Catscapades

If you’ve had cats in your life for any length of time, you probably know that everything’s on their terms. They get petted when they want, fed when they want to eat, curl up in your lap when they want, go outside when they want. If a cat doesn’t get his way, he makes your life miserable.

He’ll yowl, claw your favorite piece of furniture, chew on your new houseplant, knock over the vase of freshly-picked flowers, hide from you and cause you to panic when you can’t find him, trip you in the middle of the night when you’re on your way to get a sip of water, eat from your plate when you turn your back for a minute, chew the bow on a package you just wrapped, shed all over your new black slacks and/or any number of naughty behavior.

However, behaviorists tell us that cats do not understand or perpetuate acts of revenge.

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They don’t play payback. What we perceive as naughtiness or vengeance is simply a cat doing what cats do. There’s no malice or tit-for-tat intended—at least that’s what they say.

We know that cats are closer to their origins (the big cats) than dogs are to theirs. Are you going to trust that your precious little kitty-cat won’t revert back to their beginnings and commit a heinous act in your home? No, it’s best that we appease the cat. Give him what he wants when he wants it. Otherwise he can make your life at least uncomfortable and maybe worse. Those who you with cats already know that’s one reason why we spoil are cats. Right? And we love doing it.

And then there are cats who pay us back for treating them so well by saving our life. (Or do they do this for their own benefit, thinking that if she isn’t here anymore, who’s going to feed me?)

Today, I’d like to honor a cat hero named Grace. She was the saving grace for a family in Wisconsin when she alerted them to carbon monoxide fumes that were seeping into their bedroom. The couple were already experiencing the effects of the gas—they were disoriented, sick, feeling a lot of pain, but Grace’s persistent attempt to get their attention finally prompted them to call 911. All is well in that home thanks to Grace and the family has installed several new carbon monoxide alert systems. Good thinking.

Last month in Canada, a cat on sentry duty in his home at night noticed flames roaring in one of the rooms. He clawed his way into the owner’s bedroom and bit her on the arm. Now some might say he wanted her to get up and save him. Who knows—but everyone in the home that night got out safely thanks to the unnamed cat

Here’s a fun site listing other cat heroes. http://www.kittens-lair.net/history-and-famous-cats/cat-heros.html

What heroic cat acts have you witnessed? How do you spoil your cat?

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Before we get into our topic for the day, I’d LOVE to share excerpts from an email I received yesterday from a fan.

I just finished reading eight of the Klepto Cat Mysteries—now I’ve read them all. As I read from the earlier to the later, I noticed more depth. The characters become real to some extent. I can’t have a cat due to severe allergies so this is a great way to “have a cat.” At any rate, what I especially found interesting is the way you make it so that each story can stand alone and you don’t repeat explanations of who or what from prior ones by cutting and pasting the same paragraphs, which is something many authors do.  You make the explanations only the amount needed and fresh each time. Plus, you have a knack of ending a story without really ending it. You make one anxious to find out how unfinished parts of the story turn out. It was really hard to put down each story and I read way into the night more than once.  Really nice job!  You’re very talented…

Order either the Kindle and/or the print version of Book 22, “A Christmas to Purr About” here:

https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Purr-About-Klepto-Mystery-ebook/dp/B06XH4YR4P/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489750436&sr=8-1&keywords=klepto+cat+mystery

About your cat’s eye color. You may have noticed that kittens all come with dark blue eyes. But when they reach three months or so, their permanent eye color becomes apparent. It may be a shade of blue, gold (copper) or green. Pointed cats (those with light body and dark face, legs and tail) always have blue eyes. White cats are sometimes prone to have eyes of a different color—one is always blue and the other could be copper or green. The odd-eye phenomenon has also been seen in torties, although it’s rare.

When you see a cat with extreme color eyes—almost turquoise, for example, or brilliant gold or green, the color has usually been bred into the cat.

What unusual cat-eye color have you seen in your experience with cats?

I think just about every neighborhood has a collection of outdoor cats. Don’t you enjoy seeing them doing their cat-like things—going about their days in cat-fashion? I rather miss having my own indoor-outdoor cat. Our current cats stay safe inside all the time. We used to have a cat who insisted on having outside-time. Dinah would have it no other way and since she was in charge, we had to comply. She was always inside overnight, though. Sometimes we’d be summoned to let her out at night, but we’d always wait for her to come back in. She’d even go out for a potty-break when it was raining—very quickly, I might add.

My Himalayan, Katy, yearned to go outside as she got older. I was doing a lot of gardening then, and she wanted to be out there with me. So I started allowing her out while I was in the yard. She would always dart back into the house with me when I motioned for her to do so. Those are good memories.

Now I simply enjoy the neighborhood cats when I’m in the yard and I watch them from the windows chasing butterflies, following ladybugs, checking out snails, rolling in the dirt in a sunny spot, etc.

