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

az - I have just looked through your pics...your kitties are beautiful. I love their colouring.

I will eventually put some pics of my boys on my web space but it is too painful to organise right now. Perhaps next week.

Lady

Az this will make you smile if you have flash
http://www.cats.org.uk/flash/index.php

Thanks logicus,

A question for you. Is it true that sometimes cats purr more when they are in discomfort or pain? I've heard this before but I don't know if it's true. It's just that I've noticed Lua purring more recently - in fact, she doesn't normally purr much at all. It could just be from the extra attention she is getting, but sometimes I also find her on her own purring away on her cushion. And she is definitely being 'clingy'.

az

Some do tend to purr, but you will notice the different "tones" of purr, some tend to be very subtle in change some cats do purr a lot more when ill, like they are meditateing, after all controlled breathing is a proven method of pain control, not that i am saying Lua is in constent pain, cats have a naturaly different response to pain than we do.

Hannah had about six different purrs loud like a kettle bubbleing kettle, sometimes like a steam train.Depending on event happening,listen to yours ,even when ackking hannah sometimes breakinto a purr mode ,most cats have a purr mode disproportionate to there size, i have had whacking great big toms with a rolls royce type purr "silent almost" pathetic meow aswell yet small six week old kitten like a road diggers hammer meow like a air raid siren


Illness or site of pain tend to be "washed a lot" or constenly licked, when a cat is in real or to much pain tend to stop washing.
Being clingy ,well she like us when we are feeling low do like to be
comforted

Az comeing back to the purrs
I have noticed more empathise on the in part of the purr ,iregulely if that makes sense ,in cats in pain.In under the weather cases tend to be in reguler patches lasting hour or more.Unlike the purr reserved for settling down on lap couple of minutes unless you stroke me then till a couple of minutes after you stoped.

Pain responses are naturely going to be different from us
when you see the teeth and claws they have
,nature must protectthem, dont forget the antisceptic quallities of tounge,also in "trauma" can put a lot of systems in hibernation,thats why "injured" cats tend to hide in outofway places. So if you are worried undully about Lua cligyness
behaviour is unlike "criticly sick cat".

Something else i meant to say but forgotah yes was it the "purr" on site. as with flash you get that first if sound is on,got some of hannahs purrmode on tape if i can find it again will have to upload ,when i get round to it,whilst henry rarely purrs and is silent,almost half the time i only know hes purring as hand on chest/throat feel the pattern so to speak.

Yes, that's true - I've heard about very sick cats hiding. Lua's sleeping posture lately has changed somewhat - curled up in a tight little ball with one paw over her face. And the extra purring. Must be a comfort thing.

Have you seen this?


http://www.rathergood.com/independent_woman/




az

Yes about a year ago did not even need to visit link now will have "that toon nb deliberate mistake" Graham norton also has it on his website, also appeals to my sense of humour{very warped)

Sleep in a curled up ball,most cats will alter position acording to temp, when fairly hot it looks like they have just fallen over sideways,colder it gets more like hedge hogs

I know, but this is different for her. Always so tightly curled up and with the paw over her face. It actually looks very cute, but as I say, it's just been the past couple of weeks. Hedgehog Lua.

az

I was waiting for a bus once, many years ago, when this girl sat beside me. She had a little kitten with her and I started petting it. She asked if I knew anything about cats. I said, "Yes".

She said that she thought something was wrong with the kitten because it kept "shaking". She said "He's doing it right now."

I felt him, but actually, he was purring loudly and happily. I suddenly realized that the woman was actually deaf, and while she could lip-read, couldn't hear. He could only feel his purring, not hear it. I explained to her that, in fact, he was very happy, and he was purring.

Unfortunately, she wanted to know if I wanted the kitten. She had to go away for two weeks and didn't have anyone to look after the kitten. She wanted to know if it was alright to leave this poor little thing alone in the apartment for two weeks with a lot of food and water.

I told her "NO!. The kitten could get stuck somewhere, or knock over its water, or fall into the toilet. It would also be terribly lonely without her there. It was far too young to be left on its own for more than a few hours, let alone two weeks."

I wished I could have taken it. However, we already had three cats, and, without asking permission from my mother, in whose house I was staying, couldn't just bring the little thing home.

I suggested taking her phone number and seeing if I could find someone to take it, but she didn't want to give out her number.

I felt terrible leaving the kitten with her. While she seemed to like it, she hadn't the first idea how to look after it! I always regretted not bringing it home with me.

I know Mudhooks, I have to steel myself not to take in every needy cat I come across - and that's hard to do.

This evening Chaiwallah's gift of Black Bush Irish whiskey certainly came in handy! (hic)

Lua and I . . . well heckkk, we are just *like this*, me and her, her and me . . . we are soooo . . . (hic)



Okay, slight exaggeration. Only slightly.

az

This evening Chaiwallah's gift of Black Bush Irish whiskey certainly came in handy! (hic):Bird quite often use alchahol to kill parasitesWe allready know of its anticeptic qualities, usefull for sterilisationCan even be used to run cars and moter vehiclesAlso In place of paraffin in lamps
i hope you save some for these alternative uses

Can I tell you? Lua is actually sitting on my lap right now! She *never* sits on my lap! Meanwhile, I have one leg up on a chair and the keyboard balanced on my upraised knee.

Not comfortable.

az

Can I tell you? Notook almost five years before henry
settled on my lap for any lenth of time!.There have been times when i have had to use onscreen key board and mouse before now,haveing
up to 5 full grown cats vyeing for position,leaveing me with one free hand

I have enough trouble with my keyboard WITHOUT the cat trying to climb all over it.

I finally pried off the "Insert" key because I was tired of writing a paragraph and finding that I had typed over half of what I had written because I accidentally hit that instead of "Backspace" or "End". My one bugaboo at the moment is that whenever I am using my mouse, I am constantly running the right-click button into the edge of my keyboard and having to close something that I didn't want opened. If I didn't actually USE it for anything, I would disable it.

I seriously want someone to design a mouse that had a solid area at the front of the mouse, so this didn't happen..... Is it TOO much to ask??????

open windows disable right click or reasign to less iritateing subroutine.my pet hate is scrollwheel stiffening up.

Hi az

I loved reading your cat tales. I will be thinking of you tomorrow.

Also, glad to hear that your recovery is begining Lady in a Tree. Hope lots of happy memories are begining to brake through the tears.

I will be thinking of you and Lua today too.

Thanks everyone,

Will be going for the ultrasound in awhile, which may take the operation decision out of my hands anyhow.

Last night my friend Pilar called me and she told me how she had her dog operated on for this same thing - and they took out all eight breasts! Later the cancer returned (can't remember where) and Pilar decided to operate again. That was two years ago when her dog was 11 years old, and she is still quite happily alive. See? It's impossible to know what to do!

A friend of mine in Canada has recently signed a 'do not resusitate' order with the residence her father is currently living in. She said she won't have any more invasive procedures for him. And then she said that strangely this sort of thing was easier to decide for a human.

Well, no doubt will talk to you all later.

az

My niece's beloved Dobie, Sheena is very ill. It looks as though her decision will come sooner rather than later. Poor thing, She is such a lovely, sweet animal. The cat recently had kittens and Sheena was so tender with them, they might have been her own puppies.