SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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Thomo
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

Post by Thomo »

Tuna is only given as a treat once a week Mini, Ellie is still with us and being monitored carefully. Izzy came at 8 this morning for food and drink, then went out again. We have about 4 inches of snow here and I have been out around the garages trying to track his movements. Whilst doing this I met a friend who has a garage there, and he lives across from Izzy's previous owners, Guess What, they have got another kitten, and yesterday were out looking for it. Totally irresponsible, even worse they have a pup as well, an abandoned bull terrier, oh yes and the tiny baby, it could all end up badly.
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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Crikey, how irresponsible can some people be? That is an accident waiting to happen.
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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Our cat's outside time is directly proportional to the weather. It's shown a distinct lack of interest in going out the past couple of days, it likes the warm.....
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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The lodger cat is ignoring the snow. Spends time on the back gate and doesn't appreciate me opening it! Growls and spits at me something shocking and then pops into his refuge under the bench. He's evidently taken over tenancy.....
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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Even when the cat is officially yours, its more a case of the cat owning you.
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

Post by Whyperion »

BBC Radio 4 , should be on the net for a bit longer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pw5s8

Just So Science

Excerpts from five of the Just So Stories are read by Samuel West

5. The Cat That Walked by Himself.
Do we keep cats, or do they keep us? The myths and the mysteries of felis catus explored by Patrick Bateson and John Bradshaw.

15 minutes First broadcast Friday 18 January 2013

Vivienne Parry presents the science behind some of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, with wondrous tales of how things really came to be.

In Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, we're told how the leopard got his spots, the camel his hump, the whale his throat and so forth. But what does science make of these lyrical tales? For the most part, just-so stories are to be dismissed as the antithesis of scientific reasoning. They're ad hoc fallacies, designed to explain-away a biological or behavioural trait, more akin to folklore than the laws of science. But on closer inspection, might Kipling's fantasies contain a grain of truth? And might the "truth" as science understands it, be even more fantastic than fiction?

In Just So Science, Vivienne Parry meets researchers whose work on some of Kipling's 'best beloved' creatures is helping us to answer a rather inconvenient question: how do traits evolve? Why are some animals the way they are?
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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There's a bit of a story of how we have got to this over the last month , but don't be fooled by the picture , the domestic resident cat is not entirely happy with the visitor , which we have now temporarily adopted. Some of the fun and games I will relate , as I hope they will be interesting. As to irresponsible 'owners' acquiring more pets I don't quite know what to suggest beyond some kind of tip-off to RSPCA , although according to the letter of their criteria the conditions the cats and other domestic animals here might slightly be judged to be wanting , although they seem to tolerate their conditions and vet says they are healthy and happy.

The Black and White visitor is difficult to photograph, Image.

A Small ( but long and tall ) Male , about 9 months old , long-haired, inquisitive , friendly , appears to have one over eye whisker missing from the photograph , but that one is totally black and does not show up against his black background fur.
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

Post by Whyperion »

1) Choosing a Home.


Up until just after Christmas the wife had been allowing the vistor in for a food top-up ( normally one 100g packed quickly consumed followed by a finishing up of whatever else was left in resident’s bowl ) at breakfastime, and then time for a quick nap in side if it wanted it , before discouraging its permanent residence in order not to disturb the resident cat’s lifestyle.
Arrangements continued when Son and his Girlfriend came up for New Year, until visitor came around very wet , and went through two bowls of food and although he went out again it was agreed next time he came in he would be encouraged to stay. After a New Year chicken had been cooked , some of the left-overs would be shared out for the cats and a seqment of one side set aside for the visitor. When he came in through the door a largish single lump was offered which he grabbed in his mouth and turned around to go back outside to eat it , but the door had been shut and he took a few moments to realise that he could stay in the kitchen and sit down to feed, which he did , quickly, his sharp teeth making short work of the piece he had , and happily accepting some more offcuts went off to explore the house and I think he used the cat litter tray as this had unusual loose poos in it , which matched some that had been left in the corner of the back yard.
Use of the litter tray was a bit hit and miss, preferring initially Son’s bedroom carpet, but finding another tray this was set up in a place for the Visitor and over time he is using this , but prefers to go outside if he can – at present we are generally keeping him in until chipping registrations are completed.
Although he is wearing a collar , the loose poos and substantial appetite which was a bit more than just an opportunist visitor with a warm home to return to led us to decide to adopt him subject to the Vet’s opinion. As I had been picked up in Skipton off the London Coach service arrival after the ending of direct buses into town we popped into Tesco’s and they had a damaged outer packet of own brand cat food 48 pack for less than the normal discount price of a 12 pack so that meant he would not cost a huge amount , and most of the time he had been happy to finish off resident cats left-overs.


