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13 Jun 06 - 05:55 PM (#1759225) Subject: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Charley Noble This one has to be viewed to be believed: Click at Your Own Risk! The gist of the story is that an intrepid cat treed a black bear that invaded its backyard. There is no bloodshed. The squeamish need not worry. There may be a song in this story. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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13 Jun 06 - 06:14 PM (#1759237) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: freightdawg As a true cat lover that is hysterical. I have to believe the bear was very young. I would think that if the bear was hungry or in a foul mood that it could make quick work of a little (even 15 pound) housecat. However, I bet the tabby gets a few pints at the local tavern now! Freightdawg |
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13 Jun 06 - 07:13 PM (#1759275) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Peace When the bear got tired of the tree . . . . |
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13 Jun 06 - 07:21 PM (#1759287) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Ebbie A neighbor of mine's black and white cat (Oreo)- not even full grown - chased off a bear too. My neighbor was sunning in the back yard when the bear ambled in. The kitten was outraged, and leaping onto the bear's hindquarters, squawling in full voice, she raked through the fur with all four feet. The bear ran. |
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13 Jun 06 - 07:25 PM (#1759290) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Peace What Ebbie didn't tell you about her neighbour's cat . . . . |
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13 Jun 06 - 07:27 PM (#1759291) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Little Hawk It's not the only such case. Ernest Thompson Seton recounted an incident that occurred with a very feisty and troublesome female black bear and a cat. The cat was also a female and had a litter of kittens which she was guarding at the time. The black bear was a local troublemaker, much noted for robbing garbage and beating up most of the other black bears. She arrived one day, followed by her half-grown cub, approached the front porch area of Seton's cabin, looking around for garbage, and encountered the mother cat and her kittens. The cat sprang up, puffed out all its fur, and commenced to spit and howl threats while the kittens scattered. The bear paused, momentarily shocked that this tiny animal would attempt to block its way, then lumbered forward confidently. As the bear drew closer the cat's howling heightened in pitch...and then the cat sprang full into the bear's face and, claws working furiously, made its way onto the back of the bear's neck! The bear gave a "whoof" of astonishment and reared up on its hind legs, trying to knock the cat off with its paws. This was to no avail. The cat, continuing to claw and bite madly, had made its way onto the bear's back where it was quite out of reach. The bear realized this in short order and rushed about here and there with the cat wreaking havoc on its back. The bear cub panicked and ran up a large tree, and the mother bear shortly decided to do the same thing. The cat jumped off the bear's back once it was some way up the tree, and, like this cat in the news report prowled around triumphantly at the bottom of the tree for the next 20 minutes, while the bears remained there, afraid to come down. Eventually Seton took pity on them and came and took the cat back to the cabin. Shortly after that the bears descended and rushed off into the forest, and following that incident they gave the cat a wide birth whenever they came around looking for garbage. True story. An enraged cat loose on your back is enough to give any animal pause, I can assure you, and no one interferes with a mother cat and her kittens without paying the price. |
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13 Jun 06 - 07:41 PM (#1759308) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: The Fooles Troupe Cat Trees Bear What? Kittens? |
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13 Jun 06 - 07:44 PM (#1759310) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: bobad That's a good story LH, I enjoyed it. There has been a bear sighted down my road where I walk my dog every morning so I've taken to carrying my Bowie knife because I would be very vulnerable if confronted, as the road passes through an uninhabited boggy area. This morning my dog stopped and sniffed the air and cocked his ears, then there was a loud sound of a branch snapping, whereupon I tensed and reached for my knife. Thankfully, to my relief, a turkey vulture flew out of the woods and over our heads, it must have been sitting on a dead branch which snapped as it took flight. |
