Catscapades

You know how I like to collect photos of cats in nature and in the neighborhood out of doors, among plants, in trees, on fences, under cars, walking across the street, greeting me, avoiding me.

I photograph cats peeking out windows, snoozing in gardens, lounging on porch, hiding in the shade, laying in the sun and sheltering from the mist or drizzle. I’ve taken pictures of cats at the beach, cats in corrals, and cats at cat shows—lots of cats at cat shows. I’ve also snapped pictures of cats and kittens in shelters.

If I visit someone with cats, I can’t resist photographing them. I probably have hundreds of photos of other people’s cats and I encourage people to send me pictures of their cats. Here are a few newer ones I’ve collected. These are actually brother and sister cats who live across the street and are just starting to roam a little. Priscilla on the fence. I don’t recall the gorgeous redhead’s name.

National Tabby Cat Day was April 29. Did you celebrate with your tabby? When I had Lily—who was actually a torbi, I celebrated every day. What a sweet being. Lily was my first tabby. I’d had a Persian, Siamese-type, white angora, Himalayan, a snow-shoe-type, a white odd-eye cat, several calicos and tortoiseshells and other color varieties of cats, and then Lily showed up.  Yup, tabbies are the best.

We’ve talked about this before: tabby is not a breed but a color and several breeds include tabbies. The typical tabby patterns are the classic swirl/marbled, mackerel, ticked, and spotted. Tabbies come in silver, grey, dilute, brown tones and red/ginger. And did you know that most tabbies have at least a partial M pattern on their forehead and a dark line running from their eyes. By the way, I called Lily a torbie. This is a tortoiseshell or calico with tabby patches or a tabby with tortoiseshell or calico coloring.

Oh, this might be of interest to some of you. Hopefully, those of you who don’t spay/neuter your cats will reconsider in light of the fact that there are so many homeless cats in danger out there in the world because no one is watching out for them.

The Guiness Book of Records lists the cat that had the most kittens in her lifetime. It was a tabby and she had 420 kittens by the time she was 13 years old. A shocking statistic, don’t you think?

They say that the tabby is intelligent and has a sweet nature. Yes they do. Let’s celebrate them and you might even go out and rescue one from a shelter. If you do, please have it spayed/neutered and keep it inside.

Your cat has a voice. You can most likely distinguish the vocalizing of one cat in your household from the others—maybe even from some of the neighborhood cats who speak to you from outside.

Granted, most cats are fairly quiet. They only spea when they have someone in particular on their mind like eating—“Right Meow!” Olivia isn’t very vocal, but she uses what voice she has—a high pitched mew—almost every day to entice me to get up out of my office chair and play with her.

You may have also heard your cats chirp, squeal in delight (as Olivia does when she leaps up against the walls—I still don’t know what that’s all about). Cats purr, of course, make a little clicking sound when watching a bird out through a window, and they can cry out in pain, although they’re usually quiet when they’re hurting. I imagine that’s an inbred reaction to protect themselves from predators when they are vulnerable. Step on a cat’s tail, though, and you’ll hear that squeal.

Sure, you’re familiar with the sounds your cat makes, but did you know they are capable of making 11 different sounds. Neither did I. (Another source says they make up to 20 different sounds.) Here’s a link that explains some of them. It’s rather interesting.

https://www.thepurringtonpost.com/cat-sounds/

Does your cat sometimes seem to follow in your footprints—you know, imitate something he’s seen you do? I certainly see this trait or ability in Olivia and remember it in other cats I’ve loved. Cats watch and they learn—good or bad, they learn. They know, for example what time of day or evening you’re ready to relax in your favorite spot on the sofa or your favorite chair. Who are you liable to find sitting or sleeping there when you approach? Olivia bats at the window blind pulls and looks at me when she wants me to lift the blinds for her. She loves sitting on her window perch in the evening and watch the world go by. Likewise, she tells me when she wants my office window open so she can enjoy the scents and feel of the out of doors.

Olivia, (as did Lily, and Max) likes to hold or bat at my pens. I often have a writing pen in my hand. Olivia sees this and I frequently catch her holding one of my pens between her paws like she sees me do.

Lily knew how to turn on the bathtub water spigot when she wanted a drink. She couldn’t quite manage it, but she went through the motions of turning it on when I’d walk into the bathroom—showing me what she wanted—copying what she’d seen me do.

Max used to lay on the floor cheek to cheek with me while I fished out one of his toys from under the fridge. Lily used to wear my sandals. I’d take them off and she’d slip her paws into them and take a nap.

Olivia appears to try reading the greeting cards I get in the mail—but she’s probably just trying to knock them over and create chaos. She does express an interest in the things she sees me with—a bottle of nail polish, fresh cantaloupe, the pages of paper I might be working on, my phone, and of course my pens. My pens are hers in her mind.

Has your cat earned the title—copycat? Sometimes does she seem like your little mini-me?

Today we’re honoring the cat known as ginger, marmalade, tiger—the orange tabby. This, as you know, is not a breed, but a color with some interesting aspects. Did you know that 80% of orange tabbies are male? Yes, it’s rather rare to meet up with a female. Some of the most famous orange tabbies were Morris, the cat in the cat food commercials, and Garfield, who is still delighting people in the comics. There was a famous orange tabby in Alaska. He passed away maybe ten years ago, but he was the mayor of a small town called Talkeetna. Yes, he held office there for twenty years before he passed. We visited Talkeetna just before he passed and asked to have an audience with him, but he was too ill then to have company. I’ve included a photo of him here—it was on a postcard I picked up in the town.

There are orange tabbies in some breeds of cat: Maine coon, Manx, Ocicat, Turkish Angora, Egyptian Mau, Rex and others.

Have you ever seen a solid orange cat? You may think you have, but in reality, evidently, there is no such animal. If you see an orange cat, there are stripes in there somewhere. There are different shades of orange tabby—very pale shades to very deep shades called mahogany. And when you meet an orange tabby—or any color tabby—be sure to check out the pattern on his or her forehead—sometimes you’ll see a well-defined M. Often, however, the M is only partial, as it was with my sweet dilute tabby, Lily.

https://allaboutcats.com/orange-tabby-cats