Cat thread

[Mrbloodworth]

Obsession over food is usually a symptom of boredom.

Springer is about 18-19 pounds, Thumper is 22 last we checked, however not obese for his size the vet says. He did have a problem with over eating, but now we schedule regular play sessions with him, then feed him, and he eats less and or just grazes.  He does still get a bit pissey if he can see the bottom of the dish though. 

[FatuousTwat]

Any one else have a cat(s) that don't meow? My tuxedo cat (Charlie) just kind of meeps.

[Signe]

Magenta doesn't really meow.  She goes "eh eh eh eh" in a very sweet, soft little voice.  She makes other little sounds, too.  Lister meows, make loud "brrrr" noises, talks, all sorts of stuff.  He's the more vocal cat I've ever met.  He has complete one-sided conversations with Righ all the time.  Righ tries to converse back, but he can't get a word in edgewise!

I love the look of tuxedo cats, by the way.

[Lantyssa]

Any one else have a cat(s) that don't meow? My tuxedo cat (Charlie) just kind of meeps.

Our former neighbor-cat was barely vocal.  I've heard her give this strained breathless "meow" only a few times.  Calling it a 'meow' is being very generous.  It's barely an audible exhale.  She makes up for it with purring you can hear across the room.

[tgr]

Perl meows vigorously, but luna peeps. Well, except for when she's running around with my socks or sweaters, then she sounds like most cats sound when they're distressed.

Also she peeps a lot every time I either go into the pathroom or the bedroom, for about 5-10 minutes until she slinks into whereever I'm at. Kind of cute, but can be annoying as well, especially when I'm desperately trying to sleep.

[Samwise]

Any one else have a cat(s) that don't meow? My tuxedo cat (Charlie) just kind of meeps.

My mom's orange cat goes "ack thbbt" sort of like Bill the Cat.  It's pretty cute.

[Signe]

Any one else have a cat(s) that don't meow? My tuxedo cat (Charlie) just kind of meeps.

Our former neighbor-cat was barely vocal.  I've heard her give this strained breathless "meow" only a few times.  Calling it a 'meow' is being very generous.  It's barely an audible exhale.  She makes up for it with purring you can hear across the room.

Yes, that's like Magenta.  Her little sounds are usually very soft and breathless but when she purrs, which is a lot, she sounds like an idling race car.

[LK]

Petra has the cutest mew mew mew and soft fur which makes me want to snuggle the crap out of her, but she likes to not be touched, just like Mesa.

[Dtrain]

Bruno is a big cat, but he has this really sad high-pitched plaintive meow.

[Sjofn]

Gilly didn't really meow, she more did the breathless thing Lantyssa mentioned, complete with the SUPER LOUD PURR to make up for it. Lizzie has a wide range of meows, all of them on the squeaky side. My favorite is her bark-meow. It sounds sort of like "yarp." And she totally uses that vocalization as a bark, it's really sort of weird.

[Fordel]

Obligatory xkcd link : http://xkcd.com/729/


Cats are evil enough to want it too!

[tgr]

[Mrbloodworth]

Stranger Lucien Sims Brings Lost Cat Home To Owner Robin Alex Who Can't Afford Airfare

I would still like to know how a cat gets 1,500 miles from home.

[Signe]

Someone traveling probably picked him up, meaning to keep him, and he got away or something.

[tgr]

Speaking of travelling cats:

http://cuteoverload.com/2010/05/11/lets-go-for-a-catwalk/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hul589uvi9s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ7r16I5JjE



nawww, the kitty looks so happy.

[Mrbloodworth]

Thats awesome, but reading the blog, it seems his lady friend left the hike, so its just the guy and the cat now.

[MahrinSkel]

I like some of the exotics and hybrids, but there are too many cats that need rescues.

I lucked out, and got 3 feral rescue kittens that are part bengal (pictures somewhere way upthread).  All three have very strange behaviors for cats, different ways the breed comes out in them.  The male is doglike, he follows my oldest daughter like a puppy and his version of that bengal chirp (which all three have) is very like a small dog's bark.  He displays doglike dominance behavior, growling and slapping at humans that have backed down to him in the past, but submissive to the ones that rap his nose for it (he's also freaking huge, close to 20 pounds).  The females are both small (5 pounds), but where one of them is compact, freaky "Alien Infiltrator" smart, and standoffish, the other is long, lean, acrobatic (I've seen her make a 10 foot vertical jump from a standing start, and she's prone to aerial flips and rolls for no apparent reason), and aggressively affectionate (but only with me).

All three are fascinated with closed doors, running to see what's on the other side when one that is normally closed is open, sitting outside protesting when one that is normally open is closed, and the one that bonded with me has been known to open all of the floor-level cabinets in the kitchen at once to explore inside (I've gotten used to automatically wiping out pans before I use them to get rid of the fur, because she sheds).  Oh, and the tails are insanely long, the doglike one has one longer than his body from nose to butt (and that's a pretty fair distance itself).

Fur and coloring is also weird, both the male and the acrobatic female are marbled tabbies with white bellies and tan spots (which makes the male technically a calico, which is impossible for normal cats), while the alien infiltrator has *extremely* short but soft fur like thick velvet (in an otherwise unremarkable striped tabby pattern).

--Dave

[Engels]

I think we can all testify that all cats hate closed doors. Its like hardcoded into the Pricipia Felinii or something.

[rattran]

Male calico cats are rare and typically sterile, but not impossible.

