Daft cat!

She hasn't even tried, number! It says on the bottle that it's 'non-lickable'!

Ah, bless, just picturing Daisy with her suntan lotion on, it`s a wonder swhe didn`t wash it off!

Looking after my sons cat for a couple of weeks and discovered hecis5terrified of our tortoises! Spent an amusing hour watching him trying to get close enough to see what exactly they are but every time the moved he ran for cover. Happy days.

My daughter's cat loves playing with balls of rolled-up foil wrappers. He hides them under the rug, then pretends he doesn't know anything about them till he 'discovers' them, and pounces on them like they are live mice.

Now the babies have a play mat to roll around on, he's taken to hiding his foil under there instead, then the babies watch in delighted wonder as he prances and somersaults on discovery of his prey.....until my daughter comes along to spoil his fun!

A neighbour's cat, chasing a butterfly, didn't notice that he was heading straight for the pond. One very bedraggled cat!

And ate it with relish, number! Because our Daisy is white, she has to have her special sun-tan lotion on her ears in this hot weather. So, really, Daisy is no longer all white.....she's dusty grey around the ears where the dust from the garden has settled on her sun-tan lotion - and looks a proper mess!

Ea rlier tonight, I was in fear of several ornament breakages as our cat chased a bluebottle around like something demented! Our last cat was very dainty, she`d pick her way carefully through all the things on window ledges, but this one is like a bull in a china shop, just ploughs through everything. I moved the vase of flowers off the window because he was leaping into the air after the fly, then it flew through into the front room, which is also my daughter`s bedroom, Pepper went haring through after it, so I went and removed her elegant candle holder thingy from the window in there. I`ve neverseen him so active for so long, it went on for over an hour. We haven`t seen the fly for a couple of hours, so we`re presuming he eventually got it!

Our cat is about 20 year old (can't be exact as she was found in a taped box, with another female and 10 kittens .. by the M69 Mway *******s)
still does that - she goes out, has a run around, lies in the sun, then comes back for her 'business'. I don't mind as I'd rather she didn't dig my flower borders and veggie patch.

Our new rescue cat doesn`t seem to like daughter number 2, every time he sees her he digs in his claws or his teeth. I wondered if maybe he can smell her cat on her? He`s OK with everyone else, nips a bit when he`s had enough fussing, but that`s all, and we do speak sharply to him when he does it, wo hopefully he`ll grow out of the habit.

I can just picture Daisy green. She sounds absolutely adorable x

green she sounds utterly adorable

supernana - she's so funny! She climbs to the very top of the oak tree and looks out across the field! She races around the house and the garden chasing anything she can, and tries to creep under rugs, peeking out with her mouth open as if she's laughing out loud! She's the most mischievous cat imaginable - she's a pure white longhair and goodness knows how many litters she may have had before the Cat Shelter took her in and neutered her. She's lying flat on her back now, in front of the fire. She does have a habit of going for my ankles, so 'discouraging' and sharp words are used then - and also a pair of bootee slippers help! A ray of indeed!

green Daisy has brought into your life. Priceless!

kittylester, I do know what you mean. It's absolutely awful when something happens to our pets, but it's the time we have with them that makes it all so worthwhile, isn't it. I vowed 'never again' when our old cat had to be put to sleep. We grieved so much for him. But then within a month or so, I just had a sneaky peek at the local Cat Shelter website, and that was enough for me! I knew that we could offer a good and loving home to another wee cat....hence Daisy...or perhaps we should have called her Crazy Daisy !

Ariadne for the super poem. Rory, the feral cat, went on walkabout in our absence, in spite of having a neighbour call by with food. On our return, his apartment was in a mess...fleece in a heap and food untouched. Spent ages calling for him. He ignored us; a laid-back cat-thing! When, at last, he lumbered along the path, we were delighted. We made a huge fuss of him and he seemed pleased to see us. The following day, he was very fussy [winding between our legs] - but, as I went down on my knee to straighten his blanket [in the outside apartment] he pounced on my wrist and caught a vein which bled profusely. Now I have a vast purple bruise. There is no point scolding him. After all, he isn't tame. We need to respect his wildness and be more aware in future. I had a tetanus jab when he attacked my leg - some time ago.

That is really sad Ariadne

We have had a horrid time over the past few weeks with our cats.

