Cats

Mr Cooper

My cat comes in for his tea between 5 & 6pm and stays in till about 7am, he comes back at various times during the day for breakfast, elevenses, lunch and mid afternoon snack.

LadyGracie He's a gorgeous boy. My boy is fed 3 or 4 times a day, but he's indoors (he chooses to be) for about 20 hours of the day!

I always wanted a marmalade cat called Mr Cooper.?

Cor, what a life cats lead, no wonder they always look serene.

SalsaQueen I’d love Paddy to stay in more, he likes to visit his furry friends, thankfully we live in a quiet area. Mr Cooper looks very content

We have just the one old girl now and she only goes out when the vac appears (to shiver on the step till it’s packed away) or when it’s raining hard (nope, no idea ). She’s the last of a litter of three feral kittens though, and her brother and sister would have yowled the house down if we’d shut them in at night. Most hunting took place during the day, though one did once bring a bat in through the cat flap.

One went missing for a whole month, then reappeared in the kitchen one morning bold as brass and looking very well fed, never to roam again. Must have fallen out with his new family.

We have a cat belonging to my adult son who still lives at home and two kittens. One is his and one ours. The kittens stay in all of the time at the moment as have not had second vaccination yet but adult cat comes and goes through pet flap. She sleeps indoors but goes out to potty. Litter tray for kittens but adult cat never uses it. When kittens old enough I expect they will potty outside too. We keep gravel in corner of large garden and someone or something uses it because we poor more gravel on top quite often.

Could it be because of the effects on the environment of cats hunting in the night?

Some cats are real predators

Maggie.

Our cat disappeared for about a month, a lady knocked on my door one morning, and said she’d seen him hit by a car, but had run off. We searched all the lanes, neighbors gardens, no sign of him, we thought he’d found somewhere quiet to go and die, then about a month later, there he was sat outside the French doors, as if he’d never been away.

Over the years I've had several cats and the first 3 (mother, daughter and grandson) were all kept indoors during the night but subsequent ones have been able to go out. I don't like it and would far rather they stayed in but the two we have now are like chalk and cheese. They hate each other and the oldest is such a wimp he runs rather than tough it out so spends most of his time in the summerhouse where he has a cat flap and several beds. He does come in at night for supper but is in and out during the night - quite often I find a half eaten mouse (or occasionally a live one he's lost ) when I come down. Yesterday we found a beautiful little rabbit dead outside - I don't actually think he'd killed it as there wasn't a mark on it so it probably died of fright. It didn't look like a wild rabbit either so sadly it must have escaped from someones garden - very sad - we tried to see it on the security camera - it wasn't there at one point of the recording but was at 5am with nothing in between so we don't know what happened.

The other cat we have only goes out into the back garden at odd times and wouldn't dream of toileting out there - she has two trays downstairs and 3 upstairs and uses them all! She sleeps with me so is not outside during the night and in the 9 years we've had her I've not seen her catch anything - she's terribly clumsy and not at all agile. She also now has no teeth so she'd struggle to hold on to a mouse even if she found one She was feral as a kitten which possibly explains her vicious streak but I still love her to bits as she's so quirky!

Sara65, a former colleague of mine had a rough, tough street fighting cat that simply disappeared. Months later she was walking to work and saw him sitting in a bay window a few streets away. As she described it "lounging on a silken cushion like Lord Muck, looking down his nose at me". He never returned.

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My cat is now 12 months old.
She couldn’t wait to get out and when allowed she would stay out for ages.
Then when the weather got hot she slept all day and howled to go out at night.
Now she wants to be in most of the time.
This has all happened in the space of a few weeks.
She keeps me on my toes.

Sarah65.

What a lovely outcome

I'm glad to see that other cats adopt a similar shamefree pose as our recently-adopted Lola

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Anne your cat looks very like my Alfie - this is one of his favourite poses from a few years back before madam came into his life

She who must be obeyed prefers my pillow!

