h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Lady in a Tree said: "I cannot think why yours is moving the bowl. Or how! Is any water spilled? Sounds very talented."

He's talented all right! Actually, I've caught him at it a couple of times -- pulled it with his paw.

I use one of those water-filter pitchers and while not refrigerated, the water is quite cool. I was concerned for a while that he might be a diabetic, since I went through that once before with Gremlin (bless her little tri-colored impish heart) and Gremlim drinking copious amounts of water is how I was alerted, and got her to the vet.

Quite weird actually -- I was giving her the same kind of insulin I use! Apparently there isn't a cat version. She finally succumbed to liver disease. She was bossy and irritible, and loving -- it broke my heart.

Rocket doesn't seem to have that problem -- maybe he's just an interior decorator at heart? Bowl never seems to go to quite the same place, but most often ends up in the middle of the floor.

SC

I myself talk in my sleep, so I don't know how surprised I was this evening when Oghma, for the very first time, did some sleep-meowing. Both he and his brother Ganesh do a lot of twitching, claw-flexing, and teeth-kill-clenching as they sleep, but this is the first time in the three years I have had them that I have heard any vocalization from either during sleep.

They are Siamese, so any particular time when they are awake, they might be commenting on just about anything. Ganesh has the most volume and is more likely to the full set of the cattish vowels than Oghma, but when Oghma was sleep-meowing he was being as loud and varied as his brother usually is. I've got a repressed cat!





So, how is Lua doing now?

hi Sea Change,

Lua is much better now, thanks. There was no need for the vet. She also occasionally 'sleep mutters' (not quite talking). Also whenever I cough she coughs back at me. But if I try to show off this little trick to someone and pretend to cough she just looks at me with disdain and walks off.

az

5 days no new stories

Cassie is still eating her food with her paw. Even the kitty kibble, which then falls off and she has to retrieve it from whichever area of the kitchen floor it has rolled to.

Has that helped cheer you up pheloxi?

yeah a bit

thanks Caerwynn

HENRY fell of the computer, also felt cold these last few mornings
so crawls into my bed at 4am, good tempeture gauge !

I posted here a while back regarding my parents 20lb/9kilo cat Chuck. I'm out visiting them now. Chuck is actually about 21lb/9.5kilos. He has another odd habit I forgot to mention last time as well. When you scratch his back side, he licks at the air like he's trying to catch a bug. It is pretty cute.

I used to have a cat that did that. My parents thought it was so funny they had him "perform" for guests.

(limps in scratched and bleeding)

It's been warm, so I have been wearing shorts, sandals and a t-shirt. Oghma had decided that the spot of sun that is around a blind sofa corner and exactly between the living room and the narrow entry hall was an excellent place for a good hard sleep. It would have been impossible not to step on him, but having had cats for awhile and used to their lunatic ways, I nevertheless manage not to. My surprised yelp as I semi-fall causes him to leap wildly, alternately using my feet, thighs and the sofa to piton-and-ice-axe himself 1.3m directly upwards.

He's now looking at me like it's him that is being persecuted.

Sorry you were .

Cassie was so eager to get downstairs for her brekkie that she ran so fast out of the bedroom she overshot the top of the stairs, landing about half way down. She then looked back at me as if to say that it was my fault for saying 'Whiskas'.

As I approached the top of the stairs she then shot off again, unable to get her claws into the wood floor at the bottom, bumped in to the radiator, gave me 'The Look' again and completely ignored me until after I had filled her bowl.

'The Look' I think is something that people who have never lived with cats can never appreciate. A question - do all cats lick their shoulders quickly - twice - when they are feeling indignant? All mine do this. Two quick licks - usually on the left shoulder. And then I get 'The Look'.

az

Mine just gives me The Look, then turns her back on me. No shoulders involved.

Mine licks her flank twice, then glares, then stalks off.

Mine use the two licks to signal that they've been disconcerted, sorta like a displacement behaviour to deal with life's surprises. The 'look' I am talking about is with ears slightly to the side, tail emphatically hidden instead of just tucked under, eyes wide open, yet whiskers not laid back agains cheeks like a frightened cat but not forward as if friendly/pouncing.

But then, my cats are odd. Instead of fluffing out their tails to signal 'I am mad as heck and I'm gonna kill you!', mine merely use them as a heat radiator when they've been playing too hard and need to cool down. Since their signalling mechanism is messed up anyways, I've been trying with some success, by strategic application of treats and praise, to get them used to the idea that they can expiliate on cue.

My parents have been adopted by a cat called Ricardo. Ricardo's real owners live two houses away from my parents and its very embarassing that the cat completely ignores his proper owners, and instead sits on my parents doorstep waiting for them to return.

Does anyone else know a cat that's abandoned his proper owners and adopted a new family?

Ricardo is quite old (11) and usually very diginified. However he's been caught chasing his tail like a kitten, whirling around so fast that he crashes into the furniture! So cute you wouldn't believe!

QB

It's quite common that...cats are not owned by people as we all know. They decide who has the benefit of their company when they want and if that means that the people 2 doors down are abandoned for a while then so be it.

Over the last few months we have a silent guest come to stay every night. There are 2 fluffy white and tortie cats that live in the house directly behind ours. I think they are put out at night as I nearly always see them sitting on the shed roof in their garden in the morning - just waiting for the back door to open. We noticed one morning a few months ago that there was white fluffy fur on one of our armchairs...one of them had spent a comfy and warm night there. Unfortunately we never get near this cat as it is painfully shy and a complete scaredy cat. If we head downstairs during the night it runs out of the living room and through the catflap at 100 miles an hour!

I've never really understood why people keep cats and dogs as pets and then 'put them out' for the night. Okay, perhaps in a natural state these animals get used to sleeping out of doors. But after crossing the line and becoming a pet or companion . . . I don't know. It seems a bit harsh to do that. Because in their role as 'companion' they cease to be just animals. Or at least, I think so. Okay, they also aren't human. But I don't think they are meant to be treated without respect for their feelings.

I feel sorrier for dogs that end up with insensitive and uncaring humans. At least cats *will* take off and look for something better. Dogs just tend to stay and suffer.

az

I agree Az, they should not be "put out" at all, especially in this weather. Our two have the run of the house and garden day and night. We fitted a cat flap when they were 6 months old (and allowed out after their flu jabs, etc.) and ever since we have had a succession of different cats in and out of the house.

We are thinking of going over to the house over the back and handing them an invoice for lodging their cat every night!