Hello

[Oddcat]

I just wanted to say hello, having finally joined this forum after many years watching from the sidelines ... I was starting to feel like a peeping Tom!! I have so enjoyed reading your posts and stories, you have made me laugh, and I have learnt a lot from you ... I have also shared your pain and tears.

So hello to Crewella, Lilith, Mark B, bobbys girl, Kay, alanc ... I shouldn't have started a list. It can only end up like a bad thank you speech where you forget someone! Hello to you all.

I have been a cat owner, or should I say owned by cats, for many years. My current crew are Amy and Rosie, 7 year old torties with typical tortie attitude, and 4 year old Pongo, who loves to torment the girls. We also care for a garden feral called Cupcake. My love of cats began with the beautiful but troubled Oddcat (my avatar) who we sadly lost to meningitis about 5 years ago.

I'll try to post some pics when I get the hang of it. It took me nearly an hour to figure out how to load my avatar. Technology and me aren't great friends!

I look forward to chatting with you all, and hopefully I can contribute a little to a forum which has given me so much over the years.

[Lilith]

Hi there Oddcat and welcome

So glad you like the forum and thanks for the kind words too - I think you're among kindred spirits here; I too was very wary about joining; some forums aren't kindly, but I think this one is; we all care about cats and put them first and that's what matters.

Purrs to Amy, Rosie, Pongo and Cupcake from my Emily, Mouse and Molly, also Shahi the Royal python, and congrats re avatar as I've never managed it yet. (Oddcat is beautiful; she looks Oriental, was she? They are so special. Sorry to hear she died.)

Again welcome

[Mayday21]

Hi Oddcat I concur with Lilith's comments. This forum is really supported by people who really care for their fur babes & it's amazing how knowledgeable people are & are willing to share. Look forward to the pics. I posted one yesterday of Harper lining up to deconstruct a dried flower arrangement which she accomplished last night! This isn't the 1st time though. (((Hugs))) to your fur babes. Vivian

[Oddcat]

Thank you so much for the kind welcome.

I don't think Oddcat was oriental, but I can't sure sure. We rescued her from an ex-neighbour who abandoned her once she was no longer a cute fluffy kitten (they replaced her with a beautiful puppy, who they also gave away once he reached adulthood). Oddcat was plagued with multiple health and psychological problems ... when our vet opened a second practice I was sure we had personally funded it, given the amount we paid for Oddcat's vet bills in the preceding years ... but of course we loved her dearly all the same, and still miss her.
 
All of our current cat crew are rescue 'moggies'. Rosie was found starving, weak and terrified in a sealed box on a country lane. Amy was born in a rescue, after her Mum had been taken in as an abandoned and heavily pregnant stray. And Pongo was left as a little kitten on the doorstep of a vets in central Birmingham. Cupcake just arrived one day in our garden and never left, all our attempts to trace an owner were unsuccessful. Sometimes I can't help but question the 'kind' part of humankind. But the kitties are all happy and safe with us now, and are an endless source of joy and entertainment to us.

Anyway, let's have a go at this photo thing then. Mayday21, I love your pic of Harper, she was clearly showing her appreciation of your gorgeous flower arrangement, perhaps just not in the way you might have hoped!!

Rosie

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Amy

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Pongo

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Cupcake

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[bobbys girl]

Hello there and welcome to CC. Your kitty family sounds like mine, either found as tiny kittens (Willow and Bob) or abandoned and rescued (Gracie and Purdy). Our lovely boy Tommy (RIP) just turned up one day and never left.

What an amazing colour Rosie is and what beautiful eyes!

Looking forward to hearing all about them.

Sue

[Crewella]

Hello and welcome - I confess I lurked for a long time before eventually joining as well!

Your cat family is gorgeous - a fine bunch of happy, healthy cats, all of them, though I was immediately drawn to your Pongo who has what I think of as a 'Daz' eyebrow!

[Oddcat]

Thank you, they are a cheeky bunch.

