cats

What a Super Stroy Johndman :) iv 3 cats now ,Over 11yr ago i recused a Cat called Popeye from a Local Cat Home we nick named him Grandpa as he was old when we adopted Him :) His Family had Split up&no 1 wanted him ,He lived to the good age of 15 & Sadly Died from Stomach Cancer after a good/happy life with US :)

your a very special person jacque, not many people would take in an elderly animal, popeye was a very lucky cat to have someone like you

AAAAAAAwwwwwww Thanx Johndman :)

That's wonderful to hear all your cat rescue stories.
My grandmother bred and showed pedigree cats, but she died when I was very young. I like cats, but I've always owned dogs and budgies.

It's great that the GoY gardeners are animal-lovers ~
horses, bunnies, guinea pigs, parrots.......... :o)

So Johndman are u going 2do a Poll On GOY Members Cats? :) Itd be great 2 find out how many Cats u can Count! :) & What about u TT Doing a Dog Poll Count? ;)

we started about 15 years ago with chipmunks and our first little charge was called Ben, then we got another one we called honey, and yet a third who it appeared had an injury possibly from a wheel in her cage, and walked with a pronounced limp,unfortunately we never even had a chance to name her as she died only a few weeks after we got her, but during this time, when we visited the supermarket, my wife would buy exotic fruit such as mangoes, dragon fruit and many other out of season fruits, I thought, things are looking up shes taken an interests in cooking again, but no such luck, you guessed it, they were for the chipmunks, best fed little critters this side of the Pecos, one day Ben got out an open window, and spent the next several day being fated by sparrows on the roof next door, who thought him a mite exotic to be sitting on the roof with them and crowded round him like he was a star from a David Attenborough special, a couple of days later there was a knock at the door, and a neighbor who had heard we were looking for Ben, told us that he had somehow got into his greenhouse, and had eaten all his early season strawberries, so after several days of trying to catch him with a fishing net, my daughter walked into the neighbors greenhouse and picked him up in her hands , as he was so full he couldn't move and brought him home,when we tried to put him back in his cage, he wriggled out of my hands and tried to escape up the curtains, but after a week on the lam his claws were so worn down clambering up pebble dashed walls, he slid right down again into my hands and into the safety of his cage. Eventually we lost out little friends but many weeks after we lost Ben, the wife found a row of nuts under the couch in chevrons as straight as a sergeants stripes,

It's great that the GoY gardeners are animal-lovers ~
horses, bunnies, guinea pigs, parrots..........

And bears! Don't forget Bruno and Barney

Andrewr ~
How could anyone forget Bruno and Barney?
Or Grimace and Wallet ?
~ For those confused, please see my blog no. 3 :
. The Hunt for the Harley. :o)

I don't have cats now as sadly I developed an allergy to them when I was pregnant with my eldest child, but I do love cats.

My first cat was a rescue, she adopted my family when we were on holiday in the Peak district (a week camping in the clouds). She'd clearly been abandoned by her owners, and once we fed her she decided we'd do. The weather didn't improve so my dad started packing up to go home, the rest of us noticed the little cat had climbed into the back of the car, we kept quiet until we were half way home then gently broke the news to dad.

Tabby became a much loved pet, even surprising us with five kittens a week after moving in didn't put us off. She was so content we could take her on camping holidays, the first with kittens too, and she would take it all in her stride. We were devastated a few years later when she went missing, then turned up on the doorstep in a terrible state. Her pelvis had been shattered by a car and we had to say goodbye.

We rescued another adult cat, this one a male we called Tramp who had cat flu and was infested with fleas, a grateful moggy who lived the rest of his days as a pampered cat.

Finally a factory kitten who was delivered in a cardboard box, carried on the back of a motorbike! She stayed with my dad when my allergy hit five years later.

I've been tempted several times by strays, but I'd suffer if I gave in. :o(

Are we, perhaps, the only non-cat-owning gardeners? I realise I might receive the wrath of all you cat lovers but ... I don't like them. Sorry! Being a gardener and loving to get my hands in soil I don't like suddenly coming across a pile of something extremely nasty just because MY soil is soft and dug over and the cat's owners don't do gardening! Nor do I like their sneaky ways of dispensing with our feathered friends. We must be the "other side of the coin" as we love watching birds from our balcony (including the raptors - Short-Toed Eagles, Vultures, Lammageirs, Buzzards etc. - as well as all the small birds, especially as a pair of Black Redstarts decided to raise a brood on a beam over our balcony.

