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applestar
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Re: Crazy / Amusing / Cute / Memorable Pet Stories

rainbowgardener wrote:Muy divertido! (Very funny! -I am brushing up my Spanish for the Mexico trip).


Is that one of those apps that turns your photo into a watercolor?
Thanks! They are not to be underestimated,
I tell ya! :lol:

I really like this app. It's called Waterlogue, and
I highly recommend it. :D

AnnaIkona
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Haha! Funny stories here! ;) my father's cat loved swimming. Lol

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applestar
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I wanted to tell another story about our cats. From when they were kittens, I've trained them to accept being handled -- opening mouth to inspect teeth and gums, opening mouth to drop in pills, clipping claws, flea combing, washing, bathing, etc. It was one of the basic pet ownership necessities that I hadn't learned properly early on with a previous cat, so I'm pretty thorough about the early training, especially after I had children and I wasn't about to let them get hurt by any catly willfulness... and I've always wondered about other mothers who lament that their cats have scratched or even bitten their children.

So today, as usual, I told one of the kitty's "Flea Check" and laid down an old baby swaddling cloth on the floor (baby micky/minnie pattern) that I use for this purpose, and invited her to come get flea combed. She immediately came, stood on the "towel" and turned around, and when I grabbed her tail, flopped down on her side. This one in particular loves the process. I hold her tail so she doesn't edge beyond the towel to lay down, forcing me to pick her up and pull her back on to the center of the towel. She started purring almost right away, and, as I have taught her, shifted position as I worked according to the way I pushed her around and gave progress commands. (I only found one "possible" flea -- it wasn't moving so it might have been just a black speck)

I have progress "commands/status" words like "Belly Button" for laying on her back and exposing her belly to be combed, "Under Arms" for me to hold her foreleg up and comb under the front legs and the base of the forelegs to the ribs (I think this tickles -- they try to pull their forelegs out of my hand and used to object quite a bit, including initially snarling and trying to bite. Now, the most they do is push at my hand with claw-sheathed hind paws, but I have a command for that, too which is to disengage their paw, tuck hind leg, and say "Don't Kick"). "Chin and Flat Chin" for combing under the neck and having her push her head flat down on the floor. "Tail" for combing her tail, which with their fluffy fur, can be tangled and probably painful sometimes even though I take care not to yank.

When needed, I finish with clipping all of the claws, and for the awkward to get in position left foreleg, put her on my lap.

Throughout, the one kitty purrs and drools from purring too much, and the most problem she causes is that she tries to rub her jaws on any hand that is close enough, hindering my movements.

Our other kitty doesn't like it as much and does NOT come to the towel. In fact, if she thinks I'm even considering it, she runs away and have to be fetched back. She used to dash off and run away every chance she got DURING the combing process, but since I set the DD's to bring her back every single time, she has finally caught on and has given up on running away. :lol: one of the things she also doesn't do is roll over -- instead she hooks her claws into the carpet :roll: so I have to unhook her to roll her over. But she does the "Flat Chin" better than the other kitty. She literally flattens her head completely, whereas the other kitty wants to see what I'm doing and tends to pick up her head. This one doesn't purr and will dash off as soon as released with "Done" --whereas, the other one sometimes won't get off my lap no matter how firmly I say "DONE" and has to be dumped off. :>

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My cat Ginger died last year and she was the "talker" actually it was more the nagger. After she was gone Jack has starting meowing more and I even heard Tootsie with a short meow yesterday. Cats don't really talk that much to each other. They are more into non-verbal body language, and hissing when they don't like something. It seems talking is reserved for communicating with their humans who they apparently have figured out will respond to their demands for attention more if they meow than if they stick their butts in your face.

The best way to get a cat to ignore and hide from you is to frantically call them. They respond to tone more than the words you say. Anytime I wanted to get my cats to come I would just shake the box of cat food. They always came running.

