General Chat

LOL Sylvia - I think the dog was trained by the cats!!!

I looked after my daughters alsatian/collie cross for a while.
She was really good with my cats.
The poor thing would be slumbering under the table when Sophie (a stray the neigbours had 'forgotten' to take when they moved) would go up to her and bop her on the nose to wake her up - then walk away.
A very confused dog would wake up and wonder what had happened!

these neighbours then had 3 children, in pretty short order

THEN they bought a dog .........a pure-bred Rottweiler


who was the softest, most well-trained dog that you could ever meet. Although, I wouldn't put one foot on his property unless one of the family was there!


Those 2 cats ruled him .... it was hilarious to watch them in the garden together. They would prevent him climbing the stairs to the back door, have him going round and round in circles trying to get them while staying just out of reach.



then, when they got fed up, they would come into our garden ........ and Mercury would climb to the top of the support holding up the kiwi vine! Velcro never really got the hang of that.


The two cats were about 15 or 16 when their people moved away about 4 years ago.

I don't know maggie .... it's the dander he's allergic to.


anyway, I don't like the look of hairless cats (or dogs!)



we had neighbours some years ago who had 2 cats,

Mercury was midnight black with one spot of white

and Velcro, a sort of tabby colour


................. so-called because he was always getting stuck

I watched him one day race down their garden path, across the side walk in front of me, and leap upwards and forwards ...................... to end up about 5' up the trunk of the Maple tree

Then he hung there looking pitifully over his shoulder at me

LOL Gail, I wonder how long he'd been up the wall!
Mine was a canny old thing - he used to scratch the wallpaper behind the doors! As most of my doors areleft open for cat access, I didn't realise he was doing it for quite a while.
When I went up in the attic, he'd follow me - but couldn't get down, and didn't want to come down when I did. I used to leave the hatch open, and everyone was on 'cat duty'.
When he wanted to come down, he would look through the hatch and howl loudly.
I'd then have to climb the stepladder. I'd get halfway and he would throw himself (all 14lbs) at me and cling on furiously to my shoulder! (Yes, it DID hurt!)

I've loved reading all of your cat stories.

Maggie, your ginger tom sounds as if he was a character.

We too had a ginger tom a while back. Curtains, wallpaper and lamps were in constanct danger!

I rermember coming into the lounge one day, and he had climbed the wallpaper to catch a fly, and couldn't fathom out how to get back down. He was mewing pitifully for help. I never did hang "spongey" wallpaper again,lol.


New boy Tom we got from our daughter. He was a rescue cat. So when Gemma got a job with longer hours, we couldn't face him going back to the cat and dog home....That was 3 years ago!

Gail

Sylvia - someone trusts you!!! What an honour!! :o)
Would OH be allergic to a hairless cat?
Awful as they are, (I hate breeding for 'looks'), there may be one in a refuge needing a home!

Jean, its really cold down here, maybe Sweetie knows more about the weather than you!
I need to sort out my windowless shed, it's a good refuge for the abandoned cats round here. I don't mind them sleeping in the shed and coming in and eating the food my cats leave - but if they get a bit too 'territorial' (my cats come first - and are not to be attacked!), I have a tumbler of water handy.......

You may remember the two feral cats we are feeding. My OH built a wooden shelter for them for the winter, and apart from a first inspection they have ignored it. But tonight he saw the female, Sweetie,, go in to it and sit looking out of the doorway, then she disappeared into the back part out of the draught! Dont know if she will stay there all night, they tend to be about earlier than us and waiting by the back door for their breakfast. We are looked at as if we are mad, but I'd rather spend the money on them than go down the pub if we had one, and buy drink I dont need. Healthwise, it would be stupid for me.

maggie

I am intrigued by your comment about stroking cats' stomachs

My daughter and her husband have 2 cats, brother and sister, and both neutered. They live on one side of Canada, and we live on the other ............... we've been lucky enough to get to see them once a year since she moved in 1999. It's an 8 hour plane trip ....... or 6 days on the train (our favourite way of going!)

The cats are now about 6 years old, and there was a new addition to the family in March when daughter had a baby boy ...... whom they basically ignore.


On my last 2 visits the female cat has evenutally settled down on my knee on the last evening, having spent the previous 6 or 7 days walking over the arm of the chair, round the back, along the other arm, down onto my knee, up on the arm, etc etc etc. She'll spend ages on those evenings letting me stroke her, but never settles down. Then on the very last day ..................


But what caught my eye was .............. the second thing she has done each time after settling down on my knee is stretch out after about 10 minutes and expose her tummy for me to stroke and tickle

Each time she has stayed on my knee with minor changes in position for literally 2 or 3 hours ........... which amazes daughter and s-i-l, because she has never done that even with them.


Unfortunately, we can't have cats at home 'cos OH is allergic to long-term exposure to them ...... and I'm not a very good housekeeper :))))



sylvia

Contrary Mary, that reminds me of our son when small, had that polystyrene wall stuff by his bed in an effort to keep the room warm. He lay in bed and picked it all off!

Reading this thread has made me chuckle :-))))

And also reminded me of when I got my previous 2 little beauties. My OH had just redecorated our hallway and because the outside wall was always damp there he put a very thin lining of polystyrene under the paper.

