Another cat conundrom
Discussion
But a nice one!
Although I don't have a cat, my neighbours do. My next door neighbour has 2 lovely little cats; one is a long-haired ginger queen and the other is a long-haired tabby queen, with a hint of ginger in her colouring. The 100% ginger is very timid, but the tabby is rather more adventurous - I first made friends with her when I saw her wobbling along the top of the fence between our gardens.
A couple of months ago, I was awoken by plaintive meowing in the garden at 0-dark-00 amidst other odd noises, including sutto voce encouragement. My neighbours had draped a towel over the fence and were trying to get their little fluffy tabby to climb it - but she was having none of that! So I got up, opened the kitchen door and was greeted like a long lost friend. I scooped up the little cat and handed her over the fence to my apologetic neighbours...
So I decided that it would be a good idea to make sure that the little thing couldn't get stuck in the garden again, as I'm away now and again. After moving a wheelie-bin against the fence, I taught her that my garden was a friendly place and that she could always hop from wheelie bin to fence and into her garden.
To encourage the learning process, I rewarded her with 'Dreamies'.
WHAT DO THEY PUT IN THOSE THINGS?? Ever since then, the little poppet appears every night at 17:45 on my windowsill. So she gets a few Dreamies, then hops onto the paving and goes into a session of grovelling and purring - and invites me to tickle her tummy. When I do so, there are no teeth or claws, just loud purring. I've never known such a friendly, affection little cat.
But she has one unfortunate habit. Another neighbour has 2 cats, both rescues. One is quite old, but the other is an adorable little black and white cat, who looks as though she's wearing a tuxedo. A timid little thing, she potters daintily about, annoying no-one. However, if the long-haired tabby happens to spot her, it's like an Incredible Hulk moment. A deep growl and a tabby tornado launches itself in attack mode. Much posturing, hissing and growling - but neither teeth nor claws.... The poor little B&W cat then races home as if her tail is on fire.
Why?
Both cats are very friendly towards people and never expose their claws - so why do they have such an aggressive attitude towards each other.
And what the HELL is in Dreamies? I've just paid £2 for 2 packets in Waitrose; when I looked out into the garden this evening, there the little tabby was, sitting on the fence giving me an "About bl**dy time too!" expression.... Then did her purring and grovelling thing after I'd given her a few Dreamies.
It's true - cats don't have owners, they have staff!
But WHY do they love Dreamies so much?
Although I don't have a cat, my neighbours do. My next door neighbour has 2 lovely little cats; one is a long-haired ginger queen and the other is a long-haired tabby queen, with a hint of ginger in her colouring. The 100% ginger is very timid, but the tabby is rather more adventurous - I first made friends with her when I saw her wobbling along the top of the fence between our gardens.
A couple of months ago, I was awoken by plaintive meowing in the garden at 0-dark-00 amidst other odd noises, including sutto voce encouragement. My neighbours had draped a towel over the fence and were trying to get their little fluffy tabby to climb it - but she was having none of that! So I got up, opened the kitchen door and was greeted like a long lost friend. I scooped up the little cat and handed her over the fence to my apologetic neighbours...
So I decided that it would be a good idea to make sure that the little thing couldn't get stuck in the garden again, as I'm away now and again. After moving a wheelie-bin against the fence, I taught her that my garden was a friendly place and that she could always hop from wheelie bin to fence and into her garden.
To encourage the learning process, I rewarded her with 'Dreamies'.
WHAT DO THEY PUT IN THOSE THINGS?? Ever since then, the little poppet appears every night at 17:45 on my windowsill. So she gets a few Dreamies, then hops onto the paving and goes into a session of grovelling and purring - and invites me to tickle her tummy. When I do so, there are no teeth or claws, just loud purring. I've never known such a friendly, affection little cat.
