Cats

[Herdfan]

It was finally confirmed yesterday by our housekeeper. Our big cat, Cocoa was able to open a door. We had suspected this for a while now, but she saw him do it.

We have lever handles and he is tall enough to reach up and pull it down and his weight just pushes the door open. He does this so he can get in a eat his sister's food. She gets Royal Canin, he is on diet food. We have seen the results several times and at first thought we hadn't latched the door, but lately we had began to suspect he was able to open the door.

It will be getting a knob this evening. We didn't think he was that smart.

Here is a pic of the boys. Cocoa is on top. He got his name because when he was a kitten he was chocolate brown. Then at about 6 months he turned black like his brother. But in sunlight, you can still see some brown in his undercoat. The one on the bottom is Gizmo. When he was a kitten he had huge ears and looked like Gizmo from Gremlins. Cocoa weighs in at 23lbs and Giz is right at 19. Yeah, they knock over stuff when playing.

 

[Alli]

The one on the bottom is Gizmo.

He looks just like our Oreo! Oreo actually pulled back the curtain for this photo.

 

[Herdfan]

He looks just like our Oreo! Oreo actually pulled back the curtain for this photo.

LOL.

So out of curiosity, Cocoa has a black nose and black pads, Giz has a pink nose and pink pads. What color are Oreo's pads given his/her nose is both?

 

[Alli]

LOL.

So out of curiosity, Cocoa has a black nose and black pads, Giz has a pink nose and pink pads. What color are Oreo's pads given his/her nose is both?

He has a combination of black and pink, of course. One of his little toe beans is actually black on top and pink on the bottom.

 

[Herdfan]

He has a combination of black and pink, of course. One of his little toe beans is actually black on top and pink on the bottom.

Have you ever been to The Hemingway House in Key West? They have those 6-toed cats. Lots of them.

 

[lizkat]

I miss our cats. I told this story in the past (hopefully not this thread ), but we grew up with dogs and were highly offended when Mom brought home a cat. It was an indoor outdoor cat and had a short life, I never really cottoned up to it.

A decade later, with no pets the wife wanted a cat, we got two brother- sister barn cats with sinus infections, got them meds, yet they blew snot all over our laundry room before shaking it. My socialization complete, I discovered just how good a pet they can be and we got a third. Great pets for 17 years.

When they passed, we were moving back and forth between two residences (with the seasons), and decided it was not a good time to get new pets. Maybe eventually we will. This time the wife wants a teacup Yorkie. That remains to be seen. What I like about Yorkies, but not going to pay $1500 for one, is they are small but not yappy dogs, at least the ones I have met.

The thing about kitties is they can be left with food, water and litter for a few days and will be just fine, shopping on Amazon with your credit cards and erasing their browsing history etc. Whereas with a dog... it's either take it with you on your out-of-town journeys or else find someone you trust not only with them but with the contents of your house. I scratched my occasional itch to have a dog by settling for dog-sitting and house-sitting when my bro and his wife took vacations out west. They were so fun, but I was always reminded then of why I'd ended up w/ cats.

 

[Herdfan]

The thing about kitties is they can be left with food, water and litter for a few days and will be just fine, shopping on Amazon with your credit cards and erasing their browsing history etc.

Always had dogs growing up. When I met my to be wife, she had 2 cats and I shared a dog with my parents (I took her home at night, then when I was at work, she went to my parent's). Her cats met my dog and it was quickly discovered that my parents were going to have a dog full time. And they were fine with that.

But after we got married, we were going to go on a weekend away and I was wondering what to do with the cats. She said she would make sure the dispensers were filled and boxes were scooped and that was it. So much easier.

Not so now since we can't free feed the boys. They would weigh 30 lbs. So we have a pet sitter come in twice a day and feed them their controlled portions.

 

[Huntn]

It was finally confirmed yesterday by our housekeeper. Our big cat, Cocoa was able to open a door. We had suspected this for a while now, but she saw him do it.

