The Cat Thread

This is my eldercat Charlie when he was a kitten. He's ten now, extremely smart and dignified. He was a reckless lad at this age, though, and had a hero-worship crush on an older cat, Whiskers. He caused Whiskers a lot of grief, showing his love by gnawing the top of Whiskers' head or grabbing him by the throat.

Charlie had another older cat as a mentor, a tuxedo Manx Cat called Seth. Seth followed him around like Jiminy Cricket following Pinnochio, trying to keep him out of harm's way.

We still have Charlie, but Seth and Whiskers have passed on.

That isn't a tuxedo cat. It's a black cat with white paws.

R2 Shut up Op he's a beautiful cat, as is the other one

R3 thanks😘

R2 I’m not a native speaker. I though this was the right name for black and white cats with a white chest

R1 Miss Lucy what a cutie, a real hometiger with the stripes. Did he get along with Whiskers eventually? Is he ik now without both Seth(sounds like his big brother) and Whiskers?

Ik=ok

I have a flame point Siamese. He is LOUD but sweet

It IS a beautiful cat but it's not a tuxedo cat. It's too black.

r3

R1 MissLucy, Charlie is quite the tiger. You didn't mention Dax, or maybe I'm confusing your cats with a different DLer...

OP Your cat is adorable! Name, please?

R7 fair enough you thought me something 😉 he is cuddly and very vocal. A real sweetheart.

PUSSY!

Oh autocorrect “taught”

Here's a pic of a tuxedo cat...and his son!

R6 tell us about his character if you please

R9 his name is Brat. He can be very mischievous

My cat, Pete, has a strange 'gifting' thing. He has two toys in particular that he uses. Every night, he brings them - one at a time - upstairs into my bedroom and onto the bed while I'm reading. He then settles down for a nap. In the morning, he brings them - one at a time - downstairs. One toy always goes into his dry food dish. The other toy is brought to me.

This is a daily routine. I would know something is terribly wrong if it ever stopped.

OP, you do have a tuxedo cat. Don't listen to r2. Charlie is very cute.

[Quote]Tuxedo cats have a prominent bicolor pattern. Their appeal comes from the stark black-and-white contrast of their coat combined with the pattern, which is reminiscent of formal wear for men. Any combination of the black-and-white pattern qualifies as a tuxedo, but generally, the body is black and the chest and paws are white.

Charlie has a white chest and paws. Charlie is a tuxedo, case closed.

Here's a rather old image of my brood - I miss them all and was glad to have them in my life. I now have one senior male cat who is truly a wonderful companion cat. I've been lucky over the years will all my cats having a rather pleasant personality and have gotten along with each other as a new cat was added.

Another image of the same 3 cats along with my orange tabby 'Buster'. They were the best of friends with each other and me.

I've had numerous cats growing up. In my experience, tuxedo cats have been pretty affectionate. Orange tabbies as well.

We also had some breed at two different times that looked like Siberian Forest Cats (one was dark and one later was all white), and they were very unfriendly. They didn't like to be pet, they would hide from you constantly even though we were never mean to them. They might on rare occasions approach you and sit near you, but if you moved or got up, they would get very startled and runaway.

To be fair, those last two we got when they were older, not kittens so maybe they weren't used to humans.

R16 what does he look like? Is he a cuddler? I think it’s cute he has his routine with the toys

R17 thank you hun!

r14, he's very affectionate, loves attention, and will scream at me if I don't pay attention to him or give him treats. He also insists on drinking from the kitchen faucet.

r17

No it's NOT a tuxedo cat. It's a black cat with white paws. Too much black and not enough vest.

R18 R19 some lovely cats!! They comfy and relaxed. You were a good boss. After a while they become family. It’s nice you still have one cat left. I know the house can feel so empty without one....:.

R20 my kitten is very affectionate too, more so than my previous red one(but loved him dearly). Every cat has a different personality and most of them are not obedient but isn’t it why we love them. The outside cats need to live there in my experience, they thrive when they are outdoors and they usually come home for a nap and some food. Still family.

R4 After Charlie lost his kittenish craziness, he got along fine with Whiskers. Whiskers was the alpha cat at that time, and it's interesting that now Charlie is the alpha. Charlie also has a "girfriend" named Peggy, a half Bengal we adopted a few years ago. He loves her dearly. A few days after we adopted her, she was spending most of her time in the bedroom, and would sleep there at night. We'd close the door to keep the other cats out, because we didn't want any violent altercations during the night. One night Charlie came to the bedroom door and sang her a "song." It was very melodic, and went on and on at some length. She crouched near the door and listened intently to the whole thing.

She is not allowed out unless she is on a leash, because she's a serious flight risk. However, in spite of all our best intentions, she got out one day and took off across the field, with me after her. When I got half way across, I realized that Charlie was following me, and he was yowling at her. Suddenly she stopped and turned around, went back to Charlie and crouched beside him. I whisked her up and we all returned home.

Charlie is also fond of Dax, our young Tuxedo cat. I think that he considers himself Dax's mentor.

R8 Yes, Dax is the black and white tuxedo cat. I decided to give Charlie a little publicity, since I went on at length about Dax previously.

R27 thank you, it’s so touching that Charlie’s girl Peggy was so charmed by him. You have quite the cat family. Enjoy the love and purrs

A number of years ago, I had a female cat named Allie. This was long before the arrival of Peggy. I know I must have a picture of her somewhere, so I'll look for it later. She was an average cat, looks-wise, with a sort of brindled brown coat. She had always been rather high-strung and nervous. Her sense of balance never seemed to be particularly good. One day, she took a fall from the top of a bookcase and hit her head. After that incident, she had frequent seizures, sometimes one a day, which would scare the hell out of the other cats, who probably thought she was possessed.

Charlie was around at that time, and became very attached to her. If he heard her having a seizure, he would run to her, stand in front of her with back arched and fur standing on end, glaring around at the other cats in case they had any thoughts of harming her while she was helpless.

Allie slept in the back porch. We had a blanket for her, water, food etc. One winter night, my partner shook me awake, and whispered, "There's a strange noise out in the back porch."

I got up, and we made our way up the hallway, not knowing what kind of sight was going to confront us. The sound was eerie, unearthly. I had never heard anything like it before. It was a high-pitched chittering sound, and it was loud. It sounded like an animal in distress.

When we reached the porch, which is large, Allie was sitting at the top of the basement steps, looking around, bewildered. There is a large antique storage bench out there against the wall near the back door, and pushed into a corner. The sound seemed to be coming from beneath that bench. Carefully I went over to it.

The sound seemed to be coming from the corner. Very slowly and carefully, I moved the bench sightly and looked down. I know I smiled.

My partner was flattened against the wall on the other side of the door. He said, "What is it? What is it?"

I looked back down at the tiny face looking up at me so innocently, wearing its white winter fur, and I said, "It's a weasel."

We opened the back door wide, and eventually the weasel skedaddled. We figured that it had gotten into the house through the dryer vent in the basement, that was temporarily disconnected. It must have made its way up the steps, and very possibly witnessed Allie taking one of her seizures, which was an alarming sight to say the least, and then decided it wanted out of there, fast, hence the panicked chittering.

My cat and I were watching a documentary on the Secret Service. They showed a bomb-sniffing dog sniffing around the Presidential Suite and now I’m sure my girl has her heart set on becoming a secret service cat. I don’t have the heart to tell her she’s too old.

R31,

Check out Larry the Cat at No 10 Downing Street.

OP, great thread!

[quote]what does he look like? Is he a cuddler? I think it’s cute he has his routine with the toys.

R21 Thanks. Pete is a black and gray striped tiger and he's a cuddler now that he's older (10). I forgot to mention that he's also a "Hemingway" cat - he's polydactyl. Six toes on one front paw and seven on the other front paw. When he stretches and spreads his toes, his front paws look like catcher's mitts!

[quote]He also insists on drinking from the kitchen faucet.

R23 Mine drinks from the bath faucet and if that's not available, he drinks from the toilet bowl! I gave up putting out a bowl of water for him. As long as the toilet is available, he's happy. When I run a bath, he sits on the edge of the tub and drinks from the faucet.

Miss Lucy R30 thanks for sharing so much about your cats. Enjoy reading it but sad because of Allie. In the 80s when I was a toddler we had two cats a grey tabby and a tabby and white one. The lady cat had seizures too. I still remember how she jumped and fell down when she had one. It was heartbreaking even when I was so little it hurt so much to see it. I know what you and your partner felt. It’s so painful but we give them the care that we can. My parents went to the vet with her. How did it end for your dear Allie? Quite extraordinary that the weasel sensed it btw 🙏🏻♥️

Please let's not forget Dewey the Library Cat!

^ Well I never in all my life!

R32 love it! Thank you 😻

R33 you have one special tiger! If you can share a pic sometime I’d love to see it.

R34 my day reviius cat used to drink from our small pond in the garden. Cats do seem to have a distinct taste..... toilet, pond, rain.....

Previous 🤦🏻

Well! Where do I begin?

Well! Where do I begin?😱

Well really!

Where do I begin?😱

R42 nostalgia!!! Thanks love it my dad used to love it too

R42 nostalgia!!! Thanks love it my dad used to love it too

R2 Not sure why you are being such a nazi about the tuxedo cat thing. I agree with OP and R17 and so does Google apparently. Here is the image that appears when you Google "images of tuxedo cats".

R39 I wish I could but I don't know how to share pix on DL!

R35 It was about four years ago that Allie died. She was lying on her blanket, and two of our other cats joined her and snuggled with her, which I thought was amazing. I kept checking her throughout the evening, talking to her and petting her. She was comfortable. The last time I went to check, she had gotten up and gone down two of the basement steps. She was dead, but in a comfortable position, so I think that she went painlessly, possibly in her sleep.

Here’s a funny pic of my girl Olivia (named after Benson on SVU!)

She’s a medium hair tuxedo (I’ll post another pic) adopted from the desert of CA. She was in a hoarders house full of cats. She’s 10 now and I got her at one. She’s my best buddy, as I live alone. She’s come with me on multiple road trips.

My favorite thing is her greetings - whenever I walk in the door she runs to a rug and rolls around. Even if I’m only gone a few hours. Her meow sounds like a squeak. She loves watching birds and going outside though where I live right now I don’t take her out. My other favorite thing is that she lays next to me nice and close but never on me. She is a sassy girl. Thanks OP!

Here’s another to see her markings. She has a white chin, belly, chest and four white paws.

R50 She's beautiful and her tail is gorgeous! I love her white whiskers.

r50 Your Olivia is a stunning cat. What a beauty!

R47 thanks doll ♥️

Thank you R52 and R53!

I love this thread. I lost my Igmu, a crazy wild thing that I just loved, about 5 years ago and haven't felt like getting a new cat just yet.

Just one more - This is my Shadow - 15 yoa and a sweetheart in every way. I adopted him at the C'ville SPCA 11 years ago. He is gray/white Tuxedo (mostly white front/chest). The image reflects his weight (18lbs!) about 8 years ago. He is now about 12lbs which is better for him. I know the day will come when he must depart but I hope to have him around for at least a couple more years. He's had issues over the years (as any living creature does) and with age some are chronic but they are addressed and he is in good health and content.

What a precious boy, R57.

R19 Your brood is gorgeous. They look happy and healthy.

OK - this is really the last one! Here is a pic of my two Girls (Muffin and Cloudie). They departed 12 and 8 years ago respectively but I still remember them fondly. Muffin (in background) wandered up to my house in 1994 - I believe she was a stray but I was allowed to care for her for the next 14 years. Cloudie (foreground) was adopted from the local shelter in 1998 as a kitten and was a bit testy at times but overall a good girl and got along with all the others I had at the time. Her coat/fur was like cotton candy and very difficult to manage but she deserved all the attention I gave her. I'm so lucky to have had so many wonderful cat companions in my life along the way. They are like children to me in a way but I don't have to buy video games for them or drive them to soccer practice!

r60, they're cuties

R56 so sorry for your loss, it’s the end of an era in a way isn’t it, when one of our cat family members leave us? and trust the intuition you don’t have to adopt a new one but when it feels right go for it. I did I have no regrets

R60 Icky some beauties! Love your posts on this thread. Your cats wouldn’t have thrived if they hadn’t felt your care and love.

R60 I love Muffin's distinctive coloring - that completely black tail and the top of her head. Cloudie looks like cotton candy but she also looks full of attitude in that picture! Beautiful, both of them.

R56 You'll know when the time is right. Or, like me, the cat will find you. I've lost three in my life and each time I swore 'never again' and never looked for another. Then some strange situation occurred and that was it - the cats chose me!

OP: your tuxedo kitty is very cute, but naughty looking.

Greetings cat lovers! Thanks for the kind comments regarding my posts/images of my former/current companions(s). And thanks to OP for starting this most wonderful thread. I believe that our four legged companions (cats, dogs, horses, goats, cows, etc.) are sent to us even though we 'think' we pick them. They choose us for a reason that we may not understand. Considering the turbulent times we are living in, our four legged 'gifts' are providing comfort that is so necessary today.

Also, thanks to those who have shared their images and back stories regarding their current/past companions. I'm sure most of us know of the 'Rainbow Bridge' - that when we finally pass, we will be reunited with our four legged gifts that were with us along the path of life.

Gotta go - the litter needs scoopin" - again!

The OP's cat is not a tuxedo cat. The poster that said that is correct. Not all black cats with a little white are tuxedos.

So sweet, OP. I love the white boots and cute laundry pic. Beautiful tiger, MissLucy.

(I love all these stories and photos, post as many as you wish!)

damn, they ain't kidding. it gets dead at prime time.

Icky - loved seeing your cats! The pile of four, oh my goodness. Thanks for sharing. They sure were lucky to have met you.

R66 he is! That’s why we named him Brat. He’s a very cuddly and affectionate cat but he likes to scratch the wallpaper(and yes he has a big cat scratch pole), hides in the closets sometimes and meows just to get attention even when he can easily walk out, he meows whenever he is alone in a room(and not sleeping), he likes to play fetch and eats the butter from your sandwich if you’re not careful.

He’s an indoor cat so sometimes when someone comes into the house or goes out, I’ll lock the door of the room he’s in for a few minutes. When I get back well.....look at the pic and see for yourself. He’s usually purring like crazy up there but can’t jump off by himself so I have to get the carrier, open it and hold it up and then he’ll jump in.

R36 I read a book about him! Sweet.

I have two sweet boys - Himalayan 21 and Siamese 12. Himi came to me at 7 yrs adopted as a friend-of-a-friend situation. Couple yrs later, after catsitting for a friend during their vacation, my Himi was depressed when the other cat left! UGH...He wanted another cat, so I got a baby Siamese boy @ 12 wks. He was 2 lbs! Can you imagine? Fit in my palm except for his looong Siamese legs. So cute. Anyhow, they have been best buds ever since. Himi is alpha. I am sure the Siamese only knows he is a cat because of the older one. Follows him around like a bad rash...LOL. has def FOMO. Can you spot the tiny head in the pic? Little shit...

R74 so cute and look at those ears of your Siamese 😻 How’s the grooming for the Himalayan?

R74 Himi used to get a mowhawk shave 3-4 times/yr (longer strip from nape to tail) at the puppy parlour (they took cats too) which was sooo cute and the rest of him felt like a velveteen rabbit. But he is too old now, so I do a quick brush daily, and then have to trim the mats piecemeal. It's a process. He haaates the brush. The Siamese is a little weirdo and looooves the brush. He self-brushes, actually, if I just hold it out. I had mobile groomers come in for the Himi a few yrs ago (when he was only 18!) and he flipped out cirque de soleil styles and did an aerial somersault into the living room 6 ft away from the kitchen. So, I thought I killed him. He was fine, but majorly pissed off for 3 days (the TRUST was broken!) so no more shaving for him. Plus, my heart can't take it!

I had a Himalayan. He lived to be 22!