Daz eyebrow, yes!! One of my favourite photos was your lovely Daz trying to hide in the grass, but standing out like a sore thumb ... and as you said at the time, they didn't ask to be born white!

Pongo is really greedy and would happily stuff himself silly, but I've taken your advice and we try hard to keep his weight down to avoid the risk of the troubles you had with Daz ... so whenever Pongo has his request for extra supper refused I always tell him it's Daz's fault!

[alanc]

Hi and welcome from me and Tilly as well. Like others, I also lurked for a long time before joining. Haven't regretted finally jumping in! Pongo looks very like tubby Tay from next door, although a bit slimmer. Do white cats have predilection for scoffing all the food around?

[Crewella]

Poor old Pongo, Daz sends his sympathy!

You could be right, Alanc - I've always assumed that Daz is a pig because he spent so long as a stray but maybe there is a 'fat white lump' cat gene that Daz, Tay and Pongo are struggling with!

[Oddcat]

Pongo isn't sure how he feels about looking like Tubby Tay ... he thinks he'd much prefer to be likened to a feline George Clooney!

[Lilith]

Oooo, never heard of George Clooney, had to google ...tasty

Here is an exercise vid for white cats -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxIuFwMhOu8

[Oddcat]

That's hilarious ... but Pongo says no, it's far too energetic for his liking.

He will however consider some relaxing yoga ... like this ...

Yoga cat

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[Lilith]

Aww lovely boy!

I used to have two cats who used to 'flip' - goodness knows how they learned.

One wanted to get into the back bedroom but the door was closed. So he went into the bathroom and opened the sink cupboard, which adjoined the back bedroom wall - logical, wasn't it? When he came up against the dividing wall, he strode out of the bathroom cupboard and did an involuntary flip, he was so mad!

[Mayday21]

Hi Oddcat luv the pics of your 4! I've a soft spot for Torties but Pongo & Cupcake look full of personality. Yes I too wonder about "human kind" .... Give them all a huge ear rub from me Vivian

[Oddcat]

Ear rubs passed on and gratefully received x

[Crewella]

Pongo looks like a likely candidate for the Gentleman's Snoozing Club to me!

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[catslave16]

I feel such an amateur beside all you guys with multiple cat households, as I've only ever had one cat at a time.
Welcome to CC Oddcat - I'm fairly new, though I noticed recently I've already attained VIP status - what, no emoticons for blushing with pleasure? Or fireworks??
Your furry gang look gorgeous, but tell me, what's typical tortie behaviour? I had a sweet little girl for 15 years, from the time she was the last unwanted kittie of the litter till the days she died, peacefully and naturally, at home on a Sunday morning after spending the night in bed with me, lying on my tummy, purring. She was blind for the last two years of her life but coped amazingly well. Now I wonder if some of her idiosyncracies were actually typical tortie behaviour?

[bobbys girl]

Helen - love the picture, but it's not just the gents that snooze like that. Most evenings Bob is curled up in one corner of the two-seater and Willow in the other - mirror images. Trouble is, as they are both black and so is the sofa, photo's are out of the question!

[Oddcat]

Great photo! Pongo fancies the Gentleman's Snoozing Club very much

Hi catslave 16, your old girl sounds adorable. So, what is typical tortie behaviour ... well we call ours the 'naughty torties' but it is officially known as Tortitude. As this link says, torties are strong willed and very possessive of their owners:

http://consciouscat.net/2014/09/30/tort ... t-fiction/

It sums our girls up perfectly, but of course they very much have their own individual characters

[Lilith]

Lol - I too have met up with the naughty torties with tortitude!

I know there can't actually be a link between temperament and colour but it is odd, nevertheless. They just are like that. I've heard it said time and time again. I've found other 'generalisations' to be the rule too - black and white cats tend to be a bit dopy, with a wacky sense of humour, and every ginger I've owned has been a 'larger than life' personality and affectionate to the point of clinginess. Black cats are suave. Tabbies are laid back and placid.

