CHRISTMAS CAT TREE

There was a mystery gift and it wasn't under the Christmas tree. Rather it was sequestered in behind the tv and covered over with a blue blanket ~ its hasty wrapping paper. When, what to my wondrous eyes should appear...

A brand new cat tree for the cats to enjoy! Me too, actually, because now they won't be on every other surface in the house and since they lost their last cat tree this past spring, they've been wanting one back. 
My husband made this tree from bits of rough hewn wood he found round the dairy. When, I don't know and when he got it into the house and down the stairs into the basement where I rarely go, I don't know and he isn't telling...
But I've been asking for one for a-g-e-s to keep the cats off other kitchen surfaces that they've claimed as their own and out from under my feet.

four cats in a tree

 

After putting it in the kitchen for the time being its become the most popular place in the house! Come January it will go in the living room front window.

This is the only way Molly and Sassy will share - 1. when they can't see each other and 2. when they are on different tiers.

The morning's entertainment on Boxing Day 2012;

For once Molly isn't hitting Winston and she can't see Blackie, so he's safe.
Of course, there's a story here, the grey cat on the highest tier is a little female; the one beside is a male...

Since she was fixed she's gained weight and  attitudes toward every cat that used to beat her up. 

So guess what?

Winston and the Grey male sharing the cat tree on Boxing Day morning.

Pretty much, you guessed it; she will take after any cat now...

Barn cats sharing a homemade cat tree

Happy Christmas to Everyone, including you're pets!

Prosperity, Family and Good Friends are all very welcome in the New Year ~ 2013

Catspaw

Every Picture Has A Story To Tell...

...and this pair certainly have a Tall tail to tell. Can you imagine what kind of story?

Look at the pictures and try to guess. 

I will tell you the story tomorrow.

Catspaw

My Baby ~~ Winston

This is Winston. He's my only male among three females ~ all fixed and he's my Baby!

He is also quite a unique character...
 
 






Winston and his mother, Molly...
when she isn't reproving him with a bat to the ear or a whack on the head for some imagined offense or just because its Tuesday.

A winter days slumber on the old rocking chair.

This, I have no explanation for! 


He's just 'Winston'

 
Is it morning yet?  Or... What do you mean its Monday, what happened to my day off, Sunday?

Winter's day nap.

Back in March, we had a nice day and this was as far as Winnie was going to enjoy the great outdoors ~ and that, was that!

So, how many cats to you know who habitually lay like this?

 Winston, inquiring after butter for his morning toast. Where's my Toast??

 Winston strongly suspects someone, who is not a family member, is on top of the fridge...

I have a plastic covering over the window so Winston can't climb up. Instead he's investigating an unusually bright orb in the night sky. Oh, what can it be???

These are only a few reason as to why he's my baby!

Catspaw

2.5 Growlers, A Screamer and A Beggar!

Of my four cats, three of which are female, I have two and a half Growlers, a Screamer and the beggar is usually two of the four.

When was the last time you heard a cat scream?  There really isn't a sound like it and it can't be mimicked by human vocal cords. If I absolutely had to part with any of them, only Winston could relocate and there is no way I'm parting with him!

Wondering which are which yet?

Winston is my male tabby and he's the biggest darling you will ever meet.

Sassy, on the other hand...

She's my Screamer! No cat screams like Sassy!  She sets the entire household on edge with her screams and she screams when any cat, other then ours are around. Yesterday she didn't realize that she was laying beside a grey barncat in the office, when he moved and touched her, she screamed. She is also one of my growlers. Poor Winston, he's surrounded with moody females, each with a temper and he's always getting snapped at or a whack on the nose for no reason. He always exits the room as fast as catly possible and with as much dignity as he can keep intact.

You would look at Emerald, sitting on the chair and think to yourself, what a beautiful cat!  Well...

Depends how you like your cat personalities.

She is my Chief growler.

She absolutely HATES to be picked up and will growl at you for it! Come to think of it, she hates a lot of things. She growls if you pet her when she doesn't want it, she growls if you pick her up, she growls if you don't give in to her demands, she growls if you let other cats into the house, if you've touched an alien cat and then have the audacity to pet her... Ya, well, you get the picture. Emmy will not only beg food from you, she will down right take it off your plate if you're not watching. We love her anyway ~ we kinda have no choice!

Molly and Winston are pictured here ~ Mom and son, though half the time you wouldn't think so. 

