I generally keep my bedroom door open overnight, because our oldest cat Oreo likes to sleep in bed with me. Our two new kittens, Maia and Pandora, are kept locked in my sister's room at night, because their kitten food is very bad for Oreo to eat (she's in the early stages of feline diabetes).
But this morning as I was waking up, I was greeted in my bed by Pandora, who'd been let out a bit earlier than usual. She sat next to me for a minute or so, then climbed up to explore around my desk.
My desk that had various small items strewn across it from the past few days.
Various small items, including a very attactive-looking, clear plastic cap about 1/2 inch in diameter, used to protect the power plug for my iBook when it's not in use. A cap which she promptly ate.
I have no idea just how the heck she managed to swallow the damn thing -- she's not even five months old yet -- but the next thing I knew I heard her making some quiet retching noises.
Thankfully, she wasn't choking, but apparently it was uncomforatble and she spent the next half hour licking her chops and appearing to have discomfort in her throat.
So of course, it was off to the vet with her for X-rays and a checkup! And also a $145 bill, with more to come tomorrow for a follow-up (since the initial X-rays didn't find anything conclusive). Thank goodness I just had to pass the receipt on to my father when I got home...
This is the first time in almost 13 years that we've had true kittens in the house, and I can't believe what kind of trouble they can get into. Expensive trouble, too! All I can say is, this may make me rethink the idea of me having children some day.
Aww, now she wants to cuddle up next to me on the sofa... Completely forgetting that I dragged her off to get poked and prodded by a total stranger only an hour ago. What a short attention span. Heh.
Posted by David Templar (Member # 580) on :
Serves you right, you damn Mac us... I mean, poor kitten. What does she look like? Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Well, at least the visit to the vet didn't traumatize her, unless my sister's cat Tyler. Poor Tyler was fixed years ago, and he still feels utter rage towards the man who stole his balls.
The last time I went with my sister to take the cat to the vet for a check-up was not pleasant.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
This is Pandora. The picture was taken about two months ago... she's gained 2.5 points since then.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
She's a troublemaker, you can tell by her stance - she's stalking something. Probably a stray lego.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Molly had that stance. But I'm glad Pandora's OK. 8)
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
I'll bet she's just tracking that funny little gizmo that someone told someone to throw somewhere to create that perfect pose. :-)
Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :
"The biggest problem with a kitten is that Eventually it grows up to be a cat."
- Shell Silverstein
And with those words, my friend, I must tell you I had the pleasure and fear of owning a kitten. She too was predisposed to putting things in her mouth that wouldn't normally fit. She also loved climbing the window screens, attacking my feet as they move under my sheet while I'm sleeping, and even leaving me a nice gift when she couldn't reach her litter box.
However, she has grown considerably since last year. She knows where her litter box is, She doesn't eat things that aren't tasty, and she seems uninterested in my feet. However, she loves to escape outside and not show up until 4am- and of course she wants everyone to know about her adventure, and she loves to knock little things off dressers and countertops. When your kittens reach cat stage, I highly recommend getting a squirt bottle(a new clean one) so you can spray them when they do something naughty. Use it immediately after they do something wrong so that they remember better.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"When your kittens reach cat stage, I highly recommend getting a..."
...dog.
Posted by Cartmaniac (Member # 256) on :
Funny how cats always give you that endearing look right before they do some nasty predatory business. B)
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
My Theo is five years old as of June 25th but he has not turned into some cynical, indifferent "Garfield" creature at all.
He has retained all his best kitten qualities, talking to me cheerfully and wanting me to respond, rolling around on the livingroom floor, belly- up, inviting to a wrestling game, or generally sitting down on my newspaper/keyboard/sofa-table in pursuit of a scratching or brushing.
He actually likes the brush I use on him, if I hold it up in front of his snout he purposely leans forward and streaks his cheek against it, purring away like a tungsten carbide drill. (editor's note: doing it as we speak, in fact) He can be a mean son-of-a-bitch when it's his honor against the cotton rat's on the line, I have the scars to prove it, but he makes up for it by being as close to Nermal-Grade cuddly, it almost makes me puke.