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13 Jun 06 - 07:59 PM (#1759322) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Charley Noble We did have an incident that was not so outrageously out of scale as cat verus bear. Our half-grown calico cooncat encountered a half-grown chocolat lab romping into HER yard. She lept up on the dog's back and the poor dog went howling up our porch stairs, under my wife's skirts. There was additional howling and yowling at that point! I was even drawn away from Mudcat to the porch area to ascertain what on earth was happening. Fortunately everything got sorted out without major damage and one proud calico cooncat later stalked up and down HER yard. I didn't get any pictures...Sorry! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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13 Jun 06 - 07:59 PM (#1759324) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Little Hawk What you clearly need, bobad, is a well-trained attack cat! ;-) The common domestic cat is useless for that purpose unless it's defending either its kittens or its home territory, but Siamese cats can be trained as attack animals. You take a well-trained Siamese along and the bear will have more to deal with than it might find to its taste. We had such a Siamese, and believe you me, he would take on anything non-human that dared trespass on our property. His weapons were his speed and his utter ruthlessness in combat. |
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13 Jun 06 - 10:12 PM (#1759405) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: frogprince Bobad, I hope that's one big mother-lovin' Bowie knife! |
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13 Jun 06 - 10:15 PM (#1759406) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: The Fooles Troupe My little black kitten (while sitting on the palm of my hand) - many years ago - ran off one of those huge dogs.. :-) Maybe the poor dog was confused by having her spit right in his eye at that height... |
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13 Jun 06 - 10:19 PM (#1759412) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: harpmolly That is totally amazing. At first I was flummoxed, but then thought about it. I mean, sure, a lot of cats would have been lunch, but then again...cats are extremely agile, flexible and above all, QUICK. And they are capable of kicking up a ruckus quite out of proportion to their size. But still, I'm impressed. Bravo kitty! Molly |
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13 Jun 06 - 10:22 PM (#1759420) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: The Fooles Troupe "His weapons were his speed and his utter ruthlessness in combat. " Among his many weapons... |
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13 Jun 06 - 11:18 PM (#1759458) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Little Hawk Yeah, that Siamese was incredible. He ran off every dog that dared to come on the property, except one time...that was when Inky showed up. Inky was an embittered Black Lab with an owner that beat him and kept him chained all the time, and one day he got free. He was not in a mood for messing with, and he came on our property. The Siamese leaped straight into his face, and Inky shook him off, and the Siamese realized in one instant that he would have to kill this dog to get rid of him or die trying....and for him to kill Inky just wasn't physically possible. So the cat disappeared into the bushes in a flash, and Inky tore all around the place trying to find him...but never did. That was the only time I saw that cat back down. He was smart, and he knew he couldn't kill the dog, but it could most certainly kill him and most certainly would. (Matter of fact, I recall that he had pasted Inky when Inky was younger, friendlier, and less experienced, a few years earlier, so there was already bad blood between them. Dogs don't forget stuff like that.) Every other dog he ever took on ran, and I think a lot of bears would have run too. A cat can easily outmaneuver a bear, after all...not nearly so easy with a determined black lab. |
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14 Jun 06 - 12:00 AM (#1759470) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Stilly River Sage We treat our pet dogs and cats like little people who don't talk instead of recognizing the animal instinct in them (domesticated or not). When it comes out we're so surprised. SRS |
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14 Jun 06 - 01:49 AM (#1759491) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Arne The thread subject line reminds me of the Kliban comic: "It's gonna be a great year, mother. Look at the whiskers on those cats." from the original "Cat" book (graphic unavailable). Cheers, |
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14 Jun 06 - 09:53 AM (#1759753) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Stilly River Sage I found one of those old Kliban cartoon collections here last year and my kids and I sat down and looked through it. It was a pleasant surprise how fresh they still are. |
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14 Jun 06 - 09:55 AM (#1759756) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: MMario I guess we don't have to worry at our house then - our cats are MUCH larger then that. (18, 19, and 24 lbs) |
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14 Jun 06 - 09:57 AM (#1759758) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: GUEST,leeneia One day a friend came for a visit accompanied by her black Lab. The instant I opened the door, my little cat shot out and sank a pawful of claws straight into the dog's unsuspecting and sensitive nose. That dog never wanted to come see us again. We'll never know what would have ensued had we not been there, but it's quite likely that the dog would have skedaddled. I wonder if the cat in the news had done that to the bear. I also wonder whether the bear (which looks young) had been frightened by something else (dog, human, siren, car) and the cat was merely at the base of the tree making scientific observations. |