My 6 year old male has stopped sleeping with me at night. Bad enough I can't get a human to sleep with me, but now felines are rejecting me. Where did I go wrong? How can I get him back.

R77 WOW!! Love this so much! At 21, my Himi is perfect, except arthritis and sleeps a lot. Still plays with the 12 yr old "baby"...video is better w sound...LOL...

Oh shit...vid didn't work...it's really cute tho!! Lol..

Op your cat is gorgeous

R78 - they do this sometimes! Maybe it's too hot in the house? Treats by the bed help...have you learned nothing in your yrs of dating? LOL

R74 That picture is adorable. The two of them are precious.

R76 Himi has quite the beautiful fur! I was curious about the grooming. can we blame him for not wanting to be groomed at home haha😁 at least he lets you do it. Love the ears and the mask of your Siamese too. Wonderful cat fam.

R78 the easiest way is putting the box and the food your cat loves most in your room and then close the door when the cat is inside at night If I may be honest, do you think your cat senses your mood? I understand very well you want the company. I enjoy having my sweet ball of fur on the bed too. Grief put my former cat off, when I lost someone close and I felt low he didn’t sleep in my room often. It was like he wanted me to feel I should get up off the floor so to speak. Hope your cat will be back to cuddle at night soon anyway.

I heard my cat chattering at a dove this morning. That dove was damn lucky my cat is an indoor-only cat. You should see what she does to a Da Bird toy.

Have posted once before about my cat, Meno. Since I am pretty old, didn't have cell phones while I had her for 8 glorious years in my thirties. Raised her from a tiny kitty. She had "kitten fever" when I got her from a shelter. I nursed her, made a little oxygen tent from a vaporizer covered with a rigged up tent from plastic drape from the dry cleaners. Stayed home from work for a few days to make her drink from a dropper. I had never taken care of anything before.

She looked like a glamour puss but really was a comedian. More dog like than any cat I have known. She followed me around, chirping and chattering. If I was not paying attention, she would lie on her back, clutching the bottom of the sofa with front legs and drag herself back and then forth as if on a clothesline. Sometimes she would fling herself up and backwards in a near somersault. Then land and look me in the eye, then chirp as if to say Well? She would fetch a peanut in its shell, batting it like a hockey puck. Pick it up and bring it to me. She would only place it in a shoe, not my hand. Then over and over again. She greeted me each morning with gentle taps on my cheek, then would run her cheeks and whiskers along my chin. She loved to eat, almost anything. But especially anything I was eating, she would not stop begging until she had a taste. When I was sad, or sick, she never left my side, purring like a motor. The best company ever.

She died very suddenly. Did not seem herself for a day or so, then just laid quietly. Near 30 years ago, did not find out what caused it. Have had 2 other cats, nice but pale imitations.

Sorry for the tome, but reminiscing about her made me happy.

[87] - Thanks so much for your most heartfelt story. It is a shame that humans don't have the compassion/dedication/forgiveness or personality that our heaven sent pets have. They accept us as we are as we do them yet humans seem to find fault at every turn and exploit them to tear down someone who doesn't measure up to 'their' expectations. OTOH, we and our pets give (far more than take) to each other w/o question which, I believe, makes us a better person. I am 'old' like you (a very young at heart and still healthy 70!!!) but I'm so glad to have my dear Shadow to share the remaining days with. Thanks for being who you are!!

Your tuxedo cat is gorgeous, OP. Ignore the not-a-tuxedo troll. He’s either blind or deranged, possible both.

Love the thread. We have a preference for sweet and mischievous solid black male cats (we’ve had 6 over the years), but a couple of adorably imperious gray ladies have found their way to our home too.

R87. You made me cry. And your cat and I have very, very, VERY close names. Lovely tribute. And I could feel her spirit in every word. Learning about her made ME happy. So thank you .

R87 thank you for sharing that touching story!

R81 and R89 thank you! He’s such a sweetie. He likes kids too. For now it’s important for him to eat well and grow, he was the smallest one from the nest and at 8 weeks he had the size of a 5 weeks old.

Any pics R89?

R86 the special sound they make when they see a bird.... According to my vet it’s the sound of excitement

"I've had numerous cats growing up. In my experience, tuxedo cats have been pretty affectionate. Orange tabbies as well."

Another fool who thinks you can tell how affectionate a cat is by its color.

[quote] Another fool who thinks you can tell how affectionate a cat is by its color.

In terms of DNA it could make some sense.

My calico was very standoff-ish and full of attitude. She would have nothing to do with the other cats and they treated her like a queen. I was telling my vet about her behavior and he laughingly said she wasn't alone. He said calico cats have a reputation for being bitches!

Also there are no male calicos right? When I was young we had one. Loved her but she set her boundaries. No fucking around with that one.

Here's a happy clowder of cats! There is an Island in Japan that is called Cat Island. Can you imagine having to manage this menagerie without having conflicts?

Over the years I've been blessed to have many cats in my life and each one was introduced into the existing family w/o issue - no fighting or friction whatsoever. Maybe I was lucky but they all got along with each other and me.

R97 It would be very rare to find a male calico, as it would also be rare to see a male tortoiseshell, also known as torties. It's a sex-linked characteristic. As well, the vast majority of gingers are male, although it's not impossible to see a ginger female.

I live in Nova Scotia. My father used to do business with a building supply company that brought a lot of material down from New Brunswick. One day he noticed a ginger Manx Cat (no tail) on their premises and was told that she had stowed away in a lumber truck in Northern New Brunswick. Dad brought the cat home and we discovered that it was a female. When we took her to the vet to be spayed, the vet advised us that she was pregnant.

We took her back home and some time afterward she gave birth to three kittens - a ginger and white male with a tail, a tailless female who was a calico, and a tailless tortoiseshell also with no tail.

Of course we kept them all. Dad was the ultimate cat man.

Lovely thread. I love cats and all the pictures and stories here are great. :-)

I have two cats, one is a female British shorthair (silver) and the other is a ginger tabby, they are both so different. The ginger is feisty and doesn't really like people and won't let anyone near him, except for us. The foxes that come around are scared of him. The British shorthair is very mellow and will let anyone pet her. They both get on very well, though.

I have never had a pet.

I love other people’s animals though. And maybe one day I will get a kitty. But it would have to be outdoorsy and maybe live on the back porch or shed.

R97 According to my vet, calicos are always female. The rare non-female is usually a hermaphrodite. He said when he was in vet school at Ohio State, there was one who had the run of the entire feline area of the vet school. It was primarily purchased as an example of this rare quality and stole everyone's heart. Vet also said he didn't know of any male calicos but if they did exist, they'd be worth a fortune to any vet school who would treat it like a king!

R99 Miss Lucy you are like the “mother” of cat owning DLers. You have had experience with so many lovely felines. Love reading about them and your father was the one who ignited the flame? So sweet that your family kept all the kittens.

R101 consider a kitten from a farm they are so used to being outdoors they will only come inside to get some rest and some food. Mine was a great hunter too. Bye, bye mice.

R99 Miss Lucy, how great that you dad inspired your love of cats. I love the story of the stowaway Manx cat! R103 is correct. You are definitely the leader in this cat clubhouse.

Cat and animal story:

When my older sister had a date, she was never ready so the date had to wait in the den on the couch. Our pets - three cats and a dog - would line up sitting on the furniture opposite the couch and stare at him. I know this because she told me he complained that they made him feel uncomfortable.

R103 and R105 Thank you so much. I'm overwhelmed by your kindness. It's so good to find a place with like-minded people where I can blather on about cats and nobody gets bored with me.

I want to visit the Cat Temple!

R108 They believe cats bring luck right? When visit better visit the cat isle too(someone shared it earlier).

No more?

I have 2 girls. One’s elderly and the other one’s still a kitten.

I love them both and the best part about this pandemic other than not dying, is spending lots of quality time with both.

My eldest needs me around more, and the kitten is really fun and loves playing, so being home with them 24/7 is better than being home 24/7 without them.

Okay, I'll bite. Here goes...This is a ghost story, so if it's not everyone's cup of tea, ignore it.

A number of years ago, I had a cat named Tom. He was totally black, not a very large cat, and had a huge personality. He was a real character. He had been born in this house, the only live kitten in the litter, as a result of an unplanned pregnancy on the part of my black female cat, Kit. A sister was born dead. He was one of my all time legendary cats. He lived a long good life and died peacefully about five years ago.

Now, this is not the main part of the story, but it has to be mentioned, because it is a prelude to what happened later. Back in February, my partner and I were hanging a couple of pictures in the bedroom and the dog was there with us. We started talking about Tom, telling amusing stories. Suddenly we noticed that the dog's eyes were following the movement of something we couldn't see, something that was moving across one dresser, then over the top of the wardrobe. Jokingly we said that Tom must be there with us, because he was like Beetlejuice, say his name three time and he'd appear on the scene. A good laugh was had by all.

A couple of months ago, I'm walking down the hallway from the bedroom area, and my cat Charlie is at my side. As we approach the living room/kitchen area, Tom comes out of the living room, as solid as he was in life, crosses in front of us, and enters the kitchen. Tom is so close to me that if I had bent over I could have easily touched him. I can tell by Charlie's reaction that he has seen Tom, as well. As we enter the kitchen, Tom crosses the room in front of us, and proceeds to the other side of the fridge. We follow, but there is no cat there.

Fast forward to this past Monday. My partner was in the spare bedroom, looking for something.. I was gathering dishes together in the kitchen. Suddenly I heard a cat running like mad, coming from the direction of the master bedroom. Now, that bedroom is at the end of a long hallway. When the hallway reaches the spare bedroom, there's a right angle turn leading to the kitchen/dining room/living room area. I went to the kitchen door and looked up the hallway. Around the corner comes Dax, and behind him a totally black cat. We don't have a totally black cat. As they come closer, I can see that Dax is totally freaked, ears back and eyes wide. Now I can get a better look of the cat pursuing him. It's Tom again, as solid as he was in life. They pass me, and Dax races through the living room doorway like Ichabod Crane being pursued by the Headless Horseman. Tom vanishes at the entrance to the room. One second he's there, the next second he has vanished. I yell to my partner and tell him the story. Like me, he takes these things for granted now. He realizes that he's hooked himself up with a ghost magnet. Dax is freaked out for the rest of the day.

On the following morning, I'm in the bedroom, door closed, I open the door to go out, and Tom passes me in the doorway, entering the room. He isn't as solid as he was the day before, but he's definitely identifiable. I see Dax down the hallway, peering tentatively around the corner. Apparently, he too, has seen Tom again. It wasn't until today that he got over his jitteryness.

I could write a book, quite honestly.

I’ve always wanted a cat. I’ve become more allergic as I get older though. Don’t think it’s gonna happen. But if I were to get a kitty cat I would get one that looks like this:

R112 what a story! Thanks for sharing. Tom must love you very much if he still sticks around. You are a strong medium. In my old house I used to see a cat from time to time but not as solid as you see Tom.

R112, I just woke up to go pee, & read your story.

Now I’m not going to be able to fall back asleep. That’s the best spook I’ve had in a while!

At first I thought they were being mean to this cat, but clearly the cat was having a blast being slid, it kept coming back for more.

At first I thought they were being mean to this cat, but clearly the cat was having a blast being slid, it kept coming back for more.

I ❤️️ this cat.

R112- WONDERFUL stuff. I had goosebumps!

Tom rocks on. YES.

Someone up thread mentioned about their cat(s) chattering which is a really neat thing to observe. On a similar theme, I happened across a Youtube video of two cats 'talking' to each other. It is just too precious! I have provided a link to the video. There is also one with 3 cats chattering in the window as they watch the birds/squirrels. No link though.

We have 3 black kittehs, Hoss, Maine Coon, Pasha, Burmese and a teenager, Pablo, we call him, Junior. Hoss and Pasha were so sweet, protective of junior. Grooming him, wrestling him. This has now become daily sexual assault for Junior. Junior's nasty, strolling his ass around like a twink. They're all so nasty, lol Wouldn't trade them and yes they are all neutered and Pasha only has one testicle. Like Juanita Barlets boyfriend

"This has now become daily sexual assault for Junior."

GET IT FIXED, you mutherfucker.

Unclench. It was a funny story and NO ANIMALS HAVE HAVE BEEN HARMED. WE DON'T SIT A ROUND IN AROUND WATCHING OUR CATS RAPE EACH OTHER. Geez!

Unclench. Funny story however we don't sit around watching our cats RAPE EACH other.

R120 so cute! My cat heard the video and started to look around to see where the cat sounds were coming from lol

R121 I assume they do get along in general?

My cat likes eating hard boiled eggs, is that normal?

Yes normal and healthy

Thanks R126 I never had cat before who liked it. A previous one did eat spinache and tomato and that surprised me too

I would never do that to an egg, r126, but I did have one cat whom I would make a 9-Lives omelette every Saturday back in the '80s.

Sphynx male. Perfectly bald. Brightest blue eyes.

Lykoi female. The best cat/pet I’ve ever owned. Acts like a dog (as does the sphynx), so lovable, talkative, beautiful.

When this duo is gone, it will be back to adopting alley kittens. I love both breeds, but a lot of skin care with each.

My cats, two siblings, are in cat heaven now. I adopted them from a bad home when they were very little. I made catnip toys for them. They liked football and volleyball, too. When they got older they used to sleep together with me on both sides of my pillow. They lived long. They were the best thing that happened in my less than happy life.

Thanks for sharing stories everyone, lovely reading them! A cat omelette I should give it a try some time for the feline friend.

R130 you don’t consider adopting again? It’s always good to have some furry friends around

Bless you R30. You're a good person.

R132 MissLucy, did you mean R130? You just posted a comment to yourself...

"My cat likes eating hard boiled eggs, is that normal?"

R125, you cat probably also likes pepperoni pizza but it shout not be eating it. Cats that eat people food are fat and unhealthy. Jeez, I'm happy you don't have children. Would you let them go on the ice cream diet?

CORRECTION:

R125, Your cat probably also likes pepperoni pizza but it should not be eating it. Cats that eat people food are fat and unhealthy. Jeez, I'm happy you don't have children. Would you let them go on the ice cream diet?

R133 Yes, thanks! I meant 130. So here it goes again: Bless you [R130]. You're a good person!

R135 Wrong. A bit of people food will not make a cat fat. Sure, a consistent diet of people food will pack on the pounds but a little treat won't hurt your cat.

135 he secretly ate a bit of leftover egg. I left it on the counter because I didn’t think he’d be interested. I’m not actively feeding him eggs. He seemed to enjoy it so I thought oh what the heck. No salt on it either. My kids have never been overweight so no, cat and kids don’t live on treats in this household.

I do agree with R137 that sometimes a cat or another pet should be allowed to try a little bit of our food. When it’s unprepared meat or cooked fish or veggies, why not? Variety is the spice of life.

I'll give my cat a little piece of people food on occasion like chicken, though it's only after I've eaten, only in his dish. No counter jumping, he knows that and wouldn't do it.

EG here. I have cats now but growing up, we always had dogs. Actual dog food was expensive, a luxury, so our dogs always ate our meal scraps. We had mutts and they all lived active, healthy lives into their old age. I realize cats are different but they are hunters and have only been domesticated within the past 50 years or so. Farm cats lived on mice (raw meat). I'm guessing purebred cats need strict special diets but a good old mixed breed tiger can certainly tolerate some a little piece of chicken or fish once in a while. You know you've given him too much when he wolfs it down and pukes it up within an hour!

You’re good at raising your cat R135. You should have kids too if you don’t have them 😉 I don’t ever let my boy jump on the counter when I’m preparing food but he is naughty......he tries. My kids are not strict enough with him sometimes because they think it’s cute when he sits next to their plate🤦‍♂️The hubby is also quite taken with him so it’s mostly up to me to try and teach him the house rules.