This is Molly a few minutes ago sitting between my legs while I drink my tea.
Just ignore yesterday’s clothed flung on the stool.
I’m afraid this thread has shown just how much we love our cats, not what was intended by th OP.

Strangely, someone was telling me this morning, that their neighbors cat had been missing for nearly a year, obviously they had given up all hope, and one morning last week, he just strolls back into the kitchen!

Baz doesn't go out but he never has done. He's a sleepy but devoted old boy who is just as cuddly as he looks. DD's cat is an angelic looking little ragdoll who transforms into a ferocious beast the minute he goes out!
Here he is -

Oliver Sprout will deliberately go out in the rain, and come in absolutely sodden! (If he was a waxed jacket, I would seriously consider getting him re waterproofed)

He presents himself for drying, loving a good rub down with his "own" towel.

After this, the towel is laid on the floor, and I say "And your paws". He steps into it and has them dried

Problem is, he loves it so much, he often goes straight back out and gets soaking wet again!

Got a big bag of whiskas in Lidl this morning. Puss looked at the dish in horror,not eating that! He followed me round until I came back into to kitchen where he jumped up and nudged the bag of posh food. He can communicate very well.

In Australia the number of animals you can keep varies from State to State and even within a State from Local Council to Local Council. Where I live there are restrictions on how many dogs or cats you can own, in my case it is 2 of each. Has been this for over 50 years. One must obtain a permit from Council to keep more - not an easy matter. Each animal must be registered - at a cost - with the Council and various other responsibilities necessary to own them.
Our local Council are about to implement a rule that cats must be contained between sunset and sunrise. This is in part to protect the nocturnal wildlife. Again IMO, cats, like dogs, should be contained on the owners property at all times. My dogs do not wander the streets fouling neighbours gardens, why should cats be allowed to do so?

We are a very pet unfriendly country in spite of the high pet ownership. There are so many Government rules and regulations involved now regarding the keeping, breeding and ownership of pets. The only winners are those who ignore the legislation and fly under the radar.

Our 13 year old cat has always been kept in at night for her well being and that of the wildlife. She’s too lazy to hunt anyway. She also comes in to use the litter tray ?

I didn’t know about the Australian 2 cat rule, I do know cats aren’t popular there though.
Australia are very protective of their indigenous animals. Maybe because there are not many natural predators?

Hope this works, never tried to post a photo before ?

I've discovered a fabulous way to keep the neighbours moggy off my garden!

I pick lots of nettles, and I mean LOTS, smash them up with the lawn edger blade, put them in buckets topped up with water, cover and leave to soak for about 6 weeks.

This turns into a disgusting green smelly fertiliser which I strain, bottle and dilute 1 part fertiliser to 8 parts water and liberally water my garden with it.

The flowers and veggies love it, but the cats detest the smell and don't come anywhere near my garden anymore. The neighbour was not too happy about the diabolical pong but I don't care, it's their bloody cat that s***s in my garden!

I think I've posted this tip before ... but maybe not here ...?

Male urine keeps cats away from your garden. If you know where they are getting in (and they usually stick to one entry point) splash some around there every couple of weeks.

Of course, if you haven't got a handy male, this might prove a bit difficult. But you could always ask a friendly neighbour ...? "No, no, I don't want to borrow a cup of sugar, but could I possibly have some wee, please?"

I used to send my grandson out to wee in my garden (which he thought was great fun). But now, at 22, he's a bit less enthusiastic!

Very interesting...about Australia! I wonder just how owners manage to get their cats in before 8pm and how do they know exactly which cat is disobeying the rules ha ha.

As a cat lover and owner all my life I always tried to get my cats indoors overnight but wouldn't like to say I managed it before 8pm?? Sometimes - especially in good weather - they have disappeared. I can imagine as the weather in Australia is particularly good most of the year it must be a bloomin nightmare owning a cat? "OMG its 7.50 where's the cat?" As the saying goes...you don't govern a cat, they govern you!

Some beautiful cat photos guys....my last one died suddenly in April and I have yet to replace but miss him terribly.