Eighteen years ago, one of our cats had a litter of four kittens, one of whom we kept. That kitten had a litter a year later and we also kept one - this time a male. The original cat couldn't cope with the extended family and moved in next door where she could bully their cat! They also got another cat so she moved next door but one!

We had the two remaining cats until earlier this year when they both faded, within 2 months of each other, but both having lived to a ripe old age.

We had a third cat, who had a litter of four - one went to my niece, two to my daughter and one we kept. This left us with 2 cats but now the mother has been missing for 3 weeks so we seem to be down to the kitten, who is the size of a small dog and keeps bringing presents home - 3 mice in one day is the record so far!

And the dog is 13 this year and has a heart murmur!

I do wonder if the stress and distress of losing them makes having pets a daft idea.

Ariadne - that does say it all .

From the chair whereon he sat
Sweep his fur, nor wince thereat;
Rake his little pathways out
Mid the bushes roundabout;
Smooth away his talons' mark
From the claw-worn pine-tree bark,
Where he climbed as dusk embrowned,
Waiting us who loitered round.

Strange it is this speechless thing,
Subject to our mastering,
Subject for his life and food
To our gift, and time, and mood;
Timid pensioner of us Powers,
His existence ruled by ours,
Should - by crossing at a breath
Into safe and shielded death,
By the merely taking hence
Of his insignificance--
Loom as largened to the sense,
Shape as part, above man's will,
Of the Imperturbable.

As a prisoner, flight debarred,
Exercising in a yard,
Still retain I, troubled, shaken,
Mean estate, by him forsaken;
And this home, which scarcely took
Impress from his little look,
By his faring to the Dim
Grows all eloquent of him.

Housemate, I can think you still
Bounding to the window-sill,
Over which I vaguely see
Your small mound beneath the tree,
Showing in the autumn shade
That you moulder where you played.

Every time I lost a cat, this made me cry. Don't like the last line, though - Hardy at his worst!

Anyway -for all my cat GNs. xxxxx

Pet was never mourned as you,
Purrer of the spotless hue,
Plumy tail, and wistful gaze
While you humoured our queer ways,
Or outshrilled your morning call
Up the stairs and through the hall--
Foot suspended in its fall--
While, expectant, you would stand
Arched, to meet the stroking hand;
Till your way you chose to wend
Yonder, to your tragic end.

Never another pet for me!
Let your place all vacant be;
Better blankness day by day
Than companion torn away.
Better bid his memory fade,
Better blot each mark he made,
Selfishly escape distress
By contrived forgetfulness,
Than preserve his prints to make
Every morn and eve an ache

Can't seem to get it all on; will continue on another post!

artygran I'm sorry to hear that you have had to say goodbye to Madam. We went through the same process with our senior cat last November and I still sometimes think I catch a glimpse of him or hear him "talking" to me.

Thank you all, for your kind words. DH will be at a loss when we go shopping this week as he was Officer in Charge of Cat Food, and took his duties very seriously, spending an inordinate length of time deciding what best to tempt Madam with, and entering into deep discussions with similarly disposed male cat owners in the supermarket. They all seemed to have a range of theories about the best way to get their fussy cats to eat, and were eager to share the info!

Sorry to learn you have lost your dear cat artygran. Whenever I have thought about the pets we have lost over the years, I have always wished there really was such a thing as our cats and dogs coming back to us - how welcome they would be, floating through the house and sitting in their favourite spots, watching us

artygran, I'm so sorry to hear about your cat. I do know what you're going through, believe me. What a lovely life she must have had with you for such a long time. And it's not daft to think you can hear her mewing. For ages, I felt as if my old cat was still here, as well. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him slinking through the room past me....and then, I saw him on the shed roof, staring at me through the window. Not him, of course, but a newcomer to the neighbourhood who was the image of him! That'll fade for you, but the lovely memories will stay.

Oh artygran I do feel for you, and not daft at all. Our pets are part of our lives, and losing them is always hard.

Our cat was seventeen and we had to have her put down today, so no more litter tray - she has been ill for some time and her medication was not working. Awful without her though and such a wrench to let her go. Even got the silliest feeling she was still in the house and we could hear her mewing.... that is daft by anyone's standards - isn't it?