Jump to content

Cats


Recommended Posts

"In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this."

- Terry Pratchett

 

 

I have two of my own, and they're both assholes. 

 

One is homicidal and is constantly trying to kill everyone in the house by trying his utmost best to stay under our feet so we'll trip over him (I can only assume so he can gloat over our cold dead corpses).

The other hates affection (unless it's on his terms) and he likes leaving dead birds and mice in my bed and in my room. 

 

Despite this, I love both of them. It must be their little feets. Or Stockholm Syndrome. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I live with a tortoiseshell.  She likes me to hold her and carry her around on my shoulder and also greets me at the door every evening when I get home (just like a dog).  She also fololws me around all.the.time (again, just like a dog).  She'll drink water from a dish if she absolutely has to but very much prefers it dripping from the tap.

 

We occasionally dog-sit our relatives' Yorkshire terrier and/or miniature American Eskimo (we actually have both at our house right now) and those two small dogs have many cat-like qualities as well.  Don't let anyone fool you ;)    The dogs and our cat get along quite well.  I don't really understand the dogs vs. cats debate.  For me it's one of those many times when I won't choose because I simply don't have to.  I'll take both, please!  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love cats. I've lived with as many as 5 (!!!) in the house at any given time but right now am cat-less and poorer for it. I keep saying I'm going to get one but I'm gone from home so often now with my job that I'd feel bad for leaving them alone.
 
The neighbors have outdoor kitties that I'm on friendly terms with, though. One of them sits next to a tree in my front yard sometimes and waits for me to come home from work so he can get belly rub.  :)


Get two, then the fact that you're gone for long periods won't matter! ;)

We have three cats, and three dogs. Plus a tortoise that managed to find our little hut in the middle of nowhere - talk about being a stray magnet.

We had two dogs when we moved here. The puds were dumped at the surgery I was working inside a shopping bag, they were about 3 weeks old. We were waiting and hoping they'd be adopted but before that happened, the bosses said they had to go. So I brought them home and told the SO some bs story about fostering them until someone adopted them. For the first 2 or 3 weeks, he'd ask me everyday 'when are they going to their new homes?'. 'Ah, sweet summer child, they're never going anywhere', I'd think to myself.
Because I was gone most of the time, he was with them all the time. The kitties would follow him around everywhere, all the time. Like a mother duck and her ducklings. Of course he fell completely in love with them very quickly. And how cou,d he not? They're so funny... One of them has a thing for sweaty smells... Whenever the SO works hard in the garden or something, this cat, Ghost, will literally crawl up his chest and arm just to shove his face in his sweaty armpit (to each their own) and nuzzle and bite it, it's hilarious.
His brother Summer always managed to jump the fence, but he could never get back on his own, so he'd go to the gate and meow his little head off until we opened it for him. I tried to 'fix' the fence once. Spent hours at it, was covered in scratches and bruised by the time I was done, only to look over the fence and see the little bastard outside, looking at me with that contemptuous look on his face - cats are really good at that.

We love them to bits. :)

ps: don't like the cat people/dog people labels either.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I live with two male tabbies, one is Guava, who I bottle raised from a week old and have had for 11 years. He is the universe's only purely good being. He likes for me, and me only, to carry him around like a baby and rub his belly and kiss his face. If I don't keep the kisses coming he pushes his face onto mine until I do.

The other one is Hugo (also referred to as Grunty Raccoon). Hugo is not my cat but rather a cat passed around by men in my orbit for the past several years. Originally he belonged to this acquaintance, Pete, whose band mate is an ex of mine and is also a close friend of my (male) exwife. Pete and his girlfriend split and convinced the exwife to take Hugo in. The exwife instead brought him over to my house and exchanged him for one of my cats without my knowledge. I left things this way for a couple years because we were back and forth between our homes so it didn't matter which cat was where. When we split I switched back but the exwife had a nervous breakdown without the other cat so I had to hand over Tula permanently. Last summer exwife called and asked me to check on Hugo at his house (not Tula, he brought her with) once a week for two months while he housesat for his parents on their vacation. I told him that was absurdly cruel to leave Hugo all alone that long as he loves all living things and offered to watch him at my apartment. A couple weeks later my current boyfriend moved in, whose ex did not allow him any of the cats they'd had. He and Hugo fell in love immediately and he wouldn't give him back to exwife.