R131 Thank you; I'd love to have cats again, but as we know, they can live like 20 years, and I'm well over 50...:) I'm worried I'd leave them behind me. I've no kids who could take care of them. But who knows, maybe I'll do some cat sitting or something.

R132 R136 Thank you!

R142, get an adult cat that has ten or less years left on him.

I have a Russian white cat that my mom found wandering around at about three weeks old. It now weights 18 pounds. It's three years old, but acts like it's 20. He lets me rub his head and cheeks, but I'm not allowed to pick him up at all, and he won't sit on my lap or even lay close to me.

About six months ago, I adopted a Russian black feral cat with a patch of stray white hairs on his chest. This cat also came from my mom's neighborhood. He's probably the nephew of my first cat. He's a year old and obsessed with playing. If he's asleep in the bedroom, and I'm in the living room cleaning up, if I pick up his favorite toy to move it aside, he comes running into the living room screeching at me to play with him. He's more affectionate; he rubs up against my ankles and asks to be petted.

He wants so bad to cuddle with the older cat, but the older cat didn't get proper socialization with cats and is standoffish. They do get along with each other, though, because I introduced them to each other slowly. It's fun to watch them chase each other back and forth.

R142 whenever you’re across the pond you can babysit my cat haha. He loves people and cuddles.

R144 adopting feral cats, I didn’t know they made such great indoor companions. They sound lovely. Even indoor cats aren’t always cuddly.

Thanks, R145. My black cat, in spite of his petite size, is a vicious predator towards his toys. With real birds, though, he's apparently not that intimidating.

^^That pigeon is a total tease!

R146 great to watch this!😻 Yes the pigeon seems to dare him to attack. Your cat looks beautiful, such shiny fur. He has a good life and it shows.

Thanks, R147 and R148. That bird at R146 is a mourning dove. (My cat is very petite.)

Now, here he is with some pigeons. He's a lot less brave!

R149 so cute!!! In his defence he was outnumbered

R146, that isn't a bird, that's a PIGEON.

R151, R146 is a mourning dove. R149 is a pigeon (three of them).

My cat is so petite that the dove looks like pigeon-sized in comparison. However, when the cat comes across a real pigeon, it dwarfs him, and he runs away

This thread is so very gay.

When my Siamese was about 5 months old I was eating dinner in front of the tv. My plate was on the ottoman (of course). Little cat snuck up beside me and as I was distracted watching a show. I suddenly became aware that a chicken leg was moving slowly off my plate! I mean, the leg was almost as big as him! Chicken thief! One loud and surprised "Hey!" and little cat took off. I did not miss my supper. Another time he stole an entire giant onion ring and ran away to scarf it under the dining room table. I have no idea how he didn't get total diarrhea but he obviously was born with the potential to be a little garbage can. I don't let him eat people food but he is crafty...

Cute story, R154. But reminder to pet parents - Cats and dogs should NOT be given chicken bones. They can splinter in their throat.

R154 He didn't leave you a warm pile of puke? My boy would steal food and then heave it up an hour later. He was a very adventurous eater.

Sometimes I eat raw spinach, and I pile some leaves on a plate. I put the plate on a TV tray next to my computer. A few times, when I suddenly turned my head away from my computer and towards my plate, I saw a black paw suddenly reach to the table top and swipe a spinach leaf. And then, shockingly, the cat ate the spinach leaf. I guess it's healthy, so I'm not too concerned.

Confession. My cats freak out when there's a knock at the door, and to avoid any potential visitors (intruders), they bolt into the bedroom and hunker down in a hiding place for an hour or so. Sometimes when they're annoying me with their constant meowing (one wants me to pet him while he eats his dry food, the other wants me to swing his mouse-on-a-rope toy around for an hour), I'll walk past the door and discreetly knock on it myself from the inside. Then the cats bolt towards the bedroom, leaving me in peace in the living room to watch TV or surf the web.

R158 Mine freak at the doorbell. If I want a little peace I'll ring the doorbell and they run upstairs and hide. They are so sweet but sometimes I need a bit of space. Also, if one of them sneaks out to the porch and gets too inquisitive about the outside all I have to do is ring the doorbell and they run inside.

R158 and R159 We can’t be their servants 24/7

This happened about 15 years ago. I was living where I am now, a sort of semi-rural setting, with fields and forest land to each side, and woods some distance from the house at the back of the property. At that time I had two cats. Rufus was a black and white spotted cat who had belonged to a late partner, and Rusty, a ginger male who had been my late father's cat. They were both alpha cats, but got along well together, and were, apparently, hunting companions. Shortly before, I had caught them stalking what appeared to be an injured albatross on the front lawn. I called the Department of Natural Resources and two employees arrived in record time to take the bird away to a rehab center.

Anyway...on this particular night I was awakened by a shrill screeching sound outside my bedroom window. It was a moonlit night and I looked out. Rusty and Rufus were circling menacingly around something so I thought I'd better hightail it out there...with a flashlight.

What I found was this. At the back corner of the house was a mother field mouse, leaping forward at the two cats while screaming at them, and behind her was her brood of young ones. I could see their eyes shining. Apparently they had been foraging in the longish grass and had been taken by surprise with the arrival of the two barbarians. Fortunately, the two barbarians were sufficiently taken aback by this show of aggression on the part of the field mouse.

I grabbed one of the barbarians and tossed him into the house, while the other one took off across the field. When I checked, the mouse family had fled.

R161 You are so kind! Were Rusty and Rufus confused by your action? I intervened in a similar circumstance (cat v chipmunk) and my cat was disgusted with my behavior. He spent the rest of the day showing me his backside and ignoring my attempts to be friendly.

I hope this cats name is Shadow.

R161 another wonderful story, thank you for sharing. You saved those mice you have a big heart. The mom was brave I have to say, going up against not one but two cats!

R162 Actually I think they knew exactly what would happen if they were caught. They were both very intelligent but great schemers. They knew from experience that I was a mouse-hugger, bird-hugger, prey-hugger in general. And although both of those grand cats have since passed on, we now have Dax who also knows that we always side with their prey, and that they have to keep their "dark side" hidden

We sometimes have mice in the house - not big, fat field mice, but the small house mouse. A year ago my partner took down his bamboo steamer from the top shelf of the pantry (he had not used it for a while) and discovered that at some point a mouse had made a nest in it. Like me, he's very zen about these things. It's always keep calm and carry on.

Last summer, he interrupted Peggy and Dax rooting around in a corner of the back porch and suspected that they had seen a mouse. He scatted them out of there and started to prepare a meal. At some point he became aware that Dax had trotted into the kitchen from the back porch, very business-like, with something swinging from his mouth. Immediately he started yelling "Dax!!!!!! Drop it drop it drop it drop it.....!!!!!"

I was in the bedroom, and as soon as I hear the (familiar) drop it song, I came running. Sure enough, Dax was carrying a live mouse. I grabbed him and started my own drop it song, shaking him a bit while prying his mouth open. Sure enough he dropped the mouse, which was miraculously uninjured. Dax does not kill his prey. He keeps it alive so that he can play with it, watch it run around. I grabbed the poor creature and took it outside. It tried to bite me twice but I prevailed, and set it down in the garden; It looked up at me for a moment and ran off. All in a day's work.

Deacdes ago we had four indoor-outdoor cats. My dumb as a rock but extremely handsome grey stray would swat at birds and rodents, but he was a lover not a killer. He regularly went on play dates with a little calico girl who came to call. He was fixed, btw.

OP, that cat is gorgeous, and I love reading about the quirky personalities of every kitters here.

My tuxedo (barely, with a few white hairs on the belly and chest) girl is now ten and I adopted her at 6. She's living with my ex-partner and yes, we arrange visits. I'm allowed to see her in 'her' home - the ex' partnership abode- and she's gotten used to the arrangement and will sleep with me when I show up. She's better than any guard dog and one night she proved her mettle when an intruder broke into the barn which was steps from our front door.

I was asleep with her on the couch when she jumped on my stomach. This is a very sweet cat, and small, so when I woke up after she threw all her weight into it, I knew something was wrong. As soon as she knew I was awake, she began to meow loudly and run back and forth to the door. She's not an outside cat, so again, I figured there was an animal or something wrong outside the door. When I went to open it, like an idiot, she actually grabbed my leg and held on, and a good thing. I got a large flashlight and shined it toward the barn to see a black bear tearing at a hole in the side of the barn. I figured he was after the chicken feed I kept in the cans behind that wall and so I turned on the floodlights and used a boat siren I keep around to scare him off. Girl was right beside me and growling the whole time.

She's one of the smartest beings I've met and one of the quickest. She's managed to catch two bats, in the dark, and woke me both times by meowing loudly. I release them outside because she never harms them, but I think it's more about not really understanding what to do about a 'mouse with wings'. Otherwise, she's a little killer and I have to make sure she doesn't get outside to chase birds or chipmunks.

She didn't even scratch me when she grabbed my leg. Whenever I have to give her medicine she always gives me a couple of those quick cat slaps, but no claws.

R167 🥰

R167 What an awesome story! Thank you for sharing. Sending many good vibes your way.

R164 I guess I'm truly my father's son in every way. He was constantly rescuing living things - birds, mice, cats and kittens. Thank you so much for your kind comment.

More cat posts! The news is so depressing lately. I want to see more fluffy cuteness (that might or might not allow itself to be cuddled). Get to it!

At around 6 a.m. this morning, I woke to the sound of one of my cats shrieking. The two cats were on the floor with their legs around each other; they resembled a rolling yin-yang symbol. They were trying to beat the hell out of each other. It always starts the same way. The smaller fellow wants to play, so he starts a playful wrestling match. Then the bigger fellow forgets that they're playing, and he tries to beat the hell out of the smaller fellow. (He didn't get proper socialization as a kitten.)

Hopefully the smaller guy will stop picking fights with the bigger guy. Their photo is below. The big guy is 18 pounds. The small guy is a very petite cat; though fully grown, he weights just 9 pounds.

Beautiful R172! Both are and happy they get along

This isn’t about my own two cats but about a neighborhood cat that I managed to take to get treated for wounds from fights or dog attacks. He’s apparently an outdoor cat “owned” by a neighbor who obviously doesn’t take good care of him. He’s not neutered and had been looking thinner and beat up. He came into my patio over a week ago and stayed after I fed him. He came back the next day, I managed to entice him into the carrier. He couldn’t move very well due to bite wounds on his leg as well as his abdomen. I didn’t tell the neighbor that I took their cat to get treated, they also didn’t seem anxious to look for him.

Long story short, after I called to check up on him I was told that the cat tested positive for FIV and since he wasn’t chipped he was considered a stray. If no one claims him then he would be neutered and released back to the neighborhood.

Obviously the neighbors are scum for not taking care of the cat and now he’s fucked because of FIV. The cat had been siring litters in the neighborhood and in fact I’m pretty sure he’s the daddy of my almost 5-month-old kitten. He had likely mated with another neighbor’s cat who’s also an outdoor cat but better taken care of.

What should I do when the cat gets released back to the neighborhood? I plan to keep feeding him good food if he comes to the patio again. The asshole neighbors should be shamed about not caring for the cat. He’s a big and fluffy white/ brown/ gray patched boy, not mean or skittish, the shelter said if it weren’t for his FIV he’d be placed into foster. I just want his asshole “owners” to be shamed for the way they’d neglected the cat, now he’s going to live a short life outdoors.

R144 / R172 Beautiful creatures! I can imagine them looking like yin-yang when wrestling! Thank you for sharing.

I've had Kitty Lou about two months now. She's a beautiful six-year-old with a long tortoiseshell coat and is spirited but very ladylike. I get the impression that her previous human must have loved her very much (for one thing, she weighs about 8 lbs more than she ought to) and that it must have been some tragedy that landed Kitty Lou at the Humane Society, like her owner dying of old age or Covid or having to give her up because they lost their job. They told me at the HS to feed her nothing but canned food. However, when I brought her home, I happened to have some Meow Mix on the shelf and she went on a hunger strike until I gave in and gave her dry food instead of that wet crap they made her eat at the HS. However, I tested her with different flavors of Fancy Feast and negotiated a deal where she would follow the HS diet and eat Seafood Feast, Ocean Whitefish and Tuna, and Chicken Classic. None of that beef or turkey crap.

R174 Heartbreaking. I have no advice to offer but thank you for your kindness.

R172 Those two cats of yours are absolutely gorgeous. What a beautiful picture of them.

R174, why can't you keep him? He won't be fighting or looking to mate with other cats after being fixed. He'll probably be more friendly to people too. Isn't FIV manageable? I'll bet your neighbors didn't miss him and don't give a shit where he is.

R179 I can’t keep him indoors with my two non-FIV cats.

R174 If it was me, I'd simply take the cat in and to hell with the owner. However, you'd need to get your own cats immunized against FIV first. I've been there, done that, in a sense. A cat that had been roaming my father's neighborhood, was being horribly neglected by his owner and my father found him lying in his garden with a huge running abcess on his side. Dad took him in and had him looked after, neutered, and immunized. He wasn't FIV positive, but he was deaf, anemic, and eventually developed urinary blockage that required a perineal urethrostomy. That was expensive surgery, but I paid for everything. When Dad died, I took Spider to live with me, and he was close to 20 when he died.

r172

You have to restart the cat introduction process. It won't get better on its own.

R181 I thought FIV vaccine was discontinued? Also I read it wasn’t effective against all strains but was only about 80% effective overall.

I’ll look out for the cat, make sure he knows there’s food in the patio and a place to sleep. If he looks sick I’ll take him to the shelter again for treatment. I will be letting other neighbors know so that they understand this is what’s going on.

R174 / R183 You are doing all you can do while trying to keep your cats safe. I hope your kindness is rewarded.

R183 You're right, it has been discontinued. I wasn't aware of that. I think the plan you've devised is the best possible. Good luck!

My cat Cosmo has been my best buddy during COVID-19 work-from-home. It took some getting used to for him. He'd jump on the bed, look at me with an "Oh shit, she's not going to work today EITHER!" look, and jump down. We are happily co-existing now.

The cutest thing he does now is jump on my lap while I'm on the toilet. I hum "Getting to Know You" while scratching the top of his head with my chin. It makes him lean back against me and close his eyes.

I've attached some pics of my baby boy, lovey joy!

^ What a cutie

Cosmo is a handsome boy, R186

Whah! Cosmo is a wee stunner! Lucky gal!

Thank you, R187 and R188! He loves to spend time laying on his back (and sometimes sleeps that way). I know he's feeling happy, safe, and content. A cat's stomach is their most vulnerable spot. They only show it when they feel secure.

Here we have Tom and Whiskers. Tom is the black "ghost cat" mentioned in a lengthy post above. Whiskers worshiped him. Whiskers is also the cat whom Charlie worshiped, and showed his love by gnawing the top of Whiskers' head.

Tom and Whiskers are cuties - especially Whiskers! I've always liked two-toned cats as most of those I've had over the years have been so. They look so sweet and content.

Two beauties miss Lucy! They look very connected. ♥️♥️♥️

Thank you R192. There are actually better pictures of Tom somewhere, but I'm not sure where I've stored them. Whiskers loved Tom so much I know he'd have taken a bullet for him.

Thank you, R193. Tom was so spoiled that he went through life basking in his own glory. Whiskers followed him everywhere.

I've posted many images throughout this tread but since the tread is 'hot' I'll post a few more images. This is Cecil - I adopted him from my sister as he was being difficult due to the renovation of her house. He has since passed but was a real doll and so docile especially when he came down with 'fatty liver' disease. I had to feed him with a syringe daily for nearly 6 weeks because he would not eat. He pulled through and was with me for another four years. His first owners (before my sister got him from a local vet) had his front claws removed (how awful) and he'd walk kinda funny but I thought it was cute.

Another pic of Cecil (wearing the martian ears in above image) and Shadow (the big gray lump in the middle) and Cloudie (far left). Cecil would pester Shadow to groom him and Shadow did w/o fuss. Cloudie (seen in other posts) was a bit prissy but would lick my ear - kinda like a cat kiss. I still have Shadow and am glad I do since he is so nice to have around and care for considering all the global turbulence.

