Hello,

I love cats…..apparently the vibe is returned.

Many years ago, as a teen living with my Ma…we had a visitor. He was huge (20+ lbs), beautiful ash gray, with piercing blue eyes. About once a month would show up on the kitchen window sill next to the back door. Obvious he wanted in…so we let him. Now, most cats in a new environment are only interested in “exploring”. Not this guy…he was visiting…would stay 20 minutes, accepting strokes and compliments, play a little…then go to the door and ask out. Dangdest thing I ever saw! Later learned from neighbors he was a “man” about town and visited many of them…on a regular basis. Everyone had a different name for him… we later found out…his name was “KITTY”. What a sweet guy.

Next time…visiting my Bro and Sis-in-law…at their mountain cabin. She had 5 cats. One Mom, three kits and an adopted stray. Each with a completely different personality and each a delight. One serene and calm (Ma), one fat dumb and happy (Pumpkin), one a prince (the favorite and he KNEW it, the boss-man..Red Head), one enigma (the stray…Miffy), and one scardy cat (Tiger). I got along great with the first 4….the scardy cat?…well ….for three yrs I never got close. She had her own room…and panic ensued if a “stranger” showed. I figured…ok…4 out of 5 aint bad. One night…middle of the night in fact…nature called and I went to the bathroom. Left the door open…just sittin’ and thinkin’. THAT scardy cat poked her head in…and I froze. No where to go….cuz, ummmm…in the middle of things. What to do? She came in and started to do figure 8’s between my legs…actually let me touch her…dangdest thing I ever saw! Puzzled me the entire rest of the night. When I woke up I had it figured! My Sis-in-law has IBBS (itty bitty bladder syndrome) and is CONSTANTLY on the toilet. As far as that cat was concerned…if a human was on the toilet…it MUST be SUSAN! :D From that moment on…we were buddies. I would go into her room…play and rub belly…knock her around some…it was great (she thought so too).

A few years later…ground floor apt…sitting on the couch watching the news…summertime and hot…  so I had the door cracked. Looked up and a cat was poking his head in looking at me (me: “HI!”)…he pulled back immediately. Interesting, so I kept looking…cat poked his head in again…saw me looking (me: HI, again)…and back out. THIRD time…head in….me: “c’mon in”. Pause, pause, pause,…he came IN, and walked right up to me. Now, I’m thinking…stray cat…fleas…whatever…so I said “SIT”….”STAY”. Dang…he did! I went into the bathroom, got a towel, put it on the couch and said….”OK”….and  cat jumped up. We had a very pleasant 20 min visit, he didn’t look hungry (sleek and shiney), …just visiting. Then I said…”ok, time to go”…and he did. Dangdest thing I ever saw! He never came back…I miss him.

Now in a second floor apt…heard a plaintive meowing at my door. Opened door to a scrawny, desperate critter. Must admit shame here because I knew if I fed him he would be back…and this is a no pets allowed place….closed the door. A minute later the meowing was at the end of the balcony, overlooked by my living room window. I looked out…he was looking right at me…heart melted and I said….”oooooohkayyyyy, see you at the door”. Opened a can of tuna, plated, and opened the door…there he was! Put it down and opened door a few minutes later. Cat gone….plate cleaner than it has ever been…dangdest thing I ever saw! He never came back…I woulda fed him again…sigh.

Anyway…dang!

Best,

Jon

jon thats the dangdest thing i've ever heard  ;D ;)

Jon, you sure have a fantastic way with words...and story-telling.   That was great! 

edited to add:   I sure hope Ueli sees this post.   LOL he loves cats.

lol!
That was adorable...
:)

Linda_Howell wrote on Aug 9^th, 2010 at 10:50pm:

Jon, you sure have a fantastic way with words...and story-telling.

yeah he does.  :)

Cats are truly amazing, especially when you get to know them, which only happens when they want it to happen. Some people seem to think they own their cats, but the reality is that cats very much choose who they want to spend their time with.

A few years ago one of the neighbour's cats started to pay us a visit. At first it was just whilst we were in the garden, but later she'd pop into the house but only if there was a door open. She was a fun cat, who loved the attention we gave her. She was a tortoiseshell with the short legs that looked far too short, so we called her Stumpy which she answered to.

We got the idea that she visited a few houses as sometime we'd not see her for days, especially over winter. But in summer, she'd just walk in through the door and normally find someone who would fuss over her. We even gave her food although she was not motivated by this. What was most amusing though was sometimes she'd run into the house, run upstairs, into the front bedroom and use it as a look out post for a minute or so and then run back out the house, not even stopping to say hello.

A few times she got stuck, although normally when I was out. One time my partner heard her meowing like mad but couldn't find her anywhere. Eventually she found that Stumpy had got into an open drawer and then climbed over the back of the draw into the base of the draws, which was great until the drawer was closed. That was the easy escape as another time she couldn't be found although she could be heard. This time she'd jumped on the top of some fitted wardrobes and fallen or jumped down the back. This needed them to be partially dismantled before she could walk out, as if nothing had happened.

We've since moved away from that house, but we still have memories of Stumpy and wonder what she is getting up to.

We now have two cats of our own, Doppler and Dagny, who give us endless hours of entertainment. They love interacting with us, although they enjoy doing cat stuff with each other, chasing each other all over the house sounding like a herd of elephants at times (like 3am).

Doppler is closest to me, with Dagny closest to my better half. Doppler is often called scarypus as he seems to think that virtually everything is a cat killer trying to get him. What amazes me is how he behaves when I get a CH. He always wants to be close to me and if Sandi (my better half) isn't around he will give his distress call meow to get her attention.

Dagny is never to be seen when I get CHs, which is surprising as she is the one who is always wanting attention, to be picked up, cuddled, played with or to just look very cute.

This is a very pregnant Mrow Mrow (that's how her meow's sounded and she was a stray that showed up one day)that stuffed herself inside a huge box of stuffed Pounce cats.  She died awhile back, but I have 4 very beautiful cats from her litters (two are snow shoe siamese, one is gray with black markings and one is a bright callico).

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGESTART PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE