Post a Pic of Your Cat

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Dec Thu 17, 2009 7:47 pm

My cat is rarely interested in cat toys. She wants "inter-active" toys - toys that require a human on the other end to play with her. A peacock feather. A old shoelace. But she won't touch either if there's not someone dangling it. But her favorite thing to play with? LIZARDS. Oh how she loves to find one and play with it - but I draw the line at letting her bring it inside to keep it as her new favorite playtoy for inside the house!

MmeLeota · Post by **MmeLeota** » Dec Thu 17, 2009 7:49 pm

For us, it's crickets...Ella especially. It's a 2-for-1 deal...play toy first, snack later....

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Dec Thu 17, 2009 9:30 pm

I won't let Kitty snack on the lizards. They make her hurl.

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Dec Thu 17, 2009 9:47 pm

Telling this one tale in multiple parts:

PART FIVE: TIGER, TIGER BURNING BRIGHT

As previously stated, Tiger was my hard case. This cat had a lot of bad attitude. I worked hard on Tiger. I read up on the internet one possible way to bond with a wild cat was to groom it like the mother. I would use a wet sponge to dampen my finger when I pet Tiger on the head. Eventually it led Tiger at least playing with me:

My big problem is Tiger was not approachable or socialable. The cat would not come to me, and even though she did enjoyed getting petted and rubbed, I had to still pull her out of her cage to pet her. And the only way I could get Tiger to come to me was to rattle the snack bottle:

Tiger really wanted to figure out how to open that bottle of snacks! I had the cats for weeks before a permanent foster had been located and then the cats moved to their new home. A person who could spend more time with the cats than I could (in total, I was dealing with 7-8 cats at once, and that's an overload) was now taking over as their tamer.

Upon arriving to the new home, Tiger attacked the woman who helped relocate and hid in the foster's garage. They searched the garage, but could not find her. After 24 hours, Tiger still did not emerge from hiding. They ended up having to put out a trap with snacks to catch her. However, in the end, Tiger would not respond to them. As she turned out not to be "approachable" or "socialable", Tiger would not work out for adoption.

It appears while I though Tiger was taming down she was only learning to tolerate me. Whenever anyone else visited with me, Tiger reacted badly and aggressively. Tiger was very aggressive with everyone after she left me. One of women who run the organization decided as Tiger was not adoptable she would take them home to be outdoor cats. Her house is in more rural area without much road traffic, and I hear Tiger really enjoys her back yard...

to be continued

agingerbugg · Post by **agingerbugg** » Dec Fri 18, 2009 8:48 am

mindflipper wrote:I won't let Kitty snack on the lizards. They make her hurl.

My cat, Demeter, hallucinates when she eats lizards.

But alas, her favorite toys are the ones that give her chase...squirrels, mice, birds, etc.

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Dec Fri 18, 2009 9:09 am

My cat has been weird about the squirrels and the birds. She actually befriended a bird once, and would help guard her nest (which the bird had made in a small tree/bush). They even played together. That was weird - it's like Sylvester befriending Tweety - just shouldn't happen!

As for squirrels...

One Sunday morning while I read the paper on the back porch, Kitty was just sitting in a ball in the grass in the yard. A squirrel came running along the back fence, then down the fence post and started across the back lawn. Upon seeing my cat just sitting there, the squirrel froze momentarily, then turned around, and quickly retreated the way it came. My cat never made one move at all. They just looked at each other, but that was enough to make the squirrel turn and run.

agingerbugg · Post by **agingerbugg** » Dec Fri 18, 2009 9:38 am

I rented a house once that had a small dog door into the back yard. I thought it was perfect, because Demeter could come and go as she pleased and I didn't have to worry about the litter so much. I finally had to block it with a bookcase, because I kept finding Demeter's toys in various places in the house...not fun to step on a half-eaten squirrel in the middle of the night.

MmeLeota · Post by **MmeLeota** » Dec Fri 18, 2009 11:51 am

My cat, Demeter, hallucinates when she eats lizards.

LOL...so lizards are the "street drug", huh? (I have 3 'nip heads at home)

not fun to step on a half-eaten squirrel in the middle of the night.

Yeah, not so cool...and I thought stepping in vomit in the middle of the night was bad.

Mindflipper, it's really sad about Tiger, but I'm glad she is happy with her new surroundings.

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Dec Fri 18, 2009 12:44 pm

I would have loved to taken Tiger on as an outside cat at my house, but its not safe. As many cats as I have rescued, there seems to be as many as has vanished or died: Lil Mama, Snow, Flake, Childbride, Childbride II, Orange (died), Cookie (died), Gray II, and Tuxedo. A lot to lose in just three years. If I tried to keep her inside, I'm afraid how bad she would behave with my family. So, as long as she's happy, healthy and safe, I can't complain too much how things turned out for Tiger.

MmeLeota · Post by **MmeLeota** » Dec Fri 18, 2009 1:12 pm

Yes, that's what counts. We had a cat living in our backyard for a while (before we moved). We found him lying under the table on the porch one morning and it looked as if he had been in a fight. We has chunky, so I don't think he was completely feral, but he didn't want us to come near him. We put out food & water for him and I made a makeshift bed for him to sleep in.