Icky, your cats are precious. So beautiful, all of them.

Ok - last one - really! This is a very old image (17 years!) of my three charges before moving to my current home. Some have seen Muffin (white w/black) in other images but Luckie (buff/tan) and Sparky (black/white) are making their introduction on this thread. Sparky was just a baby kitten when I found him - when I first saw him I knew he was mine. He was a very special cat to me in many ways and his coat/fur was super soft - almost like silk. All my cats then remained indoors but when I moved to my present home I'd let them out to romp around. Unfortunately Sparky contracted something called 'Bobcat Fever' (I don't recall the clinical name) which is almost always fatal. It was a tough time for me but I am so grateful I was able to share over 6 years with him along with the others. As I've mentioned before each cat I'd acquire would just join the existing brood and everyone got along - I guess the universe sent the cats to me when it knew I needed them and they me.

OTOH, I've watched that show 'My Cat From Hell' and wonder how I always managed to get such gentle cats whereas others get the demon cats!

I love the photo at R199. It's a mosaic of fur!

They're gorgeous, R199!

Copying this from a post I made some time ago...(Now I have a picture of Lucky uploaded - He's the one turned toward the camera.)

A number of years ago, I had a cat named Lucky.. He was the son of a pregnant feral cat I had taken in, and had named Jasmine. When Jasmine's kittens were being born, Lucky was a breech birth. She was laboring terribly, trying to get the kitten out, but nothing was happening. I could see the kitten's backside so I grabbed as much of him as I could, and gave a mighty pull. I must have been causing Jasmine some extra distress, because she sank her teeth into my left hand and wouldn't let go. I wouldn't let go, either, so with one hand throbbing like hell, I managed to get the kitten out. I made sure he was breathing okay, and gave him to his mother. All was well.

I found homes for all the other kittens, but I kept Lucky for myself. After all, we had a bond. He was a thin wiry little guy, grey with white trim, a very loving and pleasant little cat. One August, he managed to get out of the house, and he didn't come back. There is woodland and forest behind the house, and I figured he either got lost, or was killed by a wild animal. Four months passed, and there was no sign of Lucky.

Near the end of November, I was getting ready to go to a late movie. It was probably about nine o'clock. I was in the shower, the water was running, I could hear nothing but the water, and suddenly, it hit me. Lucky is on the back step.

I was so surprised, shaken, thrilled, that, water still running I rushed stark naked out of the shower to the back door, threw the door open, and yes, Lucky was there, weaving back and forth impatiently on the step, as if he had never been gone.

I am also terribly thankful that it was Lucky there and not some unsuspecting person who would be traumatized for life because a naked man had opened the door.

I had a beige American short hair male that I rescued. He was so beautiful and I named him Gatsby after the fictional character. He thought he was a dog because when me or my parents would come home he would run to the door and jump to greet us. He even loved walking on a leash and at 7 PM would run to the closet where I kept the leash and demand to be taken outside. He lived 20 years. Best cat ever. I later got a dark gray and white Maine Coon I named Daisy who would make strange purring noises and those two loved each other and she died right after him.

[202] - Wow! What a wonderful picture that is similar to one I posted up thread. Lucky is truly lucky and a cherub to boot. I think it's so wonderful that cats can get along so well, in spite of the occasional squabbles, where humans are in constant conflict, or so it seems. I only have one cat left (Shadow) and have vowed that he is the last. Not that I mind the trials and tribulations of pet ownership, but having to lift 42lbs tubs of cat litter out of the car and drag them into the house and perpetually cleaning litter boxes for nearly 30 years is getting old as am I . Still, the rewards are priceless in spite of the effort so when the time comes, I may be blessed with another 4 legged fur ball!

[203] - Another wonderful cat-panion story! That's a made up word but so appropriate here. Even though we are 'supposed' to be the most intelligent species on the planet we really aren't IMMHO. The universe is really in control and guides things our way even though we 'think' we are calling the shots. Sorry to go down this side street (or Back Street - that wonderful Susan Hayward movie) but it's getting late and Shadow is demanding my attention again as usual.

Cheers to all!

"He thought he was a dog because when me or my parents would come home he would run to the door and jump to greet us."

That is not unusual CAT behavior.

R197 R199 gorgeous kittens! It’s touching to see and read how everyone on this thread is so loving and dedicated towards their cat family.

I have a neighbour who lives at the road nearby where many cats get run over and yet he lets his cat outside 24/7. I hope it will survive.

R202 you have a strong bond with all your cats, if you could sense he was there. Wow! So happy he returned. He just took a sabbatical 😉the cats look beautiful.

R203 touching story....when Daisy’s love had gone she had to follow. ♥️ Cat love is real. Must have been tough for you though losing them both.

My love for cats started with this guy. His name was Puma and we had a calico girl too to keep him company. He died when I was very young but I still remember him. This is one of the last photos of him somewhere around 1986. Photography was a hobby of my dad, he used to develop his photos himself at home and this is one of them.

Puma was neutered but still very defensive of his lady and if our garden. He regularly got in a fight with cats who trespassed. After a fight his ear got infected badly and despite antibiotics and treatment it never fully healed as the photo shows. He was a bit overweight but he could sprint!!! As soon as he saw another cat, a mouse or a bird in the garden he was like a lightning bolt. He’d be there before you could blink your eyes.

Indoors he was sweet and cuddly. Even when I was a toddler he would sit on my lap. He got bladder issues like many neutered cats do and unfortunately an operation and treatment didn’t work and the vet advised my parents to put him down because he was in a lot of pain. My dad was so devastated after both the cats passed that my sister and I weren’t allowed to have pets again until I was 15. Puma you are missed!

R209 Puma is a beautiful boy and he was cherished fondly. The ear lends character. I had a cat called Tiger when I was very young, in fact my first pet, and the same thing happened to his ear.

"He got bladder issues like many neutered cats do"

Male cats - neutered or unneutered - are prone to bladder and urinary track issues.

R210 thanks Miss Lucy! So sweet. Cats have two layers of ear skin and when the infection festers between those two layers it’s hard to heal I suppose. Sorry Tiger had the same injury! Hope he still had a good cat life afterwards🙏🏻 Puma did thankfully.

R211 thanks, my vet once sad it’s important to not have a cat neutered around six months but preferably a bit older because then the urinary track has fully developed. I didn’t have my last tom cat neutered and I don’t know if I’ll get my current one neutered(he doesn’t go outside).

[quote]the urinary track

[quote]the urinary track

[quote]the urinary track

the urinary trac[bold]t[/bold]

Sorry tracT autocorrect and not wearing glasses. Thanks

Oh, fuck autocorrect. Turn it OFF.

OP: the naughty look on your super cute kitty’s face still cracks up me, every time i see this thread and happen to glance at the pic.

R212 I'm not sure how old Tiger was when he died. He was around when I was born, and he died when I was 14. My father wasn't even sure. BTW, Tiger was a huge solid grey Manx cat and he had been a stray.

Rufus and Rusty, (mentioned above stalking a female field mouse) were quite the hunters. I was often gifted with prey. Rufus arrived at the front door one day with an enormous live field mouse in his mouth. I had a dish of cat food in my hand at the time, and went out onto the step, wondering how I could save the poor creature. Then I realized I had the perfect weapon in my hand. I grabbed a huge gob of the cat food and smeared it over Rufus's face. Of course he dropped the mouse and it vanished quickly

Rusty finally decided that he would move in with a woman across the field, who had several cats, and was very good to them. He would visit me, of course, and quite frequently. Some distance behind the house there's a small swampy area infested with huge rats. One winter, he started leaving these dead rats on the front step, one almost every morning. I knew it was him because he'd often hang around until he was sure I had found my gift. By the time I'd find them, they'd be frozen there, sometimes in rather bizarre positions, and ugly, snarly expressions on their faces. There was also evidence that they had put up a fight. It was bizarre, to say the least. I could picture Rusty marching to the swamp every evening and challenging one of the rats to a fight to the death.

R218 he didn’t die young thankfully. Love grey cats♥️

R217 will you help me make an ever bigger mess of the guest/laundry room? 😉

R219 😖 rats.....Great hunter miss Lucy and thanks for sharing another memory! I’ve heard that mice and rats don’t go toners a place where there’s cats because they can smell the cats. That’s not entirely true I suppose. Love it how you’ve saved so many preys 🙏🏻💚

You all are anthropomorphizing your cats. Sure they are cute but they are just cats. They don't think like humans. All they want is food and a place that is out of the elements.

R222 here I should turn autocorrect off indeed. I meant to say I heard that mice don’t go near places where they can smell cats

R213, that's very interesting. I adopted Cosmo from our local vet. Cos was neutered at 8 weeks. Crossing my fingers he doesn't develop any bladder or urinary tract issues. I try to feed him foods low in ash.

R221: oh what a sweet heart. Those BIG round eyes are Everything 😍

R225 don’t worry. It can cause problems but it’s not a given thing and since your boy looks so healthy and beautiful(and doesn’t have any problems on the litter box) I assume he’s fine! Even if problems arise some cats can definitely get cured. Make sure he drinks enough if you can. He’s lovely and would love to see more pics.

R224 I do understand what you mean but nothing hurts as much as when someone close to you is saying “it was just an animal” when you just lost your pet. They’re family. I do not agree with you. Everything on this earth lives and has a soul. As humans we are overrating ourselves. The cat has a different perception but the connection is real.

Beautifully said, R228. I agree with you completely.

The biggest hunter I ever had was a gay neutered blonde guy named Dino. He once came in the den window with a live bird in his mouth that he abruptly dropped on the floor then left the room. I have no idea why, doubt it was a gift. I'd previously seen him stalk, kill and devour squirrels and mice.

People made jokes about how gay Dino was because he was positively *in love* with two neutered male cats we had - one, a stray we kept for a few years, the other at another time, a friend's blondie that stayed with us in a year while she was overseas. Dino would sit upright next to the object of his affections, cock his head to the side and stare. Neither cat seemed to mind since there was no physical contact.

R239 you are a rare person🙏🏻 bless you. Wish there were more people like you around. ♥️

I’m going to scatter the ashes of my previous dear cat in Scotland. I always thought I’d move there and I promised him he’d hunt mice in the green hills. Things turned out differently. Scotland is my forever home and I thought it would be his too.

R239 you are a rare person🙏🏻 bless you. Wish there were more people like you around. ♥️

I’m going to scatter the ashes of my previous dear cat in Scotland. I always thought I’d move there and I promised him he’d hunt mice in the green hills. Things turned out differently. Scotland is my forever home and I thought it would be his too.

^ Clairvoyant

This is Dobby. As you can see, he was born with curly fur, which was coarse and wiry. His mother had the usual straight cat fur. He must have been a kind of mutation. Nothing remarkable I can say about him. He was a quiet cat, never caused trouble, never did anything remarkable. He enjoyed attention, but was never anything but low-key. Even his eventual death was unremarkable. One day in his old age he simply lay down on the dog's bed and within fifteen minutes he was dead. No fuss, no bother.

[quote]One day in his old age he simply lay down on the dog's bed and within fifteen minutes he was dead. No fuss, no bother.

That's what Jeffrey Dahmer said about his victims.

R234 awww he’s a special ginger. Never encountered one with curly fur myself. He never needed to be remarkable, he was there. I mean, so comforting to know you have this quiet and silent force in the home. Those cat family members leave a void as big as any other cat with a less quiet personality. You have(had) so many amazing cats. 🙏🏻♥️

R235 Nice comparison. Not everyone who says the same line is equally mentally disturbed🙄 so what’s your cat story?

Thank you, R236. Yes, I appreciated Dobby as much as I did any of the other cats. Cats have personalities as people do. We can't all be the life of the party.

[234] - Dobby is a sweatheart and your description is so touching. Yes, each of our feline companions have unique personalities which make them memorable long after they have departed. His curly coat/fur makes him even more special beyond his demeanor. It's really funny that I love cats so much because when I was younger I was deathly allergic to them! I guess over the years my system adapted to them which is a good thing.

Cheers to you for sharing your Dobby with us!

Found the cat dead as a doornail in the driveway. Not a mark on her. Reviewed cctv to see that she had been in the engine block when the car was leaving and must have snapped her neck.

She was maybe 8 years old and a great ratter. Now she’s continuing her journey as part of a forest.

R240 how horrible, I’m sorry for your loss

How are your felines doing DL? It’s 100.4F/39 degrees over here(heatwave). no airco. My kitten hangs out in his fav room. The one with all the mess and laundry. He dragged his bed partly behind an old computer screen and is chilling all day.

Makes me wonder if I should do the same. Just sit down and do nothing.

R242/OP

R242 We're having a heat wave here, too. It's been sizzling hot since June 1 with no end in sight. No air conditioning, but windows are all open and we have fans set up in every room. I love the heat, but the cats have definitely slowed down in their activities. Dax minds the heat most because he has a thick, heavy coat with a woolly undercoat. Charlie, the only cat who is allowed outdoors, goes onto the deck at the back of the house and hides under an enormous rambling rose that projects onto the deck. He's cool as a cucumber in there.

R244 wish I could join Charlie😉 sounds nice especially if there’s a little breeze too! We have fans too but still it feels like a hairdryer at times. Does it cool down at night? The past weeks it hardly dies here but I’ve noticed the kit is only a little bit active during the night. All purrs and all cuddly.

R245 It's not much cooler at night, so we don't get much relief. My partner doesn't appreciate the heat quite as much as I do, and sometimes looks like a wilted flower. However, when he goes to work, he has the advantage of air conditioning.

r242, that's an adorable picture!

I bought my cats a cooling bed - it's supposed to be for dogs but they love laying on it on a hot summer day

It was bound to happen. I adopted a cat and all was well until he matured and then he became very aggressive. All of my previous cats were gentle and loving. His aggressiveness might have started when my boyfriend moved in with me and it didn't improve when the boyfriend moved out. A few years ago I had to re-home the cat because I was going to be traveling for a few years. Was nice to not have scratches and bites and the cat found a very friendly home. Now that I've returned home, I'm not going to ask for my cat back.

R247 thank you. that’s a great idea. I’m going to look for one of those

R246 I understand how your husband feels, the heat is tough on me too. My brain feels fried. This too shall pass. Doesn’t Dax get a summer fur btw?

It's odd about Dax. His fur doesn't seem to change in the summer. We're suspicious that he may be part Persian due to the thickness of the fur and the thick woolly undercoat. His mother was a feral colony cat, but his father could have been any cat allowed to roam loose. We take him out briefly in the evening on a leash (which he doesn't like) to give him some fresh air and see the squirrels and birds in the trees, but in the heat of the day, he'll start to pant almost immediately.

Cos is doing just fine in the heat. I keep the balcony door open with jut the screen so that he can get some fresh air. Once the sun starts to creep in, I close the door and drapes so that I can turn on the air.

I grew up with no air conditioning, and me and my cats did just fine. Shade and water. Animals are far better at adapting than humans are.

Big Boy:

R252 Cos is a stunner as always!!!

R254 look at those eyes! He’s beautiful. Does he have a friendly character too?

Gorgeous, R254 !

Writing about my long mourned cat Meno, and this delightful thread, I have adopted a kitten from a rescue service. A little girl tabby. She is being fixed today, and I will get her by next week. Very excited. Busy getting things ready for her, shopping on amazon for things. Likely she will prefer the boxes, but I am enjoying this.

Just a few weeks ago, with all the continuing covid crisis and life altering changes, I realized I was getting bored and a bit down. It occurred to me that although I have good friends, grown niece, and a fortunate and comfortable life, something was missing. I am not necessary, loved but not needed. My little kitten will depend on me. Wish us luck!

Congratulations, R257. I'm very, very happy for you and your kitten. Good luck. Your post made me feel good.

