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The Perfected Soul saith: "…I am the greatest cat which dwelleth in the seat of right and truth wherein riseth the god Shu."
What then is this? The male cat is Ra himself, and he is called Maau….
The Egyptian Book of the Dead
The weather’s turned cooler and the tigers love it. Love it to the extent of 2 broken bowls, a broken floor lamp and a ruined speaker. Every time I walk from one room to another I wait for a flash of fur a la Hobbes when Calvin comes home from school.
Now, instead of 4 or 5 stretched out on the dining table they’re on the couches or in the recliner. Shiimsa and Skoshi are so cute curled up together in the recliner. The recliner is too hot to use during the summer. Synthetic fabric so the damn thing doesn’t breathe and I just end up with a sweaty back and backside if I sit in it for any length of time. Friday night was my transition to the recliner. Already had a couple dust-ups between lap lump contestants. Can’t remember the last time I’ve heard this much hissing or seen this much throwing of paws. One in my lap and one on the arm of the recliner. So much for dull evenings.
My friend Joe bought a house 5 or 6 six ago and there was a little female stray that came with it. Joe already had Gator, Cali and GG (for Grey Ghost, Joe’s a Mosby fan) but I convinced him that he should adopt this little girl rather than just continue feeding her as the previous owner had done. Turns out that Summer (I named her because it was summer when he took her in) was about 9-10 and wasn’t in the best of health. Gee, imagine that. I know the previous owner of the house but had never been there. Knowing this guy as I do if I’d known about Summer then she’d have been scooped up by me long ago. After a bit of being frightened indoors she settled down and became a little lover, always schmoozing with the other tigers. Loved to be stroked and brushed. Summer became hyperthyroid and developed renal disease a couple years ago. Joe was very conscientious in her treatment but time has caught up with us. Summer has gone to Rainbow Bridge. RIP Summer. I’ll see ya at the Bridge.
Share your tiger stories with us.
Of all God’s creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.
Mark Twain
29 Comments
Welcome to new eCahnomics cat, a very Cahning city ex. Cahnstance C. (for Cat) Cahn.
When do get pix? *g*
We’ll have to ask, eCAHNomics was on the early thread but didn’t bring pix.
Mine are now giving me the guilt trip because I’m packing. Fluffy actually crawled into my suitcase then went back to the back room and pouted, visibly.
I’ll be away next week and they know all the signs. At least after the one time, when I shut them in the back room while packing, they don’t ‘mark’ my suitcase anymore. Actually that one is out in a storeroom, since I washed it thoroughly I think it’ll be okay, but never have used it again.
I can’t wait to hear eCAHN’s adventure on getting a new tiger.
Caturday!!
Yes we do have a new member of the Caturday Club, Cahnstance
SD, it’s my cross to bear that we live in a place where even in mid-November it’s 80 degrees out. I don’t get no lap lumps until December, at least, but Belle is getting a very plush coat from the cooler evenings. I’ve put towels around on our tile floors, too; each one is a cat perch.
Belle is still being bitchy to Grace. She hisses and slaps at her especially at meals. Gracie is not so afraid anymore, though. Sometimes when Belle is sleeping on one of the kitchen chairs, Grace will stand above her on the table, just out of reach, and tease her. Belle, contorted and upside-down, growling at Grace through the her furry tail is amusing. Grace chases her now, too. We call them the Thunder Kitties. It’s amazing how much noise 2 smallish cats can make racing upstairs and up and down the halls.
Belle is becoming a counter cat to avoid Grace. I hate the spray bottle approach. What else works?
I can’t stand the spray bottle. It just made Abner mad and gave him a bad cattitude. I wish I had never used it.
It’s in the high 70s or low 80s during the day here yet but my place is shaded by oak trees so it stays pretty cool during the day now, even with the windows open. Kismet has discovered she likes a heated waterbed. Imagine that.
Feeding time for the dry food tigers is always an adventure. Nagi sits under one of the dining chairs and swats (I call it ponks) anybody who comes within range. Feurae trades paws with anybody who gets near his bowl. Shiimsa darts back and forth until I get to his bowl.
Nagi is the only one who got on the counter. Gabby and Bapu will get up there if I’ve left food out and am out of the room. With Nagi I’d just pick him up and put him on the floor, saying stuff like “No, you can’t get on the counter.” He doesn’t get up there any more. Took a lot of repetition. Gabby and Bapu, they’re another story.
I’ve never used a spray bottle. I don’t want them to think every time I approach them they’re gonna get sprayed.
That’s what I’ve been doing, setting her back down on the ground saying “no counters”. As soon as I turn my back she’s up there again. I guess I will use this as an opportunity to snuggle with her, cuz she doesn’t like being picked up yet she’s not struggling in my arms when I remove her from the countertops. Voila, lemonade.
To be honest the only reason I try to keep them off the counter is that I don’t want them to suddenly jump up on the stove while I’m cooking.
