Codswallop!

For all your feline miscellany - any interesting stories, news or subjects that do not fit in the other sections.
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bobbys girl
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Codswallop!

Post by bobbys girl »

Research has shown that stroking a cat lowers blood pressure and is therefore good for health. What they don't realise in these university studies is that, in the average cat-owning home, before you can sit and relax with a contented cat on your knee, you have to feed the fussy little beggars - making sure that they all get what they are supposed to, clean out the litter trays while they run around your ankles batting bits of litter around the newly swept floor and trying to get into the plastic bag. Then you straighten the sofa throws (for the fourth time that morning) make the bed (with two of them IN it), wash up, (while one of them plays with the water coming out of the tap), straighten the hearth rug (for the third time), tell your husband you will not be joining him at the gym today as you have already had your work out for the day, then finally collapse in a heap to drink your, by now, cold coffee, while a kitten decides to 'tenderise' your lap before going to sleep, allowing you to stroke him.

By now your blood pressure is through the roof! And THIS is why 'clinical studies' don't work in the real world!
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Ruth B
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Re: Codswallop!

Post by Ruth B »

As someone who suffers white coat syndrome I have a blood pressure monitor at home so I can do it myself and take the reading in. From experience you don't need to actually be stroking a cat to gain the benefit of lower blood pressure, you just need to be able to see them. However whether this is due to a cat being calming or merely a case if you can see them you know they are wrecking anything.

However there was one time when I was doing my blood pressure and there was a crash from the other room and a cat came streaking out, needless to say that reading rather spiked and was ignored when i was writing them up for the doctor.
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fjm
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Re: Codswallop!

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I once made the mistake of trying to decorate a bedroom with two kittens to "help". Stepladder to climb, dustsheets to burrow under and ambush from, paint pots to explore, wet paint to rub against, carpet to scratch if shut out of the room where all the fun was, exhausted human to pounce on when she eventually gave up and collapsed into a chair - they had a ball. It took forever, mainly because I was weak with laughter most of the time!
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Lilith
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Re: Codswallop!

Post by Lilith »

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I have been owned by cats for over 60 years ... and now, apparently, my blood pressure is off the Richter scale :o

Allegedly.

However, like you, Ruth, I loathe anything medical ... and dentists ... and for that matter hairdressers too.

Though I think I'd rather visit a dentist than a hairdresser. I mean, you don't have to make conversation with a dentist, do you?

Fjm you made me laugh with the decorating story. I've told this story before and hope it bears repeating - once I was pasting and hanging wallpaper, and perched on the stepladder was a threequarter Siamese known as The Leopard. A svelte dark naughty tortie. Should never have let her near. As the brush went slip slap over the paper her eyes widened and her head switched from side to side like a Wimbledon spectator. Suddenly she could bear it no more - and leapt. And landed on the pasted paper and GLIDED gracefully along it until she fell off the end of the table!

I did grab her and wash her paws pdq and she was fine.

But honestly, your heart's in your mouth half the time with them! Ruth, it's not surprising that just seeing them brings our heartrate down - it's the only time we can be sure that the little gits aren't wreaking havoc!

There's a lot more to cats than the sleek purring angelic creature curled up on the lap of the model in the advert.
Last edited by Lilith on Thu Mar 08, 2018 12:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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MarySkater
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Re: Codswallop!

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Lilith wrote:Suddenly she could bear it no more - and leapt. And landed on the pasted paper and GLIDED gracefully along it until she fell off the end of the table!
:lol: :lol: :lol:
alanc
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Re: Codswallop!

Post by alanc »

Many years ago, it was claimed that cats helped you recover from a heart attack - what was not explained was that they probably gave you the heart attack in the first place!
Lilith - I remember you telling that tale - well worth retelling.
Sometimes, living in an old house with low ceilings is very useful. No need for ladders to reach the ceiling, so no opportunity for cats to climb up them and get tangled up in the paint and wall paper. Just as well Tilly does not know what she is missing.
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Ruth B
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Re: Codswallop!

Post by Ruth B »

The last time a hairdresser got at my hair was over 17 years years ago, on my wedding day. My hair is worn in a long ponytail and every so often I take the scissors to the end of it to take the straggly bits off, and to the fringe when it gets in my eyes.

I am terrified of dentists, which is rather ironic as my Father was one. However I am even more terrified of the pain i would get if I don't go as my teeth are a mess. I'm lucky that I have found one I trust and have even managed to let him do a couple of crowns for me, no root canal work yet, but if there is enough tooth above the gum line it's getting crowned now. Otherwise he is happy to keep patching what is left with glass ionomer as long as there is something to patch, if a tooth has to be extracted, I have to be sedated.
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Re: Codswallop!

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alanc wrote:Many years ago, it was claimed that cats helped you recover from a heart attack - what was not explained was that they probably gave you the heart attack in the first place!
:lol: :lol: :lol:
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