We would love to have a large dog, but we want to travel around our adopted country and owning a dog wouldn't allow us to do that. Still, our neighbour has two dogs who regularly pop over for a chin rub and also greet us enthusiastically when we return from an outing, overwatched by the feral cats who live in a barn and scowl at us from on high! They keep away from us!

believe it or not madmum I am also allergic to cats, but only found this out much later when we had the cats for about two years, so if it came to a choice between the cats or me I'm certain I would have been packing my little handkerchief and stick, in fact I take a daily dose of certizine, (antihistamine) and no symptoms. But if truth be told,I agree (in part) with Nariz we have had a sorry procession of dead and dieing little birds but also mice which otherwise might have made unwelcome house guests, and in your very fortunate case you appear to have a wealth of fabulous birds to look at in all those raptors, hhmmm, predators in other words, probably feed on small birds and mice and so on, admittedly those guys do it to survive, while on the face of it cats predate for sport, but I'm sure in their minds, they are only a meal away from having to follow in their ancestors footsteps, to hunt for survival, so in fact their only doing what their instincts tell them, no matter how distasteful it is to us, to them it is quite (unfortunately) natural

again in response to Nariz, the carnage our cats have wrought in the past (bit too old to catch birds now) seems to have made no difference to the population of birds in our garden, which without a doubt is on the increase in our garden since the the shrubbery and under planting has grown the cover afforded has encouraged more species in, In the last week alone I have counted about 12 species with a large contingent of tits and wrens solitary robin, finches, buntings, wagtails, warblers, thrushes, the list goes on, there appears to be an uneasy truce between our cats and the local population, as they will feed quite happily on the seed and fatballs we put out only a few feet above the cats heads, but back to your point about feeling your in a minority, It actually surprises me that that is the case wrath certainly not, understanding, of course

I don't like birds. I have a phobia of them. I hope my cat scares them all away from my garden.
I used to feed them when I had an old cat who couldn't catch them any longer, but I had to put the bird table well out of my sight.
And if cats use the garden as a toilet, birds just drop it anywhere from the sky - sometimes on top of me - yuch !!

Hywel ~
On your Ben Weatherstaff blog, there's a wonderful photo of a robin. Did you take that picture? It's really good. :o)

LOL they says its lucky if Birds pooh On u Hywel ;D lol , I do feel for people who dont like cats as well cos i get angry myself when i find Cat pooh in my flower Beds but i clean it away when i see a Soil pill just like when i see Summers Pooh on Lawn :) O BTW every 1 would u beleve i have an Alergy 2 Animal Hair& Dust ? Had it for 5/6yrs now i get awful snezzes if i dont take my Tabs&Nose Spray ;)

TT - Yes I took the photo of the robbin in my friend's garden.
I can just about stand small birds as long as they don't come too near.
They make my skin crawl.

I like cats and dogs. :o)

Well I didn't feel lucky when a seagul SH** on me in Swansea. I didn't have anything to change into.

Hywel ~
Haha ~
now I understand why you didn't give a 'like' to the photo of my budgie 'Crocus'.
However, he is sharing a sofa with Garfield the cat, so that might qualify for half a 'like' Lol.

PS Your robin photo is VERY good.
I hope you'll photograph more little birds.
You are good at observing, as can be seen from your wonderful drawings. :o)

check this site out hywel, it's www.usborne-quicklinks.com and enter keywords, spotters birds, it's a great site and may get you liking birds a little more

Don't have one right now but I like cats... and dogs and birds and hamsters and ......
Have had many cats, Kitty, Foggy, Frick and Frack and T. B.
and Diablo and Tiger.

Sorry, guys, but cats are a no-no for me. I had a bad experience with one when I was a child, and ever since then I haven't been able to go near one. let alone own one! However, Henry is wonderful, as you know. He is definitely a DOG and I love him! (Just getting ready to take him out in the ever-present drizzle!)

