Cat thread

[Sjofn]

I <3 Miss Cheiva. It is a great sorrow for me that neither of my cats are giant monsters like her.

 Also Bella has turned into a cat! 

[Sky]

Yay more basement kitties!

Bart's "birthday" this week. Got him as a stray, so just going off the vet's estimate of his age pins it to this week. His penchant for drinking irish stout pins it to Wednesday. For his birthday we got him a six-pack of the new Saranac Irish Stout, which is amazing (I might like it, too) and a little animal that looks like a chipmunk that you can stuff with catnip. Some fresh catnip and he had a busy night last night.

A 16lb cat on the 'nip is a danger to many things.

[Signe]

You should get him the non alcoholic beer.  Cats have lousy liver function and can suddenly and inexplicably suffer bad effects from alcohol (sometimes really really bad effects) even though they've had it before.  It's the smell that attracts him anyway - cats have terrible taste buds. 

[Sky]

Eh, he doesn't really drink it. He just licks around the mouth of the bottle after I've taken a sip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7ZA00Krz2Y

[sickrubik]

I guess I should be glad that beer seems to be the One Thing that Bella does not want in her at any given moment.

I have never had as much of a stubborn cat as she. Some of her favorite things: Turkey (duh), romaine lettuce, and ice cream. We tend to not let her have these, but if you aren't paying attention, it may be too late.

Oh yes. And avacados.

Witness


And that was a pretty hefty avacado. We're not sure how we ended up with a cat that is part goat, but we did. She is strange and hilarious.

[Nebu]

My cats eat lots of earthy smelling things when they are feeling the need to throw up a hairball.  I wonder if that was the motivation beyond chomping on the avocado?

[sickrubik]

about a month after THAT avocado, my fiancee was sitting in the bedroom watching TV and noticed Bella come in parading around with a smaller avocado in her mouth like she had just made a fresh kill.

We brush the cats almost daily, and she doesn't have any other issues. She eats anything if we don't watch her. Including shoelaces/strings/headphones. She has a god damn iron stomache, apparently. We've taken to hiding maaaaany things in the house now. I think she just likes the texture.

[Sjofn]

Having seen Bella in action, I tend to agree that Bella just enjoys eating.

Gilly was like that when she was younger, now she keeps her appetite aimed at actual cat food instead of "anything I just saw Sjofn put in her mouth." I mean, there are still some things she wants and will climb all over me to get, such as cold cuts, but at least I don't have to eat standing up even when it's something like a rice cake anymore.

[MisterNoisy]

Well shit.  I came home and Kat didn't move.  Her 12 years finally caught up with her it seems.  :(

[Lantyssa]

I'm very sorry.

[Signe]

Oh dear.  I'm so so sorry.   

[Demetra]

I am so sorry.

[sickrubik]

I am so sorry. Never easy to deal with.

[rattran]

You have my deepest sympathy.

Relatives dying don't make me sad, but pets dying 

[Reg]

That's a shame. It's hard to lose a pet you've lived with for so long.

[MisterNoisy]

Thanks to all for the sentiments.  I wish you and yours the best.

[tgr]

Coming home to a pet that's either died or is dying is the worst thing ever. You have my sympathies.

[Mrbloodworth]

 

[Nebu]

So sorry.  I have two older cats as well and can't begin to imagine how bummed you must be.

[Minvaren]

It's never easy to lose a pet, my condolences.

[Sky]

Ah, shit. Sorry, Mr N.

[Sjofn]

Our cat Gilly, in an apparent show of solidarity with Mister Noisy's Kat, has also shuffled off to the Great Cat Beyond.

[Signe]

 

[Engels]

So sorry to hear that. That's rough. I don't know what's going to be sadder for me, when one of our kitties goes and leaves the sibling behind and bereft, or when the last one goes. Its still years away (I hope!) but just even thinking about it is a punch in the guts.

[Hawkbit]

My wife, kid, mom and dad are still alive, but by far the worst death I've had in my 34 years on this planet was when my cat died a few years back.  My buddy would snuggle under the blankets and in my arms with me every night and I still miss him terribly.  Not sure if I'll ever get over that one. 

My condolences to all those that lost pets.  It's never, ever easy.