Hugo is actually a really great cat, he goes on leash walks and enjoys the coffee shop by our place. He is very particular about sleeping at night in the crook of my arm like a teddy bear under the covers with his head sticking out. He almost never meows, only grunts to get his point across. The vet estimates him to be about 13-15
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thor pees in my running shoes. Every pair. The only thing he marks. Don't worry nerds, this pair is new and won't get "the rreatment" until I get home.

In spite of that, he is defitely the most handsome and compatible of my housemates. He loves his pyjamas and undercover cuddling in the winter. Summer is terrible so he cuddles by putting his feet on my feet.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have two of the little god-beasts right now.  Dante never met a stranger.  He is a very large tabby (not fat, precisely, but looooong, and dense), who prefers to sleep draped around my neck, on top of my head, or so that he fills every available part of the sofa (not sure how he manages it, but he does - usually showing off his tummy-furs).  He used to play "fetch", but has gotten lazy with age.  He occasionally pony dances around the place, usually at 3 AM.  He's a little stressed now because we are in temporary housing.  It's only for another couple of months, but I've got to take him to the vet because he is over-grooming right now.

 

Machiavelli is pitch black except for five white hairs on his chest.  Even his nose and whiskers are black.  He prefers to sleep on things that are black and we can't leave any black bags on the floor (he prefers to sharpen claws on black leather, and if he's down a soft-claw, it's problematic), and if you leave black clothes on the bed, they will be covered quickly with cat hair.  He is great with the kids and is quite the literary fellow.  He comes for story time every evening and has his ears rubbed while hearing the latest adventures (currently) of Black Beauty. 

 

We used to have a pug, who expired of old age a couple of years ago.  A dog does not fit into my lifestyle right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My husband and I live with a female short-hair orange tabby right now. I swear, I think she's part dog. When she chirps at the birds that like to torture her outside the window, it seriously sounds like a bark. Also, she will play fetch with herself using the green rubber bands from Whole Foods, but no other rubber band, god forbid. She picks it up in her teeth and then uses one claw to flick it across the room, which she then chases down and repeats the process over and over again... for hours. And she has to follow anyone and everyone to the bathroom, where she will demand pets and lovings nonstop.

 

Though she's a bit psychotic, she's my favorite little ball of fluff and I love her. Quite appropriately, her name is Kitty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My husband and I live with a female short-hair orange tabby right now. I swear, I think she's part dog. When she chirps at the birds that like to torture her outside the window, it seriously sounds like a bark. Also, she will play fetch with herself using the green rubber bands from Whole Foods, but no other rubber band, god forbid. She picks it up in her teeth and then uses one claw to flick it across the room, which she then chases down and repeats the process over and over again... for hours. And she has to follow anyone and everyone to the bathroom, where she will demand pets and lovings nonstop.
 
Though she's a bit psychotic, she's my favorite little ball of fluff and I love her. Quite appropriately, her name is Kitty.


The bathroom thing, lol! Two here will do that, Summer and Ghost, Nym doesn't care for that at all. And Summer will go in the shower with me but not with anyone else.
Summer also gets tormented by a bat every day at sunset, like clockwork. The bat will dive towards him, he'll jump up really, really high, but the bat is always [and thankfully] out of reach.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The bathroom thing, lol! Two here will do that, Summer and Ghost, Nym doesn't care for that at all. And Summer will go in the shower with me but not with anyone else.
Summer also gets tormented by a bat every day at sunset, like clockwork. The bat will dive towards him, he'll jump up really, really high, but the bat is always [and thankfully] out of reach.


Kitty flips as soon as anyone even turns on the shower. Bathroom with no shower on=all good. Bathroom with shower on=apocalypse.

