Some cats are perfectly happy being "indoor apartment cats". If you don't mind cat box duties, they can adapt really well. I think cats fantasize. Probably about hunting, chasing, and escaping, in my cat's case. My dining room opens to my living room which opens to the hallway leading to bedrooms. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, he'll just run at full speed across the dining room, leap over the living room couch, pushing off the top of the back rest part in mid-leap, land halfway across the living room, and run at full speed down the hallway into one of the bedrooms. Then .... he peeks out around the edge of the bedroom doorway, eyes wide, ears flattened. My wife and I just look at each other with that WTF look. Today about 2 pm I took a nap. Of course, he curled up in his place between my knees. I got back up at 3 and let him out in the back yard to go terrorize flying insects. About 4:15 he's pawing at the French door to the back yard wanting to be let in. So I let him in and went to my study. He followed me there, laid down on the floor below me. You see, it's after 4 pm, and he doesn't let me out of his sight starting at about 4 pm. Around 4:30 I started talking to him, and he immediately went into his roley-poley routine. "Look at me! I'm right here! Don't forget!" I took pictures. About 4:45 pm I stood up, and he went from his back to his feet in like a tenth of second, ran out of my study, stopped, turned and looked to see if I was coming. I was. He ran up the hallway another 10 feet, stopped and turned to see if I was still coming. I was. Yay! And he hurriedly trotted ahead of me to the kitchen. Fancy Feast time!
We have rescued many desperate cats. We find most good uses that we check up on after getting them medical care and nursing them back to health. Some have been days - maybe hours - from death. From tiny, starving and worm infested kittens to an old gray female cat down to bones, declawed so defenseless and unable to catch food, and we came to learn clearly had been abused, who for some reason decide to lay down at our front door to die. Had never seen it before. So starved we thought she was dead. Two tiny kittens rescued out of the rubble of a fire... the list is long. Animals recognize who protects them. It took months for the old gray cat to warm up to me, now she sits by my leg on the couch and looks at me - for hours. Its strange. A really tiny abandoned kitten we heard crying in the dark for 3 weeks before we could draw it in with food was determined by the vet to be only 6 weeks old - meaning abandoned at 3 weeks. Stomach bigger than it was, the size of a tennis ball from worms. So weak couldn't even hold himself up. We put him with our aged tiny female mini-pom who the kittens took as his mother. That cat, now full grown, thinks he's a dog. Has never gone on any table, any chair or the kitchen counter - the mini pom can't so the cat doesn't either, never meows - but is very vocal with squeaky sounds, and never hisses. Acts like a dog. Its funny. We put up a 1 foot tall barrier that he could easily jump over. Instead, he'll have his front paws on the top looking over it with a "please let me out" look. The mini pom can't get over so I guess he figures he can't either. We rescue a lot of animals. Turtles. Squirrels. Racoons. A few dogs. Birds. Even an endangers black snake - for which there are now many. But, mostly, cats. Some are indoor cats and some outdoor cats. Outdoor cats will each wear a collar with a bell so they can't get the birds and squirrels. It takes about a day for a cat to realize it can't outrun the bell and about 2 weeks to figure out it is a waste of effort to try to get a bird or squirrel (we feed a few hundred critters out in nature a day, including a few that are endangers such as the great redheaded woodpecker, a species of black snakes and box turtles.)
And my compliments on your articulacy - because of that, I could easily picture all of it. (You should be a writer like me. )
Know what ya mean. Sometimes I have to lift him up and place him "away", like between my knees, so I can sleep.
We had a feral cat (or run away cat) decide to adopt us. Came around all summer and obviously was planning to stay. Had a clipped ear (sign it had been captured and released after neutering) and was unusually friendly. We took him to our vet (we have two inside cats) and made sure his shots were up to date. Blood test unfortunately showed he has FIV so we are not able to bring him inside although our two inside cats seem to want to meet him. Nancy built a shelter for him we bought a heating pad (only goes on when the cats weight is on it) and we feed him twice each day. He looks as though he has found paradise. We named him Cooper. Allow me to introduce him standing in front of his new digs.
The owners tried to keep the cat treats away from the cat by putting them up in a high cupboard ... [video=youtube;LcLqpvuey78]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcLqpvuey78[/video]
Wow he's some lucky (*)(*)(*)(*)(*) - carpeted living room, separate bedroom, and monogrammed front door. And an 'electric blanket' t'boot! He lives almost as well as I do!! (I can't believe pu**y is a banned word! )
In Juneau they often gas up the mosquitoes before they realize they're not f15s Cats are unfairly treated as aloof because they act like animals rather than humans. A cat sometimes looks away from you as a sign of deference, not disdain, as meeting your eyes directly is a sign of challenge throughout the animal kingdom. A cat that gazes right at you, however, is overcoming their instincts to show their love and trust, not assert themselves
One time my ex and I were having sex when... Well, I fired off a little poem that I still had on my drive, that explains what happened. THE BEAST It was 3 AM or so, I would imagine, Blissful sleep fades, my thoughts turn to passion A caress and a kiss as I moved above Wake up my dearest, I want to make love As we embraced in the classic position Our bodies entwined for wedded love making A moan or a bump can be heard now and then And quickly we drew unwanted attention Clueless we were, without protection Completely consumed with my raging erection Freely IT moves, with sure intention As it creeps in without our detection Drawn to the rhythmic rising and falling, Dangling, waggling, instinctively calling Without warning, that beast, that horrid kitten Engaged in a game of testicular badminton.