My rescue org is back to adopting--after about 4 months closed. I'm volunteering for cat care but not ready to meet people for adoptions. Luckily there are volunteers willing to do adoption.s The kittens are going fast, but the most pleasant surprise is that the adults, even senior ones, are being adopted quickly too.

R255 & r256: Yes isn’t he a sweet heart. As a matter of fact I came across his pic at some British news website, and all I knew is that he’s being rehomed to a new family, so wishing him all the best!

The highest paid 😺 in the world.

Brits are cute. Hope the cat still has a good life though between all the shoots. I’d never do it to my cat.

R257 here.

Spent the day with my new 3 month old kitten, the foster named her Ruby, but doesn't fit. She is a sweet little tabby lovebug, right now we are trying Lolly out. Very playful, but then purrs for love. When she weaves about my legs, I bend down to talk to her. She sits up on her hind legs and extends her front paws. If I bend closer she pats my face. When I pick her up she puts her arms around my neck. Foster said she was part of abandoned small litter, very tiny when found and had to be bottle fed. So very attached to humans. I will try to post some pictures.

I am a goner.

R263, sounds like love...

R263 sounds so cute!!! Would love to see pics. Enjoy the new addition to the family.

R263 sounds so cute!!! Would love to see pics. Enjoy the new addition to the family.

R263 You are so lucky! She sounds wonderful. I'd love to see her picture.

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That's adorable r268. I want one.

The kitten or the guy R269? 😜

Cute kitten, like a tiny cheetah R268

R270 One of each would be perfect!

R263, you may be a goner but it's the best way to go. I must have spent $150 on cat towers for Cos when I first got him. He wasn't interested at first but he warmed to them. He wasn't a lap cat as a kitten but he will warm to sitting on my lap occasionally now. My favorite is when he licks my hair. It's very short. I feel like I'm being groomed.

I recently hunted everywhere for his favorite foods. Chewy AND Amazon were out of stock. When I finally found it, I bought 20 cans. I'd do anything for Cos as he brings me joy every day. Even if this morning's alarm was him hacking up some food he'd scarfed down without thoroughly chewing it first!

My cat just started kneading, he’s approx 8 months old and we’ve had him for 4,5 months. He never used to do it before but the past few days he sometimes comes on our laps and starts kneading. At one point he also suckled my shirt for a bit. Our previious cats never did this.

Does this mean that he somehow feels stressed and needs to feel comforted? I’ve gently grabbed his front paws to make him stop doing it but it doesn’t really work.

My cat just started kneading, he’s approx 8 months old and we’ve had him for 4,5 months. He never used to do it before but the past few days he sometimes comes on our laps and starts kneading. At one point he also suckled my shirt for a bit. Our previious cats never did this.

Does this mean that he somehow feels stressed and needs to feel comforted? I’ve gently grabbed his front paws to make him stop doing it but it doesn’t really work.

R274 My cat didn't start doing that until a few months ago. She's almost 3 years old.

R275 thanks so I guess it’s normal cat behavior then. I used to think it was for cats who were taken away from their mother too early.

Kneading is totally normal. My cat kneads the laundry before I've folded it. She likes to do it, it doesn't bother me, why diagnose a problem and try to change it? People, jeez.

.....

Nancy is on steroids for irritated bowels which may be, or develop into, lymphoma. Her digestive symptoms are gone. She hasn’t vomited or had diarrhea once since she started medication, but she’s always “starving” and her constant begging is annoying. And she looks like she swallowed a volleyball. Something to do with weakened abdominal muscles, apparently.

R279 Thanks for the news. Let's hope for the best. Cats can be remarkably tough and resilient.

I adopted a shelter cat, Alexander the Great. Cream colored persian mix with stunning blue eyes. He had some quirks that were weird and finally realized he's deaf as a post. It must suck to be a cat and not be able to hear. Someone at some point took care of him but they declawed him and I am totally against that. They also neutered him so I'm not sure why he was found wandering the streets, poor little guy.

so many fluffeh kittehs!

so many purring PUSSIES!

Alexander sounds beautiful, R281. I've heard that white cats with blue eyes are often deaf. I had a pure white cat years ago called Spider, who was deaf, but his eyes were yellow.

Cos had his annual physical on Wednesday. Everything is fine and his weight is within range for his age. Nearly had a heart attack when I noticed fresh blood on the sheets in his carrier. Had the Dr. check it out. She didn't say anything but I suspect one of the techs cut a nail or two too short. Weird thing is she noted him as being a Light Blue Tabby. He sometimes looks blue-grey but I thought he was a striped grey tabby!

My downstairs neighbor FINALLY refilled the bird seed in his feeder. The birds are starting to come back to feed and Cos loves to watch them swoop in and out. Sometimes they sit on the balcony railing. It makes Cos titter.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Nice to hear about Cos, R284. Nothing new here with the cats, but we lost our elderly black Labrador Retriever about two weeks ago. She was 14, and had been very unsteady for about 6 months. We got up one morning, went to her bed to greet her, and found that she had passed away some time during the night. We hadn't heard a sound, so it probably happened while she was sleeping.

So sorry about your Lab, R285! Cos sends you head butts and nose boops (let me know if you don't know what a nose boop is).

R279 sounds like she can’t help it. Does she have a nice character still or is she really being plagued by the hunger?

R284 is Cos ok now? Clipping claws is tricky.....

Sorry for your loss miss Lucy but 14 years is very old at least. Sending you all much love.

Our brat is doing great, he grows steadily but remains very vocal. Turns out he is very slender and has long legs and a very long tail, his ears remain relatively big. When he walks around his tail is always a bit curved.

Thank you, R286. Haha, yes, I know what a nose boop is.

R287, thank you. Yes 14 is about the limit for a Lab, I've been told. We're thinking of a new Lab puppy some time in the future.

Good to know, R288. I thought I was the only one who said "boop! whenever Cos and I touch noses.

He's fine, R287. Thanks for asking. I think it was just one or two nails, not paws. He was walking fine when we go home. They scraped tartar off his teeth so there were a little sensitive. I know all about that so dinner was his favorite Savory Selections.

homies

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So cute R293

So cute R293

I thought my cat would like that video, but it just reminded her that she’s never had kittens and never will. No she’s depressed and I feel insensitive. Thanks, r293. Thanks a lot.

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I believe that asshole cats were raised "wrongly".

With the right amount of tender love and affection (a lot of it), any cat will be sweet.

I love cats.

R298 true. The only asshole cats I’ve been around had crazy owners. One was this neurotic woman with mood swings, always stressed out. I felt for the cat, it never knew what to expect of its owner and therefore it would be nervous and sometimes scared around people.

Our cat is a sweetheart, even when my eldest is sometimes playing a bit rough with him. He’d never bite or lash out. At night he usually sleeps on her bed, guarding her almost. It’s heartwarming. He truly is family.

Halloween is coming fast. I have a new ghost story (concerning cats, of course) that happened late last week. Non-believers beware,

For a number of years, a little feline "something" has been hanging out in front of a bookshelf near the left side of the bed in the master bedroom. I have seen it once only. Quite a long time ago, I was sitting on the bed, leaning against the pillows, reading, and I happened to glance over toward the bookcase. A good-sized grey and black striped kitten with rather thick, wooly fur, was playing with one of my slippers. I did not have a cat at that time which fit that description, in fact, I can't think of a cat I've ever had in this house that resembled the one I saw. An instant after I noticed it, the kitten disappeared.

Prior to this sighting, cats sitting on the bed, back turned to the bookcase, would suddenly be accosted by something that seemed to grab them by the backside. They would jump up and look around, but nothing was there. This happened numerous times. Even the dog was grabbed one day.

This happened many times to many cats, but lately, the phantom grabber had been quiet...until last week. Peggy, the ex-feral cat, was on the bed, and was grabbed by the kitten. She got up off the bed and jumped to the top of the bookcase, then proceeded to stare down at the floor, her eyes and head movements following something that was moving from in front of the bookcase to the center of the room.

My partner was in the room while all this was going on, and he witnessed it, too. It apparently moved under an antique dresser that stands on legs and has a large space underneath. Cinder, the one-eyed cat, saw it under there, and moved in to get a better look. She seemed to be touching noses with something that we couldn't see. For a remarkable period of time, it roamed around the room, followed by Peggy and Cinder, who seemed to be the only individuals who could see it and track its movements.

Then it was gone, and there has been no sign of it since.

Make of this what you will.

Now my cat has decided she wants opposable thumbs. She won’t take no for an answer. Intelligence can be a curse.

R300 thanks for telling us about another very survival experience. Do you think the ghost cat just wants to play or maybe just wants attention? You seem to attract spirits, I don’t mean that it’s a negative thing. You are probably simply very sensitive and empathetic.

Supernatural experience I mean

My cat is really dialing up the cuteness in a transparent attempt to get me to feed her early. She alternates this strategy with trying to intimidate me with what I think she intends to be ferocious roars.

R302 I think the cat in this instance wants to play.

Since I was a child, I've been experiencing paranormal phenomena of all kinds. My father had similar experiences as well, and a late cousin also had experiences similar to mine. I've had premonitions when I absolutely knew that certain things were going to happen. However, I can't predict the future. That's not how this "gift" works. The premonitions are always spontaneous and sudden. I have no control over any of it. I've seen numerous things - people, animals - that had died. I saw a deceased boyfriend standing at the end of the hallway, as solid as life looking straight at me.

At the precise time a friend of mine died in a car accident, I felt an overall sensation of horrible pain and thought I was dying myself.

Sitting in the living room of my parents' home, nobody in the house but me, somebody placed the palm of his hand on top of my head. When I asked for a sign that somebody was actually there, the chandelier on the ceiling lit up spontaneously.

These are only a few things that have happened. I'm accustomed to them and take them for granted. None of these things scare me at all.

Our tuxedo cat, Dax, has a new "friend," god help us all. A few days ago, I was buying some Halloween decorations for the house, and I picked up a plastic/resin/whatever cat skeleton. It's life size and anatomically correct, except that the head looks more like an actual cat than a skull, It has ears, a nose and the face is fleshed out a bit. I placed it outside the master bedroom door, intending to move it into a window later.

I thought it might spook the cats but Dax is the only one who even looks at it. He sits in front of it, gazing at it. He touches it with his paw. He rubs his head against the "skeleton's" head - and he does this every time he comes into or leaves the bedroom.

I wonder how Percy and his owner are these days.

We used to have this lovely thread here dealing with Percy until some fuckwits started to derail the entire thread.

I like that my cat is semi feral. Actually I guess he's not mine, more like I'm his when he wants something to eat and a warm spot.

R308 You're doing a good thing there. I've always had a soft spot for ferals. My dad was always taking in strays, and one was so wild when he found her at a building site that he had to toss her into the trunk of his car to bring her home. She adapted quickly to home life.

Jackson Galaxy says if a cat hasn't been socialized before it's six weeks old, it can't be. My family found two six week or older wild cats (at different times), including the one that "taught" me all about cats. She was a prolific hunter, and wouldn't let me pick her up. But she'd sit with me once I sat down first and was very affectionate. The other turned out to be a little charmer, all the other pets loved him. Not a feral-like none on his body though where we found him (he jumped in the car) was near a cat colony. I couldn't handle a real feral, and shouldn't.

Cat Man Chris of Cole and Marmalade fame says he's now calling them homeless cats rather than feral cats.

R7 My cat lived to be 25, a female tortie. I had such a hard time putting her down.. She was in pain, I could tell. To have a pet 25 years is epic I think. She was a survivor.

[Quote] [R308] You're doing a good thing there. I've always had a soft spot for ferals.

Oh thank you but he's also doing me a whole lot of good. I hadn't realized I was lonely and needed someone, especially during this period. Also he's a mouser.

I don't care to share stories about my pussy.

I don't care to share stories about my pussy.

R312 Torties are spitfires. I have one right now and she is still playful as a kitten even though she's an old lady.

related

Lovely thread! Could you experts advise on toys for cats that are not babies anymore? My teenager got bored with his baby toys (mostly stuff that he can roll/chase) and is bored. I don't know what to get him.

Best cat toy ever in my house - a small ball made of rolled up aluminum foil. My older cat stopped playing with it though. He'd only play if I was involved, he liked the fishing rod thing for a few minutes.

R318 Nice to see you here! A hundred thousand welcomes! (Or in Scots Gaelic "Ciad Mille Failte." Sometimes the simplest toys are the ones they enjoy the most. My father used to roll up a ball of paper very tightly, and toss it around for his cats. They'd bat it around, and if there was a box handy, even an empty kleenex box, they'd place the ball in that box, then stalk the box and hook out the toy.

He'd also take the stick out of the bottom of a window blind, attach a longish string, and then he'd get a lavish fishing fly, something with lots of fur and feathers on it. He'd cut off the hook and attach it to the string. He'd drag the thing a round and loop it up into the air and his cats would go crazy over it.

Dad was the ultimate cat man.

Tis my honour, m'lady. *bows* I shall attempt the wise council regarding balls and rods immediately.

My cats like tennis balls. They sell big tennis ball toys at pet stores that they can wrestle with and chase around but they're more durable than the real kind.

I must look into that R322. One of my cats likes to wrestle with things and kick them with her hind feet. This would be ideal.

One of mine is the same way, Miss Lucy. She's been beating the shit out of tennis balls for years. Her eyes get really wide and crazed looking as she does it so there's an added comedy factor.

I know that look, R324. Crazed is the perfect word to describe it. It's amazing that a creature that's supposed to be domesticated is actually so close to a feral state that all it takes is the right set of circumstances to tip that cat over the edge.

Beating the shit out of a tennis ball is not wild or feral, it's just the way they play. It's connected to their hunting instinct.

I just read a quote that I want to share with you:

"Cats are a lesson in respecting boundaries and that's why many people don't like them."

R326, correct, much of cat behavior people label as "asshole" behavior is simply them playing. They just often look hilarious doing it.

Ha ha, R328. So many here don't know much about cats, and find their bad behavior "cute," too. Cats like rules, cats live by routine. They're easy to train contrary to popular opinion (it seems). Cats get bored inside where it's safe - like kids, they must have something to do, entertainment people!

You get it, R329!! They're like toddlers. They like things that go boom and like to experiment with the sensory input they get from things they find, whether that be a giant tennis ball, a tinfoil ball, or, well, a disembodied mouse torso. Ask me how I know that one.

They're incredibly observant and intuitive. My old girl has very very long hair so she gets hairballs. The first few times she got one in my home, she started gagging while on furniture, so I rushed over to her and gently placed her on the floor so she wouldn't hurl on the upholstery. I could tell she was used to being scolded about it in her previous home - she was abandoned to a shelter as an adult - and she looked guilty about getting a hairball, poor thing. She figured out really quick that I wasn't going to scold her - I just didn't want her to puke on the furniture! She doesn't get them nearly as much anymore now that I brush her religiously, but she will hop off the furniture every single time without my prompting. Bless her little heart.

Meow.

Me-OW!

Here are my 3 fur babies. On the right is Mama Myrtle. In the middle is her daughter Miss Millie. And on the left is her son Mr. Billy. This is what I wake up to every morning, a pile-o-cats in the bed.

That's a pile of love right there, R333. They're real sweethearts.

Thank you. Yes they are. And the poster upthread who said cats live by routine is so right. My three have a set routine every day that you can set a clock by. It's amazing to watch them segue from activity to activity during the day because you know exactly what, when, and for how long they're going to doing each activity.

R333 so incredibly cute!!! 😻😻😻

R333 love it. In their minds clearly you're part of their squad.

Thanks R336 & R337. I think you're right 337. I'm retired and with them most all day every day. Myrtle (the mama cat) likes to perch on my chest with her face just inches from mine and doze for an hour or so most days. I was able to wedge my phone between my face and hers a few weeks back and snap this. She had a rough life before she came to me, but she's a contented girl now, that's for sure.