About a week after he'd done it, I got my 2 little kittens, and it was just soooooo funny to watch them chase each other up the hallway.............and run up the wall!! LOL Then, while their claws were in the paper, their own weight would cause them to slowly slide back down to the floor (complete with claws full of paper)...........I thought the *tattered wallpaper* look was quite cool ;-)) LOL

Mary

...but how do you train a cat NOT to chase after something?
I had crane flies - loads of them. The cats would chase them and kill them.
Unfortunately, they also managed to break a glass lampshade, and score the wallpaper with their claws!

On the 'up' side, the wallpaper was replaced when I redecorated, and, after 2 years of crane fly chasing - I no longer have any crane flies in the garden!! The cats had a good time and they were fun to watch!
Oh - and the cheap lamp (from Ikea) has been replaced.

Years ago, I had a huge ginger tom - 14lbs of muscle, who would stop whatever he was doing when I said 'behave' - but he's the only cat who I could train with such precision.
Having said that - my youngest would see how far she could 'go' with him. If she did something he didn't like (like brushing his fur backwards), he would 'bop' her with his paw. if she carried on; he would do it again. if she persisted, he would bite her - not enough to break the skin, but enough for her to shout for me!
Daughter would then get told off for teasing the cat - cat was told to behave and he'd go and do something else.

He would also pin her down on the ground.
Daughter would shout for me, and I'd find her lying down with the cat sat on her chest, front feet either side of her head, staring into her face!!
How he managed to get in this position, or why she allowed this I have no idea. He never hurt her. I'd just say 'behave' and he'd walk away!! LOL
We had that cat for a long time - the last time he did this was when my daughter was 14 - old enough to know when she was p*ss*ng him off!
He and his (much smaller) sister would chase each other around the furniture, I just had to say the magic word- 'behave' and they'd stop still - it was a magic word!! LOL

I have always been able to train my cats not to jump on the worktops, etc. but they are not as easy to train as a dog is. You must catch a cat 'in the act' of doing something wrong, and either a smack on the hip and even just to clap your hands in front of them, teaches them it's wrong. No use chasing them off and around the house to smack them - their instinct tells them they are being smacked for being caught in the chase!
If they won't leave something alone, cover it with something they don't like (and add a little pepper to it) until they find somewhere else, then you can remove the cover once the lesson is learned.

Scruffy furniture goes with cat ownership!
If you have a cat (or dog come to that), don't expect black trousers to remain fur/hair free. Even my black cats manage to find some white/grey hairs to shed!

My furniture has been destroyed by many cats over the years, all of whom have been great company.
Yes, they HAVE been trained - inasmuch as you can train a cat!
I have never had a cat attack a human (unlke my sister's particularly nasty beast) - this was 'trained' out of them as kittens, they were also 'taught' to totally trust me - not many cats can put up with their belly being stroked - all mine can - because I started doing it from very young, and they know, despite it being a very vulnerable place, I won't hurt them.
It's a two-way thing - I trust them not to bite/scratch a human, they trust humans in the house (even my grandchildren) not to hurt them.

They don't get on the worktops, don't pee or poo in the house, and, amazingly tend to do their 'business' in MY garden - my barked over area of garden is like a giant dirt tray - and it's regularly cleaned out!

If my children had remained toddlers/teenagers all their life, the way neutered domesticated cats do in the company of humans, the furniture would be in a much worse state!

Annina, my sentiments exactly, cant stand a showroom house.

Train cats Foggy,not a cat in hells chance,as for the furniture,they are only things,having a posh home has never interested me,and after all,the suite is just as comfy,the curtains still cover the windows and the carpet just as comforting underfoot.

When my brood (human)was young,they were taught to respect other peoples belongings,but I don't believe in nagging children for the sake of 'things', so always had battered old secondhand furniture.

Come to my house Foggy,and see how comfy you feel,everyone feels at home here,and it makes my day when someone knows they can put their feet up and spill crumbs on the floor.

I didnt say that Foggy.
You dont Allow a cat to destroy your home but they often do things when you arent looking.

Many years ago I was a Nanny for a very well to do titled family.I lived in and I was allowed to have my cat Jerry there.He was a gorgeous ginger tom.In the downstairs passage was kept the top of a billiard/snooker table,with that green felty material (can't think what it's called).I discovered that Jerry had been using it as a scratching post when I found his claws were full of green fluff.My Boss Lord ** noticed that this top was all tufty and called me to have a look.I thought my time was up and that he had seen Jerry at it.But no,he said "Jane do you think moths have done this" lol.At that moment Jerry waltzed by with his decorated claws!!!!!.I nearly had a dicky fit.

I do fully understand that you all seem to be cat women, BUT to allow an animal to destroy furniture and other stuff in your homes is beyond belief.
and not seeming to care about it is even stranger.

Annina, stated that her four cats destroyed her new leather suite.!!!!!
the mind really boggles.

Shirley, what you are saying is, you would not let you child ruin something, but it is OK for you cats. and it also reads to me, that you think you get more love from a cat than you would from a child...?? weird.

Because you may domestic a cat or dog but their instincts are still there, when you take on a pet you have to accept that they will do things that you wouldn.t accept from a child .
The love they give you unconditionally is worth a bit of hassle.

So, what you are saying is, its ok for your cats to trash you homes.?

Animals can be, and are often trained to behave.