Meowy Monday — How Does Your Cat Do Christmas?

We see crazy pictures of cats taking down Christmas trees, tangled in holiday decorations, sitting inside gift bags and boxes, tearing open beautifully-wrapped gifts, and even tasting their human’s batch of carefully decorated cookies. Oh my!

Olivia, on the other hand, a kitten still at a year old and a calico as well, is not (so far) impressed at all with Christmas—the tree, the ornaments or even the process of wrapping gifts. I’m stunned. She can be a wacky speedster around the house who loves to slam up against walls and attack imaginary enemies while screeching like a banshee. She chases toys up and down a long hallway, sliding into walls and furniture across the slick floors. The way she jumps and twist in the air after a wad of paper would be the envy of any Olympic athlete, and she certainly has curiosity—stubborn curiosity—“I want that (teabag, pen, dollar bill—whatever) and I want it NOW!” But she has no interest in the holiday decorations and packages. Go figure.

Speaking of going, I thought maybe she was just staying away from the tree because we were here all the time watching her. But we went out to run errands the other day and came home four hours later to find Olivia curled up in her favorite chair napping. The tree and packages were untouched.

Did Lily, the sweet tabby we lost last year whisper in Olivia’s ear when she sent this sweet and sassy calico to us? “Mommy will love you and take really good care of you all the time, but boy can she get angry if you mess with her decorations.”

How many of you have adopted a cat after losing one that was very dear to you and detect traits and behavior unusually similar to the one you lost? Eerie isn’t it? And lovely. PS The candle pictured with Lily is battery-operated–no flames around cats.

Posted in Cats and Holidays | 2 Comments

Feline Friday Fun – A Meowy Christmas Gift for YOU 

You can now order Book 4 of the Calico Cat Mysteries for your e-reading device. Yes: Olivia’s Folly is now available in both print and e-Book at Amazon.com.

As you may recall, in this story, Olivia helps unravel a ghoulish mystery.

Parker takes Olivia, her spunky calico, to visit family at a guest ranch in Colorado. Olivia makes herself quite at home among the critters. She even learns how to ride a horse. But their vacation turns ghastly when dead bodies show up in the most unexpected places, then disappear seemingly without a trace. Olivia is on the job, though, pawing up vital clues that could eventually lead them to the macabre truth. Along the way, Olivia is catnapped in a cruel plot, she rescues vulnerable ducklings, and she teaches a few lessons in cat appreciation.

Here are a few Reader Reviews for previous Calico Cat Mysteries

“I’d give this series 100+ stars. It’s fantastic!”

“I’m totally addicted to this new series.”

“This is a phenomenal series.”

 

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Paws Up for Wednesday – There’s a New Cat Book on the Block

Olivia has been busy. She stars in, yet, another mystery. Book Four of the Calico Cat Mystery series was published last week in print form. Isn’t this an adorable cover? It’s quite the story, as well—yes, it includes a segment where Olivia is found keeping a bunch of baby ducks company. Oh my, does she love those ducklings.

In this story, which I call Olivia’s Folly, she also helps unravel a ghoulish mystery. Parker takes her spunky calico, to visit family at a guest ranch in Colorado and Olivia makes herself quite at home among the critters. She even learns how to ride a horse. But their vacation turns ghastly when dead bodies show up in the most unexpected places, then disappear seemingly without a trace. Olivia is on the job, though, pawing up vital clues that could eventually lead them to the macabre truth. Along the way, Olivia is catnapped in a cruel plot, she rescues vulnerable ducklings, and she teaches a few lessons in cat appreciation.

Are Olivia’s books catching on? Here are a few comments from readers:

“I’d give this series 100+ stars. It’s fantastic!”

“I’m totally addicted to this new series.”

“This is a phenomenal series.”

Order your print copy for holiday reading or as gifts at Amazon. The Kindle version is on the way. I’ll announce it when it’s available.

FYI: All of the Klepto Cat and Calico Cat Mysteries are $8.95 (print) and $2.99 (eBook version). They’re all available at amazon.com. Order the print version of Olivia’s books at https://CalicoCatMysteries.com and receive an autographed and a pawtographed copy.

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Meowy Monday – Cats of a Different Breed

I met a woman once who was obsessed with creating an eternal kitten. She collected petite cats and bred them, then bred the smallest cats she produced. I guess she was going for the tea-cup cat. As far as I know that woman did not succeed.

There are still breeders attempting to breed tiny cats. Have you heard of the minuet cat, a cross between a munchkin and a Persian (or Himalayan). Some call them the Napoleon cat. There’s also the Bambino (sphinx mixed with munchkin) for the hairless version of a small cat.