That made me so happy, R338! Bless you for giving your home and love to these wonderful animals. Wishing you good health and a long life.

Thanks R338.

Sorry, that should be "thanks R339".

My cat keeps mostly to herself. She's 14 and in great shape, I've been taking care of her since my mother died. She was always like this though, fearful of other cats and strangers. I'm allowed to pet her, until I'm not, then she bites or scratches me. She loves treats and has a ravenous appetite. She's a little fat but pretty.

I love fat cats. Wish mine could get a little heftier but he's a skinny lad.

R333, I wish my cats would share space. Unfortunately, they're not particularly close even though they are sisters and have lived together for 12 years. One of them is a bit territorial and a bully so instead of sharing space, they do time share. They alternate space usage. When it's cold, they occasionally tolerate each other and cuddle up. I love those moments. Recently, I notice the "beta" doesn't give up/in as easily. Must be age. She just does her cat gravity thing and refuses to budge. So the "alpha" cat gives up and cuddles up. That's on the sofa, hasn't happen on the bed yet. WInter is coming, I want all my kitties in bed with me.

Cat gravity! I love this! I will use it from now on, with R344's permission.

I love, love, love kitties but they're huge disease-spreaders. Owning indoor cats shrinks your skeleton because their poopy little litterbox paws make you lose bone mass. Their paws and fur are absolutely filthy from their litterbox and most refuse to take thorough baths regularly, which they do require.

I taught my old cats how to use the toilet and they accepted water baths with mild shampoo. Ever since then, I wasn't allergic to cats any more, like I used to be. As it turns out, their fecal residue and pee is what causes cat allergies, not their "dander". I made sure my home didn't stink and wasn't covered in fluff dust, too. It took a lot but it was well worth it.

Most people that keep indoor cats have absolutely disgusting and dirty houses, by the way. You can't deny that.

"most refuse to take thorough baths regularly, which they do require."

NO, THEY DON'T. Cats should not be bathed, R346. If you're obsessed about their feet in litter, wipe their feet.

R346 is having us on with its silly proclamations. My partner is a vet tech, and I showed him the post. He laughed. He was still laughing when he left for work this morning.

I've checked my cat's paws repeatedly and there is never any litter residue. I put a 4' square piece of Astro Turf in front of their litter boxes. They can't get out of the room without walking over it and it does a great job of removing any residual litter on their feet.

Your poor cats, R349. Must be hell to be living with such a germophobe.

R349, despite his qualifications, he is fallible and vulnerable to misinformation. I know doctors that think it's a good idea to eat red meat three meals a day and get 6 hours of sleep per night.

Laughing on the way out the door, yeah? Fucking lame.

*The doofus at R348, not R349

My idiot cat managed to push a glass tea light holder off the table a few days ago. Of course it broke and shattered into a million pieces. She has always loved to push things off tables for some reason.

Nancy is generally a lovely girl. Very polite. Trainable. But she insists on scratching the sofa in front of the TV while I’m sitting it it. She has scratching pads right there. Every time I scold her and she glares at me, but then she just does it again. She INSISTS.

R354 My cat is exactly the same way! lol. I guess they're both bitches.

My boy is too kind, even if the kids are climbing the walls. He doesn’t even hide. He’s always kind. Love him to bits.

Don't you dare attack our Miss Lucy, R352!

R351 "...fallible and vulnerable to misinformation" As we all are...including you.

[quote] Must be hell to be living with such a germophobe.

I'm hardly a germaphobe. I just don't like cat litter tracked all over my house. I have hard wood floors and they don't hide strewn cat litter like carpeting would.

Recommendations for litter mats? I used to use one but stopped because while it captured litter, it was impossible to remove it. That is gross. So now I use large towels and bath mats because I can wash and dry them. But they aren't great in catching the litter as evidenced by litter in other parts of my apartment away from the litter boxes.

One recommendation was to use bathtub mats with the soft spikey bits. But it freaked my cats out and they refused to go near it. That obviously can't happen since that meant refusing to go near the litter box.

This type. Lots of “brands.”

Cats are not meant for priss pots.

R361, thanks. Are the holes soft enough? I'm afraid it may freak out my cats. They're 12 and set in their ways.

It’s just like walking on textured pad.

R360 my cats didn't have any problems at all from the get-go walking on the Astro Turf. In fact at times 2 of them will even take naps on those AT pads. I think they like the way is feels when they roll around on it.

My cat has been on steroids for irritable bowel syndrome. (It might have been lymphoma, but she’s responded too well for that.). Before I began treatment she had lost weight to 9 lbs. The steroids make her think she is starving, so she ALWAYS wants to eat. Since she might have had only a few months to live (if she had cancer), I gave her more calories than I should and she’s now 13.5 lbs. if I cut back now, she will be very unhappy.

A 4.5 lb difference doesn't seem like much if 9 lbs was skinny for her, but you can cut down a tiny bit and she won't notice too much. When will you find out if she's going to be okay?

There is not going to be an all-clear signal. She does not have symptoms now, which means she does not have cancer, and is responding well to the steroids. At some point, we may reduce her dosage and re-evaluate.

All the best to your cat, R368! She's lucky to have a human like you.

nancy is telling you and any other cat who ever enters the home, the couch and you belong to nancy

Wishing your kitty the best R368! Sounds like she's being very well taken care of.

The Brat has visited the vet today and she said he really looked healthy and she started the conversation by saying his fur was so shiny and smooth. He has grown well but still has some growing to do.....he should be 6 months now but he is obviously younger. Will not get neutered anytime soon. Will have to wait for at least another two months. He still doesn’t have the typical tomcat cheeks if you know what I mean. I’m just happy he is a healthy kitten. He got his medicine today. He’s one happy and playful cat. Still very vocal and the vet said he was beautiful. I feel like a proud parent haha

I'm happy for you, R372. That's great news!

You DON'T WAIT for tomboy cheeks, R372

My british shorthair cat opens drawers and cabinets.

I’ve decided to cut 45 calories by serving her 1/4 of a can instead of 1/3. She gets that four times a day, plus some dry food overnight.

If you don’t hear from me in a few days, she’s had her revenge.

R373 thank you. You’re such a sweet person. How are your felines doing? Do you and them still see some of the cats that have passed?

R374 my previous cat wasn’t neutered and hardly ever peed outside the cat box. Do you have a bad experience with a tomboy? Every cat is different of course so I’m interested to read more experiences. If Brat starts to pee around the house I will of course take him to the vet to get neutered. I have to say I like those typical cheeks.

R376 You are brave;)

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I love caracals. Their meows are so funny and the kittens sound like an electric drill.

R380 they are beautiful and big I assume they need quite a bit of space and exercise

😻

R377, he'll be healthier and happier neutered. This is not about YOU getting neutered, it's the cat.

Before we all go home, please post some wicked evil things your cats do. Surely not all of you love your cats, just as not all cats can be angelic c ute n ess.

Well, I'm moving flats due to covid, and I've bonded with my flatmate/homeowner's little black tuxedo kitty. She was a feral kitten that my flatmate adopted along with her twin sister. She looks like a kitten but she is about 7.

She is scared of the dogs in our house so lives upstairs in my room. She comes and goes through the window. She blips, bleps and chirrups at me and sleeps on me or in my bed. She only comes into the house if I am there. I am worried about moving out, her sister has adopted the neighbours, but this little thing is too skittery. She hardly eats and I know she won't go into the house when I am gone.

I already flea'd her and wormed her (she had tapeworms!).

Take her with you, r385. You know it's the right thing to do.

R385 I agree with R386. Take her with you.

The new place I'm moving to doesn't allow animals! :( I'm sick with worry.

Do you have the option of not moving?

r389, no unfortunately due to covid, family is moving in where I am living (I have the upstairs part of the house). I know I'm being a big sook, but this little cat is just...special. She just wants to be loved - maybe I do too : (

Oh, God. Take her with you. Move somewhere else if you have to.

R390 You're not being a big sook. I'd feel the same way. As R391 said (I'm being an echo today) take her. Move somewhere where she will be accepted. If you don't, this will haunt you for the rest of your life. I've been there, done that, and every day that goes by I think about it and regret it. (Crying as I type.)

Oh my goodness, I'll do my best and keep DL cat lovers updated. There are so many reasons I can't have a cat right now, but sometimes things happen.

Hugs, Miss Lucy

"The new place I'm moving to doesn't allow animals! :( I'm sick with worry."

Try applying for clearance through the "emotional support" animal route. Many people in my co-op are allowed to have a cat with a letter from their physician that they require a support pet. The building doesn't really care about cats, they care about dogs soiling the lawn and barking.

Even if you simply brought the pet in, they probably wouldn't care unless the cat starts barking.

Keep the blinds drawn, so no one can see the cat from the outside.

Honestly, I've successfully petitioned against a "no pets" landlord policy twice just by explaining that it's an older cat that doesn't do anything but sleep. Offer to pay a pet deposit. Those no pets rules are often just there to prevent dogs. Landlords don't often care about cats unless you have the misfortune of having one that hates them.

I live in Australia, unfortunately we don't really do support animals. but the issue is with the owner of my house, he has dogs and isn't keen on a cat. I ended up moving late last night (issues with flatmates) and I already have a message from the neighbour about the cat crying at her window this morning.

She had to draw the blind!

r393 above

OP, your cat is so fucking cute.

Is R397 (et al.) insane or is it a characteristic of female Australians?

Asking for a friend who loves cats but not cat women.

I probably am a little bit insane r400. Does it matter?

Does your insanity run counter-clockwise like the toilets down there?

Sure r402. Whatever makes you feel good about derailing a cat thread.

Cats do tend to pick a "person." They may socialize with and like other people, but they often get attached to someone in particular whose company they enjoy the most. Who knows how they decide these things!

R404 the one who takes care of them the most in my experience

In my experience, it's not necessarily who takes care of them the most - they will not necessarily pick the person who consistently feeds them, for example - just the one who "gets" them the most and shows them the attention they seek on their own terms and respects their boundaries. They're classic introverts that way.

....

Very cute R407

Does anyone have experience in introducing a second cat? I have an all black british shorthair. She is very sweet, playful and curious. She is 3 years old, but still has a lot of energy. She is thin, she eats a lot but she loves running around and play. I think that's why. She hasn't found her chill yet. Anyways, she is an indoor only cat. I have a 9 to 5 job. I work every day. She is home alone a lot. I feel so guilty. She basically cries when she hears me get home. I feel like maybe she needs some company while I'm at work. I think it will be fine to introduce her to a kitten, as she is still very playful at 3 years old. I think she would love a playmate. Just curious about your experiences.

I got my cat a second cat, who turned him into a homewrecker. I gave the new cat to a friend after a month, and my cat returned to his wonderful regular personality. My cat didn't miss the second cat at all.

I’ve had good luck adding boys to my house without upsetting the designated queen, but I’ve had two periods where lady cats have barely tolerated one another. They wouldn’t even share my toilet time with one another. I was accustomed to having two dogs and two cats keep me safe while I poop.

R409, EVERYBODY asks that question. A three year old is a tween-adolescent age and supposed to be energetic and playful. She "cries" when you come home because she's greeting you, glad to see you, not complaining that you left her alone all day. Cats live in the moment. Do you play with her when you get home? Leave a light on for her or on timer for when it gets dark? Does she have plenty of toys, a window perch?

Introducing a kitten to an adult cat can be problematic - adults are not usually fond of kittens. Introducing any second cat can be difficult (read this thread) and even disastrous. A playful three year old cat may have extreme distaste for a wacko rambunctious kitten invading her territory. In my house when we had numerous cats, they ignored each other. That means they "got along."

I have a long story which I'll tell tomorrow, but if you do consider getting a second cat, it has to be a beta cat, and you pretty much have to ignore it until your OG cat adopts it as its own. Consider getting a cat around the same age who has been with other cats.

R412 Thanks for your reply. Yes, I have plenty of toys laying around for her to play with while I'm at work. I can tell she has played with them when I get home as I find them in new places. Her favorite toys are toy mice. I thought she would get along with a kitten since she is still very playful, they could play together. Maybe not though. After your reply and several other replies here I'm skeptical.

Hi, not sure if anyone is interested but I posted above (the crazy lady living in Australia).

The little cat has been living in the bushes for however long since I last posted. The neighbour got in touch saying she hasn't eaten in days and wanders around crying. So I went and collected her today. She's currently asleep on my bed and so far so good.

R415 well that is just about the best news I've heard all week!!

R415 Well done! You've made my day. All the best to you and your kitty.

So glad, r415.

R415, if the cat went around crying, she was once someone's pet. She can be another person's pet - yours!

Awww r415, that is nice news to read about now. If you're going to keep her, please take her to the vet and get her de-wormed and such. Please post a pic of her when you can.

I love that, R415!! Thank you! Much love.

My cat is a food whore. She literally sits on the table and stares at me while I'm eating dinner. I swear she begs for food just like a dog. Then again, I have a british shorthair and they say this breed is very dog-like. She loves water too, weirdly enough for a cat but again not unusual for this breed.

R422 she sounds cute. I love their big eyes.

I have to chase my cat away from my plate of food regularly too.

Informative

Hello Naughty-looking Kitty at OP.

A big smile breaks out on my face every time this thread shows up.

My cat gets a treat after I eat, he knows that. He also knows that he's not getting any of my food and leaves me alone while I'm eating. R422, it sounds like you feed your cat from your plate...ANY animal will be a "food whore" if you don't set up rules, cats love routine and rules.

R425 don’t make me shy now

True or False

That cat from Denmark is thanking his lucky stars that he’s not a mink being raised in mink farm. That Russian cat is screaming “it either too burning hot or it’s too fucking cold that my balls are about to freeze off.”

The Russian cat is also screaming "Put me down, you pervert! You have no right to touch me like that!"

R424 interesting indeed. Also I like the fact that their behaviour in many ways is still quite authentic

.......

Beautiful, R432! I must show this to my partner. He's fascinated with black leopards.

I have adopted a 6 year old cat. He's very sweet and I've quickly come to love him. He is quite overweight at 35 pounds. Can anyone provide some help on how to firmly yet gently get him to a more manageable and healthier weight?

I've never had that problem, so I hesitate to advise you, but there will be knowledgeable people on here later who will be able to give you excellent advice. I know that veterinary clinics carry specialized foods for cats with many health problems, including weight gain, but the people here can speak from experience.

35 lbs??!! Holy shit he's huge! I can only offer: no free range feeding (I feed my guys 2x day) and check with your vet and make sure it's not a thyroid or glandular problem.

R434 did you have the vet check him thoroughly? Unless you’re feeding him huge amounts of food and he doesn’t have room to play and run, I believe he has an underlying condition.

Fat cats are like that because their owners give them people food. If you feed him morning and evening meals of CAT FOOD and keep him active with playtime, he'll naturally lose weight. I give mine a morning meal of dry food and an evening meal of can food. Can food seems to be out of style today, but it's good for weight maintenance, and he'll like it better.

If it's not a medical problem, just feeding him normal amounts during the day will allow his body to lose weight albeit slowly.

The cat in the apartment next door at its owner's face after my neighbor had been dead for a week.

Really.

^"ate" its owners face...

All pets will eventually eat you if you die and they have no other food. They don't want to and they'll display behavior markers of reluctance, but they will if they have to. They're animals and their main drive is survival. Hell, even people will eat each other when there's nothing else.

My cat does not like any people food except chicken. She LOVES chicken with her entire little cat heart, and she must therefore attempt to sniff everything on my plate, in case it is chicken.

It looks like adoption of cats(and dogs) has gone way up during the pandemic. I think it’s a good thing, people looking for a connection with felines(and other homeless pets). It does enrich one’s life. Hope the kitties will have a home long after the virus is under control. Much love to all of you kitten lovers on DL.