But she has one unfortunate habit. Another neighbour has 2 cats, both rescues. One is quite old, but the other is an adorable little black and white cat, who looks as though she's wearing a tuxedo. A timid little thing, she potters daintily about, annoying no-one. However, if the long-haired tabby happens to spot her, it's like an Incredible Hulk moment. A deep growl and a tabby tornado launches itself in attack mode. Much posturing, hissing and growling - but neither teeth nor claws.... The poor little B&W cat then races home as if her tail is on fire.
Why?
Both cats are very friendly towards people and never expose their claws - so why do they have such an aggressive attitude towards each other.
And what the HELL is in Dreamies? I've just paid £2 for 2 packets in Waitrose; when I looked out into the garden this evening, there the little tabby was, sitting on the fence giving me an "About bl**dy time too!" expression.... Then did her purring and grovelling thing after I'd given her a few Dreamies.
It's true - cats don't have owners, they have staff!
But WHY do they love Dreamies so much?
nickwilcock said:
Sorry, Mr Daytona, but who or what is a 'whoosh parrot'?
It's a comment made when someone appears to have missed a joke.In this case the joke is there is no such thing as crack cocaine for cats it was a light hearted comparison that a cat would prob react the same way to cocaine as they appear to for Dreamies
.As for what is in Dreamies, I'm not sure but probably not a lot of good stuff (no crack cocaine though!) so make sure you only give a couple, cats put weight on if they are fed too many of these type of treats esp if done daily.
Re: the aggressive behaviour to the other cat, that's just cats I'm afraid. Generally cats don't' like close contact with those they don't regard as family, to avoid this they vocalise in a hope to shoo other cat away. Cats don't want combat due to risk of injury.
nickwilcock said:
bexVN, thanks for the clarification.
I will be careful not to give the little thing too many Dreamies - the packet says no more than 20 per day. But it's the addictive effect which is of concern; surely there must be a reason?
No probs.I will be careful not to give the little thing too many Dreamies - the packet says no more than 20 per day. But it's the addictive effect which is of concern; surely there must be a reason?
I'd never give as many as they say on these packets. 3-4 max.
carreauchompeur said:
bexVN said:
No probs.
I'd never give as many as they say on these packets. 3-4 max.
True... Much like the pouches I feed him, recommendation on the packet for a 4kg cat is 3-4 a day. My lad is 5kg and he never gets more than 1.5 a day!I'd never give as many as they say on these packets. 3-4 max.
ETA, there is a chance that they are still being fed by the old couple with the garden behind mine, and the couple with the young girl two doors down from them.
omgus said:
carreauchompeur said:
bexVN said:
No probs.
I'd never give as many as they say on these packets. 3-4 max.
True... Much like the pouches I feed him, recommendation on the packet for a 4kg cat is 3-4 a day. My lad is 5kg and he never gets more than 1.5 a day!I'd never give as many as they say on these packets. 3-4 max.
ETA, there is a chance that they are still being fed by the old couple with the garden behind mine, and the couple with the young girl two doors down from them.
bexVN said:
Yep, pouch foods are far too generous in their amounts aswell for most animals.<snip>
the cats i have had have thrived on 2 pouches of wet food (vs a recommenedation of up to 4 ) and around 1/3 of the 'total diet' amounts of dry food and that's with fairly active suburban cats with observed large rangesnickwilcock said:
bexVN, thanks for the clarification.
I will be careful not to give the little thing too many Dreamies - the packet says no more than 20 per day. But it's the addictive effect which is of concern; surely there must be a reason?
If you want to see a cat go nuts (some not all) respond to cat-nip. Moglet can't walk after he has been lay in the cat-nip bush he just rolls about making funny clicking noises (like when a cat sees a bird) with all his pads kneading and his eyes as wide as dustbin lids!I will be careful not to give the little thing too many Dreamies - the packet says no more than 20 per day. But it's the addictive effect which is of concern; surely there must be a reason?
mph1977 said:
Catnip is cat cannabis....
That's what I thoughhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepeta_cataria
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