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Last night my kids gave our kitties 1/2 a hot dog each for midnight snack. They've had hot dogs before so they know what's what ...namely that the hot dogs are hot. But one of our kitties is what my DD affectionately calls a "Dum-Dum." :lol:

From DD's descriptions this morning, I gather that one kittie took one sniff and stepped away -- this is the clever one -- while the other one immediately grabbed it out of her plate and spit it out in a hurry... on the kitchen floor. She spent the next several minutes swatting at the dangerous piece of meat that bit her back. One of the DD's video recorded it. At one point, the kitty had paused after a thorough swatting and the hot dog rolled towards her -- you could see she visibly jumped away, startled, and proceeded to bat at the thing some more. :roll: When she finally decided it was safe to tuck in, THAT'S when the other kitty stepped up to her own half and started to munch away. :>

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I'm not a camera or phone person. I do like to keep pictures of my pets in an album. However, taking their picture is not that easy. The cats I have now are camera shy and they are both dark. Jack looks like a witch's cat black with a crooked tail. Tootsie mostly brown and black with a little bit of white on her belly. It is hard to take pictures of them against a wood floor. They blend in. I tried to take Jack's picture but when the camera flashed he bolted and all I got was a blur. I finally got a decent picture of Tootsie, but it is mostly of her backside. My other problem will be getting the photo's out of my camera since I cannot upload it to the computer. I will have to see if I can get prints made at Costco or if they can load the photos onto a thumb drive or dvd.

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We had a cockatiel for a few years before Hurricane Katrina hit and she was a great bird that loved to socialize with us. When we got her, the breeder had clipped her wings so she couldn't fly, but we let the feathers grow out and she was soon soaring through the house---------after we made sure all the ceiling fans were turned off.

If someone was on the sofa eating chips or other crunchy snack and her cage was open, she'd fly up to that person, sit on their shoulder and put her head right next to their mouth hoping something crunchy would fall out, and she'd definitely pick off any bits that fell on your shirt.

Here's where it gets interesting. I stayed when Katrina hit and our city flooded. I wound up with over 4 ft. of water in the ground floor and after 4 days, I decided to get out and waded my way to an evacuation area. I decided to leave the bird and put her in the bathroom with the door closed. She had the whole bathroom to herself. I taped the tub drain as tightly as I could, filled it with about 3 inches of water, put a couple extra pans of water on the countertop and a few pounds of bird feed in other pans for her to have free reign. It was over 2 weeks before I got back to check on the house after the water went down and the first place I went to was the bathroom to check on the bird. I called for her several times when I entered the house, but no reply. I expected the worst when I opened the door to the bathroom, but much to my surprise, she let out a very loud shriek and literally dive bombed me. I guess it was her way of expressing anger for being left behind and giving me "what for."

She did eventually get over the abandonment and live for several more years before she passed on.

Now I have a corn eating, edamame eating cat the will often scare the junk out of me with her being so quiet as she approaches and gently putting a paw in the air to just barely touch me when she wants my attention.

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applestar
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Me a couple of hrs ago -- what is that black thing on the kitchen floor? Aaarrgh it's a dead mole! One of the kitties brought it in from the garage. No idea how the mole got IN THE GARAGE.

Image ...something is WRONG with this mouse...

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Jack, the cat is making himself comfortable on the living room floor. He doesn't even bother to move when I come down the stairs, but he has learned to shriek at me to make sure I don't step on him.

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Animals are a gardeners friend. Over 25 years my dogs have never soiled the garden area. We nicknamed our now deceased Chow Chow the "constant gardener." To my knowledge he never broke a branch or seedling and loved to go into the garden every morning to sniff around the herbs. For you cat lovers Chow Chows behave in ways that are similar to cats based upon my experience with both. Every morning he knew the routine.

I had another white lab that figured out how to break in the garden but would only eat perfect ripe red tomatoes. She spit the orange ones out and never picked a green one: Very discriminating. Imagine coming home from work to see a happy girl laying in the shade of the giant tomatoe plants. Too cute to scold her to harshly. Built a better fence. . At least she had good taste. She and our other dog would wait to be tossed the occasional carrot for their hard work.