My cats are driving me CRAZY since the days got shorter. They want to eat as soon as it gets dark, which is way too early for meal #3

They get 6 small meals - 1 can split between the 3 of them. That makes 2 cans each every day. They also get to split a fancy feast tuna filet twice a day. The husband is mad at the puking, so they have to get frequent small meals. They’re indoor cats so there’s sooooo much vomit.

They're all throwing up, r444? Maybe it's what you're feeding them rather than how often.

R444 Agree with R445, be mindful. And there is some effective anti hairball paste out there. Which prevents a lot of puking.

Nope. They puke with any cat food. And they won’t eat the furball paste or gel. The vet says they’re fine. One had diabetes because she’s very food oriented. I would leave dry food out for them to nibble - she ate all. She even got it out of the cabinet. Gave her insulin, put her on a diet, no more dry food in the house and she stopped being diabetic.

ALL of your cats puke?? That's crazy. You should probably get a slow feeder bowl then, they must be scarfing their food down too fast and then puke it up.

I've had cats all of my adult life, and it's only happened with one cat. Once I got him to eat slowly, it stopped.

Why do cats get diabetes, and how do you deal with this?

My father had a cat with diabetes. He was a small stray black male with a white, badge-shaped mark on his chest, and my father called him Badger. Onset was remarkable, because suddenly he became ravenously hungry all the time. One day, he stole a roast that my mother was preparing for dinner, hauled it down into the basement and proceeded to gnaw on it. At that point, my father realized that something was terribly wrong. he took Badger to the vet, his blood was tested, and the diagnosis of Diabetes was given.

Dad was instructed to buy insulin at the drug store, and told how much to inject. Every day, Badger would get his jab around the back of the shoulders, near the neck. Sometimes, after the injection, Badger would have a slight convulsion, due to the difficulty of prescribing an exact amount for the injection in an animal so small. He'd fling himself down on the floor, twitch for a couple of seconds, and then stagger to his feet, casting evil glances at the other cats who came to watch what was happening. He seemed to blame them for his situation.

This went on for years, and Badger eventually died of old age.

I grew up with cats - indoor/outdoor cats - who were out eating crap all day before coming in for dinner. NONE of them puked, none of them had trouble eating their two meals a day, none of them complained about cat food. One, that's one out of six, puked a hairball once in a while. I wouldn't let them go out today, but it seems that these pampered indoor cats have all sorts of health and behavior issues that cats never had 35 years ago.

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R451 My mom's cat is indoors/outdoors and it pukes relatively often. I need to add that it's old, 15 years, and probably has more than a few health issues. My mom also gives it some human food, probably not good for cats. My own cat is a pure breed. It's indoors only. I only give her quality brand food. She rarely pukes, maybe once or twice a year, if that. She sheds A LOT of fur. I'm actually surprised she doesn't puke up hairballs more often, but I think her diet helps. She gets dry food that is supposed to help eliminate hairballs. It seems to be effective, so I'm not complaining.

Anyone here have a cat that steals food from the other cat in the household? My 8 month old cat steals food from the other cat who's 15 months old. It doesn't matter if there's still food in his own food bowl he will go over to eat from her bowl, and she stops eating when he goes over to her bowl. Why does it happen, it can't be because he's the dominant cat, can it?

r455, you just answered your own question.

OMG, R455. I have two cats and a dog, and if I didn't watch over them as they ate, none of them would get dinner. Especially the dog, like most dogs, craves cat food. They ALL know that their food is on their individual plates in the kitchen. At this point, I simply snap my fingers as they try to switch plates, and they go back to theirs. No sharing or stealing is allowed. You must create boundaries, let them know the rules and they'll follow. Cats love rules, boundaries and routine. YOU must be the parent.

I will have to be strict, my cat is very greedy. He can be asleep in the bedroom and as soon as I put my plate down on the kitchen table he suddenly appears and he is at my feet. He will go in and out of the kitchen, follow me or whine until he gets what he wants.

I had an eldercat with impaired kidney function and vomming all the time for no apparent reason was one of his symptoms.

I'd rather have my animals eat my corpse than starve, but unfortunately they'd probably be euthanized if they did.

R457 I have to watch them eat or else the gluttonous cat will eat all his older sister’s (they’re not really related) food. What I do now is I pick him up and say No! while I let him watch his sister finish her food. She eats slower than he does so he’ll just watch her finish eating while I’m holding and petting him for a few minutes. He’s pretty good about it, actually he’s way more chill and cuddly cat than she is, so I don’t know why she lets him take her food. I did hear him growl for first time last week when I held him while she’s eating.

I had to send my darling girl across the Rainbow Bridge at the end of October. She was at least 18 and was in good health until March.

Her 20 year old adopted brother is winding down fast. He is the one with health issues and I am surprised we didn’t lose him first. He often starts yowling for no apparent reason. The vet thinks it’s kitty dementia. When he does it, I just pick him up for a snuggle and he stops. He is never more than a few feet away from me. Right now he is napping on my desk.

So sorry for your loss R462 and it can’t be easy watching your remaining elderly cat declining fast either. Seems like you’re a great comfort to him though. Many hugs to you all.

I have a ginger named Topaz and a black cat named Tip. The ginger is enormous, and he's very loving. If I sleep on my side he likes to jump up on it and lie on top of me (not in a sexual way), which is incredibly sweet but also alarming in the middle of the night.

Tip, the black cat, must be part Siamese (I've heard black cats often are descended from Siamese), because he talks constantly. He's half the size of Topaz--they're the same age though they're from different litters.

I used to always get single cats, but these two have had so much fun together I would never get just a single cat again. If they have long lives I'll probably not get another (I'll be in my sixties if they do live long), but it would be hard since I've had cats my entire life.

r461, I have 3 cats (one is my late father's) and one of them is a speed eater. I will serve him first, and while he's chowing, escort the other 2 in a different room. Maybe you can do that with yours.

R461, the "gluttonous cat" is still a youngster, ask your vet if he needs to eat more than what you're giving him. He also sounds a little bored. And he needs your help in developing good habits. R465, has a good idea.

"What I do now is I pick him up and say No!" Cats, like small children, do not understand correction like that. He knows that you're yelling at him and doesn't associate it with doing anything wrong. Distract the cat, same with children, which it sounds like what you're doing. For real correction, cats "listen" to big eyes more than a yell or a swat..

No cat should be stealing food from you or other cats. And If any of you are stupid enough to feed a pet from your plate, or anywhere near your plate, you deserve what you get.

Thank you r463. I am grateful that I was able to be home every day with my girl and to do right by her when it was time. The vet said I would know when it was time and I did, she fell off the bed twice the day before. I miss her so much. She was a sassy little bitch with a lot of personality but was super communicative and very affectionate.

Her 20 year old brother is a Ragdoll, adopted from a shelter after being removed from an abusive situation. He had some trust and litter box issues when I first took him in as an emergency foster but he came around pretty quickly. He is so affectionate and just a little clown. I call him my puppy cat because he just follows me everywhere and just is in your face all the time.

Losing him will be the cherry on top of the most suck-tacular year of my life.

R467 I know how it hurts and on the other hand you still have (and had) amazing cat family and you’ve helped them become happy again and turned them into loving pets. No one can ever take the good times you shared away from you. Not even 2020. Of course I hope your rag doll will stay with you for a while. You never know. Cats can be resilient.

I have a beautiful ginger Tom cat named Torquil. He has the sweetest nature, is very affectionate and playful, and is very well behaved apart from a bit of furniture scratching. I forgive him because he’s my beautiful boy and he makes me happy.

r459Awww Torquil has a ginger tuxedo!

r467 you are so lucky to have such long-lived cats. Maybe foster/adopt a new cat with him? I find that method sort of helps the new cat adopt some of the mannerisms of the resident cat (all my cats have been diurnal by this method). Also you don't have the empty house to come home to whenever he goes to the Great Litter Box in the Sky.

Here are my 3 guys (the black one was my father's cat, he's 15)- they are all rescue Bengals:

R469 Torquil is a beauty! What a striking cat.

R470 Your Bengals are adorable. All of them are gorgeous!

Beautiful cats! R469 R470

Cuties, all of them.

My grandmother used to have a Siamese cat along with other cats and a dog who was said to be quite "talkative". He also had a spot in her house that he would claim as his own. He didn't really like the other cats or people to be in his spot except for my grandmother and would give a warning look that you were his spot and needed to move along.

Tom rides again. (See post 112)

Two nights last week, when my partner got up to go to the bathroom, he saw Tom down at the end of the hallway. The first night, Tom was simply sitting there, looking at my partner. Then he simply vanished. On the second occasion, Tom was down the hall again, but this time he started trotting up the hall toward my partner. In mid-stride, he disappeared..

I'd like to get a cat, but I know nothing about them. Which types of cats are calm typically? It has been mentioned already that tiger cats are hyper so they're out .

The first ever viral cat video.

r475. Ragdolls. However, they are very furry. The reason why they're called Ragdolls is that they go limp when you pick them up (supposedly).

Or you can go and adopt a lovely senior cat (older than 6 or 7)- they're usually coach potatoes or velcro cats.

Very cute. And furry Ragdoll.

R475, please go to your local animal shelter website and see if they have any longtimers/mature kitties that will be couch potatoes. No need to get an expensive variant, most cats slow down as they age. A longtime resident at a shelter can mean they are on the shy side and don't put on a show when visitors come in. The shelter I used to be affiliated with had bios on all non-kittens which gave you some idea of what you would be getting. BTW, if there are any bonded pairs of older cats at the shelter and you're willing to adopt both of them most shelters are willing to do a 2-fer or some reduced costs. Stay away from any cat younger than a year or so if you want calm.

Thanks for the info and guidance. Would this cat be appropriate? He looks intelligent and I quite like his coat

R480 he seems very cute! It’s nice that he’s cuddly too.

R474 it’s amazing that Tom looks so solid in spirit. It’s like he’s checking in on you and your partner from time to time. Maybe he just wants to know that you’re alright?

R481 That could be why we see so much of him. And yes, he's as solid as a living cat. There was a cat often seen at my dad's place that was as solid as a living cat. I know I told this story somewhere on the DL within the last year.

His name was Tibbs and he was a gorgeous male silver tabby that my father found as a kitten. found as a kitten. I was in my teens at the time. One day, my grandmother found him just lying there, unable to walk. He died within the hour. A few weeks after that I was in bed one night. The other two cats were shut in the kitchen for the night. We had hardwood floors downstairs, and I suddenly heard the floor creak. Then a cat's footsteps travelling briskly up the stairs and through the hallway. I began to feel somewhat uneasy. The footsteps stopped outside my doorway. Then, suddenly, the "cat" raced back down the hallway, and down the stairs. The light came on in my father's room. He came out into the hallway, mumbling something about "Damned cat got out of the kitchen." However when he checked, the two cats were fast asleep and the kitchen door was closed.

Years passed. One day I decided to go to my parents' place for lunch. I let myself in the front door into the sunporch, and stepped into the hallway, which was actually a large room with chairs and a desk. Straight ahead of me, I saw Tibbs coming toward me, as solid as life, looking me straight in the eye. Then he vanished.

I told my father what had happened. Dad had a deep interest in the paranormal. He said, "Yes, I see Tibbs upstairs at night frequently. He frisks around between your old bedroom and mine, and sometimes he runs from room to room. He's always surrounded by a glow.

R475, he would love to be out of the shelter, and he would love you to be his rescuer.

R475, DON'T GET ONE. It's not a toy. You won't get it.

Awww Felix looks like a little cuddle bug. Please adopt him! One thing however, is that his pupils look a little milky, so maybe ask the shelter if his eyes are okay (he might be developing cataracts). It shouldn't impact your decision, but it's good to be prepared, vet-wise.

The look of betrayal

I had to thaw my pussy out!

I adopted mine from a shelter and someone had declawed him. He's also deaf which I don't think anyone figured out. I think everyone thought he was just stupid. He hears very high pitched noises but cannot hear my voice. Sometimes he sits in the corner with his face facing the wall looking dejected. I think it's defensive thing. He's really sweet but since he has no claws he nips when he wants attention.

Declawing is unspeakably cruel. Cats scratch, that's what they do. You have to redirect them to appropriate things to scratch and when you can't, live with it or don't have cats. I have one cat who is 100% compliant with scratching appropriately. The other one is 90% compliant but has day one been enamored with one corner of the couch. I have the couch 14 years. I have the cat 12 years. I live with one corner scratched to bits.

People turn their declawed cats into biters and then bitch that the cat bites.

R488, kudos to you for taking good care of your cat. I would be depressed too if I had all my fingers chopped off at the first knuckle.

It is a disability R489. He's hesitant to jump up so I've had to put non-skid pads on places he likes to lay like my computer desk and I have a little ramp for my bed.

Anyone who would declaw a cat deserves to be declawed.

Since he can't hear he wanders around the house yowling loudly looking for me. I have to get up so I'm visible to him. Must suck for a cat to have two disabilities. Poor baby.

^ he should be able to find you by scent

r488, you're a good human. Can you post a pic of him?

My poor deaf, declawed kitty.

Need some help fellow cat people- I have a three year old male cat, I’ve had him since he was three months old when I adopted him from where he was living under a dumpster. He’s a wild little thing and loves to be outside, but I bring him in at night.

I could deal with his rambunctiousness, but over the summer he started spraying inside. At first it was in the garage, then in my room and bathroom. He got my dvds, bookcase, door, air filter vent, shower curtain, etc. I thought it was because he had been sick (had first an upper respiratory infection and then was having trouble peeing- didn’t have bladder stones, but had sediment in there. He’s now on special urinary tract food).

I thought he had stopped, but last night he ran into the office where I was working and sprayed all over some books. I was so mad. How do I get him to stop doing this? I’ve put some ‘no spray’ spray on some of the furniture, but I don’t really want to do that to the books. I’m worried he’s doing it when I’m not around and it’s going to stink like cat piss soon.

I do have three other cats, so I get he would want to mark his territory, but he’s been living with them for three years and hasn’t done this before. I don’t want to ever hit him, but I need it to stop.

Any hints? Thanks.

Is he neutered?

Yes, I got him neutered when I adopted him. He was about three months old.

Alexander the Great looks like a sweet boy! So pretty too.

r496, did he piss right in front of you? Is there something new in the house, or did one of the other cats go to the vet and back? Cats don't like the returning cat smell from the vet. Something is stressing your guy out. Maybe his urinary crystals came back? Or could the books be covering a sleeping spot of his?

Bring him to the vet. Asap. They are trying to tell you something's wrong when their behavior changes. With one of my cats it was a raging urinary tract infection. Please get him to the vet. If nothing else, if there's nothing medically wrong, get him some tranquilizers.

They do make Kitty Prozac in a gel that you can apply to their ears too. Had to do it for a bit with one of my cats.

R19 - your image brought tears to my eyes. They are/were gorgeous.

Definitely get marking cat to see vet to make sure there isn't a pressing medical issue.

I only have girl cats so haven't dealt with male cats with UTI issues, but from what I have read is that hydration is key. Are you feeding him dry food? The best diet for him is to feed him primarily wet/canned food. My cats get snack servings of dry food but for their main meals, it's canned food. I also add water to the canned food to make it soupy. Cats have low thirst drive so they can often go dehydrated.

Is there a new cat in the neighborhood? If your cat goes outside, maybe another cat is bothering him. Have you changed anything in the house? New litter? New litter box?

One of my cats is on longterm very low dose of prozac. She freaked out because a neighborhood cat came by and up close to the window. Thereafter her innate skittishness would surface over loud noises, being startled, etc. Initially she was on 5mg daily and I weaned her down to about 1.5mg every other day. I tried to wean her off completely but she freaked out again over a tiny incident. The vet assured me her quality of life would be better with a little chemical assistance rather than freaking out every time I drop a pot.

My vet prescribes 10mg capsules. I buy a bag of the smallest empty capsules from Amazon. I open up the 10mg capsules and divvy up the powder into 6 empty capsules. My cat gobbles it up every other morning, placed on top of a small mixture of whole and crushed kibble. If I only give her whole kibble, she can pick out the kibble and ignore the capsule. With the crushed kibble, she licks it and that usually ensures she picks up the capsule too.

