OT Cat about to be down - what do I tell eldest?

Experience (not mine - I've never lost a cat that way) but several of
my brothers have. Only to discover said cat living several houses down
the street..

I tend to assign cats to one of two categories: 'people cats' (cats who
have keyed onto people rather than places and who are entirely happy
moving with 'their' people to other locations[1]) and 'place cats' who
are strongly wedded to their territories and (if moved away) will
attempt to go back again.

So far all of our cats have been the former.

Cats do form analogues of dog packs but much less cohesive and with a
much less strong pack bond. They (like most other animals) do form
associative bonds with other cats (and people who they tend to regard
as just big, powerful cats). An example of this is the feral cat gangs
in places like Rome. And such cats maintain the bond by close contact
and exchange of scent by rubbing the scent glands on their cheeks
against other members of the group (our younger cat does this all the
time with the dogs - petrifying them in the process since the dog grew
up with cats that were distinctly un-dogfriendly..) It's quite amusing
watching the dogs and cats interact since some of their social signals
are very much opposite - tail waving for example.

So I guess the reason why cats will move is that they form a grouping
with another cat or person who is more able to send the right signals
to the cat in terms of doing things that are close to the inter-cat
patterns. And that includes providing food (our previous male would
bring in dead mice to our previous two females for example and us
providing them catfood is a similar action), stroking the cat (similar
to mother-cat washing actions) or showing other catlike social signals
(looking at a cat and part-closing the eyes for example is one of their
pleasure-signals - doing that to a cat will almost always get a similar
response back especially if the cat is happy).

Phil.

 

I spotted our cat coming from a neighbours house, so I went and asked if
it had been calling round. Comments about how adorable etc, and how she
loves her food! The feeding stopped, but she never stopped going round.
Weight came down though, which was good.

 

Cats that live in a pond? Wow.


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

This sounds almost *too* plausible. It matches my experience almost
perfectly.
--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Phil Launchbury
<> saying something like:

My current moggy is living the life of fecking Reilly, unable to believe
his good luck at landing up here, I've no doubt.
He appeared at the back door of a farmhouse I was working at two years
ago, a pathetic semi-feral kitteny specimen with a dangling leg. As I'd
been short of a cat for a few months there was a spare berth so he
hopped aboard. The vet reckoned the leg was seriously nerve-damaged as
it's common for farmyard cats to get caught up in things and hang by a
limb and there wasn't much chance of it healing, although she said to
wait and see.
A couple of months of regular massage on the leg and some nerve function
was seen to be coming through - after about four months he was using it
as normal. During this time he wasn't allowed to walk on it as it would
have meant the backpaw being bloodied and ragged as it dragged on the
ground, which would have meant eventual amputation.

Now the little bugger is the terror of the local rodents and you'd never
know there had ever been anything wrong with him, although the first few
months of being carried about left him with an expectation of the same
being done now, the idle fecker.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"It's a moron working with power tools.
How much more suspenseful can you get?"
- House

 

Heh. Wondered who'd spot that.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

Oh, c'mon. Taking the darsy stance, I can definitely think of someone
better off dead. Well, better for me, anyway.

 

one of ours has dropped from 4.5kg to 3.75 by dieting.

it works when she doesn't get to mug the other cat for his tea.

--
Adie
(replace spam with nickname to reply)

New (not yet updated) UKRM FAQ: http://www.ukrm.info/faq/index.html

YZF-R1 : ZX9R-E1 : GPz 750 turbo
keeper of the FAQ for my sins
MRO#11 BOTAFOF#7 BOTAFOT#130 DIAABTCOD#17 MIB#24 YTC#16 BOB#15 ex-UKRMMA#22 BOMB#11

 

<waves>

 

Oi, fek off ya cahhhnt.

 

BMW - built for the more rotund gentlemen motorcyclists

 

Understandable to keep them as kittens then, your place is quite
spacious but I don't think you've got room for a couple of SeaCats.

 

you're the original "fat **** who happens to be in a thin body"[0]

[0] TM ex housemate Marv describing other housemate Shane[1]
[1] it was funny at the time

 

Damn. My UnReality Gland(TM) must have packed in. Must get it changed.

(Actually its common sense. Learn an animals psycology and treat it
according to that psycology and it'll be a damn sight more contented
than if you treat it like a small, furry human. This applies
(especially) to dogs.)

Phil.

 

When our second new cat turned up the dogs stopped looking worried all
the time because FirstNewCat now played the the new arrival rather than
lurking round corners and attacking the dogs

The dachshund is still petrified of him though.

Phil.

 

"You're fat, you know you're fat, you just don't look it."

 

"You're fat, you know you're fat, you just don't look it."

 

Dog knows, I lost this thread weeks ago, someone up there ---^ probably
said something about someone down there ---v and for reasons not
entirely clear, but quite possibly alcohol related, I decided to comment
on it. Its nowt to do with objects if that's what you're thinking.

 

"Hmm, parental unit is crying. I wonder if it's anything to do with the
dead cat?"

 

Cat shaped space and telling son

Your daughter was more upset than my son!