Image


After a few days on regular food his demand for feeding dimished a little and he is down to 3 packets a day , consumed a lot more leisurely , normally half a bowl at a time , returning to snack a couple of times before afternoon snooze time. His toilet habits have also settled down. The eating of food to such a degree I guess is comparable with a growing kitten and Vet has advised that he could be considered about 2lb underweight, indeed after taking allowance for the substantial fur covering there is very little beyond a skin covering over feelable bones and ribs. He has found time to groom himself and over the month his coat has become shiny , but being a long-haired cat the tendenancy for the fur to knot itself continues but I have been able to tease out or untie most of such knots now.
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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2) Command and Control

This splits into two sections, ensuring that the adoptive parents know what is expected of them, and ensuring that any other residents are aware of their place. Obviously this depends on ensuring the correct home has indeed been chosen on the basis of comfort , food and compatibility.

The methods employed can be vocal , or subtle use of body language, you might find that you are ignored or mis-interpreted by owners , like being given food when you wanted a cuddle , or pointed toward kitty box when you wanted food, never mind , persist as most carers are quite thick. The resident cat , after determining that no real resistance beyond a warning growl will be found , can be neatly kept away from most sources of food by ‘sleeping’ at top of stairs , as children’s room is the warmest you will find resident prefers the window sill outlook or soft bed coverings in there.
In your post on the landing this gives complete control over any movement that leads heading down to the bowls, and even if resident makes a move towards you , you are quicker as three years of indulgence has resulted in a Garfield Size moggie. With your fast track to food the risk that the resident will slim down is something you can worry about in the future. Once down at ground level , even if resident follows it will only go as far as under the table . leaving plenty of space for a morning snack or the now preferred evening tea. The landing also has the advantage of noting when controllers of the food cupboard get up , if you follow them down the stairs you can sit outside the cupboard in front of them till they get the message that a new variety and bowl is required , as after a four weeks . nice moist , warm food is superior to the old dried up bits that one had to previously make do with , but if controllers are not around use up whats left before resident gets down.
You might find the resident does try spitting and its wise to check the kitty box in the dark corner is free before use as two into one won’t go otherwise be prepared for a quick vocal fight.

2a) Notes from a Resident Cat

I am not certain if my status has changed, but obviously a new kitten sized cat has arrived and weedled his affections all around , something I thought I was the sole expert in , anyway I am sure that I can adapt to the extra variety of food , even though it feels like I have to eat it in what seems like an air-raid shelter.
Given that I am not quite as sleek and fast as my younger days I find that checking out the bono-fide of this visitor has to be carried out at his sleeping hours. Creeping in the maximum distance avalible away , using the sofa and coffee table as cover you can approach from the rear , where a quick smell of the neither regions will enably you to identify this interloper. A fast jump and this SAS commando demonstration is fully accomplished and the decision to keep a respectful distance apart seems to be the best policy as I still have the warmest room , the odd lap late at night , a bit of a play with the wiggley worms and once a week fish I think I can make the best of the situation.
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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Ian, that is a brilliant take on cat behaviour, Thank You!! We are experiencing this X 2, Mabel, now full time resident, and Izzy, regular visitor, but still not yet under control. That long haired visitor of yours is a beautiful animal, he looks like a real character. Good luck Ian, remember, every animal saved is one less for a tragic life, or worse.
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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Image

