Cats

[YY1]

That colony had very interesting genetics.

Two orange tabby females (80-85% of orange tabby cats are male)
Several fluffy tuxedo cats in two different lines.
Several "Normally colored" short or medium haired cats with red or blue super fluffy tails.
White cats with two different colored eyes.
...and strangest of all-
Three "Havana Brown" cats.
The most rare domestic cat in the world.
If you want one, they are about 3-5 thousand dollars.

 

[HawkRod]

I didn't know that they could be trained not to climb up on things, I just thought it was in there nature. I've been to people's homes and their cats went everywhere, on top of the refrigerator, stove, on the island unit, like a tree monkey. I'm sorry, but that's just nasty. Your wife's good, very good!! Thanks for sharing!!

Yes, my wife is good, but perhaps more important, she is patient and consistent.
She uses plastic bags with small trinkets on them to put on the counters when training the cats. If the cat tries to jump on the counter, s/he will land on the plastic bag, it will slip off, and trinkets and the bag will make that attempt scary and uncomfortable. My wife follows this up with a loud, stern warning and a spray bottle.
No the cat won't learn the lesson in a day or even a week. But our latest cat, Luna, is now 7. She was trained by the time she was maybe 9 - 12 months old (don't remember exactly). Now Luna never jumps up on tables and counters - they are are a "no fly zone" for her.
She has had to be routinely retrained about sitting on furniture. She knows she is not supposed to be on certain furniture, but occasionally if we are out she regresses and will lay on it. But overall, she is extremely well trained, and so were our other cats.
It can be done!

 

[Hey-O]

Yes, my wife is good, but perhaps more important, she is patient and consistent.
She uses plastic bags with small trinkets on them to put on the counters when training the cats. If the cat tries to jump on the counter, s/he will land on the plastic bag, it will slip off, and trinkets and the bag will make that attempt scary and uncomfortable. My wife follows this up with a loud, stern warning and a spray bottle.
No the cat won't learn the lesson in a day or even a week. But our latest cat, Luna, is now 7. She was trained by the time she was maybe 9 - 12 months old (don't remember exactly). Now Luna never jumps up on tables and counters - they are are a "no fly zone" for her.
She has had to be routinely retrained about sitting on furniture. She knows she is not supposed to be on certain furniture, but occasionally if we are out she regresses and will lay on it. But overall, she is extremely well trained, and so were our other cats.
It can be done!

I don't mind them being on the furniture so much, my dog had her own couch.... LOL. God knows I still miss her!

 

[YY1]

Tough to keep cats off furniture.
Just like dogs, they want to be with you.

 

[Sam69sat]

I have a herd of 15. They're all outdoor cats spayed or neutered minus 1 tomcat. I suppliment their diet of mice and birds with dry cat food everyday. 5 yellow tabby, 4 black, 3 calico, 1 chocolate tortoise shell, 1 grey tabby, 1 siamese. You don't hardy see any of them during the day but in the evening, i'll whistle and they'll start showing up for dinner.

 

[YY1]

Valentine.
20 pounds of the sweetest cat I've ever had.

 

[MarPar]

While I'm a sucker for anything hurt or in need, big time. Cats have that strange aurora around them. Not my favorite in the animal kingdom.

I built a flower box on the rail of my front porch at one of my homes and the guy several doors down and around the corner, would let his cat out to roam. He crapped in that box everyday till I put it in a bag and handed it to him. I told him one more time and I was going to crap on his front porch. The last time I saw either of them. Left a bad taste in my mouth, so to speak.............. but, post away!

'Hey Gustafson, your cat crapped on my steps again. Yeah, who says you can't train a cat?' - Grumpy Old Men

Max Goldman: Hey Gustafson, your cat crapped on my steps again. John Gustafson: Yeah, who says you can't train a cat?

clip.cafe

 

[OneWheelPeel]

Today like every morning, this guy is waiting for me to get up and when I open the bedroom door and step out into the hallway, he is sitting at attention waiting for his daily pet on the head and morning treat. No matter what time I have to get up,he hears the alarm clock and is on duty every single day!

View attachment 1748082

That's my morning routine, but with a pack of them. No treats but they want a greeting, the newest who is still small and has feral tendencies charges me at warp speed and will try to climb me as I make coffee, a couple of times my hands were full as claws dug into my legs and I had to dribble coffee from my mouth to make her release. She just will hang there hugging my leg.

Abra (cadabra)-
From the same colony as Willow.
She's "glorious".
Mesmerizing.
You will notice her.
We think her tail was run over by a car while she was in the colony.
Vet was going to amputate, but before the surgery date, the last 2 inches rotted off.
We got it healed and she got to keep it.

One of the ferals is missing half her tail and whats there feels oddly stiff like it was maybe crushed. Her ear is nipped so someone did a catch and release on her. She started scavanging for food and would just shoot out from under my Corvette super angry and wanting to fight everyone, I named her Angry Hobo. After months I can pet her at feeding time but clearly something happened that put her in full time fight mode for a long time. Here's a pic of her.

I miss my dogs but I've long agreed with the expression that dogs are like having children and cats are like having roommates. In my experience both are super affectionate and will fight for attention, but the cats tend to do better if I am away all day.

 

[#41]

I've always had cats as an adult. They are harder to train than dogs, but once in line they are so much more independent and low maintenance. I can put out enough food and water and leave for 2-3 days... probably longer if I had more litter boxes and didn't feel guilty leaving them alone. Meanwhile, everyone else seems to always need to "go home and let the dogs out" or risk finding unpleasant surprises. No thanks!

