Author Topic: Tache (and Poof) tales  (Read 94401 times)

Offline Kelda

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Re: Tache (and Poof) tales
« Reply #110 on: April 07, 2011, 04:51:53 pm »
It was suggested that I should feel her up.

No balls!  ;D

 :laugh: :laugh:
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Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: Tache (and Poof) tales
« Reply #111 on: April 07, 2011, 05:01:21 pm »

LOL.  :laugh:

With kittens I think you can tell visually pretty easily by what their butts look like.  ;D
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Offline Sheriff Roland

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Re: Tache (and Poof) tales
« Reply #112 on: April 27, 2011, 10:50:15 am »
Well, the doctor says it's a boy! And he's already been neutered!!  :o

But as usual I'm getting ahead of myself.

Poof has been getting quickly acclimatized to being inside the house, but he's still not exploring much. He's been more comfortable with my picking him up but only when in the house; outside the closest I could get to him was 20cm (8 inches). As with Tache, Poof has gotten use to the carrying case by eating his meals in there. I thought he was ready for his 'first' trip to the vet. The neighbours had offered to drive me there, even though, to my surprise, the doctor doesn't make appointments before 9:30.

Poof is usually out of the house before sunrise and rarely comes back in until sundown, so this 9:30 appointment was going to be a problem - or so I thought. This morning, Tache wanted out at 3:30 and Poof came in soon thereafter. I wasn't going to keep him inside the house for six hours, so, within 30 minutes, he wanted out, and I trusted providence that he would come back in on his own. And he did ... around 6:30. I then had to keep him distracted for over 2 hours - and it worked out much better than I had expected. Whenever he started meowing, I sternly told him NO. There was a lot of petting, playing, play-fighting with Tache and just laying around while I watched TV in his linesight (as he rarely ventures far from the front door).
There were two occasions where he went on the window ledge and tried to leap onto the tree outside only to fall to the ground (indoors of course, as the window is not just a clear veil). 8:45 arrived, Bryan made his usual morning call and a few minutes later, Chris (the neighbour) call to say he'd be ready in few minutes. Poof went into the carrying crate without a hitch but then was quite the cat-in-a-cage, moving constantly and meowing a lot until the car started moving. Then he calmed down. Even at the Animal Hospital Poof remained calm. I had a bit of difficulty holding him while he got weighed in (6 pounds) and again when the doctor first approached him, but otherwise he was quite the tame cat. He stayed quietly in my arms for a long time while we (Chris & I) talked with the doctor. Nurse had no trouble at all when she took him to the other room (and back) to get him micro chipped and get some blood samples. Mostly quiet on the ride home too!.

Amazingly well behaved trip all around. A much better experience than what I had expected.
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Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: Tache (and Poof) tales
« Reply #113 on: April 27, 2011, 04:53:26 pm »

Wow! Great job Roland.  Sounds like he must have once been in a shelter or someone's pet if he had already been neutered.

Sounds like he's fully a part of your family now!  :D
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Offline Kelda

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Re: Tache (and Poof) tales
« Reply #114 on: April 27, 2011, 06:05:08 pm »
yay!
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Offline Sheriff Roland

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Re: Tache (and Poof) tales
« Reply #115 on: May 07, 2011, 06:49:02 am »
Tache is getting heavy and he may very well be asserting himself in the neighbourhood.

He's weighing in at at least 12 pounds (not sure how much but he's heavier than he was last year - 10 pounds) as he's quite a bit heavier than similar sized neighbourhood cats. I've picked up Antony and Yoki (Chris' smaller cat) and even though they look to be about the same size, they only weigh about 8 pounds each. And Poof looks smaller and weighs in at a mere 6 pounds.

And though he continues to be everyone's favourite (all the neignbours love Tache) I'm concerned that he might be filling in the vacuum left by the absent 'neighbourhood bully'. Chris admits that 'Tache isn't very big but he's all muscle'. I've seen him (Tache) climb a telephone pole this past week, going up like a human tree climber, using deliberate moves requiring great strenght to practically reach the wires (al least 12 feet above ground).

He's normally very gentle with his friends Poof and Anthony but I've recently seen him chase Anthony away and, on another occasion, an unidentified cat - that one was definitively not a friendy chase.