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Well, I now have a cat after years of dog ownership and finally getting tired of picking up dog junk every couple of days. The cat is mainly a house cat, but does love to explore the yard and garden a few times a day. Unfortunately for me, she has taken a liking to my loose soil raised bed that I like to grow root crops in. Right now it is dormant due to our nasty summer weather, and if I don't keep it covered, she likes to think it's her own personal litter box. Nothing quite as nasty as weeding an area and grabbing some cat scat lying just under the surface.

When I plant seeds or transplants, the first thing I do when finished planting is to put some hog wire over the entire area so she can't get in there and that works out fine.

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applestar
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imafan26 wrote:Jack, the cat is making himself comfortable on the living room floor. He doesn't even bother to move when I come down the stairs, but he has learned to shriek at me to make sure I don't step on him.
Call me mean, but I won't tolerate that. Our two have learned to get OUT OF MY WAY when I'm walking. I maintain alpha-female status in THIS pride. :twisted:

I often walk around in the dark or carrying armloads of things and not able to see, and I'm not going to be made to feel bad for accidentally stepping on or tripping over and kicking them -- I don't want to hurt them -- and I will not have them loitering at the top of the stairs when someone is on their way up and especially on their way down. So they have been taught to smartly vacate the spot where I will be walking. When lounging at the top of the stairs (typical fave spot for cats I believe) and I'm on my way down, it's satisfying to see them jump up and leap down 2-3 steps then trot on down to the first floor ahead of me. Of course they are hoping I might soften and give them a treat, which I did in the very beginning, but not any more since this is an EXPECTED behavior.

If they show reluctance, I start muttering "...out of the way... out of the way... you'd better get out of the way..." and they move along. If they are deeply asleep, I will nudge.poke with my toes to wake them up and will NOT step around them.

gumbo2176
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applestar wrote:
imafan26 wrote:Jack, the cat is making himself comfortable on the living room floor. He doesn't even bother to move when I come down the stairs, but he has learned to shriek at me to make sure I don't step on him.
Call me mean, but I won't tolerate that. Our two have learned to get OUT OF MY WAY when I'm walking. I maintain alpha-female status in THIS pride. :twisted:

.
That Alpha female statement made me chuckle as I recalled a conversation I once had with my then teenage stepson. He was about 16 and feeling his oats and testing the limits of my tolerance. When he reached my limit I had a sit-down with him and explained how this household was going to run.

I told him in the animal kingdom----- and make no mistake about it, we reside in an animal kingdom--- there are always going to be Alphas and Betas. In this household, I was the Alpha male and his mother was the Alpha female. And just like in the animal kingdom, when a Beta tries to step up and supplant the Alpha's role, he better be prepared to suffer the consequences.

Somehow, he never decided to test those waters because when I delivered that little bit of life's advice, I was not the least happy with his behavior and the point seemed to be received.

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I have been taking the two Indoor kitties outside with me to the garden for Garden Patrol duty lately. I want them to leave their scent and give chase to chipmunks and rabbits to deter them. I don't really expect them to catch anything outside. They can't even catch a mole. At least so far.

Today about 10 minutes after we went out, it started to rain heavily. But for once I had not put them in enclosed garden space but let them roam, and of course could not find them. One kitty thinks she is clever and will find a hiding place, but normally the other one will come to me when I call. But this time, she wasn't making an appearance.

The rain tapered off so I decided to continue with today's ToDo tasks, but when it started to really pour 30-40 minutes later, it was definitely time to go inside. I called them again but they were still missing, and I decided to wrap up my stuff -- collecting the harvest and finished washing them...in the rain... took pictures between raindrops... I was almost done when it started to thunder and the clever kitty decided her hiding place was insufficient and came running to the patio. I shooed her in and proceeded to find the other one. I walked all over the back yard in the deluge, then did a quick stroll in the front yard. I was dripping wet, soaked to the skin. Then it occurred to me that DH's truck was not in the driveway when I went by, meaning he had gone to work at some point and I didn't notice. ...what if...?