The only clear piece of wood in the back street and it has the benefit of a clear view. This lodger isn't daft!
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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I believe we have made it with our patience in regard to Izzy, out of the past 14 nights he has only missed being in on 2, and we now have had him in on 8 consecutive nights. I have not posted about this before as I did not want to get our hopes up, but I think Izzy now considers our house as home. So, today I bought him his own cat bed, an igloo type like the one we got for Mabel. Izzy is a very well behaved young cat and gets on well with our older animals, he now knows what a litter tray is for and has never mistaken the furniture for a scratching post, as I write this, he and Mabel are both fast asleep on one of the settees. They are both still allowed out, but are never away for long, I am truly happy that Izzy has joined us, he is a beautiful young lad, and being less than 2 years old, he loves to play, this has given a new lease of life to our older cats and they now join in. We now have 5 cats again, whereas 4.5 years ago we had 8, losing 5 in that time was hard, and it may not end there, the outside utility room still has food and water in it, in case Izzy or Mabel are out when we are, but several times in the past week the dishes have been empty first thing in the morning, having been replenished at bedtime the night before, whatever it is, we have not seen it yet.
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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The mystery of the empty dishes may have been solved. Izzy was out a while back, and he appeared on the front window sill, I opened the front door and called him, to be faced with a very young ginger kitten, wet cold and hungry. He as gone out again now but the o/s room has been upgraded, food, water, tray and clean bed, time will tell. When people take an animal on board, they should damn well look after them, whatever, he will be welcome here!!!
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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This came through the door this morning, a flyer about a cat found in the Greenberfield area 4 weeks ago.

Image
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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In regard to the complete wall of silence in respect of the aforementioned animal, despite much searching and help from friends, we have now decided that this lovely cat will come to us. So, "Rosie" as she will be known, will have a safe and secure home, and most important of all, love. Spared a future in an animal refuge she will join the other five here. Izzy still misses the odd night in, but this morning brought us another mouse, he had only been out 15 minutes! Something is still using the o/s utility room at night, emptying the food dish and drinking a lot, this bothers me a great deal as since my wife wife was made redundant last week we are going to have to be careful. But we may after many years be able to get financial help with vets bills for new arrivals, or will we?? Mabel, who is large cat has a problem, as a result of the surgery required to save her she cannot reach the back part of her body to keep it clean, we are trying to remove the knots from her fur, bit by bit, but she is not happy with this, and I no longer have a pair of welding gloves, ideally she should be tranquillised and sorted out, but the cost is high. Izzy needs to be neutered before he gets into trouble, but it will be done fairly soon, we do not want to lose him. We will be going to collect "Rosie" just after six o,clock tomorrow evening.
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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Did you see the little ginger kitten again Thomo?
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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There's an off chance the lost cat had been 'chipped', has it been scanned since it was found ?
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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"Rosie" is now in her new home, and safe, currently fast asleep on one of the settees. She has been scanned and is not chipped, thanks Pluggy. She has met the senior cats without problems, but her next few days will be difficult. The people who took her in 5 weeks ago have been very good with her, and would have kept her but for alergy problems with family members, plus they will be moving home shortly. I will post a pic shortly.
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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You're a good man, Thomo!
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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There have been no major problems overnight. and things are looking better this morning. Rosie has started to inspect her new surroundings and has found and used her litter tray, and had a little to eat. For those of you familiar with Barlick, we collected her from what used to be Boris Hartleys bungalow on Greenberfield Lane. It was clear that the young Woman and her children who have cared for her for the past six weeks, will miss her, but they know that she is now safe, and will be loved and looked after. So now here is "Rosie" :-

Image

Also we now have two nightime visitors, the recent arrival being an all black cat. How do they know?
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

Post by Marilyn »

There must be other folk in Barlick who keep scratching their heads and wonder why every cat they get disappears down a black hole, Thomo. They are all at your place!