We have lever handles and he is tall enough to reach up and pull it down and his weight just pushes the door open. He does this so he can get in a eat his sister's food. She gets Royal Canin, he is on diet food. We have seen the results several times and at first thought we hadn't latched the door, but lately we had began to suspect he was able to open the door.

It will be getting a knob this evening. We didn't think he was that smart.

Here is a pic of the boys. Cocoa is on top. He got his name because when he was a kitten he was chocolate brown. Then at about 6 months he turned black like his brother. But in sunlight, you can still see some brown in his undercoat. The one on the bottom is Gizmo. When he was a kitten he had huge ears and looked like Gizmo from Gremlins. Cocoa weighs in at 23lbs and Giz is right at 19. Yeah, they knock over stuff when playing.

Years ago I remember watching a video of a cat who would jump up (just like you are saying) with lever handles on the door to open it.

 

[Huntn]

The thing about kitties is they can be left with food, water and litter for a few days and will be just fine, shopping on Amazon with your credit cards and erasing their browsing history etc. Whereas with a dog... it's either take it with you on your out-of-town journeys or else find someone you trust not only with them but with the contents of your house. I scratched my occasional itch to have a dog by settling for dog-sitting and house-sitting when my bro and his wife took vacations out west. They were so fun, but I was always reminded then of why I'd ended up w/ cats.

With 3 cats when we went on vacation the longest we left them was a week, 3 large kitty litter boxes, a tower water and tower food dispenser. They would be in the basement concrete floor so no serious worries about revenge defecating. The ceiling light was on a timer and it always worked out well.

 

[lizkat]

Years ago I remember watching a video of a cat who would jump up (just like you are saying) with lever handles on the door to open it.

My sister had to put a kid-proofing latch around the handles of her base cupboard where she kept the catfood, after one of her two cats had learned how to hook one of the doors open and so arrive at snack city in between meals.

 

[DT]

Our new kitty is a high speed ninja, she just appears out of nowhere and is gone in the blink of an eye - or - she's in full do-not-mess-with-me-I'm-relaxing, not much in between

Message exchange with me and T about some misappropriated breakfast product

 

[Scepticalscribe]

A friend's cat managed to use lever handles to open the window of their spacious living room, in order to carry out nocturnal assignations of a romantic nature, a fact that only came to light when it became clear that she was pregnant.

 

[Alli]

Have you ever been to The Hemingway House in Key West? They have those 6-toed cats. Lots of them.

I’ve actually never found a reason to go down to Key West.

 

[Herdfan]

With 3 cats when we went on vacation the longest we left them was a week, 3 large kitty litter boxes, a tower water and tower food dispenser. They would be in the basement concrete floor so no serious worries about revenge defecating. The ceiling light was on a timer and it always worked out well.

We had one of those. It was one of the two my wife had when we got married. When we left it took about a day before she would leave a big right behind the door ensuring the door scraped through it when we got home.

 

[Herdfan]

Our new kitty is a high speed ninja, she just appears out of nowhere and is gone in the blink of an eye - or - she's in full do-not-mess-with-me-I'm-relaxing, not much in between

Message exchange with me and T about some misappropriated breakfast product

Ah yes, that kitty thing where they need to be in another room 5 seconds ago.

 

[DT]

"Is that a string? Love those maybe I'll play a little ..."

"OMG I NEED TO MAKE SURE MY BOX IS STILL UNDER THE BED!!"

*disappears*

 

[Huntn]

A friend's cat managed to use lever handles to open the window of their spacious living room, in order to carry out nocturnal assignations of a romantic nature, a fact that only came to light when it became clear that she was pregnant.

Well, cats in heat are miserable to be around, so she was solving the issue for all concerned.

 

[Huntn]

We had one of those. It was one of the two my wife had when we got married. When we left it took about a day before she would leave a big right behind the door ensuring the door scraped through it when we got home.