I tried it Johndman. The first thing I saw was a big eagle or something.
Sorry I just can't look at it. It gives me the shivers. - horrible. sorry.

Poor U Hywel :( x

lol It doesn't bother me Jacque. It's just the way I am and I don't know any diferent. I'm quite happy without birds in my life. :o)

Im talking about the Bird pooh Hywel lmao :)

LMAO !

U must start2wear hats Hywel :) lol

Well i love cats & birds not keen on the birds of prey, when the normal birds are breeding and they come to feed at my feeders it great, some of them bring their babies feeding aswell,but in spring aswell we get magpies coming round and i chase them away as they eat baby birds & eggs, i know its part of the food chain but i still dont like them, as for cats my Smokey is to old to catch birds and the birds feed in my garden while Smokey is laid near them, & yes cats catching birds is also part of the food chain, its just they dont eat them as we cat lovers feed our cats to well, but there are lots of wild cats & strays would not survive if they did'nt catch birds &mice.

I'm with you Nariz - I hate cats. At least a dog can be trained and is supposed to be kept under control. But cats can do whatever they like wherever they like, spoiling all your hard work in a few minutes. Grrrrrr

The dog that tramples through my garden spoils my hard work.

My what we Gardeners Put Up with Hey:)

Jacque ~
You're right. We gardeners have it tough.

Robins breathing too hard and knocking over huge fence panels, butterflies flapping so fast they blow all the washing off the line, worms pushing up their casts and dislodging trampolines so that we all bounce off into our neighbours' gardens.

Wow, it's hazardous out there. :o)

TT you made me laugh out VERY loud!

Nariz ~
Glad to give you a giggle.
Do you have similar "hazards" in Spanish gardens?
I would be very interested to know. :o)

Well, apart from the ever-present deer and the threat of wild boar falling off the edge of the wall and dropping into the Brussels Sprouts, we have viscious 4" long Tyrranosaurus wall lizards, gigantic snails and 4" long black slugs, as well as the double-fanged territorial Swallowtail butterflies. Then we always get a dreadful ticking off from the local Robin as soon as we step into our garden and dagger-like stares from the sheep in the compound next door. Oooooh, it scares me! NOT! :o))

Lol.
It must be especially scary with the slugs shaking their maracas and the sheep staring at you in Spanish. Those sheepish foreign frowns are the worst kind. :o)

Would just like to put my name down in the poll as a cat person/owner! I like most animals really but especially cats and horses. Birtie is my second cat and was a stray who was found living rough in my shed all skinny and starving. She's a great pudding of a cat now tho! I live birds and Birtie does occasionally catch one - but we also get a sparrow hawk visiting the garden and that kills birds every day - so my Birtie doesnt have much impact on the bird population compared with that - it's just nature. Now if I got rid of all the shrubs in my garden that produce berries and provide nesting places and I started using insecticides - now THAT would damage the bird population! (BTW, Birtie poos in her litter tray - she's a very good girl ;-D )

Hywell - I'm writing a novel about a woman who is phobic of birds ;-)

I've just checked the picture of Birtie.
Lovely-looking cat- and definitely NOT skinny any more :o)

No definately not! She scofted a whole dish of food earlier and then when I was climbing the stairs she ambushed me from the top landing! Did I say she was a good girl?!! Ha! She's all curled up asleep now on my bed with her nose tucked under to tail to keep it warm ;-)

AAAAAaaawwwwwwwww i love seeing cats sleep with their Noses Tucked under their Tails Sarah :) Are`nt they the Sweetist :)X Our Sox does that the Most as hes got the Fluffest Tail out all 3 :)

They are sweet Jac - I have to be very strong not to go and disturb her sometimes - you see them all curled up and so cumfy and soft-looking you just long to go and cuddle them!

Yep i know how that feels sumtimes im not that strong Sarah lol :)

Back when we were first married we had a Siamese named Kitty. She wasn't allowed to sleep on the water bed, for fear of claw rips. She thought she was so smart. When we would come home she would be just waking up on the bedroom chair, except the water bed was still rippling from her jumping off! She never did figure out how we knew.

Rippling evidence sounds fine.
Not so good evidence would have been a very wet floor,a deflated water bed and a soggy Siamese. Lol :o)

Too true!!

Thats so Funny Wohliuli :D