He knows his way with the ladies too, he's pulled at least three visiting girls down on the doormat with him for a tummy-rub, they didn't even know what hit them. One of them became my gf the same evening. Thanks for making sure, Theo.
[ August 07, 2003, 07:40 AM: Message edited by: Nim ]
Posted by Griffworks (Member # 1014) on :
We've got two cats right now - Witch and Casper. Both are inside cats, all-black & half-Siamese. Poor Witch really misses her brother, Warlock who passed away in early February while I was deployed. Warlock had feline diabetes and just finally gave up one evening, after having been pretty sick for about a week, Wife tells me. Poor Witchy has started losing her hair, which the vet says is some sort of allergic reaction, and has gotten fleas for the first time in her life. We've taken both of the cats to a groomers to be dipped and all that and then bombed the house, yet the damned things are back! I'm going to look for some Seven Dust later today and spread that around the house in hopes that'll get rid of them.
Anyhow, Wife and I are pretty saddened at poor Witchy's hair falling out. Especially with the hives that she has on her head. They itch so bad she's constantly scratching, which doesn't help the hair situation and just makes things worse for her hives. I'm hoping that maybe this is a reaction to the fleas and the seven dust, anti-flea carpet cleaner and another couple Bug Bombs will get rid of the fleas once and for all.
The other cat we have in the house is Casper. Casper is the Little Bastard in the house. He has a rather loud cry that will curtle milk and feels he has to do so at the worst times, especially if it's 3am, he's tired and wants you to Love Him by petting him so he can fall asleep. Or if he's hungry, he'll follow you around 'til you get him what he wants.
As a kitten, Casper used to climb furniture, curtains, screens and people, digging those claws in as deep as he could. He was so full of piss-n-vinegar that when Wife took him to the Vet while I was deployed and asked if she could have him fixed and declawed (front's only) at like 6 months, the Vet said "Sure!" All that did was to slow him down for about a week, she tells me.
Casper has liked to eat non-organic things since he first came into our house. He loves to eat packing "popcorn", plastic streamers that come on kids toys, tinsle, egg-shell that has been dyed and sealed with polyurethane paints, plastic bags, etc... He used to be espcially fond of model parts or at least just knocking my models off the damned shelves. I got some advice from my mother-in-law about how to handle this, as she breeds dogs and has some experience w/training pets. The water bottle thing is what finally did the trick some years ago.
Of course, I also discovered that he doesn't like to be shot w/hand-spring gun which shoot plastic BB's. After shooting him three or four times, all I have to do anymore is cock the thing and he runs and hides. At least it keeps him from playing "Alpha Male" with Witchy, who's 14 and doesn't need him jumping all over her.
Casper's now about 7 years old and didn't even come close to really slowing down 'til he broke his leg three months back. My son, Daniel, decided that Casper needed out. Casper promptly went to our patio, climbed on top of the grill, apparently, and then proceed to scale the privacy fence. I was at work that evening and got a call explaining all thise from Wife, who needed to take him to the Vet Hospital's ER 'cause it was a compound fracture and we couldn't just have him bleeding all over the place. They bandaged him up and put a plaster cast on him, but said he'd need to be taken to our Vet to have the leg actually set and likely pinned, which is what happened.
In the end, it cost us close to USD$1,000. He's still an ornery little shit, but he's not nearly as bad as he used to be and doesn't try to go outside anymore. It was expensive, but I think we finally got him trained. Now, if I could just figure out how to make him stop crying at all hours of the night.
Posted by Krenim (Member # 22) on :
We've got six cats here, each more insane than the last. Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
I don't think I've told the story of how we got Sassy, our third cat (at the time).
Basically, she adopted my Dad while he was out on a job surveying a client's property. She followed him around in the summer sun for FOUR HOURS. He ended up bringing her home -- even though he claims he hates cats. Now, Sassy is basically "his" cat because he's the one she hangs around the most.