But the eternal kitten is just one type of cat serious and novelty breeders have attempted to create. As you know there are many new cat breeds showing up—some of them what you might call natural occurring.

Here’s a breed I don’t recall hearing about before. The Keetso. Keetso means big-footed in Navajo, which I thought was odd since this breed was first developed in the UK. The goal was evidently to create a cat with the temperament of a puppy. These cats have large feet like some puppies do—maybe that’s because they’re polydactyl—they have six toes on each paw. To top off their uniqueness, these cats have curly ears. It appears these big cats (up to thirteen pounds) may be hard to find here in the US. But when they are available here, expect to pay over $2,000. Check out the Keetso cat breed here: https://www.pets4homes.co.uk/cat-breeds/keetso/ (and elsewhere on the Internet.)

 

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Feline Friday Fun – How to Entertain a Cat

Here’s a fun site featuring 5 different ways you can make play-time with your cat more fun. As you know, cats are creative beings. Just start bringing out your holiday decorations or wrapping paper and ribbon and you’ll witness more creativity than you can handle. Cats are also good at devising their own little games—playing with the dangling blind cords, climbing through the blind slats and hiding on the window sill, swinging from the curtains, hide-and-seek with their toys, attack the nearest plant, chase and pounce with another unsuspecting cat, dog or you…

Winfield used to give some of his toys a bath in his water bowl or the toilet. Lily would carry her stuffed toys around and decorate the house with them. Olivia hides her chew toys in the cushions of the loveseat, then works feverishly to recover them. Oh, there are so many ways cats can entertain themselves, but they sometimes need a little help. They tire of playing alone or they just want some human companionship. Here’s a great site with some fun ideas.

I especially like the cat obstacle course. We do something similar with Olivia most evenings and she has so much fun. She entertains us and it tires her out so, inevitably after a while she just wants to chill next to me while I relax the rest of the evening away. Win-Win.

https://www.hillspet.com/cat-care/play-exercise/five-fun-things-to-do-with-your-cat

 

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Paws Up for Wednesday – Cats Who Come Home For the Holidays

I told you about the sweet mackerel tabby that had found his way to our house big time recently. I mean, he was all over us and even sneaked inside a time or two when we were coming or going. We fed him. We asked around the neighborhood about him. We put notices on local lost-and-found facebook pages and finally decided to take him to the local Humane Society to have him checked for a chip. Bingo!

He was registered as Ash and he was adopted in a nearby city. His registered owner did not answer her phone while we were at the Humane Society with him. But since the officers were able to leave a message at the phone number, we left Ash and prayed they would follow through and get the very friendly guy back home.

Another Bingo—I just learned that Ash is now living half block up from us with a woman and her grown daughter. They are going to try making him an inside cat only and he’s wearing a new collar in case he gets out. I’m told that this woman recognized Ash from the pictures we posted on a local facebook page and they contacted the humane society. Thank goodness for social media and for the chip technology. I just wish more veterinarians would push it. Maybe some do. Over all these years we’ve gone to our veterinarian and anytime we’ve visited an emergency veterinarian, none of them has ever suggested we chip our cats. Wouldn’t you think they would? But yes, wouldn’t you think someone like me who knows the ropes about cat behavior and who has lost cats (only temporarily, thank heavens) and found cats, would automatically chip any cat I plan to keep?

Olivia came to us with a chip and for that I am thankful. If she were to get out, however, no one could get their hands on her to help her unless she agreed. She has the speed of a cheetah—maybe that’s because the big cat she’s most closely descended from is the cheetah—well, according to her DNA report from BasePaws.

Posted in About Cats, Cat Rescue | 2 Comments

Mindful Monday Becomes Meowy Monday

If you’ve been reading the Catscapades blog posts for long, you will recognize this as a change. Yes, changes are a-coming. You see, I started this blog in March of 2009—over 12 years ago. I’ve made over 3,000 posts, which consisted of around 900,000 words.

Do you know what that means? I’ve challenged myself to come up with new topics, concepts, reports, news items, themes, subjects related to cats five times a week every year for 12 years or 260 of them per year. Folks, there comes a time when what worked no longer works, when what was once a lot of fun becomes a bit of a chore, and when you just feel as though your material is no longer fresh. To me that means it’s time for a change. Here’s how I plan to shift my gears.

I’ll be posting just three times a week. I haven’t decided if I’ll have a theme for each Monday post, Wednesday post, and Friday post or if I’ll pretty much follow my pattern of trying to keep things interesting with a mix of posts on unique cats and items, news, comments on cat-related situations and specific cats, my personal observations about cats and experiences with cats, as well as announcements related to the Calico Cat and Klepto Cat Mysteries. I’ll most likely continue to mix in a little (or a lot) of cat-related fun and humor. If there’s anything you’d like me to cover here, just let me know.

