The cat appreciation thread

[Lethean]

So so so sorry for your loss Podaar.   I hope talking about it and crying has helped but I'm sure it'll still take you some time.  I think your memories will be joyful again but of course it's going to be hard too.

[Podaar]

So so so sorry for your loss Podaar.   I hope talking about it and crying has helped but I'm sure it'll still take you some time.  I think your memories will be joyful again but of course it's going to be hard too.

Thanks, Mang.

Actually, I'm much better now. Reliving my memories are mostly pleasant again and frequently bring a smile to my face. I think much of my grief was pulled out when we received her remains back from the crematorium and during the time it took me to make her grave marker (which isn't quite finished). So all's good now.

We need this tread to get back to the happy. Someone share a photo of their precious!

[Indiscipline]

Damn, Gregg, I haven't been following this thread and I'm finding out just now. Please accept a big hug from thousands of miles. 

[jingle.boy]

Damn, Gregg, I haven't been following this thread and I'm finding out just now. Please accept a big hug from thousands of miles. 

Ditto... though my hug isn't multiple thousands of miles away. 

No pictures of our cat though - she's got a helluva resting bitch face  .  The good news is, with the move, she and our spaz-tard 2-year old dog are actually tolerating another.  The dog used to go all hyper-crazy-excited-to-chase-her, but with the move to a bungalow, he seems to be less intrigued by her.

[Podaar]

  Thanks Alex and Chad. Love you guys!

Oh, and Alex...when hugging another guy, it's not really appropriate to press your groin into their hip. Especially when you have a Pez dispenser in your pocket.

[cramx3]

So my brother moved out of my house over the weekend.  I was wondering how my cat would react being that he seems to only really show any affection to my brother and I (like he hates my GF and he's nice enough to visitors but isn't really affectionate with any visitors).  Well, there was no difference for a couple days but my brother came over last night to pick up some remnants left behind and after he left my cat started yelling around the house then ran into the now empty bed room and started yelling in there. He's not a terribly vocal cat so it was really surprising and kind of made me believe he does in fact miss my brother, I thought that was kind of sad and yet really cool to see.

[Orbert]

Cats can absolutely miss someone like that, and they'll let you know about it.

Our daughter moved out of the house three years ago to go to college, but she comes home for summers and winter break.  There's no question that the cat misses her.  For the first week or so after she heads back to school, the cat will hang around outside her (closed) bedroom door, even paw at it a few times.  After a while, the cat gives up, figuring she's gone for good.  Then she'll call from school and we'll chat on speakerphone.  The cat will run upstairs and start pawing at her door again, and keep it up for a few days.  She knows our daughter is still around, somewhere, she heard her voice!  Then our daughter comes home, later heads back to school, the cat hangs around outside her bedroom door for a week, rinse and repeat.

[TheCountOfNYC]

Cats don’t get nearly enough credit for how loving they are. Everyone always talks about the companionship of dogs and how cats are bitchy loners, but cats are just as capable of love and affection as dogs. One of my cats yells by my bedroom door every morning until I let her in then falls asleep on a pillow right next to my head. Another one of my cats is most comfortable sleeping on a person’s lap, and she loves everybody. Honestly there is nothing in the world that’s better than a loving cat.

[King Postwhore]

Cats don’t get nearly enough credit for how loving they are. Everyone always talks about the companionship of dogs and how cats are bitchy loners, but cats are just as capable of love and affection as dogs. One of my cats yells by my bedroom door every morning until I let her in then falls asleep on a pillow right next to my head. Another one of my cats is most comfortable sleeping on a person’s lap, and she loves everybody. Honestly there is nothing in the world that’s better than a loving cat.

Amen there.  Our 2 cats have been a blessing.  I'm worried that they are both 15 years old now.  Where does the time go?

[Podaar]

Cats don’t get nearly enough credit for how loving they are. Everyone always talks about the companionship of dogs and how cats are bitchy loners, but cats are just as capable of love and affection as dogs. One of my cats yells by my bedroom door every morning until I let her in then falls asleep on a pillow right next to my head. Another one of my cats is most comfortable sleeping on a person’s lap, and she loves everybody. Honestly there is nothing in the world that’s better than a loving cat.

