On Cats

[Deeps]

On 26/11/2023 at 19:13, Markwj said:

She wants to know what possible excuse I could have for not getting up and giving her some breakfast!

She reminds me of our most recent cat, Spice, shown here in default mode:

Sadly she ‘crossed the bar’ a couple of years ago, just shy of her 22nd birthday. We hope to be adopted by another cat in the New Year.

Our previous cat, Pilsy, made it to 17 years so there is a realistic chance of the next one outliving the wife and me!

Edited November 29, 2023 by Deeps
Clarification of her status in the image

[steve1]

steve 

[Hobby]

Ours won't eat anything else!

[Reorte]

4 minutes ago, Hobby said:

Ours won't eat anything else!

Mine mostly eats dried food, but if I only give her it she doesn't eat quite enough. So there's some wet, of which she leaves a fair amount that I have to chuck.

[Hobby]

Fussy b*ggers! :)

[Dagworth]

My Jessica is daft as a brush

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

Yes, but after you clean the floor with the optional furbrush, will she let you bathe her clean?? 😉

[Sidecar Racer]

 Tis the season to -------

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVpLYxoiX-s

[Captain Kernow]

On duty in 'Mews Junction Signalbox'...

 

'Where did you say you'd hidden it?'...

 

 

 

[Sidecar Racer]

[Sidecar Racer]

[Sidecar Racer]

[steve1]

steve 

[Sidecar Racer]

 

[ikcdab]

We have always had dogs and currently hage a 5-year old whippet.

We now want to add a cat to the family and plan to get a kitten in the new year.

What will be the best way to introduce the dog to the kitten so that they don't kill each other?

Ian

[J. S. Bach]

A kitten should be a lot easier to introduce to the dog than a grown cat would be. If you do get a kitten, keep us posted on the results.

[Andy Hayter]

Assuming you mean a young kitten, which would be the easiest if your dogs are not aggressive, you won't get one early in the new year.  Cats mate from around Feb/March to July with kittens born May through to early September.

 

We get the bulk of our arrivals (stray kittens) from August to November after they have weaned at 4-6 weeks.

 

What we do to avoid cat on cat aggression is to place the newcomer in  a large cage  1m x 60cm x 35cm placed in the living area where the incumbents are regularly present.  They become accustomed to one anothers scent and potential aggression released through the bars of the cage

[Harlequin]

5 hours ago, ikcdab said:

We have always had dogs and currently hage a 5-year old whippet.

We now want to add a cat to the family and plan to get a kitten in the new year.

What will be the best way to introduce the dog to the kitten so that they don't kill each other?

Ian

I think the answer is to get a young kitten. They are fearless and playful so they just naturally make friends with anything or anyone they are introduced to.

My sister has managed this with two kittens and her two dogs. They are now all best friends and even sleep together.

 

[Harlequin]

Here's Laddie/Bruno/<ABetterNameYetToBeDecided> feeling a lot more at home a week after the previous photo.

 

It's been a stressful week because he has been stalking my other cat, Louli, relentlessly and she has not been impressed. Having said that, there have been signs that the tension might be subsiding and they are both snoozing in the living room at the moment not worrying about each other's presence. Fingers crossed!

 

The vet said he might still have testosterone in his system after being "done" but that will tail off and he'll be able to go out at the end of next week, which will help a lot. The local cats who think my garden is their territory will have a nasty surprise, though!

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by Harlequin
Apostrophe catastrophe

[Porkscratching]

Re the @ikcdab question.. The two kittens here, rescued by myself at different times, were introduced to the dogs by the cage method, so each could get used to the other just being around, without any chasing or teeth on fur business occurring! 

It did help that there was an old, rather easy going cat also in the household to oversee the whole thing too. 

The upshot being they all accepted each other in a reasonable time frame and co-exist perfectly well. 

A whippet may be very inclined to chase smaller furry things though, so may have to be told forcefully "NO" a few times! 

 

Edited December 1, 2023 by Porkscratching

[Chris116]

About 33 years ago my ex and I adopted a very friendly Border Collie called Abigail. About a month later Abi found a kitten stuck in a wire fence during her late night walk and would not move until I had rescued the kitten. When we got home the kitten proceeded to eat Abi's evening meal with Abi watching and looking at us in a way that told us she was OK with this provided she got fed eventually! Within two days they were inseparable although I think Abi sometimes was not certain she had done the right thing with the kitten hanging onto Abi's tail.

[Chris116]

Further to my earlier post, the kitten was very quickly named Mischief as he was always getting up to mischief but Abi loved him for all the fun they had together.

[Porkscratching]

The two rescue feral kittens whilst quite at ease with the dogs (when "tamed" a bit) never actually played with them, the other, now elderly, cat however was well up for a game and was often seen rolling about on the floor with the girl dog particularly.

.. they're a bit past that kind of exertion these days tho, and currently snoozing by the fire... 

[JZ]

Trying to do some research.

[Sidecar Racer]

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by Sidecar Racer