How can I make this cat like me? :)

William Graham <weg9.TakeThisOut@comcast.net> wrote:

: LOL! - Congratulations....You have a typical cat on your hands! The mere
: fact that she spends the nights sleeping at your pad is a major
: accomplishment. This means she trusts you to protect her from danger.

Yes I realize and appreciate that. It is also extremely convenient and
practical for both of us. She takes care of both meals, one long sleep,
safety and comfort during the night, all in one visit.

It's good that she knew us, our yard, and our home before we had to
care for her; that made the transition very smooth.

Her home has a cat door, but obviously she doesn't like being alone at
night. She does visit there everyday, at least the yard. Sometimes I
can see her there from my yard. She is also keeping up her social life
with other cats.

I also make it a point to visit her home every few days for a while
(read a paper or watch news there). This is just to keep an eye on
things, and take care of mail etc, but probably also makes her feel
that her home is alive, because she keeps an eye and notices such
activity even if she is outside somewhere.

All in all, a really smart and graceful cat. Before we just found her
cute but paid no attention beyond that. Now, we are really impressed
and appreciative.
 >> Stay informed about: How can I make this cat like me? :) 

"RPSinha" <rpsinha.RemoveThis@null.void> wrote in message
news:241020070031130480%rpsinha@null.void...
> William Graham <weg9.RemoveThis@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> : My B-K, spent several months during his first year of life living in a
> : Burger King parking lot, off of French fries, onion rings, and anything
> that
> : people threw at him. When I first saw him, it was just before they
> closed
> : for the night, and he stood on his hind legs and put one paw on my knee
> and
> : scratched at my bag with the other paw and said, "Can I have some of
> your
> : burgers, dad?" I picked him up, threw him in the back seat of my car and
> : said, "You're never gonna have to eat another French fry again for the
> rest
> : of your life, fella."
>
> Great heartwarming story. I wish we could say the same to every human
> who visits those places too. Now, you don't go there often, do you?
> :-)
No, not really.....I have band practice every Wednesday night during the
school year.....It is over at 9:30 PM. I usually stop at some fast food
place or other on my way home and get something to go for my wife and
myself....We would eat better, but there aren't many decent places open at
that hour here in the "sticks"..... We don't want to cook that late, either,
so buying fast food on Wednesdays is a tradition.....Sometimes it's Pizza,
sometimes it's Mexican (there's an all night Mexican place open that's
pretty good) On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2004, I decided to stop at
Burger King and get us a couple of, "Whoppers".....I'm very glad I did,
because I met B-K, and he is a great cat.....
 >> Stay informed about: How can I make this cat like me? :) 

"RPSinha" <rpsinha RemoveThis @null.void> wrote in message
news:241020070038216175%rpsinha@null.void...
> Great stories and discussions. Some of you have misunderstood me: I am
> really enjoying this cat, it's all fun.
>
> Anyway, today the ice melted just a little.
>
> Everyday, after she finishes eating, she quietly--and rather
> majesticlly--marches towards her chosen "bed", ie, our softest and most
> expensive comforter, ignoring me totally.
>
> Today, however, she said a faint friendly meow just as she passed me,
> as she kept walking. The tone sounded like "hello". I was delighted. :)

Cats usually greet you that way, but their sounds are so quiet and subtle
that I usually don't hear them.
 >> Stay informed about: How can I make this cat like me? :) 

"RPSinha" <rpsinha.TakeThisOut@null.void> wrote in message
news:241020070056271325%rpsinha@null.void...
> William Graham <weg9.TakeThisOut@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> : LOL! - Congratulations....You have a typical cat on your hands! The mere
> : fact that she spends the nights sleeping at your pad is a major
> : accomplishment. This means she trusts you to protect her from danger.
>
> Yes I realize and appreciate that. It is also extremely convenient and
> practical for both of us. She takes care of both meals, one long sleep,
> safety and comfort during the night, all in one visit.
>
> It's good that she knew us, our yard, and our home before we had to
> care for her; that made the transition very smooth.
>
> Her home has a cat door, but obviously she doesn't like being alone at
> night. She does visit there everyday, at least the yard. Sometimes I
> can see her there from my yard. She is also keeping up her social life
> with other cats.
>
> I also make it a point to visit her home every few days for a while
> (read a paper or watch news there). This is just to keep an eye on
> things, and take care of mail etc, but probably also makes her feel
> that her home is alive, because she keeps an eye and notices such
> activity even if she is outside somewhere.
>
> All in all, a really smart and graceful cat. Before we just found her
> cute but paid no attention beyond that. Now, we are really impressed
> and appreciative.