[Sky]

Speaking of closed-door effect, while I'm staining the trim in the garage, I re-opened the living room. The cat has been shut out of there for two weeks. He spent all of last night just plopped in the middle of the empty room. I laughed every time I'd walk past and he's just sitting there, not sleeping just sitting. I think it's a kitty sit-in or something.

When it was closed off, every time I opened the door to leave the living room, he'd get bonked because he was sitting with his nose under the door.

[Sky]

I've been notching back Bart's food for almost a year now. He's down to 2/3rds a cup a day for the last few months. Fiancee is giving me shit and thinks he's lost enough weight to start giving him more, I feel he's filling out even more and I need to cut back further.

So last night she defiantly issues the challenge: she's got the scale in her car. Good news is, I've lost weight (I don't really weigh myself ever). Bad news: Bart has gained over three pounds and is almost twenty pounds now. He's not really fat, but he's not what I'd call skinny.

[Signe]

Maybe try cutting his carbs by giving him grainless food?  Regardless of what the package might say (they're trying to sell more food!), 2/3rds of a cup of kibble is a LOT for one cat.  Merrick's Before Grain is very good.  There is an EVO weight management food which is very good.  If you feed him canned, they also come in no grain formulas. Cat food shouldn't really have grains in it anyway.  It doesn't make much sense.  If you feed him raw, well, you can't get too much better than that. If he eats nothing but kibble and you switch him to canned or raw, he'll probably lose weight faster.

Having said that, I give my cats all the right food and Lister is still kind of tubby.  Maybe it's the name.  Sometimes he looks like he's losing weight and sometimes he looks bigger to me.  I don't know how he does that.  I wish I could get him to exercise more.  I know that would do it!  I'm considering putting a harness on him and taking him for walks.  He'd freak out! 

Oh, I bought this weird toothbrush for Lister:


I haven't tried it yet.

[tgr]

Oh, I bought this weird toothbrush for Lister:


I haven't tried it yet.

Yes, you still being alive probably proves that you haven't tried it yet.

I dare not even think of trying to do that for my kitties. They'd kill me in my sleep, I know it. If they'd wait that long.

[LK]

Mesa has turned into a pretty MUSCULAR cat. I tried to bring him close to someone he was antsy about and he nearly pushed me over with the force of kicking himself out of my hands. He's gotten pretty large as well. I like it! Petra is mewful as ever. The two are good company.

[Signe]

I've been brushing Lister's teeth since he was tiny.  He moves his head around a lot but he actually likes it.  He's very into rubbing his teeth on things.  I don't think there's anything in this house that's within his reach that he hasn't rubbed his teeth against.  Magenta struggles too much but seems to rarely need her teeth brushed.  At some point this year they'll have their first professional (well, vet) cleaning which I hate the thought of but know it's probably good for them.  They've never bit or scratched me (on purpose) or anyone for that matter.  My pussies are pussies!

[Signe]

We should make some of these!
 

[Lantyssa]

So apparently we've had some dogs running the neighborhood and they caught one of the cats which used to live in my home and that my next door neighbors took in when they left.  I'm the one who found it.  (Told the father before the kids saw it.)    They had an older cat disappear a few weeks ago, though she was sick so hopefully it's not related.  There was an orange tabby caught a few weeks ago I'm told.

I'm about ready to get the .22 from dad and put a barstool where I can watch from upstairs, however I don't think the cops would be too keen on that.

[Engels]

Animal control budget cuts lead to packs of wild dogs running around suburban Durham, NC where my aunt lives; they hunted her cat and finally got him :/

[MahrinSkel]

So apparently we've had some dogs running the neighborhood and they caught one of the cats which used to live in my home and that my next door neighbors took in when they left.  I'm the one who found it.  (Told the father before the kids saw it.)    They had an older cat disappear a few weeks ago, though she was sick so hopefully it's not related.  There was an orange tabby caught a few weeks ago I'm told.

I'm about ready to get the .22 from dad and put a barstool where I can watch from upstairs, however I don't think the cops would be too keen on that.

Crossbows.  Probably not any more legal, but much less noticeable.  Don't tell anyone you bought it, don't let anyone see you use it.  A couple of dogs disappear, a couple more turn up with bolts sticking out of them, and the owners will stop letting the bulk of the pack run loose.

I like dogs well enough, but you need to be responsible, have enough property for them and keep them on it.  You let them roam, and sooner or later they start to do this (pack up), eventually they'll be going after kids or splitting the pack and going after each other and Animal Control will get involved, which will mean a lot more dogs put down.

--Dave

[Sky]

There is an EVO weight management food which is very good. 

He's been on that for about a year now. He's pretty muscular and active, I'm not real worried about him now, more about his body shape as he ages.

As for raw food, I thought about raising mice. 

[Signe]

Move to a house in the woods.  He'll have more mice than he'll know what to do with!  I could never raise animals to feed pets.  If it's cute and furry, I'll fall in love with it and name it.  Maybe bugs would be better, which is another consideration.  Crickets.  Just hope they don't get loose in your house. 

[rattran]

I got one of those toothbrushes, Oscar hated it, so I switched back to the fingertip style.

Even with annual vet-cleaning of his teeth, they're in dreadful shape. I suspect in the next few years he'll have to get them pulled and go to a wet-food diet. But, considering the vet told me when I got him his teeth would only last a couple years, and that was 10 years ago, it doesn't seem too bad.

[tgr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRxX6LZmr2U

[rattran]

One of my cats barks like that, at squirrels out the window (they bark back) and when he wants to play with the 'feathers on a string' toy.

[Jimbo]

Patch climbing up on the Jeep @ my Parents house.  She loves to climb up on top of cars and trucks.