Not all cats are neighborhood-friendly, though. We had one terrorist cat living next door for about five years. Thankfully, his people moved and took him with them. Rocket, an ornery yellow tiger-striped cat, would attack our indoor cats through the windows, sometimes ripping claw holes in our screens. He killed birds. So I had to quit feeding birds for a good while. And he was not friendly to people, either. He’d pretend to be sweet, then he’d claw the heck out of your arm or hand or leg. One neighbor didn’t have screens on her windows and when she’d open them to let in fresh air, Rocket would sometimes sneak in and eat food left out or, worse, attack her older Abyssinian, Ruby. The cat was a psycho terrorist, I tell you! When you love cats, it’s hard to dislike one, but Rocket made it easy.

I think that Cats lend a warm, charming element to a neighborhood. When I’m out walking and I see a cat on a roof, through a window, on a porch, or playing on a lawn, for example, I can’t help but smile. Maybe some of the photos I’ve taken of neighborhood cats will make you smile, too.

Have you ever had a cat that you suspected of leading a double life? One who spent time with you, but not all the time? Maybe she would sleep at your house, but was gone all day. Or he hung around during the day and left at dusk. You probably worried because he didn’t seem to be eating. But he was gaining weight. Did you wonder if your cat had a second home?

My mother is a stopover (probably not the only stopover) for a neighborhood cat. Gibbs is actually quite trim. He wears a collar, which is how we know his name. And he visits my mother’s house every single morning asking for a handout.

One day I called the number on Gibbs’s collar and learned that, indeed, he has loving owners and a home to go home to, but he also roams and begs. Gibbs’s owners say they’ve heard from others who are feeding him. He seems to make the rounds every day and usually scores. Well, he has these big, round eyes that are hard to resist.

I had a cat once who moved across the street when we brought home a dog.

And then there are cats who travel great distances or even just a little ways and either don’t return or return weeks or months later. I just read an adorable story of such a cat. If you haven’t read Caroline Paul’s Lost Cat, A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology, you’re in for a treat.

Caroline is a delightful writer and her story is fun, light, and oh, so telling when it comes to cat behavior. She actually used GPS technology and tiny cameras to find out where her cat was going each day. Her findings are hilarious.

I have a story in my book, Catscapades, True Cat Tales, about a cat I had once who ran away—well, she disappeared. She was a gorgeous cat and she might have been picked up. And she was unique enough to recognize when she showed up again many months later with a newborn kitten. What the heck? I’d had her spayed a year or so earlier. This is a most unusual story and you’ll find it on page 65 in Catscapades, True Cat Tales. Order this book here: https://www.matilijapress.com/catscapades.html

There’s also the story of Bootsie, an adorable black-and-white girl  with four white socks who showed up on my friend, Ann’s doorstep and invited herself in. When she didn’t seem to want to leave, Ann started calling her Bootsie. A few years later, Ann was in her yard chatting with a neighboring farmer when he spotted the cat lounging on Ann’s porch. He said, “Hey, that’s Bootsie.” Ann asked how he knew the cat’s name and he revealed that his barn cat, Bootsie, had disappeared two years earlier and never returned. Now what are the chances of a cat getting to keep her name even when she moves in with new people?

This story is on page 96 of Catscapades.

Today should be termed Eclectic Friday because I have a variety of interesting things to share. First, I finally got a picture of Lily bringing me a toy. I think some of you know I’ve been trying to get a decent shot of her carrying one of her stuffed animals in her mouth for years, but she’s sly and stealth, as if moving her toys around is a secret mission. But today I scored. I actually captured her in two photos. This morning, she’d already brought me her toy lion, baby moose, little hedgehog, and baby bunny. And I missed the shot each time. Finally, when she vocalized her arrival with her little turtle, I grabbed my phone in time and got this too-close, fuzzy shot. I couldn’t believe my eyes when a few minutes later, here she comes with her little stuffed possum. I think her ploy this morning was to make a trade—her toys for my lap, because right now she is making bread in my lap as we speak.

She’s quite a girl. But I don’t think she’ll ever be famous for her stealth behavior. There are many famous cats, however and I found a list of them—some of them record holders. Here, you’ll see listed the fattest, oldest, heaviest, and the cat with the loudest purr. You’ll learn about famous cats in literature, on the Internet, in films and more. There’s even a French cat who was launched into space and returned to earth using a parachute. Wow!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cats

Today, I’d also like to share a site focused on a cat who comforts vets.

http://www.today.com/series/veterans/tom-cat-has-sixth-sense-comforting-ailing-veterans-t102190

There are some pretty amazing cats out there and who knows, maybe Lily will someday hold the record for the most stuffed toys—her basket is overflowing as we speak.

Announcement—New PRINT Klepto Cat Mystery

It’s true, A Christmas to Purr About is now available in print. Order your copy here:

https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Purr-About-Mystery-Mysteries/dp/0998535621/ref=sr_1_22?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489150606&sr=1-22&keywords=klepto+cat+mysteries