Some cats are very gregarious, and have several homes....We have one,
"Meggie" who rode all the way our West from Connecticut with her owners in
their car. Then, after they bought the house across the street, they got a
dog.....Meggie couldn't stand the dog, so she went to every house on the
block looking for one without a dog. We were the only one, so she moved in
with us.....My wife would take her back across the street, but Meggie would
beat her home. After a bit, the neighbors told us we could have her, and
they got another dog......When I brought B-K home, she took to him right
away, and brought him to all the other houses on the block and introduced
him to them! They are both great cats with lots of personality.......In
spite of the dogs, Meggie still goes back across the street occasionally and
says hi to her old owners. She also likes to wait by the mailboxes (they are
all together here in one spot) and greet all the neighbors when they come to
pick up their mail.
 >> Stay informed about: How can I make this cat like me? :) 

studio <tlack RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote:

: You've done a fair amount of homework for a person that really
: doesn't own a cat.

Well, it is my nature to "research" everything, but I did grow up with
cats around me. It was less organized "very small town" life in India,
so they weren't my "pets" but let's say we grew up together.

So I have a natural affection for cats and maybe it shows.
Temperamentally, I am not comfortable with the modern culture of one
person owning a "pet". Maybe I just long for my childhood. :-)

: Cats and humans have historically had a very unique and rewarding
: relationship with each other...going back 10,000 years.

Indeed, and I always told my European friends that there's a good
chance they are alive only because of cats: during the centuries when
rodent-spread Black Death (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death>)
plagued Europe killing about 2/3 of the population, and humans had no
worthwhile medical defense to speak of, CATS were all that stood
between humanity and plague!

Just imagine the historical debt. Without cats, I very have little
doubt that European races would have been annihilated.

: Just as in human language...
: 1. "a question" has an upward inflection at the end
: 2. "a comment or statement" is flat
: 3. "a exclamation" is forceful and directed
:
: Then further observation is need to what kitty is doing to help
: further determine what it is they are trying to say.
: There is no exact translation to english, only an approximation.
: This is true also of many different human languages.

Usually I give her food and sit nearby. If she is still hungry she
comes to me and looks with those "I want more" eyes. When she is
content, some food is left on the plate and she quietly marches off to
her bed without interacting with me.

Last evening, having just eaten she was content and going to her bed.
She didn't want anything from me. Just as she passed me, she said a
soft meow. I hadn't heard it before. It was a peaceful greeting, even
if there is no exact translation as you say.
 >> Stay informed about: How can I make this cat like me? :) 

"studio" <tlack RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1193197271.798261.181410@q5g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> On Oct 23, 2:41 pm, "CatNipped" <CatNip... RemoveThis @PossiblePlaces.com> wrote:
>> I use the Purina Fancy Feast Gourmet Gold dry food as treats - the stuff
>> is
>> like kitty crack, Ozzy has even leared how to open the can to get at
>> them:
> http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped/Treats.mpg!
>
> Big Mama likes those also...Fancy Feast likes Big Mama, they send her
> free samples of their food all the time.
>
> The dark grey cat you have is beautiful.
>

Yeah, I think so too, thanks! All my cats are rescues, but Sammy (AKA
Samazon) *has* to have 99.99999999999% Maine Coon ancestry. She's 18+
pounds, but, because she's so well proportioned, she doesn't look that big
until you see her next to a "normal" sized cat:
http://www.possibleplaces.com/catnipped/Jessie17/. Her neck is so thick
that it takes two hands to encircle it.