I appreciate Rags’s and Olivia’s fans more than you know and I appreciate those of you who have followed my blog over the years—as well as all of you new followers and those of you who simply pop in once in a while to see what’s going on at Catscapades.

I could also use help with my titles. So far I’m going with Meowy Monday, Paws Up for Wednesday and Feline Friday Fun. Like? Dislike? Ideas?

Stay tuned each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I’m pretty sure you get a notice in your email of each new post. If my blog program fails to inform you, just know that there are fresh posts three times a week at https://MatilijaPress.com/Catscapades.

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Frivolous Friday – Intentional and Happenstance in Cat Photography

You know that I enjoy photography and I sometimes whine when I can’t get the shot I want with the cats. I guess photography is like everything else with cats, it’s all up to the cat—on the cat’s timeline, depending on the cat’s mood…

I like to get that shot depicting the cat doing catlike things, but also uncatlike things. And I relish capturing a sweet or unusual moment the cat has staged. Cats will stage photos, like this one of Olivia looking at herself in the mirror. Cute. And the photo you’ve all seen that I took of Lily playing with the grandkids’ alphabet blocks. That one was chosen for publication in one of the Cat-a-day calendars. It also appears on the box the calendar comes in. That’s a keeper.

One of my best efforts was no effort at all. It’s the once-of-a-lifetime capture of my mother’s cat, Smokey, leaping toward the camera after a bee. Yeah, you’ve all seen it. Proud of that one.

We carry cameras with us everywhere we go these days in our phones. It’s easier and easier to snap those spur of the moment pictures of a cat in a certain setting, or with unusual lighting, doing something uncatlike, silly, cute. Oh, and what about cats interacting with other animals–pigs, ducks, horses, and so forth. Is there anything cuter?

You may remember the photo I show occasionally of a cat curled up in a resting pony’s tail.

 

Posted in About Cats, Cat Photography, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Thoughts for Thursday – National Cat Lovers Month

December is National Cat Lovers’ Month. As the organizers say in their promo, this is the month when we have the opportunity to honor the beauty, smarts, and sass of our feline friends. And this month there might be a lot of opportunity to honor their beauty, smarts, and sass as we deal with our desire to decorate, wrap, and bake with curious and sassy cats in the house. Christmastime means interesting decorations to play with, chocolate, temptingly-wrapped gifts, maybe candles, fireplaces burning and guests.  What we consider traditional fun and frivolity, may actually create tempting hazards and potential for disaster—cats knocking over the Christmas tree, slipping out the door with unaware guests, shredding bows and tearing gift wrap, and destroying your efforts to decorate. If you have cats, you know what I mean.

If you love your cats you will make all kinds of concessions, especially where you know your cat might err. We have one who eats ribbon and bows—so we’ve given up using them on packages. We no longer burn candles, but I have a lot of battery operated candles for mood. I’m very careful when I cook with chocolate and I don’t leave chocolate candy where the cats can get it. I display poinsettias out of doors only along with any bouquets of gift flowers with anything toxic in it.

Bottom line is, anticipate the dangers your cat might fall into and keep the worst from happening this holiday season. Do any of you have stories of your cats finding trouble at Christmastime?

 

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Wild (and Sometimes Crazy) Wednesday – Your Cat’s Body is Talking

Do you know what your cat is saying to you? I imagine you know her cues for when she wants food, your spot on the couch, or attention. One of our former cats, Winfield, always checked his kibbles bowl before we’d go to bed. If he could see the bottom of the bowl, he’d stand at the bowl and stare into it until we poured more kibbles. So before bedtime we checked Winfield to see if we needed to fill the kibbles bowl.

Olivia tears their water fountain apart when the water isn’t flowing. (We unplug it when we leave the house for any length of time.) Of course there’s water in it and there are two other bowls of water in the house, but when she wants fresh running water, she wants fresh running water and, when that isn’t happening, she will launch a protest by vandalizing the machine.

There are certain stances and looks and activities your cat engages in that you recognize immediately and there are some we never quite figure out. Olivia, for example, always reaches one paw up toward my shoulder and pats me before jumping up onto my lap when I’m in my office chair. I assume this is a show of affection or maybe she’s just letting me know she’s coming up. I don’t know, but it is charming.

Here are some examples of your cat’s body language that maybe you didn’t understand before.

https://blog.petcube.com/cats-body-language

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