I went inside -- I was leaving puddles in the kitchen and front hallway -- whistled up the stairs and here came the missing kitty dry as dust and still wearing her *dry* bandanna. :roll:

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See, she was smart enough to get in out of the rain and not get soaking wet enough to leave puddles in the kitchen and hallway like========OH wait, that would be you. LOL

Don't you just love cats????

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Applestar I do not think the cats scent will keep any critters away, it never has in my yard or garden. But it is something to hear the squares scold the cat for being in the yard.

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Most likely the reason "the squares" are scolding the cats in the first place is, if anything like my cat, she thinks my garden is her personal litter box. This is especially true with my raised bed area where the soil generally stays a good bit dryer and fluffier than my traditional in-ground garden. I don't find many things less appealing than weeding the garden and coming upon a fresh pile of cat scat just under the soil.

thanrose
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And adjacent to your radishes!

I've heard that large predator urine will deter rodents and small mammals. May be so, but I can't get any pumas to pee in my yard. Might have to see if it works with alligators. Will they pee in a garden without trampling it?

Someone gifted me with a Zoo-doo sculpture. Maybe a hippo shaped brick? It was amusing, but not as effective as the bags of zoodoo compost from the Miami zoo. Took over a year to break down, where the compost is bio-available immediately.

OTOH, animal scat can be a good attractant for some butterflies. It is species specific, possibly both the scat and the diner.

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applestar
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Applestar wrote:I don't really expect them to catch anything outside. They can't even catch a mole. At least so far.
tomf wrote:Applestar I do not think the cats scent will keep any critters away, it never has in my yard or garden.
Did I mention my garden plants secretly check the forum to see what I'm saying about them? I think the kitties must do this as well.

Our mighty huntress seems to have accepted our comments as challenges and upped her game -- she caught a vole outside. :shock:

Image

I see now that the critter she caught in the garage in the post above must have been a vole as well.

...oh BTW, I couldn't find her again and she wouldn't come to the patio when I called (well, obviously she had been in "stealth/stalk" mode), but, after she caught her prey, this Indoor princess brought it to the back door and was muffledly meowing to be let in (WITH her prize) :roll:

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Something ate a portion of a really nice tomato -- last Uluru Ochre on the plant -- in a patio container. I sent the kitties out to Patrol again and the same one caught another vole. GOOD KITTY!

She brought it to the back door and started (muffled) meowing to be let in. After a while, she put down the vole (it was dead) to meow some more, so when my DD came to the door, I told her to bring their treat from the fridge so I can exchange it for the vole like we usually do. As soon as DD opened the door, she jumped inside, sniffed around the floor inside, then dashed out to snatch up the vole and go back in. LOL

Fortunately, DD caught her in time and sent her back out, and when I offered her the treat, she put down the vole to eat it (and I surreptitiously covered it with a pot to make it "disappear". She wasn't entirely convinced, but was willing to be picked up and carried to another location for more Garden Patrol duty. :wink:

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Gary350
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Growing up on the 40 acre farm in southern Illinois my Grandfather had 26 cats. Most of the cats were friendly and Grandpa had 1 favorite cat that he let into the house every morning while he ate breakfast. He hand fed the cat 1 bit at a time from his breakfast plate then petted it a while then the cat had to go outside.

One summer Grandpa had a new litter of kittens. My 6 year old sister liked to carry 1 of the kittens around by 1 back leg. She was told many times to stop doing that but she continued doing it. One day the cat was tired of being carried around by the back leg, I heard a loud cat growling hissing sound and my sister screamed for 20 minutes. LOL. She had scratches on both arms, both hands, face, neck, chest and 1 leg and blood was running everywhere.

I had 3 cats for a while all rescue cats. One day I noticed the black and white on the roof of the house. I stopped to look wondering how did that cat get on the roof. I watched and waited to see what the cat was going to do. She jumped off the roof right in the center of a 6 foot tall bush. When the bush stopped shaking it was totally silent no movement at all. I kept watching about 5 minutes later a bird flew into the bush and WOW it looked like World War 3 inside that bush. The bird was lucky it managed to escape. The cat jumped out of the bush, walked around the house, climbed up the tree then out on a limb and jumped off onto the house roof. Then it jumped off the roof into the bush again. LOL.