Molly comes in a close second in the growler department but with something added ~ a Real Catattuide! Molly is one of those cats who believes the world and more importantly, that we in particular, owe her a living. She is the principal one to give Winston a cuff, a slap, a whack, a growl whenever she sees fit. She is very Moody and a very particular beggar. There are only certain things she demands and she demands them, incessantly. Molly is also very animated, she will come and ask to be let outside and will ask persistently if you don't do it right away.

That leaves my Winston...

Gifted with the sweetest disposition that the females lack, he's become far more vocal since he's been neutered. He 'puts up with' his mother ~ Molly, Sassy and her daughter Emerald. He's a strategist though, when they start with the growling, screaming or bopping ~ he's OUTTA HERE! He will only growl if the barn cats come too close.

As you can well imagine there is seldom a dull or reasonably quiet moment to be had in this house, especially with the constant invasion of about four barncats who like to spend the day inside sleeping and out of the cold and wet where they usually spend their nights. Its been a slow process but my cats have learnt toleration. That, of course, does not mean always acceptance of the rule of sharing what they consider their exclusive territory. Oh well.

Catspaw

Sailor and the Ruined Castle, Con't

As he leaned, a growing awareness of where he needed to be was breaking through the cloudiness of his mind and with it an imperative to reach the ruined castle. Sailor abruptly remembered the 'something' that lived in that place and a possible reason why no one ever passed that way. Though he still couldn't reason it out he knew instinctively that the answers were to be found inside those crumbling walls. Sailor needed to know what was happening to him and the reason for it; the ruined castle had always seemed to be the focal point for his life ~ he was born there, the place called to him, it was familiar and had always conveyed the feeling of a much missed and much sought after home to him. Why? What was it about that castle that compelled him to stay near it? Sailor simply had to find out. To the castle he would go, his exhausted mind told him. 

Catspaw 

A Readers Narration

A visitor to my blog told me this story and I wanted to share it with you, verbatim:

Quote: “I don't really have much of a story, we had a white color mini poodle who died then we got three cats from the SPCA . :) We got a Maine-Coon that was about 10 years old, she seemed lonely. :)
So we got a Tux Boy that was only about 1 year old but he was too much energy for the Maine-Coon :)
And then we got a several month old ginger Tabby to play with the Tux as he is very high energy. :)
Our Tux cat is like a dog, he is smart and he nods his head at you to say hello. :) He always gives you a double head nod as a way to say hi. :) It's funny, as he's like a person since people often nod too. :)” End Quote

I decided to see if I could find some pictures of a Maine-Coon and a Tux Boy, here's what I came up with. A Tux is a Tuxedo cat and I didn't realize it but I believe Molly and Boo were Tux's! Go figure, the things you learn huh! 

Pictures of Maine Coons

Pictures of Tuxedo cats

Picture of Boo, the baby I lost just last year was definitely a Tux Cat!

Molly, Tux Cat!

Catspaw

Its A Molly-Sneak!

I can always tell when Molly is bored, she picks up and plays with the blue plastic ring from a peanut butter jar, happily yowling and chattering to herself while racing after it, getting it lost under the mini carpet in the kitchen or tossing it in the air. 
Other times she amuses herself sneaking up on an unsuspecting Sassy. Its funny to watch as she stealthily picks her time to give Sassy a 'what for' swat and waits to the predictable reaction. 

Molly's stealthy sneak on Sassy...

Sassy's predictable snarl and yip reaction

...

...leads to their mutual distrust of each other.

Life is never boring living with 4 cats! 

Catspaw

And Then Came…

And then came… Winston. Once again Sassy and this time Molly graced us with little ones. Now there were eight kittens and three cats in our family. Emmy was curious about them but highly concerned lest they take the attention away from her. I assured her this would not happen and she was happy, though she remained suspicious of them until they grew older and she realized, they were her personal animated ‘toys’. She was never too rough with them as they made a good job of nipping her if she did.  

I had found homes for them on one of the more popular classifieds engines online and as each one found a home, I found I had one left, a little tabby male with a darling personality. Compared to the three females he is mild and calm and half the time couldn’t figure out what all the ruckus is about with the sparing between Molly and Sassy. Winston is Molly’s baby; it seemed that people wanted females instead of males so we kept him for ourselves.

He’s a beautifully colored dark stripped tabby with a line of color that extends under his chin making him look as if he’s wearing a white bib. He is the calmest of the four and rarely gets excited about much, being more cautious about new things whereas Emmy will dive right in, regardless of the consequences. 