 

[cr8crshr]

I like cats as long as they are someone else's. Say I had a ranch or farm then some mousers are OK by me as long as they are outside...cr8crshr/Bill

 

[Southbranch]

My first cat I got when I was 5 and she died when I was 28, 2 more after that and now on #4. He's had 6 homes in 6 years and I don't know why he's a good cat. My neighbors mentioned him running off deer near their flowers, and the one with chickens told me he runs off the fox. A t first my son and I have charged outside at night thinking the fox was after him but it was the opposite. He doesn't care the size of his opponent because he takes on my neighbors pit bull also. When he's tired he really relaxes.

 

[kiwigtx]

An untrained dog can be a pain in the a$$. So can an untrained cat.

...so can untrained neighbours. I had the Chinese under control next door. It went to hell when the Safa's moved in.

No regard for anyone but themselves.

 

[MarPar]

Safa's

South Africaans?

 

[Hey-O]

Mr Orange, AKA "little Buddy".
14 years old.
Diabetic. On the exact same insulin I'm on!
Ear mite cartilage damage.
Bad hip (on cosequin, challenging with diabetes).
Early stage CKD (kidney issues)
We've said goodbye a few times.
He's currently having more good days than bad.
He's "The Ambassador". Not a bully. Not a victim.
Usually the first to greet a new arrival.

View attachment 1748088

This is proof you're a good man!! Good day mean nothing in judging a man, it's the bad days that show a man's true character.

 

[Budnicks]

I'm not really what some would call a cat person
I don't dislike them & I like most domestic animals, hell some wild ones too

When I was in my 20s
I had a big stalky cat named Sylvester, he looked like the cartoon cat
black with white on the nose & blaze, white feet & chest, with no tail,
he was a male, Manx, like 20lbs+
he was cool, I called him my attack cat...
He was definitely my cat, he liked men...
He'd sit up on my front porch roof & jump down on my shoulder
when I'd come home from wherever...
If you didn't know him, or his act, he's scare the crap out of you...
He surprised my mail-man & later mail-lady, doing that
a ton of door to door salesmen, claim my cat attacked them...
I'd just tell them don't trespass, then he won't attack you...

When I bought a newer bigger house, I moved across town,
like 7 miles or so, I brought him with me
old house east side of Concord to western side all the way across into
Clayton area/Turtle Creek, he'd disappear for days at a time
& I'd get a call from the new owners, telling me
"my cat was hanging around on their roof again",
we both got tired of it, it happened several time in like 18 or so months...
I didn't want to make him an indoor cat, he'd have gone nuts
& it'd been cruel...
Eventually they just adopted him, feeding him, accepted he was imprinted
on that house & that was 'his house', I was OK with that too...
They began to love him too...
I'm amazed he'd travel that far & not get killed or ran over or whatever...
He lived to like 20 years old too...

I've had several cool cats mostly when a kid,
but, I was a dog person
so our cats had to get alone with my dogs & visa versa...
We had a few Siamese or Persian (my moms) cats, that were cool
& had cool personality...

A few of my girls & my niece liked cats, so I had them around a lot
good mousers on the property/shed/barn stalls too...

My neighbors here call me 'Dr. Dolittle', I take care of everyone's animals
they all love me, I think animals know animal people...
When they go out of town, I feed & pet them, so I have like 9 cat friends,
& 6 dog friends
every year, 1 or more of them 'local cats', is always ending up as 'a coyote turd'...
They ask me have you seen so & so, most come to visit me from time to time...
I feel bad every time, I know what it's like to lose a pet...
Sad stuff...
And most would come when called to be fed/pet,
I didn't remember our cats doing that much with me as a kid...
I don't get too close to most of them, but not a hatter, they are great for keeping down
the 'field mice' we have behind me, I see them stalking prey in back a lot...
Lil' killers...
The smaller &/or lil' female cats, seem to be more fierce too...

My biggest gripe is the marking/spraying ****/piss stains
or the stinky *** litter boxes...
I made the kids have them in their bathroom, not mine
or I'd tell them no litter box inside at all, those cats were usually better/tougher cats too...
I was amazed how many fights they all got in...
2-3 time a year to a vet...
Not too car smart either, kittens getting hurt by sleeping on an engine
or getting run over by passing cars, almost like they were 'playing chicken'
could have ran across the street way before the car approached,
but waited until the car was right there to run across, a tone of near misses
or hits...

 

[DeltaV]

Experts say that cats kill between 1 to 4 billion birds every year, causing one-third of the 800 U.S. native bird species to be endangered or in significant decline.

 

[RemCharger]

But what are the stats on mice.

 

[Speedbird]

I like cats fine. And will pet them, if allowed.
Familiars of witches that they may be. (Tis the season.)
But I prefer them outside where they can do their mischief.
I also prefer dogs. The next time a search and rescue is needed, try a cat.
Imagine the joy of a person who is trapped under rubble to hear barking.
My dog just alerted me to something outside.

Post 18
hfps://wcw.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/word-of-caution.189555/#post-911511443

 

[DeltaV]

But what are the stats on mice.

Beats me, but cats kill snakes and lizards too; both of which eat mice and other things too.

 

[Sam69sat]

Experts say that cats kill between 1 to 4 billion birds every year, causing one-third of the 800 U.S. native bird species to be endangered or in significant decline.

Yeah, that's one thing i don't like. I try to discourage that behaviour but it's in their genes. I've pulled several birds from the clutches of my cats but i'm not always fast enough and don't see the rest. Mother nature can be a cruel bitch. On the other hand, there are predators that prey on the cats too. Coyotes, fox, racoons also eat birds and their eggs and there seem to be a lot of them around anymore.

Beats me, but cats kill snakes and lizards too; both of which eat mice and other things too.

Birds kill them too. I've seen a blue heron and a hawk both kill snakes at my house in the past year. Kind of weird to see a blue heron swoop down into a grass field and spear a snake. I've also seen magpies steal mice from my cats and eat them!