My White Cat with Blue eyes was a Manx cat with no tail. Manx cats have a different personality than other cats more like a dog. She liked to cuddle, play and be petted but it had to be her idea. It took me and the cat a couple of years to talk to each other by sign language. If the cat wanted to go outside she would set at the back door looking up at the door knob. If she wanted in the house she scratched on the back door. If I wanted to pick her up I had to touch here first if she did not want to be picked up she hissed at me. She had back legs like a jack rabbit she could run 2 times faster than other cats. Anytime she caught a bird or something she had this loud long drawn out meow sound and she always brought me what ever it was she caught like, LOOK what I caught. She loved to sleep in the garden she thought all that soft soil was her own personal giant cat poop box. I planted a patch of catnip one year all 3 cats would sleep in it all day. I had that cat 14 years she had a stroke last summer and died.

Now we have a feisty little kitten everything is something to play with. A year from now she will be a nice garden cat.

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I am glad to see that this thread is still active. There is no end to amusing, amazing pet stories.

In '04 I was in a terrible accident. George travels a lot so I stayed with my parents for several months. Mom has a yellow and white Corgie mix - Lucky. I had a black mutt with a white bib and white socks - Sweetie. Sweetie had some Lab in the mix. The dogs got along well. They had lots of room to run and play. The yard was fenced and Dad had taken great care to secure the bottom of the fence.

Dogs will be dogs. One day Lucky and Sweetie managed to get out. Dad called and whistled to no avail. He finally got in his truck and drove through the subdivision in back of their house. No sign of the dogs. Dad stopped to speak to a man working in his yard. Dad asked if he had seen 2 dogs. The man said "Do you mean the black and yellow dogs following your truck?" :eek: Dad was mad but more than that he was embarrassed.

I laughed so hard I hurt myself and had to take pain meds.

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Gary350 that story about your sister and the cat brought back memories of a similar incident that occurred at my house when I was a kid. One of my cousins came over to play and we were both about 10 or so at the time. We were running around the yard and he saw a couple cats coming out from under the house heading to my neighbors house. The old lady next door would put out food for the feral cats and any strays that happened by and it was getting close to feeding time.

Anyway, he decides to snatch one of the cats up and the only thing he could grab was the cat's tail. Well the cat started to coil around and my cousin started spinning the cat by the tail to keep it from scratching him, then lets go of the tail and the cat flew about 10 ft. away, hit the ground and charged back at him. That cat let loose with a right proper butt kicking on him and scratched him up pretty bad. I remember laughing so hard I could hardly stand up, all the while he's bawling his eyes out and dreading the Dr. Tichenor's my mom so often used for cuts and scrapes.

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I might have mentioned this already, but she did it again, so I thought I’d mention it here.

I like to “train” our kitties. Some training are for their benefit, some are for ours, and some are for pure fun. :wink:

Our kitties are not supposed to be on the cushions on the sofa or stay on the arms or back of the sofa, but they are allowed to jump on the arm and walk along the backrest to access a window side table and the windowsill. When someone is sitting on the sofa, our orange tabby walks up to their knees, stands up on her hind legs, and reaches up her paw to demand attention. At which point, the person is expected to pet her, mainly around her head, chin, and neck, and she used to insist on continued attention for much longer than the person had intended.

So I made use of her habit, and every time she reached up with her paw, met her paw with my palm and said “Hi FIVE!” And praised her profusely and pet her. So she learned to raise her paw on MY terms. Once she got the hang of it, I also introduced “DONE” which meant I wasn’t going to ask for the “High Five” anymore and turn my attention elsewhere.

Now, she knows that once I say “Done” she’s not going to get any more attention, and she usually walks a few steps away and lays down facing away but with her ears twitching in my direction in case I might change my mind.