When I first moved here I lived in a little, and I do mean little, bungalow on the beach. No heat. One evening it was really cold and I had a space heater going that wasn’t cuttin’ it. I had a gas stove/oven. Turned the oven on and was getting ready to make tea when Tiye jumped up on the stove and burned her whiskers off. She never got up on a counter again. She’d never done that while we lived in Denver but I had heat there.
I heard putting aluminum foil on the counter helps cause they don’t like it
My previous companion liked to crawl up under the comforter on the heated waterbed and nap the day away. Of course, when we were together, we spent most of the time living in New England and upstate NY.
Dan’l likes to jump onto the table or counters but as soon as he sees me motioning, he jumps off again. He knows its a no-no but I think he does it just because he can.
And I can see that attitude.
Yep.
…and the spray bottle never really helped keep Abner off the dining room table, either. My cats are extremely ill behaved. They never listen.
Toostie rescue cat had always been very well behaved (partly a result of being scared in a previous life, I think). But I’d heard that Maine coons especially like high places. In the bedroom where she first lived there’s a 2.5 foot high bureau next to a 6 foot tall armoire type thing (or the modern version of). I put a cat sleeping box up on top of the armoire. That’s her private turf, and she seems to enjoy it- often sleeps up there. I don’t know why she doesn’t jump on counters- maybe the high place solved that, maybe she was trained not to do that before, or maybe the counters usually have a discouraging array of clutter.
SD- btw, this is a fun youtube from “bortapir” in Lukoshinko. He and his wife are nutty about Maine coons. As you can see, they’ve built the kitties an aerial runway- watch the “flying electrobroom”. *g*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GIq5HYYRKg
Man, they’re gorgeous.
I’ve seen pix of a couple places that have aerial runways throughout the house, complete with holes cut into walls between rooms, the whole bit.
Animal Planet last night had a show on Cats 101 (I think was the title) and they showed a couple that had built a lot of various walkways and cat friendly perches throughout their house. They said the renovations had cost $20K and probably decreased the house value by $50k but since the cats spent more time in the house than they did, it was the cats’ home so they did what they did.
SD- This is the only time I’ve seen that, but I love the idea. Share pix if you can find. Not that I’d go that far, but I might try to move the furniture around a bit, add some boards as runways, and such, just to see what Tootsie would do!
A friend in the dept. has maybe 12+ cats, with a special cat room- containing among other things a rather large part of a tree from outdoors- plenty of branches!
Geez, that was years ago but I can still see it. You might want to check out Animal Planet’s site to see if they have anything relating to dakine01′s comment. If I hit the Lotto and buy this place those renovations will ensue mos ricky tic.
like this!
Yep, like that. The one I remember was really extravagant. Looked more like a whacko remodeling project in progress, which it was on second thought.
i think tejanarusa has found it. i’d love to live in a house like that.
Dear Cat Shrink: My cat woke me up very early this morning, an occasional gesture. While I had to work a good part of the day, she has slept long and comfortably. Do you have any suggestions for getting us on a better schedule. Aside from being beautiful, I have not identified any skills that will cause her to seek work. Thank you.
LOL
It’ll take time but Angela will adjust to your schedule. Kismet hasn’t adjusted to mine yet either. Now that she’s found the waterbed isn’t scary that howl at 5:30 is louder than it was 6 feet away. Just like I tell myself every morning, patience, grasshopper.
Even though Maste has no problem knocking the handset onto the floor they won’t even answer the damn thing. Work? You kiddin’ me? Work? *g*
http://www.amazon.com/Cats-House-Bob-Walker/dp/0740778617/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257737824&sr=1-1#noop
and
http://www.thecatshouse.com/imagegal/index.htm
I’m pretty sure you’re all talking about the house in this book. I have it; it’s wonderful. The couple who built it (started as just a floor-to-ceiling scratching post) also collect Mexican folk art, which accounts for the color scheme. Some of the wall openings are cat-shaped, some star-shaped, etc. They have a buuuuunch of cats.
My ex and I sometimes daydreamed about doing something similar as our crew grew; never got around to it.
BTW, re: the water bottle to keep cats off counters, stoves, drapes — the most important thing, if it’s necessary, is NEVER LET THEM SEE YOU USE IT! As some of you have learned, it just makes them mistrust you if they know you’re doing the spraying.
The idea is to make it seem like the hand of
God, er, Ceiling Cat?, whose all-seeing eye also administers thepunishmentbehavior modification. The squirt must come out of nowhere, so to speak.Aluminum foil, crumpled up, or empty cans rigged to fall if jumped on, do sometimes work; kittehs hate the sound of either.
But when I brought in the 12-week-old litter of three, my two elderly cats decided to live on the kitchen counter, by the door. Nothing got them down for long. The little guys couldn’t get up there, so it was the only place the elders felt safe from their annoying, energetic presence.
I’d done well keeping them all trained to stay off counters and tables, but at that point, I gave up. Now, I just clean the counters a lot.
Now, I just clean the counters a lot.
that’s always been my solution too. and thanks for the tip about the book [and their website].
love the cat walk – what a great idea. i also don’t try to keep my cats off the counter top. just wash up before doing any cooking.
Works for me.