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The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 18th, 2009, 9:59 pm
by Garbomaniac
I hated cats all my life. My wife insisted on saving the life of this dying feline on the side of the road. I said, "Let it die." But, she got her way, and $400 later, we had a cat. Well, from that moment on, my love and admiration for cats has blossomed into this thread! Cats are Unbelievably Fantastic creatures, and if you haven't discovered them yet, you have missed half your life! At one time, my wife and I had eight cats. Now, I am down to two. Here are my girls:

Image

Basia and Bijou

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 19th, 2009, 5:20 am
by charliechaplinfan
They are gorgeous and look so content in each other's company.

I have loved cats all my life but only when I got my own place did I get my first cat, well 3 cats. I've got two now Fred and Claude. Fred is tabby with splodges of white and Claude is black and white looks like he's wearing a dinner suit with white paws and a white bib, he's gorgeous and he knows it. He started of slim, trim and debonair a bit like Cary Grant but he loves his food and has expanded into a Marlon Brando of the cat world. They are both extremely soft and loving. they were my babies before I had my babies and they are still my babies now, they never grow up.

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 19th, 2009, 8:27 am
by knitwit45
My old girl, Charlie, has seen me thru some really tough times. She's a calico with white paws and a white bib. She's a talker, and lets me know when things aren't up to her demanding standards. She loved my Dobie, but is quite disdainful of Murphy, the wonder dog, so we all bump along together in a "gated" community. She isn't what you'd call dainty, but she's my girl and I love her. Thanks for starting this thread!
Nancy

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 19th, 2009, 8:45 am
by MichiganJ
Hard at work, here are my two, Nick and Nora (yes, last name "Charles").

Image

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 19th, 2009, 9:24 am
by Ollie
Oh, don't get me started on blasted cats. We have "park cats" because our houses surround a small park, and two houses own dogs and five houses "own" cats. Three friendly cats that hang out together, two very individualistic unfriendly cats.

Most of our houses have 'dog doors' cut into the park-facing kitchen doors, and the cats and dogs wander into our houses routinely, checking up on all the neighbors, trying to kick me out of my chairs, climbing all over me, etc. Yes, I fish for them every morning, but I cuss at 'em just as much. Blasted critters.

The pinnacle of my anger is their refusal to play soccer properly. I've spent YEARS teaching them "off sides" and the difference between Red & Yellow Cards, fouls, scoring offense versus good defense. I've even videotaped their matches (I have a long hallway that, with the doors shut and little nets erected at both ends, serves as a great soccer field. And NO, I did not put down green carpeting. Wifey wouldn't let me, but that's another story. "Why not let me have little chalk lines in this section of the house?!!" She never lets me have any fun). I'll serve tuna morsels in front of the telly, we'll go over their matches, I'll explain carefully what they should have been doing, why there were whistles blown, fouls called, and the cats persist in eating and rolling around with each other, as if I haven't taught them a thing!

Blasted cats. It's almost as if they KNOW my intentions of having Cat Soccer because the next huge TV sport, and they won't support me in my old age. That would be just like them!! Darned critters...

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 19th, 2009, 12:13 pm
by charliechaplinfan
I'll have to try and dig up a picture of my guys. I've packed all the pictures, so far, I might get lucky. I can feel a very enjoyable thread coming on.

Who rules the roost us humans or the felines?

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 20th, 2009, 12:07 am
by Garbomaniac
I love Nick and Nora. I take it Nora is the lighter one? She looks like she's wearing Sable! Gorgeous color.

And, CCF, try to figure out how to post you kitties. In response to your question: the felines!

Ollie, now THAT is a funny story! I would just give up if I were you.

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 20th, 2009, 12:07 pm
by Birdy
My old cats passed over over the last year and a half, Marshall and Miss Kitty. He was 17 and she was 19, littermates. They were wonderful friends to me.