My ginger Molly, who I know nothing about, I swear is a secret tortie, but I wouldn't mind betting that her mother was a naughty tortie (a safe bet, given the rules of genetics) and that she drank in tortitude with Mamma's milk. Either that or she's a blonde tortie!

[Lilith]

Hey I missed the Gentlemens' Snoozing Club ...awwww bless!

To sit on the sofa do you have to tiptoe through the tomcats?

[bobbys girl]

I know there can't actually be a link between temperament and colour but it is odd, nevertheless.

There IS a link between colour and temperament - at least in horses! Chestnut horses, especially mares are more flighty and firey (something to do with more nerve cells or thinner/finer skin - something like that). In the wild it is often grey/white horses that are the lookouts (better eyesight).

The only times I ever came to grief was on foreign-bred chestnut mares. Took three of 'em before I twigged!

[Oddcat]

I'm sure I recall reading something about the ginger/red gene or chromosome or something in torties and gingers being dominant, and that giving them a particular type of temperament ... and it's a similar gene or chromosome thingy bob that is seen in foxes ...

Reading that back, I think perhaps I'd had one gin & tonic too many the evening I read that book!! But I'm sure there's some logic in there somewhere.

I'll just stick to Tortitude ... that's a science I do understand

[Lilith]

Ha, Oddcat, my nickname for Moll is 'Maidrin Rua' (little red fox) from the Irish Gaelic

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=pog ... &FORM=VIRE

Bobbys Girl, you are BRAVE - I went through the usual childhood mania for ponies but never learned to ride; in fact I could be summed up, equestrian-wise, by the old saying -

I know two things about the horse,
And one of them is very coarse

[Crewella]

My first job was in a riding stables, and I've definitely met a few chestnut 'nutters' in my time! I've also had a couple of torties that were sweet as anything, but my little Spook was one with 'tortitude'.

[catslave16]

I was a typically horse-mad pre-adolescent girl from 10 to 14, washing cars to finance my riding, always hanging round stables, helping out and cadging free rides. This was on the west coast of Holland - we rode through dunes and on beaches, the horses weren't even shod, we'd ride them bareback from their overnight field to the school,never wore hard hats... It was pretty idyllic. And then I lost interest. And grew up to become a mad cat lady. And I've realised my tortie wasn't a tortie at all, but a calico! She was very affectionate though, ridiculously so. Even crept on to my lap when I was sitting on the toilet (as I'm sure I've mentioned before)

[Crewella]

Catslave, your post has reminded me of when I first got my horse (at around 14). He was a real Heinz 57 rescued from the meat man, about 5 and a nutter - scared of everything. We first kept him at a rather posh stables (where I used to help out for free rides like you did) and it was a heck of a long way from the field back to the yard, so I used to do the same as you and hop on his back to amble back up the hill, bucket over my arm, in just a headcollar, which was apparently against the rules and I was always getting into trouble for it. It did make me realise, though, that he never bolted in a headcollar, only when I put a bit in his mouth, so it actually really helped us as I started to ride him in a hackamore (bitless bridle) and had far fewer problems with him from then on.

He was a dun, by the way - no idea what they're supposed to be like temperamentally!

[Oddcat]

Catslave, your calling yourself a mad cat lady reminded me of something I was trying to forget ...

I recently had an interview for a promotion at work. It was going well, when they threw me this curve ball ... "describe yourself in three words" ... it caught me off guard a bit so I said the first thing that came to mind ... Mad Cat Lady

I didn't get the job!!

[bobbys girl]

My all time favourite was a fat, black Welsh Cob called Oliver, loved that horse.

What is it about me and black animals, horses, dogs, cats, jackdaws - all black.

Oddcat - I'd give you the job!

[Mayday21]

Oddcat perhaps they didn't like honesty ... Probably wanted the lip service "loyal, trustworthy etc ...." Btw I work in HR as a Recruiter. And I'm very blunt! Vivian