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14 Jun 06 - 10:07 AM (#1759771) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Liz the Squeak I dunno.... any self respecting crittur who gets a face full of claws would turn and run... I'm just surprised the cat didn't follow the bear up the tree! Can you imagine the cat trying to get the bear through the cat flap so he could drop it in your shoe...? LTS |
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14 Jun 06 - 10:11 AM (#1759781) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: The Fooles Troupe My brother's cat would fetch sticks when excited. I witnessed it bring in a 15 ft branch thru the cat door... |
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14 Jun 06 - 10:12 AM (#1759782) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Peace Tell it to the Marines. |
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14 Jun 06 - 10:22 AM (#1759788) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Stilly River Sage Amazing what you find when you go looking for cat and dog photos. I daresay this one is the top photo in the search for a reason. This is charming. Lucky shot. There are a few Cat and Bear photos out there. SRS |
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14 Jun 06 - 10:29 AM (#1759792) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Mooh My experience with black bears is that they are real chickenshits unless they're cornered or with cubs. They are pretty cautious even approaching a crayfish or frog, in a kinda playful way. Nonetheless, they're also unpredictable, so I carry a knife, not that it would deter a determined bear. Rosie The Wonder Dog is terrified of bears. Peace, Mooh. |
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14 Jun 06 - 11:36 AM (#1759846) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Charley Noble One of our cats managed to bring a live pigeon in through the cat door. Unfortunately it was the one that believes in catch and release. I discovered the pigeon the next day as I was reaching for my boots in the back of the closet, when it flew up in my face... Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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14 Jun 06 - 11:41 AM (#1759849) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: McGrath of Harlow Not all cats are like that. Our Josh, who's a mild chap, came home with a badly scratched nose - the vet took one look and said it was probably done by a bad-tempered squirrel. |
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14 Jun 06 - 11:51 AM (#1759860) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: KateG Cats can be quite variable. Our little Friday-cat is a six pound bit of nothing, but she kept my old male Rottweiler firmly under her paw and drove stray dogs out of the yard. The other day when my current rottie bitch was playing with a neighbor's pit bull puppy she came to investigate. Puppy bounced at her as if to say, let's play!! She spat at him and told him to back off -- which he did. The rottie then bounced at her with an "it's OK, that's my cat" attitude. Cat gave it to her, and proceeded to chase her back to my side and the pit back to his owner. She then sat on a nearby rock and polished her whiskers, while the dogs cowered under her glare. Score: Cats 1 - Pits & Rotts 0. On the other had, I recently lost a calico cat that was afraid of the universe. Fallen branches, re-arranged furniture, people who moved, or wore hats, or talked or, or, or.... She was so traumatized by everything that I always wondered if she suffered from some kind of developmental or perceptual impairment. |
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14 Jun 06 - 12:45 PM (#1759910) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: SunnySister I love these stories from everyone- thank you!! Today they very needed (is it ONLY Wednesday??!). KateG, I'm so sorry you lost your calico. Poor little girl. I have a Maine Coon although she's technically on the small side for the breed. I adopted her when she was 6 1/2 years old- prior to that she lived with an elderly lady all alone in a rather big house. Due to this upbringing, she is not happy with loud noises or people moving very fast. She's gotten better in the 5 years I've had her however she will always be more comfortable in a quiet calm space. With that said, she actually goes after sounds and acts like she's my bodyguard when we are alone together. She takes her job of protecting me very, very seriously to the point that this job overcomes her natural shyness and she has been knowing to storm the door if someone is to knock. It's quite funny really although I do appreciate her |
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14 Jun 06 - 12:46 PM (#1759913) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: McGrath of Harlow Might have been the other way round - I mean, being smart enough to recognise potential dangers that most cats would be oblivious to. After all, the universe is a pretty frightening place, if you think too much about it. |