Now I have two young cats indoors, Meg and Lizzie. I didn't name them, my nieces did. I told them they could call the barn kittens whatever they wanted, not realizing I would be adopting them for indoors. They named Meg after Megan on Disney's Drake and Josh. Lizzie was named the niece's Dad's name in homage and they insisted she be a boy. I informed them that I could NOT give them their way on this boy/girl issue, despite how firmly they think they have me wrapped around their pinkies. I added Elizabeth Taylor after his first name so we could call the cat Lizzie because I cannot walk around the house calling my brother-in-law's name out for the next decade or so! (Too weird, even though I like the guy.) Meg's movie name is Margaret O'Brien. (You know me, I had to to something creative.) Really, their names should be switched because Lizzie is a tabby and Meg is black as night.

They just got their stiches out today, from being spayed and I am glad they are getting their pep back. Sometimes Meg plays the piano in the middle of the night.
I will try to post pictures.
B

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 20th, 2009, 2:54 pm
by charliechaplinfan
They sound lovely Birdy.

Fred and Claude rule the roost. Once the kids go to bed at night it's their turn for undivided attention. They look like bookends sometimes sitting on either side of where I sit, waiting for me to sit down.

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 20th, 2009, 3:42 pm
by silentscreen
My favorite cat Tabitha, was a little queen. Black and white with electric green eyes. She was an indoor/outdoor cat because that was the way she wanted it as she was a huntress. She was very affectionate for all her independent nature. I found her in a park when I was out walking with a friend many years ago and brought her home. She's buried in the back yard-RIP Tabitha!

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 20th, 2009, 6:09 pm
by MichiganJ
Garbomaniac

Yes, that's Nora, the lighter one. They were both tired after having solved the "Mystery of the Hiding Cat-Nip". A foolish ogre (aka: me) had placed a newly acquired stash of the nip in the kitchen "junk drawer". Sometime in the middle of the night, our two fearless sleuths figured out how to open the drawer (still unsure how they managed it) and it was cat-nip a-go-go! (They like the nip more than martinis.)

By the way, just out of camera range is "Asta", what used to be a stuffed pink pig (but has been utterly decimated). Nick must have it in eyesight before he will settle down and sleep.

Birdy,

Nick loves to lick my guitar strings as I play. Maybe he and Meg can form a group!

Silentscreen,

You brought back some old memories as my sister had a cat named Tabitha when we were little kids. She got the name from her favorite show, Bewtiched. "Tabby" was pretty independent, too, unless you had potato chips (she loved licking the salt).

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 20th, 2009, 6:28 pm
by silentscreen
LOL, that's where Tabitha got her name too. She had the habit of kneading my legs when she sat in my lap to show her affection. Ouch, that hurt as she had her claws, but I just had to take it. She never wrecked anything in the house though. She would sometimes bring me her treasures- dead birds, lizards, whatever, and deposit them in the driveway for my viewing enjoyment. :P What we will put up with for our pets! What a cute story about the catnip!

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 20th, 2009, 9:20 pm
by klondike
Great thread, Garbomaniac!
Looks like you're up and off to a fine start! Best of luck & health to its future!
I may not, in truth, be a Cat person myself, but really, all kidding aside, some of the finest, truest, best-hearted human beings I've ever known have chosen to belong to Cats, so there ya go . .
Put me down as a Friend of the Family! :mrgreen:

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 21st, 2009, 1:06 am
by Garbomaniac
Thanks, Klondike! I'm lovin' all these cat stories. There are so many quirky traits in all these "cat lovers." One of mine is naming all my cats starting with B. The first two we had were Riley (cause he lived the life of Riley!) and Lucky (who was homeless and ended up being diagnosed with Lukemia, so he wasn't so Lucky), but then started the B's for some reason.

Beauregard - deceased
Bathsheba - deceased
Bagheera - deceased
Blackglama - deceased
Basia
Bijou

One thing I have noticed about cats is they certainly come and go. A couple of you had cats for 10 to 15 years, but Basia is 10 and Bijou is 8, and they are the oldest cats I have ever had. All of the others from Riley to Blackglama met with horrible ends, one way or another.

Re: The Domestic CAT: Feline at its finest!

Posted: June 21st, 2009, 7:52 am
by charliechaplinfan
My cats kneed my legs too and give me kisses with their nose. They are very loving. I had a cat called Livia but she was run over and had to be put down, it was one of the most horrible moments of my life.