Agreed.

I think where cats get a bad rap is not everyone is suited to being a cat companion. It all depends on your patience, IMO. If your willing to be patient and enjoy affection on their terms then you can bond with a cat. I would bet Orbert's daughter is a master at this, judging by his example above.

Except if you have a Maine Coon! My daughter has one, a male called Toby, and he's more dog than cat.    He will literally come running when called. Anyone can pick him up (including strangers), flop him on his back and start aggressively rubbing his belly...he just purrs. Rougher the better. He just loves it.

Try that with a sane cat sometime. 

[King Postwhore]

We have one as well.  Sally.  She's our little love bug. 

[Podaar]

If our future plans didn't include a life of travel, I'd probably get another cat. Maybe even a Maine Coon.

[King Postwhore]

That is the hard thing, finding someone to take care of them.

[The Walrus]

Thought I'd cheer up the thread a bit with some pics. My parents have 4 cats (all were strays/abandoned) and about this time last year they got the 4th one, a little beautiful orange boy we named Daryl  He was so tiny a year ago. Sorry if I've shared these before, I checked to see if I did but I guess I moved the images because they're not displaying. He was about 4 months old in the first photo, so he's almost a year and a half now.



Fast forward a year and he's bigger than the two 9 year-old cats! He's freaking HUGE. He's kinda chubby now but he's also just made of muscle. His paws are enormous. He doesn't make much noise, but he's got an adorable high pitched voice

[King Postwhore]

Our first cat as a couple was an orange tabby named Rikki.  we adopted him when he was 2 years old. He was our first child.  I loved that little guy.

[cramx3]

Daryl looks a bit like my Buddy, orange as well.  I had always wanted an orange cat for some reason and was super happy to see one orange kitten left at the shelter 5.5 years ago. 

I agree, cat's are affectionate and lovers.  It's just different than dogs.  Although I've trained my cat like a dog, he comes when I call his name (or yells at me if he's already there), he sits, gives paw, and gives kisses on command (for treats or wet food of course).  But my only wish with him was to show any affection to anyone else, especially my gf.  She's definitely a dog person, but I feel like whenever she puts in the effort to have a 'relationship' with Buddy, he does not reciprocate much at all and occasionally has scratched her in more playful ways but because she gets scratched she gets scared.  Ive tried to get her to give treats and food to him, but she just has no interest really which sucks cause I wish she had a bond with him like I do so she'd understand a bit more.  She thinks I'm very odd for a guy to have a cat and not a dog.  I just can't do the dogs because of work.

[The Walrus]

Orange cats rule. They're so photogenic 

I'm totally a cat person. I cannot stand dogs. Smelly, loud, annoying, needy - everything a cat isn't (well, mine aren't, at least). Cats are deffo affectionate and loving but 100% different than dogs. Can't train them for shit, or maybe I'm bad at training them, but they mind their own business and come rubbing when they're feeling lonely. Cats are lovable furballs 

[Evermind]

She thinks I'm very odd for a guy to have a cat and not a dog.

I've read the whole thing but this is just wtf-worthy to be honest. It's odd for guys to have cats instead of dogs? Where the hell did that come from?

[cramx3]

She thinks I'm very odd for a guy to have a cat and not a dog.

I've read the whole thing but this is just wtf-worthy to be honest. It's odd for guys to have cats instead of dogs? Where the hell did that come from?

It's the whole masculinity thing, it's funny cause she's a big feminist and yet has this type of feeling.    It's more joking than serious though

Can't train them for shit

They can definitely be trained just like most other animals.  It is funny though because for 'paw' my cat knows exactly what to do and how to do it, but he often refuses just a little until he realizes "fine, i guess ill do it for the treat" type of mentality.  It's just funny cause a dog would just give paw non stop if it thought it could get food where as the cat does it as a last resort.

[ReaperKK]

Cats can definitely be trained, my cat can play fetch better my German Shepherd

[The Walrus]

My cats just don't give a damn then. They probably talk bad kitty language about me when I'm gone. 