How did you get on Fancy Feast's mailing list - my five want in on that
deal! ;>

Hugs,

CatNipped
 >> Stay informed about: How can I make this cat like me? :) 

"RPSinha" <rpsinha RemoveThis @null.void> wrote in message
news:241020070028511995%rpsinha@null.void...
> studio <tlack RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> : In some of the premium cat foods, it's not uncommon to find peas
> : and other small bits of vegetables.
>
> I believe they are meant to appeal not to the cats but to their owners.
> It's the market place, whatever works. :)

You can deduce the nutritional needs of any animal by looking at how/where
it evolved. Cats evolved in the desert. It's why they are crepuscular, not
nocturnal as is the popular belief. They slept through the too-hot days and
through the too-cold nights (18 hours out of every 24, which they still do
today), conserving energy for the intense bursts of activity needed when
hunting at dawn and dusk (ever see your cat get "the zoomies" at sunset?).
There was no, or very few, open water sources available, so cats
didn't/don't get the bulk of their fluids from free-standing water (and is
one of the reasons that chronic renal failure (CRF) is the most common
killer of domesticated cats*). They obtained their water through their prey
(which are/were composed of about 70% water - and why the ideal canned cat
food is also about 70% water). There was also no, or very little,
vegetation available to browse upon, which is why they evolved to be
obligate carnivores ("obligate" as in obliged, forced, or required - they
*have* to eat meat). What little vegetation they ingested came from the
stomachs and intestinal tracts of their prey and the occasional grasses they
came upon.

This is why cats do best on a canned food diet. Any added fillers (usually
vegetables) only make them eat more of the food in order to get the little
bit they *can* use (often causing cats to be overweight in the bargain), and
end up in the litter box giving you more to scoop. The cost of a "premium"
food evens out when you realize that they'll eat about twice as much of the
cheap food trying to make up for their nutritional needs. If you use the
premium foods you'll only have to buy about half as much and do about half
the scooping.

*One trick to use to get your cats to drink more water if your cat eats only
kibble.... Since open water sources were so rare in the desert where they
evolved, whenever they *did* come across a water source they drank as much
as they could from it, knowing that they might not come across another for
some time. If you move a cat's water bowl around to new spots in your house
every day, they will instinctively take a drink from it every time they pass
it in a different spot.

Hugs,

CatNipped
 >> Stay informed about: How can I make this cat like me? :) 

On Oct 24, 10:34 am, "CatNipped" <CatNip... RemoveThis @PossiblePlaces.com> wrote:
> Yeah, I think so too, thanks! All my cats are rescues, but Sammy (AKA
> Samazon) *has* to have 99.99999999999% Maine Coon ancestry.

Oh, she is Maine Coon...she is beautiful.
And 18 pounds for a female...that is pretty big.

> How did you get on Fancy Feast's mailing list - my five want in on that
> deal! ;>

The supermarket I go to must have put me on somehow.
Everything is computerized now days, so they can see
by the data that I buy FF a lot.

Every couple months, FF sends her a gift.

FF does send the most beautiful gift packages to her...
complete with a nice card, coupons and samples of their best foods.
I'm very impressed by the FF marketing.
 >> Stay informed about: How can I make this cat like me? :) 

"studio" <tlack.DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1193227759.764385.120280@y27g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
> On Oct 24, 3:21 am, RPSinha <rpsi....DeleteThis@null.void> wrote:
>> studio <tl....DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Well, it is my nature to "research" everything, but I did grow up with
>> cats around me. It was less organized "very small town" life in India,
>> so they weren't my "pets" but let's say we grew up together.
>>
>> So I have a natural affection for cats and maybe it shows.
>> Temperamentally, I am not comfortable with the modern culture of one
>> person owning a "pet". Maybe I just long for my childhood. :-)
>
> What country do you live in now?
> I live in US, so here we own animals and do our best to care for them
> and protect them as best we can.
>
> An interesting quote from Ghandi says;
> "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by
> the way its animals are treated."
>
> In the US anyway, consumer pet owners spend $40 billion a year,
> with many considering their pet a part of their family.
>
> Indeed, I just saw on TV about a woman who has spent $15,000
> on her small dog in medical bills, and said she would sell her
> house if she had to.

Some woman just left several million dollars to her dog.....Jay Leno said,
"Now it's so spoiled that it won't drink out of the toilet unless you put as
twist of lemon in it."
 >> Stay informed about: How can I make this cat like me? :) 

On Oct 24, 5:53 pm, "William Graham" <w....TakeThisOut@comcast.net> wrote:
> Some woman just left several million dollars to her dog.....Jay Leno said,
> "Now it's so spoiled that it won't drink out of the toilet unless you put as
> twist of lemon in it."

lol...her dog was probably always spoiled that way.