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14 Jun 06 - 01:22 PM (#1759944) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Stilly River Sage My pit bull caught my calico at Christmas. I was trying to integrate the animals, and turned my back on the dogs, asleep on a couch. . . The dog wants to play with the cats but the cats don't want to have anything to do with her. The dog caught her (by the back leg) but didn't bite her--the cat didn't have any broken skin or damage EXCEPT that she bit the dog so hard on the nose that she broke her own jaw. A soft diet for two weeks and it healed, and we had both animals on antibiotics. That dog still has bite marks on her nose. I had a big vet bill and had to clean up the dog blood and cat pee in my bedroom. SRS |
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14 Jun 06 - 02:47 PM (#1760014) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Liz the Squeak Just as well you don't have a bear and that they sh!t in the woods.... LTS |
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14 Jun 06 - 07:05 PM (#1760191) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: The Fooles Troupe Do bears...? Yes! Do be do be do bears! |
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14 Jun 06 - 07:10 PM (#1760198) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Don Firth Now, if the headline read "Cat Bears Tree," that would be a bit of a biological anomaly. . . . Don Firth |
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14 Jun 06 - 08:11 PM (#1760244) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: The Fooles Troupe I had a litle Cat Tree, Nothing would it Bear... |
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14 Jun 06 - 09:03 PM (#1760288) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: gnu Bears have an innate respect for cats. In the wild, bears don't mess with cats. Even a 650 pound black bear will not mess with a cat because, in the wild, most cats are Bobcats or larger. They know the scent, so, they won't even mess with a housecat unless they are very small of if the bear is REALLY hungry. Some years ago, I had a 3 year old boar messing with my trailer which I had parked "way back". I fired rifle shots into the trees beside him twice to frighten him off. He stayed away when we were in the trailer (except for one night, I woke up to hear him sniffing with his nose on the window screen above me and I punched him in the nose) but, when I wasn't at the trailer, he pawed everything... destroyed the screen on the door, screwed up windows, left claw marks up and down the trailer... even though I pissed all around the trailer, he came back when I wasn't there. Two loads of soiled cat litter did the trick. It even kept the porcupines away. Hmmm... I wonder if my retirement fund might be founded in cat doodoo? |
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14 Jun 06 - 09:39 PM (#1760304) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: The Fooles Troupe "If you do doodoo, like old cat doodoo, Oh, Oh, Oh what a ..." |
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14 Jun 06 - 11:06 PM (#1760370) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Charley Noble One can learn so much from such threads. What joy! Now if our black cat hadn't investigated a skunk last night, we might have gotten more sleep. We've shampooed her with skunk ordor remover but she's still not very nice company. I may elect to sleep in the office loft tonight, with the calico. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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15 Jun 06 - 12:01 AM (#1760385) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Little Hawk Cats and skunks seem to often get along surprisingly well. They will even play together. Occasionally, though, the cat does something wrong and gets "skunked"! This is very embarrassing for the cat, and it's inconvenient for the owners, needless to say. |
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15 Jun 06 - 12:34 AM (#1760395) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: GUEST,thurg Remember as a kid seeing the movie "THE Incredible Journey", in which there is a scene that has a cat scaring off a bear. My older brother told me very authoritatively that bears are scared of cats ... |
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15 Jun 06 - 06:14 AM (#1760465) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: The Fooles Troupe One of my cats, from when she was a kitten, will occasionally (doesn't seem to be related anything such as a temper tantrum, just because she thinks she can!) hide and leave little smelly presents... I have found that she ABSOLUTELY HATES the smell of something called KarPet - carpet cleaner - if I catch her, or discover the after effects - she will bolt as soon as she gets the smell, and even the sound of the can being sprayed... |
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15 Jun 06 - 07:51 AM (#1760517) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Nessie Our tabby cat Archimedes would see ANY dog off - no bears in our neck of the woods - and our dog learned early on to pass through open doors very carefully in case of ambush, never knowing if he'd give her an affectionate lick or biff her one. In his 13 years he lived in 3 countries with us, had his own business class seat Amsterdam - Athens, caterwauled his way round the baggage carousel at Charles de Gaulle airport, lost his tail, broke his foot, loved his food, brought us many presents and should have been called Garfield. We lost him on Friday (he'd not been eating for a few days which was most unusual, x-rays showed a liver tumour and the vet said there was no hope of a cure so we had to let him go) and we have a big furball-shaped hole in our lives at the moment. At least he was purring and biting vets til the end! |