[Sjofn]

Gilly was like that, you could cuddle her like a teddy bear. Lizzie prefers to sleep on my head, if she comes to sleep with us at all (which she usually doesn't). She hasn't started really looking for Gilly yet, I'm not really looking forward to that starting up. :(

[Lantyssa]

More <hugs> for y'all.

A co-worker had to take his kitty in on Monday after a long battle with runaway diabetes.  It's been a bad week for furry family members.

[Reg]

This thread has been very sad lately. Sorry to everyone who lost their kitties.

I've always thought of my guy as barely out of the kitten stage but thinking about it I realize he's got to be 10 years old now. He should be good for at least 5 more years if he lives as long as most indoor cats.

[MisterNoisy]

Our cat Gilly, in an apparent show of solidarity with Mister Noisy's Kat, has also shuffled off to the Great Cat Beyond.

Damn.  I'm sorry for your loss.  :(

[Demetra]

I'm so sorry.  Sometimes it takes a long time to heal. 

It's that way with my Jasper, in fact instead of burying his ashes in the back yard, I've kept them in the house. 
They sit in a pretty little box next to a small cat statue on top of my computer desk.  Strange maybe but its always given me a little
comfort to have them there.

[Sky]

I want to stuff Bart in one of those predatory positions like a stuffed cheetah or something. I'm not joking, and it totally grosses out my fiancee, so we'll see if I can pull it off when the time comes. I just think it would be a great way to keep around the greatest cat ever.

Though he's not much of a cuddler, he does sleep with me most nights. Sneaks in after I've fallen asleep and sneaks out as soon as he hears the alarm go off. I pretend I don't notice.

Little bastard gave me a vicious bleeder over my eye last night when we were goofing around. Probably could use some stitches.

[Yegolev]

Yeah.  My epileptic cat took a shit on my new sofa yesterday.  Good times.

[tgr]

I got 2 sibling kittens close to 9 years ago.

Perl:


Cat5:


They were pretty good at limiting my usable work area:


They both also knew how to appreciate the CRT's warmth:




I'm wondering if she's trying to tell me something...


Obligatory awww:



Yep. They also sleep exactly like that.



I've taken tons more pictures, but I'm not going to go overboard with them.

Anyhow, tons of fun, cuddly as all hell for about 2 years, then I come home late one night and the first thing I hear is one of the cats meowing desperately. Turns out cat5 was having problems breathing, no idea what really happened though. Paniced, called a taxi, found a vet hospital, tossed the cat in a carrier and hurried on down, only to end up watching her suffocate before my eyes after the vet tried to intubate her. My guess is she had an object in her throat, but I was just told it was probably a virus when I called to get the autopsy report. I wasn't going to spend too much time investigating that, since Cat5 was gone anyways. I did, however, spend the next year having random flashbacks to watching her struggle to get that last breath in, and just fainting. Worst minute ever.

I quickly decided that just having 1 cat wasn't going to do, since she was already hyper-cuddly, so 1 month later I started looking around for a replacement cat. I ended up having to physically corner and catch this cat:

I call her Nova Luna:


She's about twice the size of Perl, not quite as cuddly, but she has 1-2 sessions each day where she just needs to lay on my chest for 5-10 minutes and get scratched on the back of her head. And just as suddenly as she appears, she bounds off.

Speaking of physicall corner and catch Luna, that hid a serious underlying problem. I've no idea what happened to her in her life prior to me, but she's seriously been one of the most nervous and skittish cats I've ever come across. She hid under my bed the first 2 days, only coming out to eat and use the loo. She also used to run and hide if I just ran the water, or any other loud noises were to occurr. She's getting much better now, though, but that's been a loooong road. The reward's definitely there every time she demands a cuddle, though. Especially during nighttime, when she decides to sleep on my back. A purring cat is the best sleep medicine ever. And waking up to two cats who are very happy to see you is also an awesome way to start the day.

[LK]

Oh gawd. Cat5 was a cutie. I'm sorry. ;_;

I feel like I should take more pictures of my cats since, I, uh, haven't in the 6 months I've owned them.

[MisterNoisy]

Lorekeep's right about Cat5 being a cutie - looks a lot like Kat did.  I'm sorry for your loss, though it's good to see that you've got a couple of buddies to help you through it.  :)