That would be Leona Helmsley in NYC.
She owned the Empire State Building.
Also known as "The Queen of Mean"...her little poodle dog got
$10 or 12 million inhertance after she died recently.
Her kids probably have it in for that dog now.
 >> Stay informed about: How can I make this cat like me? :) 

"studio" <tlack.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1193264270.972884.21540@q3g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> On Oct 24, 5:53 pm, "William Graham" <w....TakeThisOut@comcast.net> wrote:
>> Some woman just left several million dollars to her dog.....Jay Leno
>> said,
>> "Now it's so spoiled that it won't drink out of the toilet unless you put
>> as
>> twist of lemon in it."
>
> lol...her dog was probably always spoiled that way.
>
> That would be Leona Helmsley in NYC.
> She owned the Empire State Building.
> Also known as "The Queen of Mean"...her little poodle dog got
> $10 or 12 million inhertance after she died recently.
> Her kids probably have it in for that dog now.
>
Yes.....I wonder who inherits the money when the dog dies.....She
specifically didn't want her kids to get it, so she probably set it up to go
to charity when the dog dies.....I can understand where she's coming from.
There are a lot of people that I wouldn't give any money to, also. (to,
too)? I have known a lot more dogs in my life that I liked better than some
people I've known.
 >> Stay informed about: How can I make this cat like me? :) 

"RPSinha" <rpsinha.RemoveThis@null.void> wrote in message
news:241020070038216175%rpsinha@null.void...
> Great stories and discussions. Some of you have misunderstood me: I am
> really enjoying this cat, it's all fun.
>
> Anyway, today the ice melted just a little.
>
> Everyday, after she finishes eating, she quietly--and rather
> majesticlly--marches towards her chosen "bed", ie, our softest and most
> expensive comforter, ignoring me totally.
>
> Today, however, she said a faint friendly meow just as she passed me,
> as she kept walking. The tone sounded like "hello". I was delighted. :)

The sweetest love is the hardest won! You are so hooked. Girlycats are like
this--they take their time, they let you court them from afar. :)

I love to tell the story of my little shelter cat Gracie, who ran from us
everywhere in the house except the bedroom, which she began to think of as
her territory. She allowed us to pet her up on the bed at first, but was
very reserved, watchful.

Then, some months after I had her, I was petting her, and she flopped over
onto her side and threw her leg back, like a little strumpet! She wanted her
belly rubbed!

Shortly thereafter, she began calling to me, little plaintive cries, very
soft, very much inquisitory, when I was in bed. She approached cautiously,
meowing every couple of feet, watching me. If I moved or responded, she came
to my side, flopped as though she had no bones at all, and waited to be
petted. If I did not, she would lie very close and peer at me. So when I did
open my eyes there was this giant pale gray tabby face, huge green eyes,
inches from my face.

Now she does not ask, she simply demands. :) Jumps up on the bed, vaults off
of my pillow, lands besideme and waits. She'll headbutt my hand when I stop
petting and start falling back to sleep.

She clearly feels entitled to me now. And I love it.

When I found her she was stuck in a tiny room full of caged and loose cats,
looking miserable as she lay in a "donut" bed which a big Tom had decided he
wanted to lie in too. I saw her little pointy face and it was just like in
the movies. The Angels sang and she was the only cat in the room. I walked
over, put out my hand gently, and she leaned her face into it, closing her
eyes. It was love at first sight. :)

I hope you will continue telling us about your little one as things
progress. She sounds lovely.
 >> Stay informed about: How can I make this cat like me? :) 

Very good summary. May I add that carbohydrate-overload caused by dry
food is what requires all that extra water cats don't want to drink and
often don't drink, and contributes to CRF, diabetes etc.

Consider the fact that carbohydrate-overload is now a major cause of
poor health and many diseases among humans, who are designed to eat
some carbs (just not as much as we do). And food meant for human
consumption is better regulated.

Cats are at extreme disadvantage on both counts. Their bodies are ill
suited for the foods our economy wants to push, and the manufacture of
this food is very poorly supervised.

Also of concern should be the tendency of some "premium" cat food
manufactures to load up veggies and fruits in their canned food, and
then charge premium prices for the product because this appeals to the
self-centered cat owners.

As people have wised up to grains like wheat and corn, these clever
manufacturers have moved on to carrots, broccoli, mango and raspberries
and a few dozen other similar ingredients...A cat needs them about as
much as we need a hole in our head! :)
 >> Stay informed about: How can I make this cat like me? :)