Maybe it's just my negative mood of late, cause I'm also developping some negative vibes towards Poof as well.
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Offline Sheriff Roland

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Re: Tache (and Poof) tales
« Reply #116 on: May 07, 2011, 07:00:12 am »
Quick anecdote before I get back to my attitude toward Poof.

A couple of days ago, while I was working at cleaning out a flower bed in the front yard, both Tache and Poof had perched themselves on the only two patio chairs. Neither one of them had even shown interest in those chairs previously.

Last night, when I mentioned this to Brian, he commented that it sounded like echos of 'Animal Farm'. I responded by saying that they weren't sitting up with their hind legs dangling while sipping on sodas held in their front paws. (OK, so I'm embellishing a little - sue me!)

Must be 35 years since I last read George Orwell.
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Offline Sheriff Roland

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Re: Tache (and Poof) tales
« Reply #117 on: May 07, 2011, 07:26:10 am »
I'm getting to hate Poof's meows!

A couple of days ago he was suppose to go for a second visit to the vet to get his shots (bloodwork resuts came in all negative - he's healthy).

For the very first time, the night before (Wednesday night) I went to bed with him still in the house - it had almost happened on Tuesday too. At 2 in the morning he wanted out. And his meow, meow, meow meow, meow ... never let up until he got what he wanted. He came back in at 4 AM, as he often does, but didn't stay long.

My problem at this point is that I have to make sure he's in the house in order to get him to his 9:30 appointment. Within ten minutes, his persistent meowing started up again. I let him out again, like I had two weeks earlier hoping that providence would intervene and have him return - and he did, at around 6:30.

Within 15 minutes he was back at it, meowing his head off - not loudly, but without respite. I tried the 'NO' thing - didn't work this time. I tried to distract him with petting, brushing and playing with a ribon and the dangling string of wool - again, the result were short term at best. He wanted out.

Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow ...

I couldn't handle it. I let him out yet again - and he didn't come back in until suppertime.

I even went out around 9 and called out to him, gently approached him, first to the back of the house, then into the neighbour's very cluttered back yard, up their driveway, around the front of my house ... and never got closer than 15 feet of him.

Needless to say, I had to cancel and make a new appointment for Monday.

I'm getting to hate Poof's meow. It's so much more irritating than Tache's near muteness. Maybe Poof is the norm and Tache is the unusual one. But I'm spoiled now and having trouble accepting Poof's individuality.
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Offline Penthesilea

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Re: Tache (and Poof) tales
« Reply #118 on: May 07, 2011, 08:06:01 am »
Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow ...

I couldn't handle it. I let him out yet again - and he didn't come back in until suppertime.

I even went out around 9 and called out to him, gently approached him, first to the back of the house, then into the neighbour's very cluttered back yard, up their driveway, around the front of my house ... and never got closer than 15 feet of him.

Needless to say, I had to cancel and make a new appointment for Monday.

I'm getting to hate Poof's meow. It's so much more irritating than Tache's near muteness. Maybe Poof is the norm and Tache is the unusual one. But I'm spoiled now and having trouble accepting Poof's individuality.



Two words: cat flap!

Ok, this doesn't help when you have to keep him inside for a vet appointment - but how many days in the year are that? Just one when you're lucky.

Other than those few days, a cat flap is THE THING you really, really need when you have a cat, let alone two. Cats are big opportunists, things which are to their advantage, they learn quickly. They'll figure it out, especially with the help of some treats in the beginning. One human on the inside, keeping the flap open, a second human on the outside, luring with some salmon morsels.

My Cäsar is also very communicative with his meows (to put it nicely :laugh:), I'd go crazy without the cat flap.

Offline Kelda

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Re: Tache (and Poof) tales
« Reply #119 on: May 07, 2011, 01:31:55 pm »
Yep cat flap is brilliant for Skimble - it has caused 2 problems today but they are outweighed by the fact he can get i and out himself.

Problem no 1..

Today I spent five minutes chasing the cat ALL around the house while he had a live baby bird in his mouth.. then a further five minutes chasing the bird as it flew around trying to get out of the house!

Problem no 2...

He has taken to if he wants fed or attention.. pawing at the catflap so it flaps back and forward noisly. As soon as I go through he heads to the cupboard where the wet food is kept and mieows...!

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