Your daily cat and kitten news

[Chz]

Bernard has been a svelte 4kg for most of his life, just nudging up to 4.3kg in his 7th year. The vet assures me he is still "perfect". I know he's the right weight for a slender male, I just worry when he gets sick there's nothing on him to weather it.

 

[LeytonCatLady]

Bernard has been a svelte 4kg for most of his life, just nudging up to 4.3kg in his 7th year. The vet assures me he is still "perfect". I know he's the right weight for a slender male, I just worry when he gets sick there's nothing on him to weather it.

Don't worry, he'll follow his instincts and curl up somewhere warm until he feels well again.

 

[Lotte]

View attachment 455517

Your cat reminds me of mine.

 

[Happy Tree]

Tabitha the Grey is about 7kg. Samantha Fluff is around 5. Tabs is more assertive and pushes her way into the food more. Plus demands more Dreamies.

 

[story]

Cat is pretty chonky in my opinion. Two vets have said he’s tall rather than fat. Having lived with The Auld Warrior, I don’t consider him especially tall.

The Auld Warrior was hench rather than chonk: solid, muscular, packed. He walked about like a silverback gorilla. I loved to hold his foreleg in my fist and feel the huge mass and strength of it.

Bitch cat from Hell was teeny tiny, like a fairy cat, but she was fierce as fuck. Took no prisoners and gave no fucks.


This winter, for the first time, I don’t feel Cat’s spine when I stroke him. That’s alright for the winter cos he’s out and about for long hours even in the rain, but I’ll keep an eye on that. Not that I can do much about it: I have strong suspicions he’s a bit of Seven Dinner bloke.

 

[ddraig]

Kizzy is around 5
She is being very slow today and quite concerned about her
Wasn't on bed when I woke up, went to check and she was on sofa looking dozy
Brought her up a while later and still hardly moving, also a weird noise/wheeze/complaint when stroking her
Going to give it a couple of hours and if no improvement will have to go to vet
She was running around for ages last night so hopefully just tired

 

[LeytonCatLady]

Kizzy is around 5
She is being very slow today and quite concerned about her
Wasn't on bed when I woke up, went to check and she was on sofa looking dozy
Brought her up a while later and still hardly moving, also a weird noise/wheeze/complaint when stroking her
Going to give it a couple of hours and if no improvement will have to go to vet
She was running around for ages last night so hopefully just tired

Get well soon Kizzy!

 

[moose]

We've realised we can't recognise our own cat when he's out of context. There was a commotion in the street outside the front, where, ostensibly, ours don't go. One of the perps looked like Dobey. But was it? we both had a look and decided he was very similar - we assessed the length of tail (which was like a brush due to the skirmish), the colour of his eyes and the sprinkling of white chest hairs but still couldn't say conclusively
Also, fuming he's been on the street and hope he doesn't lead Trafford astray.

Pic: unidentifiable black object.

 

[ddraig]

Kizzy is around 5
She is being very slow today and quite concerned about her
Wasn't on bed when I woke up, went to check and she was on sofa looking dozy
Brought her up a while later and still hardly moving, also a weird noise/wheeze/complaint when stroking her
Going to give it a couple of hours and if no improvement will have to go to vet
She was running around for ages last night so hopefully just tired

Found a huuuuge poo outside back door that isn't Kizzy's! Could well be that, maybe from the massive cat or bully ginger cat

 

[story]

Cat is learning to tolerate the human touch. By a mixture of increasing patience on his side and increasingly artful efforts on mine, we’re extending the limit of allowance from yeah, that’s too much to well, okay, but….

Today, I hit on the idea of using a bit of fabric between my hand and his fur. Initial wtf quickly relaxed into yeh, that’ll do.

I also briefly touched the fur on top of each of his forepaws with a fingertip, because he had them stretched out ahead of him so of course I did. Within a moment he was diligently cleaning the hint of my touch from his fur.


The Auld Warrior (TAW) was so grubby by comparison. He’d rarely wash his feet so they were muddy and dusty, and frequently smelly (possibly for marking territory as he walked). As a kitten, he didn’t seem to know his tail was his property and responsibility. We had to hold him over the sink and wash it to remove the layer of grease and dust. His face and his ears were always clean though. Being a King tom (despite being neutered) his neck was strong and muscular, and he had a thick dense mane, although not the testosterone hammerhead thing.

I’ve probably told this story before:

One summer afternoon I was cutting the hedge at the front of the house.

A very tall very thin very dark-skinned Black man wearing a long shiny coat and huge sunglasses came towards me. He looked like a god or spirit of some kind as he came steadily towards me. I thought “Ai-ai, he has business on his mind..,. “

He greeted me with a curt nod. Then he said “Yuh cat beat mi cat”.

I knew right away - not least because there was a similarity in their bearing - that his cat was The Marauder, the huge rangey tabby who was warring with TAW all across the neighbourhood.

I’d heard the carrolling of long songs on various walls, near and distant. I’d seen evidence of TAW winning in his strut, and the fur he carried in on his claws. And I knew The Marauder was also winning as often as he lost, because this was the era when the vet was waiving consultation fees for TAW for all the wounds and bite abscesses we’d had to get treated. They seemed equally matched, which was drawing out the war for all these months.

There really was nothing we could do. Locking in TAW was pointless, intervening was pointless, and surely, surely, asking The Marauder’s humans to do something would be pointless too. I’d identified the house where he lived, and walked past it several times hoping to bump into the humans there, but I knew that ultimately, the two of them would have to work it out for themselves. Nothing any human might do would resolve the matter.

And here he was, The Marauder’s human, doing just as I’d done, walking round to see what could be seen. I wondered if he might suggest or request an intervention, or maybe money for vet bills.

We looked at each other, and we both saw that there was no rancour in either of us, and no expectation. We were both glad we’d laid eyes on each other.

I said: “I know. And your cat is beating up my cat. I don’t know what we can do about it.”

The man nodded. And then he turned and walked away without another word.

The war went on for another few months, and then ended. I don’t think either one of them won any territory or status. I think they arrived at a wary truce, which held.

I was worried that as TAW got older he might be forced to cede to The Marauder, but despite seeing them both keeping an eye on each other, neither one wanted to restart things, and the uneasy peace held.

I never saw the man again, but I thought of him often, and I feel that he also thought of me.