Being of an age now to be aggressive in play, a fact Emerald distinctly dislikes since she can be somewhat of a bully at times, their play can get quite yowly at times. Winny is strictly an indoor cat at this time, the one time he did venture outside he wasn’t impressed; he’s decided it has to be the right temperature for him to grace the world with his presence. He prefers to look out the window instead.   

Now that I have introduced them all, the intention of this blog is to not only share cat stories but to endeavor to offer other information from my own personal experiences with these unique animals and share them with my readers. In upcoming articles I will write about practical things like how to write successful ads that get immediate results when finding homes for kittens and cats, especially online; naturopathy that I have used for cat health and well-being, raising kittens, saving strays and throwaways; how to help farm and feral cats.  

I hope you will stay tuned for these upcoming articles, stories, quotes, ideas, names and even a cat food or treat recipe or two. Thank you for stopping by. 

Catspaw

Sassy Has a Tail to Tell

Cat Friend Two

We’d been hearing an otherworldly meowing for three or four days. Boo and Molly were inside but we could never be sure if it wasn’t them playing. Winter hit hard that year, a cold snap that included gale force winds and freezing rain like daggers, turning to blizzard blowing snow. We lived in a trailer less than a quarter mile from the farm Merrill worked at; since he had decided it wasn’t much sense to drive such a short way he walked. This particular morning I was to discover where the source of the ethereal meowing was coming from. 

Just before 8 am I opened the porch door for Merrill when we both caught a glimpse of an orange cat before it vanished down a hole in the skirting around the trailer. How long it had been under there we didn’t know but now we had an accounting for the ghostly meowing we’d been hearing. After he left I opened a can of tuna, bundled myself into my parka, boots, mitts and scarf and sat myself down next to the hole with the tuna held out just far enough that it had no choice but to crawl out to get the food. The bribe didn’t take long to work but the feline fought like a wildcat to get free of the towel and my grasp. In the dead of winter and so obviously a  ‘throw-away’, an unwanted that someone dumped because, being near a farm thought there would be a means of survival or they just chucked the helpless little thing out to die in the freezing cold. Someone was grievously in need of a heart.

Once I managed to get this struggling little bundle inside and while the cat ate I had a better look at it. ‘It’ was not a cat in the real sense of the word, more like a pale shadow of one. The sad package before me was a dirty orange color, more bone than skin or fur and ferocious when defending food. Boo and Molly didn’t know what to make of this unwelcome, belligerent stranger suddenly in their midst so they stayed at a constant distance and gave way in everything so now, there was a perpetual tension in the house. Kitty was equally vicious towards us. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you, I had to be extremely careful when putting food down so as not to lose a hand to a sudden flash attack at anything that threatened the food and milk dishes; the cat was utterly convinced that I would the food away from it. 

Puss was sick, undernourished and piddled everywhere. I soon learned that we had another female in the house, unsprayed. Now I had to practically reinvent patience when it came to teaching her to use the cat box, this only when she would allow me to touch her, let alone to pick her up but as time went on and with slow improvement, she started gaining some weight. As her health improved so did her temperament, somewhat, but still she remained openly defiant and distant as if afraid to give in and rely on me for her care. It took several months to win her trust and more than a few more months before the three of them would learn to like each other and get along. It was a long winter! 

She took delight in doing her level best to dominate Boo and Molly. Taking over their personal places and making them hers; eating out of their dishes and playing with their toys. I think it amused her to annoy them and get away with it but eventually Molly began to take exception and quarreled with her over things that were rightfully hers. So the sparing events started. It was not unlike the Roman Gladiators, all one had to do was put armor on them and a sword in their paws and Wawla!  Gladiator Cats!  

They never actually hurt each other and even Boo would wake up and take notice; it was the loud caterwauling that got the neighbors attention and brought an almost endless stream of visitors and sudden friends to my door. For obvious reasons we named her Sassy because of her sassy disposition. Eventually, Sassy and Molly worked out their differences and played together, this usually involved racing up and down the hallway to see which of the two was faster and squabbling over the highest seat on the cat tower Merrill made for them, much to the annoyance of Boo. 

For a time Molly forgot about venturing outside to follow Boo, now she had a new friend to play with. Summer wore on and after a time it became a little too quiet in the house; I went to check. Merrill had repaired the screen in the spare room window, now I found it torn again and this time, two kittens were out and about in the neighborhood. 

Sassy has had a happy home with us for the past few years and joined us on our adventurous cross Canada road trip to PEI. 

Catspaw