Siamese brothers who were kittens when we met died at age 17, 8 months apart over a year ago. I go hospice style. The big one, Solly, was a night cuddler. The little one, Izzy, the first to pass, was the mischief maker and the boss. I miss those brothers although I never liked Siamese before. Sadly they are not haunting me, although Izzy did and both for a month after Solly's passing. A month or so after Solly's passing, all haunting stopped. I do not dream, that I remember. But, before the haunting stopped I dreamed. I sleep alone. The dream: an arm was around me from my back. I felt the arm and found it was furry, like Solly's fine, silky fur and ended in a big paw as Solly's. All haunting ceased after the dream. I still have old, fat, black kitty who is about 17 now based on the current age of a young adult who adopted her at age 7. Personable but, not a cuddler. Only when she is first adopted in a new home. She's had 5. I would not take in another critter on her at age 17. Although it is tempting to see how she would react to kittens. Adopting cat siblings definitely has advantages. They sleep together, etc. Moi r > g View attachment 47070 Across an immense, unguarded, ethereal border, Canadians, cool and unsympathetic, regard our America with envious eyes and slowly and surely draw their plans against us.
It's 5:17 pm, 17 minutes past his Fancy Feast time. He is making an utter pest of himself - jumping up on my desk, walking in front of the computer, pawing at my fingers, jumping up onto the chair back ... OK ... Fancy Feast time!
Thanks for the morning laugh, Seth. Our Napoleon is not fond of being kept waiting for his morning feeding...or his late afternoon one. "Making an utter pest of himself" barely covers his antics!
We were gone for a week, and we just got back yesterday night. We had a neighbor come over and feed him while we were gone. This cat of mine will just not leave me alone for a minute! Follows me everywhere. On my lap, rubbing, purring, licking, staring. I swear, right now this is the happiest cat in the world. 14 pounds of a big male baby, so happy that I'm home.
My shoe is untied. It was tied, but now it isn't. And the reason it's untied is that I was just sitting here with one leg crossed over the other, and the cat came in. He noticed one of the ends of my shoelaces hanging down, and he just reached up and expertly hooked it into his claw and pulled down. Having successfully untied the shoe, he unhooked his claw from the shoelace and left. Right now he is busy racing up and down the hallway and into open rooms, off in his fantasy world of chasing and escaping .....
Cats do age, if they are successful enough. Old Fat Black Kitty is about 17 - 18 years old as best as I can figure. She has had 5 homes in the n'hood. We communicate, she may even have desires for "close time" or "love time", but mostly it is about the basics. Oh, and when cooking is going on in the kitchen, there she be, sitting, staring, with a big cat smile. Hardly a cat interested in shoe laces. And once a proven multiple rat killer, no more. And there is no shortage. Moi r > g Across an immense, unguarded, ethereal border, Canadians, cool and unsympathetic, regard our America with envious eyes and slowly and surely draw their plans against us.
Had to share this. All I can say is that would have been the end of my fishing that morning. I'd want to get them warmed up and fed, and I'd probably keep them both. Guess I'd just figure it was meant to be ...
The General Theory of Relative Kitties (a scientific paper) The recent PBS program on Einstein's General Theory of Relativity was on local PBS when Buddy Kitty was scratchin' at the door, wantin' to be fed. This got me to thinkin'. Have you ever wondered why, when you shake a box of cat food, it causes your kitty to move to where you put the food? This can be expressed in the equation: Cf=BKm; where Cf is one side of the equation which represents Cat food, and BKm represents where Buddy Kitty, or any cat, moves to. For example, if you shake a box of cat food, Buddy Kitty will move toward the sound of the shaking. Or if you pour a bowl of cat food into a container, he or she will move toward the container. If you then place the container on the porch, the cat will move toward the place on the porch where one places the container. Or if you walk down the steps and place the bowl on the patio, the cat (in this case, Buddy Kitty) will go to wherever you place the bowl on the patio. So, not only can grand schemes such as space-time be expressed by simple, yet elegant equations; but also everyday occurances such as feeding the neighborhood stray. (possum still thinks ya can't trust a cat. Right when ya think they's yer buddy - dey'll smack ya onna nose.) Mebbe there's an equation for that. But that's for another day.
And then there is . . . If you haven't seen this and you are on this thread, it is probably worth the look.
I had a big orange Tabby like Morris that used to crawl under the covers of my bed when I was asleep and lay on top of my feet. I would wake up screaming dreaming a big harry monster was attacking me, when I would fling back the covers it was just Abe looking at me like he was saying "What?"