularly pleased by their presence. He has political history with Rudy Giuliani but hates Trump. Sliwa on Wikipedia. Wacko. But he apparently loves cats.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Oct 21 - 04:00 PM

As a wacko he will get the 20% wacko vote.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 30 Oct 21 - 03:35 AM

An outside toilet here in Norfolk is called a 'thunderbox'. ("Bucket and chuckit") The chap who used to come round to empty the buckets thereof drove what was called the Honey Cart.
I'm still missing all our cats, especially SmokeyPokey. I find myself saying 'goodnight' to an empty space on the sofa. Don't they get into your heart eh?

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 30 Oct 21 - 11:00 AM

I have rarely observed altruism in cats - generally they're a selfish grabby bunch. But recently we've noticed a good example of it. I often put a dish of food out for Pippin, a lovely female cat who hangs around in our back garden. The folk she belongs to feed her (I suspect) on dry biscuit food, and she prefers our offerings.
But lately a little black boy with white paws, looking rather thin and scrawny, has taken to hanging around too. He belongs to the same people who owned Spirit (AKA Sam the Skull) and they aren't exactly fabulous cat-owners. He gazes longingly at the dish (sometimes roast chicken pieces, or tuna, or Purina best-quality sachets) and Pippin waits kindly while he fills his boots. I reckon it's a motherly instinct (he's under a year old I think), and there's never any fighting or growling.
Once he's slipped back home, I put out another dish for the gentle Pippin.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 31 Oct 21 - 01:57 PM

So have you given the little black fella a name yet? Your description reminds me of a piano player by the name of Gloves McGinty who worked the Ottawa Valley bar circuit back in the day.

Saying "good night" to absent cats -- the gig at my house has never been vacant over some 35 years, but I know what you mean. I still absent-mindedly check the tops of bookcases where a long-gone puss named Batsy used to hang out.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 31 Oct 21 - 06:32 PM

I love the name McGinty - thanks for that Charmion! He can be (Gloves)McGinty from now on. My nickname to most of my friends is Paddy, and there was a lovely song by Val Doonican called Paddy McGinty's Goat.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cat songs ?
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Nov 21 - 06:25 PM

With 2 cats in the yard life used to be so hard but now exerything is easy cause of you.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Nov 21 - 08:32 PM

Ah, Eliza/Senoufou, you do have a layered and curious relationship
with the neighbo[u]rs who neglected, excuse me, adopted "Spirit'.
Why will people insist on taking cats in
and then insist, equally, on neglecting them?
It beats the heck out of me.


So, Charmion, I looked online for Gloves McGinty
and found myself confronted with the name
Alexander MacLeod,
and it seems he had a brother named Reid who was also musical.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Nov 21 - 09:58 PM

Yep, that was the man himself. He did a honky-tonk act in a striped blazer, straw boater hat, and white gloves.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Nov 21 - 04:00 AM

I agree with you Keberoxu, it's a mystery why people 'obtain' animals (cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs etc) and do not care for them properly, either through ignorance, lack of empathy or just laziness.
The owner of McGinty (the late Sam the Skull's owner) has also obtained a big dog. Her new boyfriend drags the poor beast around on a lead and treats it very harshly. I don't know a lot about dogs, but this doesn't seem right to me.
My lovely lovely neighbour, the veterinary nurse, is the most compassionate animal-lover I've ever met (and absolutely obsessed with cats!) She can't see either why people 'get' a cat and then toss a few dry biscuits down for it, while not seeing to worming, de-fleaing or necessary injections. I'm so glad she lives next door to me, and her gay partner (another vet nurse, and co-owner of their Sheep/Chicken Sanctuary) is also a joy. (I might buy a posh hat, as I hope they might get married any time soon!)
Just before writing this, I put down some treats for Pippin and McGinty. Chopped tuna, a Purina sachet, (which contains essential taurine, that all cats need) a bit of butter and a little knob of Philadelphia cream cheese! They're both out there now, licking and munching together like old pals.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Nov 21 - 06:57 AM

Make sure any tuna you feed to cats has no added salt and don't overdo it... Not the best thing...

I once saw a cat being slowly killed by its misguided owner persistently feeding canned tuna to it, thinking it was somehow superior to much cheaper cat food...

Waitrose "Essentials" skipjack tuna in oil has no added salt and is fairly cheap. The expensive stuff in little pots, similar. But every other brand of tuna in oil that I've checked out has added salt (which I can't stand). I haven't looked at the tuna in in springwater as I regard such things as inedible abominations... :-)

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Nov 21 - 09:45 AM

You're right Steve, but I use weeny tins of tuna in oil, and only a small teaspoonful on the side of a dish (just to have a lick/taste) next to the whole Purina sachet (various flavours, they of course prefer the chicken one!) plus small pieces of roast chicken breast if I have any.
They're both out there again in the pouring rain looking wistfully through the conservatory windows. Why oh why don't their respective owners give them what they need : company, affection and food other than dry biscuits? I feel a bit guilty being a 'cat borrower' like that Dreamies bloke on the telly, but I'm a pushover I'm afraid.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 05 Nov 21 - 09:19 AM

I just broke up a serious cat-fight between 'Gloves McGinty', Delilah and Archie. D & A live next door, and they defend their territory alarmingly. Fortunately, McGinty ran away.

I must just post this:-
Our village Facebook often has reports of Mr Barrett's sheep/pigs having escaped from their badly-fenced field. One lady posted this today:
"Sheep out on Cadders Hill, on a horse so I couldn't herd it back into its field." (She owns a lovely mare called Eleisha)
I couldn't resist replying: "Never seen a sheep on horseback before. No wonder you couldn't catch it!"
This village gets ever madder.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Nov 21 - 08:18 PM

Three months ago up the road a piece, 22 Zebras broke out of their pen from a private farm. To date only two are left wandering free but several have died. The owner back from holiday is up on charges.
Authorities have asked the public to please stop feeding the Zebras.

Subject: RE: How many Mudcats have cats!?
From: Senoufou
Date: 07 Nov 21 - 11:51 AM

Oh that's so sad Donuel. Do you know why several have died?
I visited my lovely vet-nurse neighbours yesterday evening to give them a small cash contribution for their Sheep Sanctuary, and they showed me photos of Archie's siblings. (The feral mother cat was shot by a heartless farmer, and all four kittens were saved and bottle-fed about a year ago) They've all flourished and look very alike, and live with cat-loving friends in our part of Norfolk.
While I was there, I was amused to see Tiger Lily, Delilah and Archie each at the top of their individual sitting-room cat tower (a sort of pole with various levels, each with a little hidey-hole bed). They looked as if they ruled the roost (which they almost certainly do!)
It's a good job I'm not in the least squeamish, because the two nurses told me about their studies and practical progress, and proudly showed me pictures of their successes in castration!! Several removed testicles of various species of animals! I began to see why the two of them are fiercely Vegan!