At that time, we only had Thelma & Louise and they loved looking out the window at him. He would just go about his business. (a classic episode of he's just not that into you

)

Every morning we would find him sleeping in the makeshift bed. One morning we looked and he wasn't there. Over the next couple of days we didn't see him and the food wasn't being eaten.

We never saw him again...we like to think his owners found him or that he found a good home.

Mousekedude · Post by **Mousekedude** » Dec Tue 22, 2009 10:21 am

Glad you got it to work for you. Your cat is adorable, too. Is she part Russian Blue?

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Dec Sat 26, 2009 10:00 pm

Telling this one tale in multiple parts:

PART SIX: FATHER OF THE PRIDE

In telling this tale, I have only covered five of the six cats in this group; this time, I would like to cover the unmentioned cat in this tale: the father. Unlike most cases, the father of this lot kittens wasn't a nameless, unseen male cat. I was quite familiar with the father of these kittens.

Three years ago, another case just like Friskette showed up on our doorstep. A tortoise-haired young cat under one years old - which we named Lil Mama - appeared on our front porch with her three kittens to feed from the cat food bowl meant our outdoor feral named White. She and her family were brought to my house by that litter's father, and white cat with black spots called Cookie (a male cat owned by one of my neighbors). Two of the kittens were solid white twins, which we called Snow and Flake, and a black & white tuxedo kitten that we named, quite appropriately, Tuxedo. These kittens grew up feral but unlike his siblings, Tuxedo always stood out as being something unique. Unlike the other cats, Tuxedo did not run at the sight of us; instead, he would continue to eat and would not run unless the front door would open. One by one, the cats would eventually disappear and never return - Lil Mama, Snow and Flake - but Tuxedo did not. Tuxedo became a daily regular for feeding at our house, and grew up to become a very handsome cat:

Of course, my cat hated the entire lot. She was glad to see them go, and did not enjoy Tuxedo staying behind. One of my nicknames for Tuxedo was "Agent 009" because he reminded me of James Bond: a spy wearing a tuxedo. My cat would keep a look-out for Tuxedo, and if she saw him, she would chase him down and wanted to kill him. My cat is sweet and wonderful cat, but if another cat other than White entered into her territory she became quite vicious. However, like a good spy, Tuxedo was good at hiding and surveillance, especially where he was not wanted (by my cat, not by us):

Were you able to see him? Here's there, always watching. Waiting for his chance to come safely without my cat being present to get food. As he knew that White came at night after sundown, Tuxedo would come in the morning or before sundown. Feral cats like White only come out at night, but Tuxedo would hang around in daytime, as you could see from the prior photos. Tuxedo became more comfortable with us; and even though he would not let us touch him, he would follow me to house to be fed. We would place hide-and-seek, and enjoyed appearing out of nowhere behind me. No matter what, Tuxedo would maintain a lengthy safety zone. He even began to hang around on our back porch:

Tuxedo found a new friend in a small kitten we named Friskette:

I began to feed both of them together every morning:

In getting Friskette to trust me, and eventually letting me pet her, things began to change with Tuxedo. Tuxedo was always a very smart cat, and by observing my relationship with Friskette, Tuxedo began to reduce his safety zone difference. However, things changed, as Friskette got pregnant by Tuxedo and she eventually had kittens. I eventually relocated Friskette and her kittens (see the prior parts of this tale).

Tuxedo's father, Cookie, somehow managed a peace treaty between my cat and Tuxedo. My cat was tolerating Tuxedo. I had decided that once I got Friskette and her kittens got placed into a real foster home, I was going to use one the cages I was using to tame down the kittens to try to tame down Tuxedo. But before that could happen...Tuxedo did not show up one morning. Nor did he appear before sundown. Nor the next day. I checked with Animal Control and no cat matching the photo I sent them had been turned into them. I checked throughout the neighborhood, but Tuxedo was not to be found and no one had seen him.

During my search I sadly discovered that Tuxedo's father, Cookie, had perished after being hit by car five weeks earlier. The entire lot - Lil Mama, Cookie, Snow, Flake and now Tuxedo - had vanished (presumably died) or had died. None left, but Tuxedo was the last. I regret that I did not trap him earlier and start the taming down process, but I had my hands already full with Friskette and the kittens. I still grieve for the loss of Tuxedo, and my cat has for the past several months gone to the front window every morning looking out to see if she can find him.

Next time: final chapter about Friskette and her kittens...

BaminJamin · Post by **BaminJamin** » Dec Sun 27, 2009 1:34 pm

These cats are so cute. I think I will enjoy them here rather than under my feet.

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » Dec Sun 27, 2009 3:12 pm

Currently I have an indoor solid silver gray cat, and an outdoor solid white feral cat. Tuxedo was unusual that he was born feral, but acted more and more like a stray/abandoned cat. More and more he grew curious about the indoor life. I think he could have been tamed down. He was bright and quick to learn, and he could have made the adjustment. Shame is, since he disappeared last July, no one has seen him, so there's no way to know for sure. We grieve for him still.

If he was still alive, he would have been here. We were his only care-givers...

Mousekedude · Post by **Mousekedude** » Dec Sun 27, 2009 10:57 pm

Wow, this is so cool! Keep the story coming, Mindflipper! I feel like I'm watching an epic movie.