Having two cats can help. Nothing worse than a lonely cat. Once we had to give our one cat up for non-compliance of litter box usage, imo a direct result of being left for a couple of days. In the Navy, living in a duplex on base (Guam) we used to baby sit the neighbors cat, who when left by itself would use the bath tub to take a dump in, consistently,

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Well, cats in heat are miserable to be around, so she was solving the issue for all concerned.

She was indeed solving the issue; I think the family were astonished at how determined she was to get out to her paramour, for the aforementioned assignation - he seems to have been waiting for her in their (large) garden; they had thought that they had secured the house safely - such measures had always worked for their other cats.

Actually, she was a very handsome cat, (large, and sleek and black, if memory serves, with large eyes) - and was named Wookey, after the Wookey caves; an excellent hunter (huntress?), formidably intelligent, calm, quiet, but an observing cat, a noticing kind of cat, the kind that sat quietly and watched you, and then you realised that she had not only studied you, but that she also remembered what you did.

Actually, she was the sort of cat that tapped a paw on the aforementioned window to be let in, after a small bout of nocturnal hunting, noticing that we were still in the living room, sipping wine; one summer's night, as she sat on the outside windowsill while waiting for us to open that window, I recall how her eyes had followed a large moth - it was crashing against the window - and then she simply somehow caught it, and calmly proceeded to eat it, almost daring us to intervene (we were too astonished to do anything more than set our wine glasses down in disbelief).

She would watch you closely, paying extremely close attention to what you were doing, (not just brushing by you impatiently) as you opened the window to admit her.

And she also used to ask to be fed, and/or let out in the morning, by heading into the parents' bedroom, leaping (quietly) onto the bed, and then proceeding (gently, but firmly) to tap the cheek of the mother (who was German, an absolutely lovely lady, who only died last year), with her paw, in order to awaken her, but not the father, the professor of German, who was left to sleep soundly.

The family were astounded to learn that she was able to open that window, but not surprised by her abilities; they had remarked on the fact that she was a very intelligent cat on a number of occasions, more intelligent they suspected than were the dogs she shared the house with; it was a lovely, large, rambling house, full of books and music, wine and welcome, intelligent, informed (liberal) conversation, discussion and debate, dogs and cats, and, at that time, (around thirty years ago), especially that particular cat; both parents were academics, and the younger son was (and still is) a very good friend of mine.

However, a visit to the vet did occur after the birth of the aforementioned kittens, and the nocturnal assignations ended.

 

[Huntn]

She was indeed solving the issue; I think the family were astonished at how determined she was to get out to her paramour, for the aforementioned assignation - he seems to have been waiting for her in their (large) garden; they had thought that they had secured the house safely - such measures had always worked for their other cats.

Actually, she was a very handsome cat, (large, and sleek and black, if memory serves, with large eyes) - named Wookey, after the Wookey caves; an excellent hunter (huntress?), formidably intelligent, calm, quiet, but an observing cat, a noticing kind of cat, the kind that sat quietly and watched you, and then you realised that she had not only studied you, but that she also remembered what you did.

Actually, she was the sort of cat that tapped a paw on the aforementioned window to be let in, after a small bout of nocturnal hunting, noticing that we were still in the living room, sipping wine; one summer's night, as she sat on the outside windowsill while waiting for us to open that window, I recall how her eyes had followed a large moth - it was crashing against the window - and then she simply somehow caught it, and calmly proceeded to eat it, almost daring us to intervene (we were too astonished to do anything more than set our wine glasses down in disbelief) - and watched closely, paying extremely close attention to what you were doing, (not just brushing by you impatiently) as you opened the window to admit her.

The family were astounded to learn that she was able to open that window, but not surprised by her abilities; they had remarked on the fact that she was a very intelligent cat on a number of occasions, more intelligent they suspected than were the dogs she shared the house with; it was a lovely, large, rambling house, full of books and music, wine and welcome, dogs and cats, and, at that time, (around thirty years ago), especially that cat; both parents were academics, and the younger son was (and still is) a very good friend of mine.

However, a visit to the vet did occur after the birth of the aforementioned kittens, and the nocturnal assignations ended.

We always had our cats neutered.