Our neighbours recently took in a stray. The trouble is that they work all day and leave the cat out because it would trip their house alarm...and the darn thing roams. I have seen it take off up the street and around the corner. It is very worldly wise and is not a social animal ( very suspicious and highly strung).
( my only objection is that the neighbours have no garden, so the cat comes to my place to go to the toilet...grrrr...and since they have had the cat we have more Tom Cat smells around the place)
Then they leave it out all night, because they say it prefers to stay out.
Why they have adopted it, I will never know. It only goes home to eat.
( I think it would have been better to put it in a shelter)
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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I have just had a disturbing message from a friend who works with cat welfare. All of the local sanctuaries are full, the RSPCA are only attending injured, or animals under threat and they have a 7 month waiting list. We have also heard of a lady in Barlick who is feeding a Ginger and White male cat with only half a tail and an eye injury, although she is a cat lover she is desperate as she has 2 dogs that hate cats. Any offers of help would be much appreciated. Rosie was not "chipped" by the way, she has been scanned at the vets. She is much calmer now and is currently asleep in the bedroom.
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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Son has paid for the chipping of both the cats , mini-fights still break out between the pair of them if they get too close and notice the other is there. The younger male (now neutered) is completely into everything , and has learnt both litter tray ( useful ) and play. As he now goes in and out as is convenient to us, he has brought in a pidgeon (dead- should have let him eat it really I guess but wife was not up to it ), plays with bits of moss in the back yard , hangs out on the rear gate post when the gate is shut and on the step when its open, plays with ends of balls of wool , and will sit on any lap or laptop if its open or semi-avalible.

I did think that he was being underfed , but current eating seems to be half a bowl if I am up at 5am , remainder at about 8am , go out , return for about 9, demand and quickly demolish complete new bowlful as if have not seen food for a week, sleep, wash , play , finish off other cat's food , repeat foregoing procedure (substitute pm for am). Thats 4 100gr packets of whatevers on offer ( Co-op have 44 packets at £8.99 of felix which seems reasonable ). I think my main task in life is to wash up cat bowls.

When he is out I sometimes see him hanging out down the road around where I think he came from along with 3 other cats outside their back yards, but he happy returning to us and well settled , there is a new kitten up that end anyway ( I don't think the family is buying them in , they appear to be breeding themselves under a pile of roofing sheets ), that kitten has the most orangey yellow eyes that I have seen , our new resident has marbled green eyes. One afternoon he was out and went round to the front gardens , in next doors there is a fairly tall tree, in tree there had been for some time two pidgeons (see above , there is only one now ), and he had his eyes on the single pidgeon about 2/3rs of way up said tree. Some time was spent at base of tree , looking up at the bird, tail flicking side to side. Eventually he started to climb up tree , and pidgeon noticed him , so flew up to stand on the adjoining metal lamp post , probably some 40 foot from ground level. ( Lamp post is normally a stopping point for the crows from opposite side of road but they must have been feeding out in the far fields at that time ). Cat carries on climbing , with intent that he can to along all the branches to reach the bird on the lamp post. Fortunately he realised that the branches were getting thinner and would not hold his weight , so he turned round and walked back down the tree and a few mins later back into the rear where the static food in a bowl was hungrily consumed in full instead.
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

Post by Cathy »

Just curious Thomo, how many cat's does your Council allow per household?

Here in South Australia there is talk that cats will soon have to be registered, same as dogs.
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Re: SO, WHAT IS A CAT?

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The council probably have guidelines for council owned properties, we are governed by what is manageable. Registration for dogs was abandoned some years ago, bringing in registration for cats and dogs could in our case make a bad problem worse. We now have 5 full time resident plus Izzy who is about 75% resident, in view of the recent change to our circumstances we are now full up, and yes we have said that before. But we will not stand by and do nothing if another animal comes for help. Pets are not throw away items, and it is time that this nation of animal lovers were re educated, the backbone of this country has been softened by well meaning do gooders, the damage has been done and will not easily or quickly be put right, this does not just apply to animals. There was in my lifetime a situation where neighbourliness was something that was precious and very valuable, people had time for each other beyond the social side of life, this is being replaced by self indulgence and a lack of consideration for others. There is now too much, me, me ,me, and too little , can I help you? Time and life are both precious commodities and are much better when shared with compassion and understanding. When something goes bad or wrong, its always someone else's fault, in the case of animals, this is often true!
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