...she came over this morning while I was relaxing on the sofa, so I played “Hi Five” with her, and then said “Done” — and she got what she wanted for as long as I wanted. :D Oh don’t worry, the kitties get plenty of lap time other than on the sofa. :lol: .

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Love the high-five. Did you ever see catmantoo on youtube? He's a mostly dog trainer in Australia who adopted a cat he named Didga (short for didgeridoo) and has trained her to skateboard and surf (kinda) and lord it over dogs in his care. He doesn't put out many videos, but when he does they are priceless. Some are instructional, such as how one goes about some of the training. There's one compilation to the tune of "Happy" with the cat and a bunch of dogs playing in the surf.

My last dog lived to be quite elderly, enough so that the vet clinic staff all knew us by sight and would tell other patrons in hushed tones. (I don't talk to strange humans generally, but strange animals are totally cool.) We would do the Vulcan Mind Meld thing once in a while, forehead to forehead. She wasn't much of a conversationalist, but I'd give her commands in conversational tones, often in complex sentences. Sometimes in other languages. As long as the attitude, the specific gesture, and correct word and emphasis were used, it was not a problem.

Pretty sure she thought I was telepathic. She'd stare at the back of my head, and I'd have to guess what she wanted from the way my neck tickled. She would be annoyed with one of the cats and she'd come and get my attention. My father would yell at her and she'd look at me, sending me images of Leia telling Obi-wan, "You're my only hope."

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Our 2 dogs and a cat all love cheese. Anytime the cheese drawer in the fridge opens they all come running (I swear they can tell the difference between the cheese drawer and the vegetable crisper drawer!) . The cat gets her tiny piece handed to her. The dogs have to earn theirs by obeying some commands (just basic sit, up on two legs, lie down). When I have given them as much as I am going to, I tell them all done, no more and they promptly walk away.

The dogs do seem to have pretty much receptive vocabulary. They obey commands like go downstairs, go to bed (which is upstairs), wait, stay, down (don't jump up on visitors).

Ari, the border collie mix (they are all rescues), tends to chew up pillows or anything with stuffing if she is left out while we are gone. So she has to go in the cage. She knows that and trots herself right in as soon as she figures out that we are leaving. She is very tuned in to cues about that. If we put on outdoor shoes, she goes right in the cage. But sometimes she figures it out even before we put on shoes and I really don't know what cues she is responding to. I think she knows the pattern -- go out one last time before we leave, so she goes right in the cage as soon as she comes back in. Sometimes if she puts herself in the cage and then we don't leave right away, she comes back out, but then she nervously goes in and out, while watching us very closely and trying to figure out what we are doing. It's very cute.

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I only have two cats now. Usually the male is the one that asks for food and the other just waits. I give them a third of a can in the morning, and they get dry food the rest of the day. I watched the male cat after I filled the bowl with more cat food put his paw in the bowl and pull it toward him....and away from the other cat whose head was in the bowl.

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We had Shibu, the male dog first and he is bigger and older. Then we got Ari, the female. She is very bonded with Shibu and is his little shadow. Everywhere he goes, she goes. She loves to be outdoors and left to her own devices would stay out more. But even if she is in the back of the yard, if Shibu decides to come in, she comes running. He is a watch dog type and barks when anyone walks by in the street, when the mail comes, etc. He also barks outside the door when he wants to come in. Ari almost never barks. She just stands next to Shibu and lets him do the barking for both of them, to get let in. If for some reason he is in and she is out, she still won't bark, just stands there at the door looking pathetic until someone notices her.

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rainbowgardener
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Here's a couple pictures of Ari

Image

This was her watching the Westminster dog show on TV. She was fascinated (Shibu paid no attention).

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Ari is a rescue dog, they say "border collie mix." She obviously has some border collie in her. But besides being shorter haired, she has very large stick up ears and that tightly curled tail. I went looking to see what breed of dog could account for that. The closest I found was African basenji hound.

Here's a basenji:
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look at the ears and tail!

AND when I found basenji's, I found this: The Basenji is barkless, due to its narrow larynx. As a result, instead of barking, the Basenji vocalizes through yodels — which sound like “baroos” or howls

Ari can bark, but very rarely does. But she does make the baroo sound on two rising notes and a variety of other squeaks and sounds.