R495 Your cat is beautiful. What a lovely face he has! I'm sorry to hear of his problems. Where I live, declawing is illegal, as it should be everywhere.

He's lucky to have such a loving caregiver.

I got my last cat from a Cats Protection shelter. He was a poor soul, I think possibly with a brain injury. He used to run into walls. I loved him, and he, despite some idiosyncratic behaviours, settled down despite having been feral. Get a shelter cat.

R506 I have a cat with a brain injury as well, which we got from an SPCA shelter, along with her bonded sister. She lost an eye as a very young kitten, and there is slight deformity of the skull on the side of the missing eye, so I suspect that she had a fall or that something fell on her. Sometimes she is moody, sometimes she is very affectionate. She has a crush on one of our male cats, and likes to groom him. She cannot remember her name, which is Cinder.

Miss Lucy, does your kitty look like Bug?

R508 She doesn't stick her tongue out like Bug. I'm including a picture of her in this post.

And here is a picture of her with her sister, Lucy.

Awww so much floof going on. I would be petting the missing eye area all the time. Is Lucy a Maine Coon?

R511 Haha, yes, there's a lot of fur between the two of them. I doubt if Lucy has any Maine Coon genetics. One of the parents was probably a Persian. They are both very tiny girls. Lucy's legs are thick and short, and there may be some dwarfism there. She's missing the tip of one ear, not sure how that happened. She also has a piece of the side of her tongue missing. (Abuse? I hope not, but you never know.)

Originally, they belonged to an elderly lady. I'm not sure if there were living anywhere else previously or if they were born at the lady's home. The old lady died when they were about 4 years old, and her daughter took the cats. They remained with the daughter for another 4 years, and the daughter moved somewhere where she couldn't have cats, so they were sent to the SPCA. They stayed at the SPCA for about a month and a half, then were farmed out to a PetValu store.

We had seen them at the shelter and I dithered about it for a month, then finally decided I'd better go get them. They've been with us about a year and a half. They are sweet girls and we do not regret adopting them.

Oh hell, queers and their cats.

R496, have you checked if there's a stray or neighborhood cat peering in your windows? That'll set off a cat to mark, mark and mark his indoor territory.

Miss Lucy, thanks for the info. The tipped ear may be a spay/neuter release thing, one of my guys has it (despite being a pure-bred), long story short- backyard breeder/hoarder, had a fire in his house, cat escaped, got the spay/release thing, then got re-captured by the organization that saved his other siblings. I adopted him with one of his siblings, and managed to find 6 other (adopted) siblings online. This is Theo:

R514 I haven’t seen any stray cats here, there are a few that live at the end of my road (about 3/4 of a mile away from my house , idk if my cat wanders that far) but there are possums and sometimes raccoons that creep around eating the birdseed. Thankfully my cat is scared of them and runs inside whenever he sees them, but maybe they are causing him to spray?

R515 I don't think in Lucy's case that the ear was tipped by a vet. It's actually a large piece torn out of the ear, and not straight across.. Before the tear reaches the other side, it moves straight upward. Our Dax has a tipped ear, but he was born in a feral colony, and the entire family, mother and all, were swooped up by members of the Feral Cat Society when they were all found in a shelter box. eyes not even opened yet, and still nursing.

Oh! R 515 I forgot to mention - Theo is absolutely, spectacularly beautiful. He looks so exotic. How lucky you are.

How does one prevent cats from putting holes in leather and the like?

By teaching them the word “no”, say “ no (+cat’s name)” and be consequent in lift them up and put them elsewhere after you said it. Cats are quirky so they like pretending they don’t understand you but in truth they can understand up to 40 commands. Just remember to stay focused and consequent. It will pay off R519

Miss Lucy, I loved your story of how you got your kitties. Mine has a similar backstory, albeit a shorter timeline, she lived with an elderly person who was very ill and doted on her, then with the elderly person's daughter, then a shelter. She is so well behaved and sweet, probably from having lived with a frail old person. I'm sure she thinks I'm her new old person now.

What a sweet story, R521. Thank you so much for sharing it. All the best to you and your kitty!

Ohhh poor Lucy, but she's lucky she has you! Thank you about Theo- he's a marble Bengal. I love them, and always get used ones :p. I would love a kitten, but there are so many abandoned adults, it's a shame. The best kitty I ever had was 9 years old when I got him (also Bengal), had him for 5 years until he succumbed to lymphoma.

I'm sorta crushing on Maine Coons, but they're so....furry. I wear black 80% of the time, so I live in pajamas at home- I hate seeing any kind of pet fur on clothing, and I work in close quarters with people, so you never know who is allergic to cats.

r519, I'll add to what r520 says: Put a scratching alternative near where they like to scratch. After you lift them up and say no, put their paws on the scratching alternative and say "yes" and give them a treat. I'll also scratch the post or mat itself and say yes, then put their paws on it again. You'll have to do this for maybe 1-3 days, and they'll start scratching on their own. It also helps to spray some catnip concoction on it.

If the scratching alternative is unsightly to you, after a good 3 weeks or so, slowly (day by day) move the scratching alternative to somewhere else. A lot of people will start off putting a post or mat in a lonely corner of the room and wonder why cats never use it.

Cats are like toddlers. They can understand that you don't want them to do something; they may just not necessarily care. Also like toddlers, your best bet is always redirecting their attention to something more interesting and over time they'll associate the thing you were redirecting them away from with "thing that is not interesting."

R516, cats do not mark territory because of possums and raccoons, it's another CAT that threatens them. Cats can appear out of nowhere. You should monitor this, especially at night.

My 10 month old mini panther Kittith

R526 Wow! I'm a sucker for a black cat. What a perfect picture. Give Kittith a kiss from me.

If my Kitty Lou were pedigreed I think she'd be a Northern Forest cat.

R528 She is unique. I love the slight variation of color in her coat. What a beautiful lady cat!

My cat is semi feral. I love him. He doesn't love me. Just the treats I give him. Oh well. He's a cat. I'm not.

Aww, R530, he probably does, but ferals don't tend to overcome their instincts unless they have a lot of positive contact with humans as young kittens. We had what we suspected was a feral or semi-feral cat; she was very wild, but in later years she accepted one or two of us, but on her terms (lying on my mother's bed, but growling from time to time). It was a similar situation with my cat, though she was wild from being mistreated by the family who had her as a kitten.

R530 We have a feral, as well. We've had her for three years, and she was one year old when we got her from the SPCA. She had never been in a house before, apparently, because to her it was a big box and she thought that if she could climb the walls, she may be able to get the cover off and escape. For the first few days, we called her Eliza Doolittle, but believe me, Professor Henry Higgins never confronted anything like this.

We finally named her Peggy, after my partner's Marvel heroine Peggy Carter. Her progress was slow. The road to civilizing her was fraught with peril. She lived in the walk-in closet in the master bedroom, so hidden that nobody would guess there was a cat there. Fortunately, she had learned about kitty litter at the shelter.

Over a period of a couple of months, progress speeded up, and today, she is a loving little creature with no signs of feral behavior.

awww, I will r527 <3

this is in the nypost and it gave me a great big laugh.

Somehow black cats (and black dogs) don't get adopted as much as others...other than the obvious superstitions, WHY? I love them.

Awww I love seeing everyone's kitties. They're all lovely.

..........

Miss Lucy, are your cats entertained by all the birds around your property?

R538 Yes, they are, especially the back yard, which means they'd be watching from the kitchen window and the dining room window. Some of them get so excited that they start making little wibbling, chattering noises. Twice, two years in a row, a starling go into the house, probably down the chimney. The fireplace isn't in use in the summer, so it likely came out there. The first time this happened, we saw one of the cats digging around the dog's bed at the end of the hallway from the bedroom. We figured, "Aha! A mouse!" and hustled on down the hallway to stop a possible attempted murder.

At that time, the dog's bed was a series of comforters, one on top of the other. We removed one layer at a time, very carefully. At last we were down to the last blanket. Aha! The big reveal! Slowly I lifted the edge of the blanket and then carefully raised it until we were almost able to view the little interloper. Next I whisked it expertly away like Houdini.

No, it wasn't a mouse. A terrified starling huddled in the corner of the hallway.

All hell broke loose. The starling flew. Cats were tossed into rooms and doors were closed. It took us the better part of an hour to get that bird outside, and the both of us were exhausted at the end of it. Did it even realize how lucky it was?

Kitten cuddles.

Awwwww! Adorable, R540

R540 true love exists

I love Hosico cat! If I could have a cat I would get one that looks like this.

The Hosico video was too cute. Orange male tabbies tend to be big softies. I saw in the video he has one of those always-running water fountains. My cat has a water bowl with a filter that I change every month so that she always has fresh water, but I've been wondering if she might like those water fountain ones more. Does anyone here have one for their cats?

R535, it is true that black dogs and cats are harder to adopt because they don’t photograph well.

That's not even true anyway - they photograph beautifully in natural lighting, for example.

I think it's humans innate fear of the dark- dogs, cats, bears, orcas, and sadly, dark skinned people. For some reason, horses get a pass. Black dogs and cats have been the symbol of evil for centuries, back to the Dark Ages.

R543 cute cat indeed. They should give him a litter box so he can dig. Now he’s just trying to do so on other surfaces

I like black cats and dogs. Black and white ones even more.

........

Homey chilling out in the laundry basket is cute.

I love black kitties

Yes, R551, Brat is a very pretty boy.

r554, yes I have a stainless steel one. They do use it:

I just brought Murphy home from the shelter and I used the bathroom...no sooner did flush that Mrph jumped up and I guess thought he was cleaning u after me. He does this every time the toilet is flushed. He is a trip at 9 months old

R555 Murphy is a beautiful cat. There's something about a black cat that's special. May he have a long and happy life with you.

Sweet boy. I see he's in his teenage gangly phase.

thank you r556 He looks like a panther, sleek with a narrow head. He is sweet and is a lap cat when not straightening out the bathroom

R555 maybe he is toilet trained? 🤣🤣

I took in a stray cat who had a big belly. I ended up keeping all four of her kitties. Tallulah, Jerome, Fiona, Spicy, and Reggie.

Murphy is hilarious! He's certainly cleaning up after you. He also looks like he's going to be a big guy.

Nope r559 He cleaning up, so he thinks, after me. He never himself tried to do his business anywhere but his litter box.. r561 He is a really small boy...he just has a huge presence! Here he is taking his snake for a stroll

R562, he has a big personality

R500 pics please!

Everytime I read the OP first line "Tell us about your personal sphinxes" All I hear for some reason, is Rick Steve's very gay voice saying it.

He does r563 I haven't loved a pet so much in years...we adore each other

He does r563 I haven't loved a pet so much in years...we adore each other

Cats fucking suck.

R377 I don't think I ever answered your question about whether there were any more appearances of deceased cats. My partner saw Tom in the hallway on two nights when he got up to go to the bathroom. As well, we had a lengthy session one day when something small was moving around the bedroom and three of the cats were gathered to watch it, following it and sniffing it. You could watch its progress by simply observing what the other cats were doing. We couldn't see it at all.

Murphy and his snake is hilarious. Here are my guys (all Bengals) on their cat wheel. BTW, you can teach old cats new tricks- the black guy, Bosch is 15/16 and learned this year how to use the wheel (you do have to teach them to use it):

R569 I think it’s so lovely that even after his passing the love, the connection remains. Thank you for sharing your experiences. It is said that cats can see energies that we can’t but also bring positive energy to negative spaces.

R567 Murphy is beautiful, must be nice to have found this great companion during these weird times

R570 he sure doesn’t look old, cute video and I like their coats

R565 it’s allowed on a gay board isn’t it

r570 your guys are amazing and gorgeous...now I may have to get Murphy a wheel..... Happy New Year!

To the person who thinks the cat is "cleaning up" by fooling around in the toilet - he's most likely fascinated by the water swirling around. There are water cats and non-water cats, I've had several who love watching the water draining out of the tub, and water coming out of the sink faucet. Thankfully never the water in the toilet. Cats do not clean up after people or other cats.

r572, Get the Ziggy Doo wheel. I got mine practically new on CL for $250 (they run $400). Some people will get it and don't know how to train their cats to use it, then sell it. The guy who sold it to me was OCD about aligning the interior pads and couldn't deal seeing (in his eyes) misaligned pads. It was disassembled in the box, so it was easy to fit in my Prius, unlike already assembled ones- you need a giant pickup truck or a van for those.

r574, I've observed that behavior after my cats use their boxes- they'll do that scooping paw movement for as long as 5 minutes. They've also done it around their food bowls during or after eating. I have one cat who will jump into the tub or look inside the toilet, but he's never done the scooping motion.

We have three cats. A male black cat, a female white Turkish Angora, and a small female tuxedo cat. They have their own interesting dynamic. We got the black & white ones around the same time ten years ago, when they were both really young, so they have a strong bond, but will also harass the fuck out of each other! Play time usually starts with one coming up behind the other to pounce.

It's interesting seeing how the cats have their own "things". For example, we have one of those flexible cat cubes, the kind that's just nylon sides with a thin metal framing, kind of like those collapsible laundry hampers. This is *her* cube, the other cats rarely use it. She will get in it and go bonkers. Batting at the sides, poking her head out of the holes and yowling. Just ridiculous. It's funny because whenever she starts to play with something, she turns into a total kid. But if you walk in on her she'll stop & step away & get in her "I'm a dainty princess" pose, as if to say , "you did not just see me acting like a crazy fool, I'm prim and proper!" 🤣

The tuxedo cat has quite the story. On Christmas eve six years ago, she showed up outside our house. Scrawny, matted, miserable out in the snow. We brought her in with the intent to keep her *just* until we could get her back to her owner. She had no tags, so we posted on social media. No one claimed her. By this time, she was already making herself at home, laying on *every* soft surface, including the other cat beds and the dog bed. We call her our little "Nermal" because she's totally that type of cat. We have a picture of her gleefully rolling around on the dining room table while the other two cats are watching from the floor, looking at her like "You're NOT supposed to be up there!" About a month after we had her, we discovered she was pregnant. She had six beautiful kittens & we got them all adopted out.

Sometimes when we're having petting & cuddle time with them, we'll tell them their "origin" stories. "I remember the day we adopted you..."

R574. I will say this, though. We have a cat, Lucy, who uses the litter but never covers her business. My other cat, Dax, will cover it for her. He's a little neat-freak.

R576 I can identify with the "origin stories." Our Dax is often told about his surprise arrival at our house. It was shortly before Christmas three years ago, and we had NO intention of getting a kitten. It wasn't even kitten season. (Ha ha! Tell that to Dax's mom.) We walked into a pet supply shop and at the back of the store we heard a kitten yowling miserably. Of course we had to investigate and we found this poor little wooly black thing two months old, crying miserably. Of course he went home with us, and the first thing he did when we took him out of his carrier was crawl up onto my partner's chest and plant a smooshy "kiss" right on his lips.

I guess I'm about at this point...

I grew up with a male calico, which we were always told was very rare. He was very pretty. All I have is this one fuzzy photo of him. My mom named him Troubles, because he had to put up with us four little boys. He finally went senile and had to be put down.

What a lovely picture, R580. A male calico is very rare. Thanks for posting this.

r 574 I watched the video and the cat definitely looks like he is cleaning up or he thinks he is. He is making the covering motions on the toilet seat, not just watching the water go down.

He's trying to catch or stop the swirling water.

R582 I think so too. If cats see you on the toilet and can smell what you're doing, they'll definitely make the same "clean-up" motions on a toilet, if they're so inclined. They instinctively "get" that you're doing the same thing they do. I had a friend who told me that if he was laying on his side & farted, if the cat was behind him it would make the "burying" motions near his butt 🤣🤣