But she's a really spiteful little thing, too! When my dad goes away on business, she always shuns him for a few days once he returns. Usually she sits off to the side on his office desk while he works (he even put up a towel for her to lie on -- and he says he hates cats! Ha!). But when she's mad at him, she won't let him come anywhere near her, and dashes off if he tries to approach. However... she's never more than about ten or twelve feet away from him, either. She won't let him near her, but she won't stay far away either! It's like she's trying to punish him or something...
A cat's psyche just boggles the mind -- even after living with them for 22 years. Sheesh!
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
My cats are both on CRACK COCAINE.
Well, no. They like to lounge around in the sun and climb to obscure shelves and hide behind dusty paperbacks, causing me to think they accidently got out, resulting in me running around looking for them for hours on end.
Silly furballs.
Posted by Styrofoaman (Member # 706) on :
We have two cats, Fubar and Nuts. Had a third named Psycho but she got run over by a lawn-mower. (Long story involving a sick neighbor who is now in the psych-ward.)
All of them have a condition called The Rips. That's when they suddnly bolt awake and pounce on some non-existant somthing or other only they can see. Rather funny to watch.
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
Psycho seems to be a common name. My parents have four... Psycho & Schitzo (brothers), and Lucy & Pauly (sisters)...
Psycho is just... weird. He tends to attack things that aren't there, attack Lucy (who will promptly kick his ass)... Schitzo is parinoid and delusional, 'nuff said. Never gets close to anyone. Ever. Unless they're already petting him, in which case he cares not.
Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
We have a cat named Sadie, had her for a while. Found her hanging around our house in Valpo as a stray, we've kept her since. She's rather unique looking, black and brown with a white ring at the tip of her tail. She's probably around 4 years old now at least. She's fond of late nite feedings of sliced ham, and chasing the bugs and birds in the yard. She hates me however, so I abuse that fact by messing with her head.
She also can't figure out the odd contraption we have that is my sister's guinea pig. It interests her and scares the crap out of her at the same time. The guinea pig couldn't give a shit about the cat, however.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
My cat IS on crack cocaine. Seriously. She's insane. She tends to go on these hyperactive spurts all the time where she'll run around the house like a bat out of hell. And she stalks you when walking around the house and attacks your legs. She's one crazy cat.
Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
Well, my cousins had a cat back in 1990... cute little thing. Then one day he was crushed by the automatic garage door because he tried to run out. Then they had a dog that drowned about a year ago in the pool. Now they have a hyperactive laberador who likes to roll in horse manure and hump visitors.
What's the lesson... get a fish for a pet. When they die, you don't really feel that bad about easily replacing them.
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
I have two cats, Willow and Bramble (Mother and daughter). Picked them up from the cattery today, where they've been for two weeks. Willow's relief at being able to get away from Bramble (who is not the brightest of cats and usually eats most of the food) was immense.
Also in Greece I was adopted by a cat at one taverna. My fault for feeding him Souvlaki... And there were incredibly cute kittens at another taverna I went to who liked curling up in flower pots.
Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :
I suspect because she's poising to leap at the person daring to attempt to photograph her. 9)
Posted by Tora Regina (Member # 53) on :
I constantly get flea bites on my legs because of our dog.
Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :
Not all of us can afford a high-quality digital camera, Snay Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
I don't have a digital camera, even a low end one. Maybe this fall sometime. Where the heck have YOU been, anyway? I sold my Jeep!
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
And he is now known as "Darth Celica".
Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :
Well, since graduating, I've been involved with the TFC community(a Halflife MOD) but I have since dropped out of that, due to many reasons(the largest being Real Life). I've been popping in every now and then here.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Well shit, I'm involved with the CS community but you don't see me leaving Flare (much to everyone's chagrin, I'm sure).
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Flare is real life now?
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
*bump* I've just got this more recent photo that I thought some people here might enjoy seeing. For those who don't like reading old parts of the thread again, this is Maia and Pandora, two sisters we adopted back in May. They'll turn a year old sometime in March (we don't know when).
Maia is on the left, and Pandora is on the right. Their heads aren't overlapping or anything -- they just look like they're connected weird because of the angle and how they're snuggling up against each other.