So I looked for pictures of basenji-border collie mix dogs. Here's an eg.

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What do people think, am I on to something?

gumbo2176
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Our housecat is now 9 years old and has developed a taste for some of the things I grow in the garden, with soybeans being her favorite. After I harvest all the beans, I'll parboil them in heavily salted water for just a couple minutes and put them on a big towel on the table to cool. My cat will meow endlessly until I pop some of the soybeans open and give her the beans out of the pods. She loves edamame and any time my wife or I are eating it, she insists of getting her share. I'm amazed at the amount of soybeans that cat can eat before she gets her fill.

imafan26
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I am thinking Ari might have some kind of spitz like a Samoyed or Husky in the mix. Huskies and Samoyed have thick ears; curled tail. Unless Ari is just plain fat, she looks rather big and muscular for a border collie. A basenji is a small hunting dog and built for speed for small game and rodents they are only 25 lbs or so. Huskies are about the same weight as a border collie. Huskies prefer to howl instead of bark, but most of the husky crosses have the blue eyes and more of the husky coloring. The samoyed collie crosses are look more like Ari.

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rainbowgardener
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Ari is not at all fat and not all that big. In the TV picture, her body is curved around, with her hind legs well to the left of her head, so her trunk is making a C shape. She weighs about 40 #.

I looked at some samoyed- border collie pictures. Pure border collies are long haired as well as being shorter than Ari. Samoyeds are long haired also with very thick, double layer fur. So the samoyed-border collie mixes were mostly much furrier than Ari. Ari not only has much shorter hair, she does not have a thick coat, and definitely not with the under coat. Her skin shows through around her elbows and on her belly. I did find one picture that looked pretty much like her.

Obviously, this isn't a science, unless you get their DNA tested. I have heard you can do that now and they will tell you exactly what breeds are in your dog and in what percentages....

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applestar
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I took a picture of our aging kitty — she’s 16 now — and was looking for an apropos thread to post and stumbled upon this one. WOW, a trip down the memory lanes. :D I ended up reading all of the posts.

Now I’m ready to post my picture :wink:
9ED1337D-3208-4E84-B155-81BDE97CF862.jpeg
I bought our old lady a heated stadium seat cushion. It takes the same battery/power bank(s) I use in the summer for my double fan-cooled vest, so I already had two, and I bought one more higher capacity one in case we ever need to keep the cushion heated 24/7.

She has started showing symptoms that took her sister two years ago — still mild stages and she is still pretty active, if slowed down a bit.

When her sister was sick and after her surgery, we started dressing her in these little shirts made from hand-me-down children size jammy (pajama) pant legs that we cut to length and cut front-leg holes. It was a no-brainer to make more and keep this old lady warmer when it started to get cold and she was curled up tight … and now she also has a warm heated cushion to put her kitty bed on.

The difference in her sleeping posture that shows her comfort level is obvious. :()

imafan26
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Last night the cats were at the door and one cat was hissing at the other. They don't fight much, so this hasn't happened in a while.

My oldest cat will be 18 years old in January. She is in high output renal failure and she is definitely slowing down. I have to brush her, when I can catch her, because she isn't grooming well and there are pieces of fur everywhere. She is hanging out on the stairs almost every day and she doesn't move. Both my cats are dark. Jack is black with just a ring of white fur around his neck and Tootsie is a chimera tortie. I can't see either of them at night on a dark laminate floor and she does not move and expects me to go around her. I am not that agile either.

Jack is 10 years old. and will wind around my feet and I have stepped on him more than a few times. I am no longer apologetic. I have to keep telling him to stay away from my feet.

They are not related but they came from the same feral colony. I've had Tootsie since she was 2 years old and Jack was about 4 months old when I got him.

I am getting forgetful in my old age. I went to a club meeting last week and when I cam home I found I forgot to lock the door and the screen door was open. It is a good thing that my cats usually have no interest at all in going outside.



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