[Orbert]

It's definitely a personality thing more than an intelligence thing.  Dogs recognize you as the Alpha and therefore will always try to stay on your good side.  They're smart enough to know what you want based on whatever form the command takes, and they do it.  Not only that, but they'll get a treat or at least a pat on the head, so it's win-win as far as they're concerned.  Cats don't recognize you as the Alpha; you're just another pack member to them.  They don't give a shit what you want; they'll do something if it seems worth their time and effort.

This is all generally speaking, obviously.

[ReaperKK]

One thing that fascinates me about cats is how they prey drive is a lot more in tune than my dogs. My dogs are really gentle and my german shepherd is afraid of everything (I think this might have somewhat to due with his unknown upbringing) but my cat is incredibly alert. I was watching a movie a few weeks ago and a there was a moth that flew into curtains and made a noise and lily went from slumber to ripping it's wings off in less than a minute, it was a sight to be seen. To this day she will kill insects and round them up in a large dead, wingless insect pile for me. I'd like to get a bird feeder outside but I'm 100% positive she would catch a bird.

[Orbert]

Our cat when I was growing up, Ming, was indoor/outdoor and a hunter.  Birds were no biggie.  He'd even drop off rabbits once in a while, but mostly we just found bloody spots and the occassional pile of fur or feathers in the yard somewhere.  He had had his front claws removed but had the rears, and apparently that's all it takes.  In the wild, many big cats use the front paws to smack the prey down or trip it up; the claws don't necessarily come into play.  But if they can grab it by the neck, they bring the back claws up, catch some flesh, and rip the prey open.  I'm assuming that's how Ming did it.

[Podaar]

That sounds merciless! Awwwwww.

[Orbert]

Heh heh.

It was his signature move when we were playing.  Once things started getting rough, those back feet would come up push against my arm.  The claws would just barely pop out a little against the inside of my wrist like "You feel that?  I could rip your arm open right now, but we're just playing.  I just wanted to make sure we both understand that."  Then we'd wrestle some more.  I know if he ever did that to a rabbit or bird, he'd gut it in one quick move.

[The Walrus]

Heh heh.

It was his signature move when we were playing.  Once things started getting rough, those back feet would come up push against my arm.  The claws would just barely pop out a little against the inside of my wrist like "You feel that?  I could rip your arm open right now, but we're just playing.  I just wanted to make sure we both understand that."  Then we'd wrestle some more.  I know if he ever did that to a rabbit or bird, he'd gut it in one quick move.

My cat Daryl is like that. He has massive feet and when he puts them on my arm while we play it reminds me of the scene in The Dark Knight Rises when Bane puts his hand on Ben Mendelsohn's cheek and talks about power 

[Orbert]

I love it when pets have regular human names like Daryl.  My buddy's little sister was adopted by a stray cat (it decided that she was its owner) and she spent days trying to come up with a name.  I pushed for Steve, for no other reason than I thought it would be hilarious to know a cat named Steve.  She ended up going with Mittens or Buttercup or something like that.

[cramx3]

Yup, I call those his thumper feet.  Never thought about it in the wild, but makes sense.  I could see that move ripping open an animal.

[The Walrus]

I love it when pets have regular human names like Daryl.  My buddy's little sister was adopted by a stray cat (it decided that she was its owner) and she spent days trying to come up with a name.  I pushed for Steve, for no other reason than I thought it would be hilarious to know a cat named Steve.  She ended up going with Mittens or Buttercup or something like that.

You'd get along with my dad. He named him Daryl and still thinks it's hilarious.

... Steve is a really funny name for a cat. Especially if it's a lazy cat.

[Podaar]

My grandson named his rabbit Steve, and it still cracks me up!

[SchecterShredder]

Growing up we always used 'people' names for our cats. Honestly, I didn't even think it was weird until some friends in high school brought it up after meeting our cat Jennifer. Granted, one of the friend's name was Jen, so maybe she was just offended.

I conceded to getting 2 cats after my wife's cat died from cat AIDS (which is apparently a thing), but only on the condition I could name them. Needless to say, I did not give them 'normal' names.

I present to you...

Lord Felix Cattington III



Fuzzy "Cat" McCatterson

[The Walrus]

  Adorable!!

[cramx3]

Nice!

[Podaar]

So damned cute!