If either my husband or I are in the shower, she will sit in the hall and cry because she thinks her hoomans are drowning. Once we emerge from the water death trap, she must ceremoniously rub against a leg, to show her happiness that we have returned unharmed, once again.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have two, both black domestic short hair.  I got Mika from a crazy cat lady, literally she was an old lady running a cat rescue out of her home.  There were about 75 cats in there!  She purrs so loudly you can hear her across the room, and likes to ride on shoulders and lick everyone's face.  She 10 or so now.

 

Danger is 4, and my fiance fished him out of his truck engine on a cold day in Colorado. He came home from lunch, and the neighbours knocked on the door that their kids hear his truck meow-ing.  Little tiny scragly kitten had crammed himself between two parts of the engine, and would have surely been killed if the truck had started.  So my fiance and the neighbour fished him out and got him in a box, and my fiance decided to keep him.

Our cats have only been together for just over a year and they tolerate each other okay.  Mika comes in the bathroom with me and Danger waits in the hall and attacks her as soon as I open the door.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


I love cats. They're exactly my kind of animal. Independent, sassy, cuddly. Mine are both fluffy, with huge tails and the biggest eyes.

I have a tortoiseshell too, or is she a calico? And she loves riding around on my shoulders. She's also my partners' best friend. Whenever we're sitting outside, she has to come out too. She runs around and plays with him, hides behind the wall and pounces on him. It's the cutest thing.

Nala is grumpier, but he loves naps with me and/or my partner. But he has to come to you, you can't grab him for a cuddle. He's such a huge cat, so it's difficult to share a bed with him, especially as he stretches out next to you rather than curling up at the end of the bed :laugh:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have a cat as well, he is 14 years old, and very affectionate.  When I head to my bedroom every evening he runs ahead of me, jumps on my bed, lays right on my pillow and demands head scratches before he will move.  Also, he likes to spend time in everyone's bedroom through out the night, god forbid if anyone actually shuts their door, he will reach up and wiggle the knob with his paws until the door opens.

 

For years, we would do our grocery shopping on Sunday mornings, and when we got home with the bags, I always gave him one can of wet food as his weekly treat.  So now if you come in the house carrying a bag, he meows and meows and meows for his treat.

 

He refuses to play with the dog, and the dog just begs at the cat to play.  But in his wise old age, he will not deign to play with puppy.  He is absolutely terrified of our sun conure though.

 

The only problem is he refuses to eat his dry food over his bowl.  He goes to the bowl, takes a mouthful of food, goes to somewhere else in the house, and crunches and eats his food, leaving small pieces everywhere.  You don't walk barefoot in my house unless you want to have small pieces of cat food stuck to your feet.  But the dog likes this   :)

 

 

For those who haven't seen it, the dear diary cat video   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKffm2uI4dk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still have my Pooka, who I think is about 12. She's a long haired black mammal who visitors frequently compare to a Pomeranian, a squirrel, a raccoon and other furry things, but she is definitely a cat. She doesn't like to be on anyone's lap, but when you pick her up she'll just lie there on her back and purr and generally be squishable, and she sleeps next to my head all night. My roommate has a cat also, Zophie, who is struggling to be on a diet right now. She and Pooka have the same size frame but Pooka is 10 lbs and Zophie is 14 and resembles a bowling ball with legs and her favorite thing to do is crawl inside my roommate's sweatshirt while he is working on his laptop and just stay there for an hour or so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really dislike the whole notion of "cat people" vs. "dog people." 1) reductive 2) encourages offensive commentary about fellow human beings 3) frequently invites people to post their fantasies about what violence they'd visit upon animals they don't like.

Yeah totally agree. Was gonna post somethig similar. I find the whole 'cat person' vs. 'Dog person' really bizarre. So you can only love one and not the other??? It's kinda ridiculous. I love both cats and dogs. Love them equally for different seasons. I don't love all of them because just like people some are complete assholes.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some people just don't like dogs. I didn't, before spending time with my SO's mum. She looks after loads of different dogs, and it changes my perspective. But, despite the above, I wouldn't want to own a dog. I'd never hurt an animal, even if I don't particularly like them (but with spiders, all bets are off).
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...