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15 Jun 06 - 10:37 AM (#1760644) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Stilly River Sage Sorry to hear about your cat, Nessie! So sad! My 14-year-old son had a friend over to spend the night this week. In the morning at one point I found the friend sitting in the hall next to a box where one of my cats was rolling and enjoying being scratched. The boy had quiet tears running down his face, and I remembered his mother saying that their oldest cat, 21-years, hadn't come back when they returned from a week out of town last week. Their other two had, but this one probably died. I realized that he had known that old cat all of his life, so of course losing was a much harder loss than for an adult who has gone through it with a few pets. I think my cat was channeling his good wishes to his cat, so I gave him a hug and left him to commune with the kitties. SRS |
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15 Jun 06 - 07:26 PM (#1761016) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Nessie Thanks for your empathy, and the bittersweet image of that boy SRS Nessie |
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15 Jun 06 - 08:03 PM (#1761037) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Genie Yes, Nessie, your sad story - and wonderful memories of Archimedes - touches me deeply as I had to let my 17-year-old Minnie go a few years back, due to liver failure. I am not surprised at some of these little furballs taking on giants. I've known a few like that myself. Charley, thanks so much for bringing the story to us. Genie |
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15 Jun 06 - 11:04 PM (#1761118) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Barry Finn About a month ago Charlie Noble & I stayed over at Doryman & his mates house after a shantey session. I was bedding down on a blow-up mattress on the floor & my feet were a bit cold & I grabbed a throw off the couch that turned out to be the cats blanket. Just as I was dozing off I felt the cat pawing my feet through it's blanket & I tried kicking it off me, big mistake. It attacked me in no seconds flat, malled my head all over. Not with it's paws (I found out in the morning it didn't have claws) but it's teeth. It felt like it had bitten me about 10 times within a quater of a second. I admit I cowered under the covers for a coulpe moments. Next morning there was blood on the pillow & not cat to be seen. I'll never, never take a cats blanket again. Barry |
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15 Jun 06 - 11:42 PM (#1761128) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Little Hawk Cats are the fastest damn things in the world when they're angry, and no fun to deal with at all in that case. |
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16 Jun 06 - 12:31 AM (#1761139) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Stilly River Sage Cat bites can be very dangerous--I hope you didn't get the kind of bites that required all of the antibiotics. Maybe that's what drives the bears off! SRS (who has a scar to prove it) |
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16 Jun 06 - 12:50 AM (#1761145) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Barry Finn I called my Doc & they put me on antibiotics strait off. The next time I stayed over they took the cat to bed with them & I took the dog with me. Barry |
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16 Jun 06 - 04:25 AM (#1761184) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Gurney Talking about Siamese cats, they usually also back up their pals. If something attacks a domestic, the others run away. Not Siamese! Blue-eyed Ninjas from every direction! It doesn't have to be a cat pal, either. And they have teeth noticably longer than other breeds, and possibly claws too, as they can't fully retract them, and tap-dance everywhere. |
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16 Jun 06 - 01:23 PM (#1761576) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Charley Noble Nessie- Condolences as well from our family. Our black demon is beginning to smell a little sweeter this morning. Unlike the calico she does not enjoy being washed. The calico will sit on the edge of the vanity and demand that her face be washed, and toweled! We are always learning new tricks to "cater" to their needs. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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16 Jun 06 - 01:41 PM (#1761598) Subject: RE: BS: Cat Trees Bear! From: Becca72 Nessie, You're in my thoughts as well. I lost my 13 year old calico in March and it was just heartbreaking. I'm sitting here misty-eyed and laughing at the same time with all the great cat stories. Only a "cat person" can appreciate how funny they can really be. |
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