(It's amazing how BIG they're getting already!) Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
DEVIL CATS! DEVIL CATS!
When I first got Tippy, she was about six weeks old. She could literally curl up in the palm of my hand. And now! Well, she's a regular fatso.
Whose legs are those cats claiming as their sovereign fur-itory?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Y'know, cameras do come with anti-red eye flashes now. Are you ALL that terrible at taking photos?
Posted by Manticore (Member # 1227) on :
Wow, Dan's a cat-lover? That almost makes up for his constant mac-missionarian-isms... (Then again...I'm a mozilla missionary...so I shouldn't complain. )
I used to have a cat named Smokey, smartest cat that I've ever seen, and one of the kindest. We finally had to put her down after knowing her for a few years (she adopted us when she was 15, just to put it into perspective) due to diabetes and numerous infections. I was crushed for several weeks.
We have a new cat named Shadow, pure black, and evil. She likes hanging out with the family (whenver there's 2 or more in one room she's invariably in that room) but she always looks away or something to pretend that she's completely independent. She also loves hands. Eating them that is...
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Snay: Yeah, we got these two when they were eight weeks old. At the shelter, they were climbing over my shoulders while I was standing up straight. It's amazing how small they are at first... and how they grow. Pandora will eat anything in sight, and she's getting to be a regular porker.
Liam: No, my dad took that photo and sent it to me. They're both sharing my mom's legs.
Cats rule, dogs drool! Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
My grandmother's cat is 17 lbs. and (when on it's hind legs) is over two feet tall. It's not fat: it's one of those six-toed Hemmingway Cat freaks.
Cool cat though.
Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :
This is Billie.
And she's totally insane. She's presently sitting on the desk trying to get at my ice cream sandwichs.
Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :
Now she's watching an ant walk across the desk.
Nut.
Posted by Manticore (Member # 1227) on :
I think that you just described every cat in existence Jay. Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Our two beasties. . .
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Aww, they're all beautiful cats there!
Lee: What are your cats' names again?
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
Here's a couple of shots of my own personal insane fuzzball, Poncho.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Frazzle (sleeping - male, 7, Persian cross, my wife's cat) and Dizzy (who doesn't usually have such a mad stare - female, 3, British shorthair, a pedigree with vet bills to match, an engagement present from my wife).
Poncho, eh? Probably no more named for the character in Predator than my cat is for the character in Starship Troopers. . . 8)
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
"My grandmother's cat is 17 lbs. and (when on it's hind legs) is over two feet tall."
Is that really a cat, or a baby tiger? B)
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
It's head is bigger than a softball.
Seeing something that large move like a small cat and still jump onto tables is a bit....odd.
The extra toes make it walk a bit strangely though.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Is it a Mainecoon? I want one of those.
I had to give away my kitten, Callie, over a year and a half ago ... and on the way home from work tonight, for no reason, I thought of how she would jump onto the bookcase above my bed at 3 in the morning, and launch herself (claws extended) onto my sleeping form ... *sniff* Came home and snuggled up to Guy for a little bit, I miss that crazy calico of mine. Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
I had the same "claw attack" thing happen to me on my first night at my ex-girlfreind's apartment.
Luckily she was in the bathroom....'cause kitty went flying.
Just reflex on my part: she didint tell me she had a cat and it stayed outta sight for hours untill she left the room....
No, my grandma's cat is not a "mainecoon" (whatever that is!). Here in suth Florida, we have "Hemmingway cats" (named after the famous author that kept a couple dozen around his Kew West house) and they do get large.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Heh. Cats have been domesticated for so long it's easy to forget there are still fearsome hunter-killer beasts with some vicious predatory instincts hidden under all that cuddly fur... until they sink their paws into you, anyway. B)
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Or until they get crazed by the minty smell of toothpaste on your hand, and grab it with both paws to try to gnaw on your finger... Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
I know times are tough, but really....buy a toothbrush.
[ March 06, 2004, 08:44 PM: Message edited by: Jason Abbadon ]
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